Women’s Lives (Should) Matter

The campaign to eliminate the right to safe, legal abortions is intentional, political and relentless. The consequences are real, personal, and frightening. Attacks on abortion rights further entrench discrimination against women, and erode our national commitment to social and economic justice.

We must demand accountability from the politicians who claim to represent us, and the pundits who influence the public debate.  Our failure to speak out would incite increasingly aggressive attacks.

Last week, still reeling from a campaign of national revulsion that forced Indiana to retreat from an anti-LGBT law, the state shifted its sites to a more vulnerable target: pregnant women.  The state imposed a 20-year jail sentence on Purvi Patel, claiming that her miscarriage constituted “feticide.”

We must challenge the Senate to exert leadership in the coming weeks as it prepares for debate on H.R. 2, and on the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), a bill intended to protect the victims of sex-trade trafficking.

H.R. 2 passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House late in March.  It offers a compromise on a long unpopular but seemingly intractable Medicare formula for paying doctors. The bill would also extend funding for children’s health insurance and community health centers. There is pressure to move quickly in the Senate, to avoid triggering a 20% pay cut for the MDs.  (Sound familiar?)

But H.R. 2 includes a ban on federal funds for abortion. Including at community health centers. Congress has rubber-stamped similar funding bans in the past, referred to as the Hyde amendment, via annual appropriations bills. This is no longer acceptable. The immediate victims are low-income women and their families, and people of color, who are 5 times more likely to experience unintended pregnancies and childbirths, and are increasingly caught in the vise of state and federal laws constraining access to safe, legal abortions, as well as reduced social and financial support for families. The stigma against abortion blights all women, and society as a whole.

The abortion funding restriction is also included in the proposed Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), intended to protect the victims of sex-trade trafficking. Faced with demands to drop this provision, anti-abortion Senators are underscoring their priorities by holding hostage passage of this bill, as well as confirmation of the President’s nominee for Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, unless this restriction is included.

Leaders and advocates for vulnerable communities can no longer tolerate or minimize this dangerous divide and conquer strategy.  Our strength must rely on our shared, united interests in children’s health insurance, community health centers, fair Medicare reimbursement policies, and abortion rights and reproductive justice.

As Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has said, this is “one battle that we can win… I see it as standing up for principle. And you know principle doesn’t know minority and majority; principle is deeply held.”

PERMALINK

Recognizing Attacks on Abortion Care as a Public Health Emergency, Strengthening and Uniting Public Health Voices for Reproductive Justice

This is the abstract of a proposed policy submitted to the American Public Health Association (APHA).  Full text:  Recognizing Attacks on Abortion Care as a Public Health Emergency, Strengthening and Uniting Public Health Voices for Reproductive Justice

APHA policy has long held that access to the full range of reproductive health services, including safe, legal abortion, is a fundamental right. International covenants recognize individuals’ human rights to decide whether and when to have children and how many children to have, and to have the information and means to do so, free of coercion, discrimination and violence.  However, measures that obstruct access to abortions have accelerated in number and severity in the U.S. since 2010. They now constitute a public health emergency, requiring concerted mobilization by the public health community.  Through local, state and national laws and regulations, and court decisions, these measures: 1) Restrict funding and coverage for abortions, building on the Helms Amendment, which restricts federal funds for abortions internationally; and the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions in the U.S., primarily through Medicaid. 2) Obstruct patients’ access to services. 3) Obstruct providers’ ability to practice. These cascading restrictions drive out safe and legal services, placing women at greatly elevated risk of injury or death from unsafe abortions; or they violate women’s personal bodily autonomy by coercing them to carry unintended pregnancies to term.  They systematically ignore or distort scientific evidence; stigmatize abortion; communicate loaded, destructive messages regarding women’s worth, sexuality and competence; and discriminate against women. State anti-abortion measures are associated with worse population health, and exacerbate health disparities and economic, social and political inequalities by gender, race/ethnicity, and income. The public health community must call attention to the negative public health consequences of these policies, and should affirmatively assert the conscientious provision of abortions, within the context of a multi-sectoral agenda to achieve optimum population health in all arenas of policy, to advance economic equality and social justice; and as a bedrock of individual freedom. Continue reading

SF Youth Commissioners to SF Examiner: Don’t Mislead Youths on Reproductive Health

SF Examiner logo

 

Don’t mislead youths on reproductive health

By Emily Guo, E’mani Davis, David Zheng, and Luisa Sicairos           January 26, 2015

San Francisco takes many measures to educate and inform its young people about our reproductive health. This is why it was so surprising to see inaccurate and misleading public-health information displayed on banners hung on city lamp posts on Market Street claiming that “Abortion hurts women” as part of the Walk for Life event in The City last weekend. The message and of these banners seem to counteract our city’s policies, practices, and values.

