December 17, 2017

The Volunteers Helping Women Get Abortions Against All Odds

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In a state that may soon become the first without an abortion clinic, the Kentucky Health Justice Network is connecting women with safe reproductive healthcare, no matter what.

Escort volunteers outside EMW Women’s Surgical Center. AP Photo/Dylan Lovan

When Emily, a 41-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky, found out she was pregnant earlier this year, she decided to get an abortion. (Her name has been changed because she fears retribution at work if her colleagues found out.) Confident in her decision, she wanted to move through the process quickly―but soon realized that living in Kentucky, that wouldn’t be possible.

Since he took office in 2015, Kentucky’s Republican governor, Matt Bevin, has ushered in some of the most restrictive abortion legislation in the country. This year, the legislature approved a ban of abortion when the pregnancy reaches 20 weeks; a requirement for a vaginal ultrasound before a patient’s abortion was recently struck down after being contested by the American Civil Liberties Union.

For over a decade, Kentucky had just two abortion clinics, both owned and operated by EMW Women’s Surgical Center. At the end of 2016, the Bevin administration blocked a license for Planned Parenthood to perform abortions at its Louisville location, citing a new regulation requiring facilities to have transfer agreements with a nearby hospital and ambulance service. In January, the Lexington EMW clinic officially shuttered after a year-long legal battle. The administration denied a request to renew its license, and according to an EMW Facebook post, the landlord refused to renew its lease.

So when Emily called to schedule her appointment at EMW in Louisville, she was contacting the last abortion provider left in the state.

EMW sits in the middle of bustling downtown Louisville. Emily planned to schedule the appointment on a weekday, when it was less likely she would be seen en route. It was also when the sidewalk outside EMW would be less likely to be swarming with anti-abortion protesters. She’d initially called around to other clinics in the region, trying to get an appointment out of state, but Ohio, Indiana, and Tennessee have waiting periods or other restricting laws that would require her to spend at least two days away from home and miss too much work.

Though EMW is only 20 minutes from her house, Emily didn’t have someone who could drive her to and from the procedure, which the clinic requires. Her boyfriend couldn’t get off work to take her, and she didn’t feel comfortable asking other friends or family members to do it. Worried she was running out of options, she started to panic. An EMW employee told her to call the Kentucky Health Justice Network (KHJN), a nonprofit that advocates for reproductive justice and has an abortion support fund. One of 70 abortion organizations that belongs to the National Network of Abortion Funds, KHJN is a lifeline for Kentuckians trying to access the medical procedure, using its volunteer network and donations to help with transportation, gas money, lodging, and payment for abortions.

She scheduled the appointment, and the day of, a KHJN volunteer showed up at her doorstep and drove her. Emily still had to face protesters outside of EMW. “They’re basically, without touching you, assaulting you,” she said. She made it safely inside, and after the procedure was finished, the volunteer dropped her off at home, and called to check on her a few days later.

Months later, Emily still thinks often about the help the volunteers at KHJN provided, at absolutely no cost to her. “At every turn [in this process], there’s a barrier, but this was one less to worry about,” she said.

The Louisville clinic is currently in the midst of a trial that will determine whether Kentucky becomes the only state in the nation without an abortion provider. The trial wrapped up in early September, and a verdict is expected at any moment. With just one clinic left in Kentucky, and few left in surrounding states, the work of organizations like KHJN is becoming more expensive and logistically challenging.

“There’s a lot of pressure at this moment,” said Meg Stern, the Abortion Support Fund director for KHJN. “The clinic could close, and here we are with all these people who still need access to abortion. What’s going to happen?”

Since 1976, when the Hyde Amendment was signed into law, the US government has banned federal funding for abortion, and many states have followed suit. Abortion funds cropped up to help people overcome logistical and financial barriers to the procedure. “They were an underground railroad of sorts,” said Marcie Crim, KHJN’s executive director.

Founded in 2013, KHJN now has five full-time employees and around 60 volunteers. Until now, the organization has attempted to keep a low profile. But as GOP lawmakers further diminish access to reproductive healthcare by introducing targeted regulation of abortion provider (TRAP) laws, fund leaders like Crim are speaking to the public and press more often.

“People didn’t know we existed, so they weren’t asking us for our services,” Crim said. “My goal [since coming on in 2016] was to raise our profile.”

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on reproductive health in the US, more than a third of state abortion restrictions instituted since the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade have been enacted within the last six years.

“It’s this cumulative impact from restrictions and lack of access that creates such a dire situation for some women,” said Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues manager for Guttmacher. “The distances they have to travel—to be able to climb that mountain is very hard. And then they have to think about raising money for the procedure and the travel.”

