Roe Round-Up: Analysis on the 40th Anniversary of Legalized Abortion from Our Bodies Ourselves and TWSR:
OBOS is taking part in Trust Women Week to urge policy makers to support reproductive justice and access to contraception and abortion. You can add your name to a petition that will be sent to legislators. In San Francisco, sign up to Celebrate Women, Life and Liberty this Saturday Jan. 26 starting at 10 a.m. at Justin Herman Plaza.
Trust Women Week partners, including NOW, the National Women’s Health Network, and ACT for Women and Girls, are mobilizing and informing our communities.
Lizz Winstead, Daily Show co-creator and producer, has a message for what’s at stake on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
To help change policy and to ensure that all legislators understand the basics about women’s bodies and reproduction, OBOS has re-opened the campaign to send copies of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” to every member of Congress starting in late February – join the campaign!
At reddit, two abortion clinic workers have answered a wide variety of questions from readers.
Kimberly Inez McGuire of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health spoke at a Center for American Progress panel on Roe 2.0: Strategies for the Next Generation of Reproductive Rights Activism. Also, check out the group’s new Yo Te Apoyo (I Support You) campaign and Roe v. Wade 40 years later: Latinas weigh in on abortion.
Planned Parenthood has a 40th anniversary video.
The author at Deana’s blog, a professor of sociology, talks about the new study documenting attacks on pregnant women’s autonomy (see our recent post on this issue).
The National Women’s Law Center encourages us all to write our legislators to support abortion access and stand against restrictions.
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health have made available online the documentary “Voices of Choice: Physicians Who Provided Abortions Before Roe v. Wade.” The film includes interviews with Bylle Avery, founder of the National Black Women’s Health Project, and Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider who was murdered.
The 1 in 3 campaign, a project of Advocates for Youth, provides stories from individuals who’ve had an abortion. The organization has also released a book of stories and resources for college campuses.
Shanelle Matthews has a powerful story and insightful commentary at The Crunk Feminist Collective: The story that’s taken ten years to tell: On abortion, race and the power of story. Here’s an excerpt:
The narrative that abortion gives women and transpeople an opportunity to live the rest of our lives, to become a doctor or a lawyer or whatever isn’t true for everyone. For some of us, abortion just provides one more day. One more day to live our lives exactly the way we want to. For some of us the decision isn’t political, it’s essential. It is essential to taking care of the children we already have, to circumventing difficult medical experiences or to just not be pregnant. There is nothing heroic about having an abortion. It is an essential part of reproductive health care.
Bridgette Dunlap at RH Reality Check describes an unusual argument for the legality of abortion, resting not in the right to privacy but in the 13th Amendment forbidding slavery and involuntary servitude. This argument suggests the government may not outlaw abortion, because “to do so would be to require physical service from a woman for the benefit of a fetus.”
Flyover Feminism is hosting a week-long series on reproductive rights.
In Mississippi, the state’s only abortion clinic may close. Coverage includes “Inside Mississippi’s Last Abortion Clinic,” from Mother Jones, and “In Jackson, Mississippi, Southern Hospitality and Food for Thought on Access to Abortion“ at RH Reality Check.
Monica Raye Simpson, Executive Director of SisterSong issued a statement celebrating Roe but highlighting the bigger picture: “We need to discuss how issues such as economics, immigration reform, interpersonal violence, rape and lack of comprehensive sexual education are all a part of the equation needed for reproductive justice to be achieved.”
Jill Filipovic in “Roe v Wade at 40: what American women owe to abortion rights” writes about the ongoing struggle to make reproductive rights accessible to all women:
The primary victims of the pro-life strategy are poor women. The pro-life movement has stepped up its legislative game in the past two years, introducing and passing record-breaking numbers of anti-choice laws in 2011 and keeping the victories coming in 2012. They’ve made it not only hard to get an abortion, but to get birth control, sex ed and health care generally.
The result is that Roe’s promise of abortion rights isn’t available to large swaths of the American population.
The National Women’s Law Center explains that the health care reform allows states to pass laws banning private insurance coverage of abortion in state exchange plans, meaning that “in twenty states, a woman will not be allowed to purchase an exchange-based health plan that covers abortion services, and also may not be able to purchase a plan that provides insurance coverage for abortion at all.
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF): Politicians don’t know the circumstances of our lives and shouldn’t be making decisions about our reproductive health– they’re not in our shoes! Check out “Have We Really Come That Far? API Women and Abortion 40 Years After Roe” by Christine Poquiz, NAPAWF Reproductive Justice Fellow.
The scary part: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is an original co-sponsor of S.32, a Senate proposal to prohibit taking minors across State lines to circumvent laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions. The House is wasting no time leading the year with proposals to criminalize abortion:
1. H.R.23 : Sanctity of Human Life Act
Sponsor: Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] (introduced 1/3/2013) Cosponsors (30)
Committees: House Judiciary
Latest Major Action: 1/3/2013 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
2. H.R.61 : Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act
Sponsor: Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] (introduced 1/3/2013) Cosponsors (83)
Committees: House Energy and Commerce
Latest Major Action: 1/3/2013 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Latest Title: Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act
Sponsor: Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] (introduced 1/3/2013) Cosponsors (83)
Related Bills:H.R.217
Latest Major Action: 1/3/2013 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
SUMMARY AS OF:
1/3/2013–Introduced.Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act – Amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Service (HHS) from providing any federal family planning assistance to an entity unless the entity certifies that, during the period of such assistance, the entity will not perform, and will not provide any funds to any other entity that performs, an abortion. Excludes an abortion where: (1) the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest; or (2) a physician certifies that the woman suffered from a physical disorder, injury, or illness that would place the woman in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy. Excludes hospitals from such requirement so long as the hospital does not provide funds to any non-hospital entity that performs an abortion.
Requires the Secretary to provide Congress annually: (1) information on grantees who performed abortions under the exceptions, and (2) a list of entities to which grant funds are made available.
3. H.R.217 : Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act
Sponsor: Rep Black, Diane [TN-6] (introduced 1/4/2013) Cosponsors (165)
Committees: House Energy and Commerce
Latest Major Action: 1/4/2013 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
4. H.R.346 : To amend title I of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to ensure that the coverage offered under multi-State qualified health plans offered in Exchanges is consistent with the Federal abortion funding ban.
Sponsor: Rep Nunnelee, Alan [MS-1] (introduced 1/22/2013) Cosponsors (None)
Committees: House Energy and Commerce
Latest Major Action: 1/22/2013 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
5. S.32 : A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit taking minors across State lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions.
Sponsor: Sen Portman, Rob [OH] (introduced 1/22/2013) Cosponsors (4)
Committees: Senate Judiciary
Latest Major Action: 1/22/2013 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Sen Burr, Richard [NC] – 1/23/2013
Sen Chambliss, Saxby [GA] – 1/23/2013
Sen Cochran, Thad [MS] – 1/23/2013
Sen McConnell, Mitch [KY] – 1/23/2013
Take Action! Speak out withTrust Women Week. In San Francisco, Celebrate Women, Life and Liberty this Saturday, Jan. 26