The attack on safe and legal abortions poses a risk to all women, especially young women. San Francisco has relatively low adolescent birth rates compared to the state average. However, records from the Department of Public Health show major disparities in which communities are affected by adolescent pregnancy. Overall, 32.3 percent of the 202 adolescent births in San Francisco in 2012 occurred in areas of concentrated poverty.

In San Francisco, black and Latino youths are at increased risk of poor sexual health outcomes compared to youth of white or Asian ethnicities. Nationally, almost 615,000 U.S. women age 15-19 become pregnant each year. Many young females will decide to become a parent and deserve our support. Others will decide to terminate their pregnancies and also deserve our support. Abortions, since their legalization in 1973, are considered very safe medical procedures.

Young people need access to accurate information and to education about reproductive health, including our right to a safe, legal abortion. Compared to adults, youth may be less knowledgeable about this issue, and may be especially vulnerable to the statements displayed on Market Street.

Since the decision about how to respond to an unplanned pregnancy is one of the most difficult a young woman may ever face, it is wrong to try to manipulate young women’s decision-making with false and shaming statements that may lead young women and girls to consider taking unsafe and uninformed actions.

Contrary to the belief that Market Street is mostly a traffic, business and tourist thoroughfare, many families with children and teens live in the Tenderloin and South of Market. Such false public-health statements are affecting women in The City’s lowest-income neighborhoods, which have the highest rates of low-weight birth, and emergency room visits for pregnancy.

We are proud that San Francisco and California have strong policies to assure women’s reproductive-health rights. The City previously celebrated reproductive rights by

commemorating the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The mayor and members of the Board of Supervisors introduced legislation last year ensuring females have the ability to access reproductive-health facilities without harassment, and the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution opposing these same banners last year. Still, the placement of the banners on lamp posts gives the unfortunate impression of public endorsement of the messages.

San Francisco Unified School District high school students complete a semester-long health class as one of the district’s graduation requirements, and high schools have Wellness Centers where students can learn about health services. Such youth-friendly channels offer significant resources to educate young people regarding scientifically verifiable information, but this does not mean all youth have access to the information and services they need to make informed decisions.​

As high school students, transitional-age youth, and individual members of the Youth Commission and the Citywide Transitional Age Youth Advisory Board, we are most concerned with keeping San Francisco youths accurately informed about our health, so that youth can make the most informed decisions. That includes understanding our right to an abortion, which only hurts women and girls when not legally available.

We young people trust that our city will provide for our needs, education, development, and rights. We believe we have a right to see accurate information about public health in public space.

Dedicating the banner proceeds to the Department of Public Health for a campaign advancing accurate and scientifically-verifiable education about reproductive health in accordance with the resolution passed by the Board of Supervisors in 2014 is one important step.

Further, we encourage all young San Franciscans to learn about their health and their rights as a critical step toward overcoming the erroneous messages about abortion currently displayed on Market Street.

Emily Guo is a student at Mission High School, E’mani Davis is a student at University High School, David Zheng is a student at Lincoln High School and Luisa Sicairos is a member of the Citywide Transitional Age Youth Advisory Board. Guo, Davis and Zheng are members of the Youth Commission, a chartered body of 17 young San Franciscans appointed by and charged with advising the mayor and Board of Supervisors on the unmet needs of youth in The City.

The Truth About Abortion

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by Sophia Yen MD MPH, pediatrician, adolescent medicine specialist.

Given that there are banners up on Market Street (San Francisco’s main thoroughfare) telling lies about abortion, saying “Abortion Hurts Women” and that the anti-abortion, anti-birthcontrol, anti-reprojustice marchers/rallies/leaders have been known to say a few myths about abortion, I thought it was important to write a piece about the Truth about Abortion.

The Truth is: Abortion doesn’t hurt women, but lies about abortion and lack of access to abortion hurt women.

Most of this comes from:
http://www.guttmacher.org/in-the-know/characteristics.html
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html

1. Abortion is safer than carrying a pregnancy to term (because of the many complications of pregnancy). First trimester abortion is one of the safest medical procedures, with minimal risk of major complications.

2. Abortion does not increase your risk of breast cancer.

3. Women who get abortions do not have a higher rate of depression and drug use, than women who do not get abortions. http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2012/11/16/new-study-finds-women-denied-abortion-more-likely-to-be-in-poverty/

4. >70% of women getting an abortion report a religious affiliation. 37% protestant, 28% Catholic and 7% other. 25% attend religious services at least once a month.

5. Abortions performed in the first trimester pose virtually no long-term risk of problems such as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) or birth defect, and little or no risk of preterm or low-birth-weight deliveries.

6. 90% of abortions occur in the 1st 12 weeks of pregnancy. 33% occur at 6 weeks of pregnancy or earlier. 60% occur in the 1st 8 weeks (when a woman has missed just 2 periods).

7. Why do women have abortions? “The reasons women give for having an abortion underscore their understanding of the responsibilities of parenthood and family life.”
75% state they have concerns for or responsibility to other individuals, including children. 75% say they cannot afford a child. 75% say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or ability to care of dependents. 50% say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.

8. Roe v. Wade in 1973 established that women in consultation with their physicians have a constitutionally protected right to have an abortion before viability free from government interference.

9. A super-majority (78%) of Americans feel that abortion should be legal in some circumstances. 50% “legal only under certain circumstances” and 28% “legal under any circumstances.”
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx

10. Research shows that women who choose abortion and get an abortion are less likely to be under the poverty line than those who want an abortion and “turned away.” http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2012/11/16/new-study-finds-women-denied-abortion-more-likely-to-be-in-poverty/

11. Most women getting abortions are already mothers. About 60% of the women that get abortions have already given birth to 1 child and 30% have 2 or more children.

12. No racial nor ethnic group makes up the majority of women choosing abortions. 36% are white, 30% are black, 25% are Hispanic, and 9% are of other race.

13. 50% of the women getting abortion are 25 years of age or OLDER.

14. Abortion is a common procedure. At 2008 abortions rates, 1 in 10 women will have an abortion by age 20, 1 in 4 women by age 30 and 3 in 10 by age 45. (Abortion rates have gone down by ~ 17% since 2008)

15. Access to birth control results in use of birth control, which results in fewer unplanned pregnancies, which results in fewer abortions. Birth control = fewer abortions. (I thought this was common ground with the anti-abortion people. Unfortunately, it is NOT common ground. The Family Research Council in its “truth about abortion” pamphlet says birth control leads to more sex, leads to more abortion.) http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF08A09.pdf

If you agree that lies about abortion are a public health hazard and that the City of SF should use the funds from the banners to launch a public health campaign about the Truth About Abortion, please join other concerned citizens, health professionals, parents of impressionable young adults, young adults and more in signing this petition. Please also share on FB/twitter/email lists.  http://bit.ly/sftrustswomen

Thank you for TrustingWomen with their personal health decisions.

Petition: San Francisco: Protect Women and Girls from Lies About Abortion!

Sign here:  http://bit.ly/sftrustswomen

Lies About Abortion SF Jan. 2014The Issues

Banners falsely claiming that “Abortion hurts women” are hanging from publicly managed lamp posts on Market Street in San Francisco. The banners are displayed in the City’s lowest-income communities, which experience the highest rates of low-weight births, and emergency room visits for pregnancy. (1)

The prominent display of this false anti-abortion statement on public property misinforms the public about our health. It undermines women’s personal and private medical decisions, and thereby undermines public health. It also misrepresents the City’s previous support for reproductive health, rights, and justice, particularly for our most vulnerable communities.

1. Abortion is safe.  Access to legal abortion services is essential.

Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures in the United States. The risk of death is 12 times higher for carrying a pregnancy to term, compared with abortion. (2).

Many women routinely lost their lives from illegal abortions before the landmark Supreme Court Case, Roe v. Wade, legalized abortion in 1973.  Today, deaths from abortion have all but disappeared.

Women and girls have the right to decide whether and when to have children. Public policies and services must support that right.

Access to legal and affordable family planning health care services, including abortion care, has been integral to expanding opportunities for success and satisfaction by women and girls in the emotional, economic, educational and professional spheres, as well as for the men and children in their lives and for communities as a whole.

One in three American women will have an abortion by age 45, and 95% of heterosexually active couples have used birth control.

Denied abortion care perpetuates poverty, and women with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level are already five times more likely to have unintended pregnancies.

2. State and federal legislation increasingly aim to defund reproductive health care services and limit the rights of women and girls.

Campaigns to stigmatize and defund abortion impose repressive views about sexuality, disempower women and girls, and prevent them from choosing and using the vital reproductive health care services they think best. Tactics include legislation, violence against abortion providers, and harassment of patients at health centers. These actions hurt women and girls.

3. San Francisco must protect and advance the public’s health.

We are proud that San Francisco and California have strong policies to assure women’s reproductive health rights.  In January 2013, the City and County of San Francisco commemorated the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and commended the work of pro-choice advocates and service providers in the City.

But the public must be able to trust and rely on the City to provide accurate, credible information in order to safeguard our health.

(1) San Francisco Department of Public Health, Health Care Services Master Plan

(2) Women’s Health STATS & FACTS 2011. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. p. 2. https://www.acog.org/~/media/NewsRoom/MediaKit.pdf

Sign here to oppose abortion stigma with public health facts: http://bit.ly/sftrustswomen

We are shocked to see banners falsely claiming that “Abortion hurts women” hanging from the City’s publicly managed lamp posts on Market St. in San Francisco. This statement is false, and harmful to women and girls. The display contradicts City policies and practices.

The City should:

1. Publicly oppose the deliberately false anti-abortion messages on the banners hanging on Market Street, oppose the views of the rally to be held by anti-abortion groups in San Francisco on January 24, 2015, and advocate proactively for public health policies, services and messages that encourage the right of women and girls to choose the best course for their own reproductive health.

2. Review the permitting process for banners to require that public health statements are scientifically accurate or limit banners to the name, date and location of the event being advertised.

3. Devote all proceeds from the anti-abortion banners to a Department of Public Health campaign to educate vulnerable populations regarding accurate and scientifically verifiable information about reproductive health and rights, including accurate information about the safety of abortions.

The Public Health Facts: Abortion Stigma Hurts Women and Girls

Lies About Abortion SF Jan. 2014 The Public Health Facts for Choice, Voice, and Safe Legal Abortion : Shutting Down Abortion Stigma in San Francisco

Banners stating that “Abortion Hurts Women” are now displayed on public sites on Market Street, in San Francisco’s lowest-income communities, which experience the highest rates of low-weight births, and emergency room visits for pregnancy. (1) Sign here to demand public health messages that tell the truth:

http://bit.ly/sftrustswomen

 

Access to abortion is an issue that is relevant to young people.

Almost 615,000 U.S. women aged 15–19 (or 6%) become pregnant each year, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

  • In 2010, 60% of pregnancies among 15-19 year olds ended in birth, 26% in abortion, and the rest in miscarriage.
  • Black and Hispanic women have the highest teen pregnancy rates (100 and 84 per 1,000 women aged 15–19, respectively); whites have the lowest rate (38 per 1,000).

Women aged 15-19 had 157,490 abortions in 2010. About 5% of all abortions are obtained by minors. The reasons that teens most frequently give for having an abortion include concerns about changes in their lives due to having a baby, ability to afford a baby now, and not feeling mature enough to raise a child (2).

The pregnancy rate among young women has declined steadily, from 117 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15-19 in 1990 to 57 per 1,000 in 2010. The decline between 1995 and 2002 was mostly due to dramatic improvements in contraceptive use, with only 14% of the decline attributable to decreased sexual activity. The pregnancy rate among black teens decreased 56% between 1990 and 2010, more than the overall teen pregnancy rate (51%). Teenage women have increased their use of a single method of contraception or multiple methods simultaneously, and decreased nonuse of contraception (3). This suggests that avoiding having children during teenage years is important to young women.

Abortion is safe.  Access to legal abortion services is essential.

Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures in the United States. The risk of death is 12 times higher for carrying a pregnancy to term, compared with abortion. (4)

Many women routinely lost their lives from illegal abortions before the landmark Supreme Court Case, Roe v. Wade, legalized abortion in 1973.  Today, deaths from abortion have all but disappeared.

Women and girls have the right to decide whether and when to have children. Public policies and services must support that right. Access to legal and affordable family planning health care services has been integral to expanding opportunities for success and satisfaction by women and girls in the emotional, economic, educational and professional spheres, as well as for the men and children in their lives and for communities as a whole.

Denied abortion care perpetuates poverty, and women with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level are already five times more likely to have unintended pregnancies.

Barriers to Access to Abortions: Funding Cuts, Legal Restrictions. Stigma

Low Income Women Are Unfairly Impacted By Funding Restrictions (5)

Shortly after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 legalizing abortion in every state, Congress enacted the Hyde Amendment to an appropriations bill. It bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, and a threat to the mother’s life. The Hyde Amendment has been renewed each year since 1976. Young women are disproportionately impacted by funding bans because they are less likely to have a steady source of income and more likely to be uninsured than women of all ages. The cost of an abortion ranges from $350 to $1000. (California exercises its state authority to pay for abortions through MediCal.)

Funding restrictions force one in four women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, with the proportion higher among younger women. (6)

Teens Face Additional Barriers To Access, Including Lack of Accurate Information

The majority of states – thirty-nine as of January 2014 – currently enforce laws that require a young woman to notify or obtain consent from one or both parents before she can receive abortion care. These laws endanger young women’s health and safety, while having no clear impact on birth rates or abortion rates.

Most young women do consult their parents before seeking abortion care, but those who do not may face dangerous circumstances at home. 50% of pregnant teens have experienced violence; 30% of teens who do not tell their parents about their abortions feared violence or being forced to leave home.

Parental involvement laws often delay young women’s abortion care, leading to riskier, later-term abortion procedures.

Websites that teens turn to for sexual health information often have inaccurate information. For example, of 177 sexual health Web sites examined in a recent study, 46% of those addressing contraception and 35% of those addressing abortion contained inaccurate information. (6)

Anti-Abortion Forces Have Found Stigma is a Powerful Tool

Cultural factors impact women’s ability to access abortion and lead to an atmosphere of silence and stigma around abortion. The anti-abortion movement increasingly seeks both to erect overt barriers to abortion and to change cultural values, beliefs, and norms about abortion so that women will seek abortion less frequently regardless of its legal status. From photographing women entering clinics to distributing flyers to the neighbors of providers, the anti-abortion movement foments abortion stigma as a deliberate tactic, not just as a byproduct of its legislative initiatives. Many clinics are regularly visited by protestors; politicians and other public figures routinely condemn abortion as murder. Some religions forbid abortion. Set off from other medical practices and beset by picketers, the institutional arrangements of abortion provision may validate abortion stigma. Women may internalize abortion stigma so deeply that they feel judged even by those who support their decisions. Abortion stigma may cause women to feel less empowered to ask questions about the procedure and its health consequences. Eroding public support for the idea of abortion is seen as an underpinning of future institutional limits. (Joffe, 2009)

The result is fear of being judged and secrecy around abortion. (7) One study found that women ages 19-24 experienced more stigma and had more worries about being judged than women in other age groups

Opponents of abortion in the U.S. have championed a new argument, that ‘abortion hurts women.’ This argument positions women as victims of a profiteering abortion industry and objects of pity, reduces providers to cruel and callous manipulators and women to ‘damaged goods.’

Although definitively refuted by substantial scientific studies, alleged links between abortion, breast cancer, and impaired fertility have been used to frame a “women-centered” anti-abortion strategy. In contrast with other examples, in which abortion reveals or symbolizes flaws in women’s character, here women become flawed because of the experience of having an abortion, and the abortion provider is further tainted, now harming both fetus and woman.

Seven states have integrated groundless claims about the psychological effects of abortion (such as so-called post-abortion syndrome) into regulations. These institutional practices deny the normalcy of abortion as a technique and as medical care and reinforce stigmatizing ideas that abortion is unhealthy.

(1) San Francisco Department of Public Health, Health Care Services Master Plan. 2012.

(2) “American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health.” Guttmacher Institute. May 2014. New York, NY. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-ATSRH.pdf

(3) “Facts on American Teens’ Sources of Information About Sex.” Guttmacher Institute. Feb 2012. New York, NY. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-Teen-Sex-Ed.pdf

(4) Women’s Health STATS & FACTS 2011. American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. p. 2. https://www.acog.org/~/media/NewsRoom/MediaKit.pdf

(5) NARAL Pro-Choice America: Discriminatory Bans on Abortion Funding Threaten Women’s Health   http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/fact-sheets/abortion-funding-restrictions.pdf

(6)  “Abortion and Young People in the United States.” Advocates for Youth. Accessed at: http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/publications-a-z/2296-abortion-and-young-people-in-the-united-states.

(7) Norris, Alison, et. al. “Abortion Stigma: A Reconceptualization of Constituents, Causes, and Consequences.” Women’s Health Issues. May-June 2011.  Volume 21, Issue 3, Supplement, pp. S49–S54. Accessed at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/Abortion-Stigma.pdf.

TWSR Compels CA Universities, Regulators, to Enforce Right to Abortion Coverage

It is the leadership and spirit of women and men who know when to speak up and stand up for our rights that create social change.  When the presidents at two  Jesuit-affiliated universities in California tried to bluster their way into canceling abortion benefits for faculty, staff, and their dependents, the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign, a project of the Center for Policy Analysis, geared up a challenge.  We researched key rules and regulations, linked a powerful coalition of activist faculty with key organizations to shine a bright public light on the problem, and strategized and targeted the state regulatory authority that had the power to reverse the universities’ action.  On August 22, 2014, the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) issued formal letters to California’s 7 major insurance companies to clarify that California law “prohibits health plans from discriminating against women who choose to terminate a pregnancy. Exclusions and limitations are incompatible with both the law and multiple California judicial decisions that have unambiguously established that every pregnant woman has the fundamental right to choose to either bear a child or to have a legal abortion.”

Turning It Around!   How did this happen?  In the Fall of 2013, faculty at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles and at Santa Clara University (SCU) were distressed when their presidents announced that their university health insurance plans were dropping long-standing coverage for abortions.  The universities justified their actions based on unspecified changes in state and federal laws, including the Affordable Care Act.

Here’s the catch: The faculty did not agree.

Anna Muraco, a sociology professor at LMU, was shocked.  With no idea whether the change was legal, she began writing about it online.

In Santa Clara, law professor Stephen Diamond resigned an appointment at the SCU Ethics Center, telling the local media that the administration was violating its obligation to consult with the faculty on a change in working conditions of this magnitude. History professor Nancy Unger was similarly distressed and outraged.  Her long and successful career at SCU had thrived in an atmosphere of commitment to social justice and diversity, with respect for Catholic doctrine. In this case, “Father Doesn’t Know Best,” she wrote in the San Jose Mercury News.

In fact, both Universities were violating longstanding California laws that require employer health plans to cover abortions.  But campus and health plan administrators asserted that the change was legal, and would proceed.

Then, we called Prof. Nancy Unger.

“When Ellen Shaffer, Director of the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign (TWSR) reached out to me about the situation at Santa Clara, I felt as if someone had thrown us a lifeline.”   Professor Nancy Unger, University of Santa Clara

“Within a week, we were on the phone with a coalition of advocacy and legal organizations. With TWSR’s guidance, our campuses gathered the information we needed to mount a challenge, and combined the skills and expertise of the coalition partners to develop a strategy that worked. We turned our situations around.”  Ana Muraco, Associate Professor of Sociology, Loyola Marymount University

The faculty didn’t leave it at that.  At Santa Clara, they voted by secret electronic ballot. Two-to-one, they told the University president and the trustees:  Take it back.  Reinstate our benefits.  And consult us if you’d like to know what we believe.

Meanwhile advocates pieced together what had happened through meetings with DMHC.  After Initial assurance that there had been an error, the fact-finding continued as campuses were about to reopen in Aug. 2014.  The California state legislature’s Women’s Caucus weighed in.

Legal and media staff based in Sacramento got the word from the Governor’s office that DMHC had concluded their investigation.  They identified the errors that had set events in motion, and would release a correction the following day.

On August 22, 2014, the California Department of Managed Health Care issued formal letters to California’s 7 major insurance companies to clarify that California law “prohibits health plans from discriminating against women who choose to terminate a pregnancy. Exclusions and limitations are incompatible with both the law and multiple California judicial decisions that have unambiguously established that every pregnant woman has the fundamental right to choose to either bear a child or to have a legal abortion.”

Stigma and intimidation can compound confusion about the hodge-podge of laws and court decisions that determine our rights to decide whether and when to have a child, free of coercion, discrimination or violence.   But coverage for safe, legal abortion care has been restored at SCU and LMU.  And the spirit of advocacy must continue to animate the law.

TWSR at APHA

On Tuesday, November 18, 2014, the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign helped to organize two sessions on abortion rights at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in New Orleans.

The topics, and links to the presentations where available, follow:

Session 4169: Abortion and Reproductive Rights: History and Current Politics Tuesday, November 18, 2014: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM  

Moderator: Cynthia A. Pearson , National Women’s Health Network

10:30 AM: Poverty and politics- their impact on women’s reproductive health outcomes over time Richard Kimball, MSN/MPH, PHCNS-BC, PhD, RN

10:45 AM: Dr. celestino lajonchere and the provision of abortion services in early revolutionary Cuba Ross Danielson,  PhD

11:00 AM: Access to Abortion and Contraception as Measures of Inequality Ellen R. Shaffer, PhD MPH , Renee Carter, MD MPH, James Wohlleb, PhD

11:15 AM: Sex Education, Abortion and Pregnancy Criminalization – Shaming Legislation & Its Impact on Poor Women and Girls in the Conservative Evangelical South Cherisse Scott, Founder/CEO, SisterReach, Tennessee

Organized by: Socialist Caucus Endorsed by: Women’s Caucus, APHA-Committee on Women’s Right

Session 4345: P. Ellen Parsons Memorial Session: Stirring the pot to defend women’s rights in New Orleans and nationally Tuesday, November 18, 2014: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM

Organizer: Ellen R. Shaffer, PhD MPH

Moderator: Jenna Jerman PhD, Guttmacher Institute

2:30 PM: New Orleans: Advocating for reproductive justice and public health in an epicenter of disparities Lisa Richardson, PhD.

2:50 PM: Documenting the impact of the Hyde Amendment on women’s abortion access Amanda Dennis, DrPH, MBE, Ibis Reproductive Health

3:10 PM: Saying the “A” Word: Abortion Advocacy and Assistance in Louisiana Jessie Nieblas, MPH, New Orleans Abortion Fund

3:30 PM: We can’t go back: Advancing women’s rights is key to public health Ellen Shaffer, PhD, MPH, Renee Carter, MD MPH, James Wohlleb, PhD

Ellen Shaffer/TWSR in SF Chron: Sex-Selection Laws Fuel Discrimination

Letters to the editor, Sept. 21          Published 5:03 pm, Friday, September 19, 2014  http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Letters-to-the-editor-Sept-21-5768090.php

Women are entirely capable of deciding whether and when to have children. Criminalizing abortion for any reason directly undermines the status, value and autonomy of women. “San Francisco feminism: Go ahead and abort girls” (Insight, Sept. 14) mistakenly suggests that bans on abortions based on the sex of the fetus are both acceptable and necessary to avoid wholesale femicide.

While choosing abortion based on sex is virtually unknown in the U.S., the best way to eliminate any vestige of the practice here and internationally is to demonstrate that our societies value women, from paying us equally to trusting our personal reasons for seeking an abortion.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, led by board President David Chiu, deserves support for its leadership in prohibiting abortion bans that promote racial stereotypes about Asian Americans and restrict women’s access to health care.

Ellen R. Shaffer, PhD, Director, Trust Women/Silver Ribbon Campaign, San Francisco