At EMW, a medical abortion costs $750, and a surgical abortion can reach up to $2,250. The costs of abortion procedures vary widely by clinic, state, and how far along the pregnancy is. KHJN, which is funded largely through individual donations, typically pledges up to $500 a week total per patient, which goes toward gas cards, hotels, and procedures, then works with other abortion funds to help fund the rest if necessary. But most clinics require patients to pay for a portion of the procedure themselves, so Stern and volunteers have to ask uncomfortable questions: can the patient in need of an abortion use someone’s credit card? Can she pawn belongings?

“By far, that’s the worst part of this job,” Stern said.

With the increased restrictions, the organization is stretching itself thin. Before 2016, Crim said KHJN got 11 requests for financial or transportation help a week. Within the last year, she said, they’ve started getting up to 30. Part of that is because the organization is becoming more well-known, Crim said, and part of it is because people have to travel farther now that there is only one clinic. About 95 percent of people KHJN assists―many of whom live four to six hours away, in rural Kentucky—go to EMW, she added. But the 20 week ban in the state has made that more difficult.

Stern said KHJN volunteers pick people up in gas station parking lots and outside abandoned homes because patients fear repercussions in their personal and professional lives for their decision. Many of them, she added, find themselves at risk of longer wait times because there are so few providers left, or due to abrupt changes in state laws.

“Losing one clinic in Kentucky would be additional motivation for abortion opponents to try to close other clinics, or adopt so many restrictions that abortion is impossible to access,” Nash said.

This year, Crim said a pregnant 16-year-old girl drove an hour to Louisville with her mother to EMW. She was two days over the 20-week limit, and got turned away. When they reached out to KHJN for help, Crim took the case on herself. After days sorting out logistics, KHJN forked over $1,750 to fly the girl and her mother to a clinic in Maryland—since closed—as a last resort to obtain the procedure.

Situations like that are already becoming more common for Kentuckians, Crim said. Out-of-state travel is something KHJN is increasingly unable to afford, but she said they exhaust all possibilities until patients get what they need. Otherwise, the consequences can be grim.

“The girl was in the backseat, telling me she googled how to give herself an abortion because she didn’t think she was going to be able to get it done,” she said. “But I hear this a lot now.”

Along with limited abortion access, many in Kentucky, especially those living in rural areas, lack resources for women’s health, including contraceptives and family planning services. According to a 2014 study by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 76 of the state’s 120 counties don’t have an OB-GYN. And Kentuckians need care: according to the most recently available data from Guttmacher, there were 7,220 pregnancies among teens aged 15 to 19 in Kentucky in 2013, making it the state with the eighth highest rate of teen pregnancy in the country.

This summer, Crim helped launch an initiative to improve birth control access in Eastern Kentucky. The two-year program, in partnership with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Appalachia-based media center Appalshop, combines educational outreach, storytelling, and local policy change to make sure people in the region have access to all types of contraceptives.

For now, KHJN and pro-choice advocates are anxiously awaiting the ruling on EMW. “This case is incredibly important,” Nash said. “It also puts on the court not only what kind of regulation is appropriate, but how important is it to protect access.”

If the Kentucky judge rules for EMW to stay open, it would set a precedent that may mean Planned Parenthood could resume abortion services as well. In the worst-case scenario, if the clinic is closed, KHJN will have to transport people out of state, which means more money for travel, lodging and gas, and more logistics to sort out with other clinics. “Paying for the procedures will be easy at that point,” Stern said.

The battle over abortion access in Kentucky has emboldened people like Stern and Emily to advocate more strongly for reproductive justice. “The time to remain neutral and not choose a side has passed,” Stern said. “For me it feels necessary now, which makes it a little easier to have these conversations.”

For Stern, that means pushing harder to raise KHJN’s public profile. For Emily—who says she will never forget the help she received from the organization when she needed it most—it means sharing her story and offering up her time to the cause; her experiences have made her consider becoming a KHJN volunteer herself. “I have a hard time with them trying to pass the laws they’re trying to pass, not for my sake but for others,” she says. “I wouldn’t want someone not to have these resources like I did.”

Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mb97zq/the-volunteers-helping-women-get-abortions-against-all-odds

 

December 17, 2017

After Alabama, abortion may be backseat issue in 2018 races 

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 Doug Jones is greeted by a supporter before speaking during an election-night watch party Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, in Birmingham, Ala. Jones has defeated Republican Roy Moore, a one-time GOP pariah who was embraced by the Republican Party and the president even after facing allegations of sexual impropriety. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

ATLANTA (AP) — Alabama, one of the most conservative states in the country, with one of the most evangelical electorates, is sending an abortion-rights supporter to the U.S. Senate, despite GOP efforts to paint Democrat Doug Jones as an unacceptable extremist on the issue.

Certainly, any analysis of what Jones’ upset over Roy Moore means for other races involves a caveat: The Republican nominee was twice ousted from the state Supreme Court and stood accused of sexual misconduct with minors, baggage that gave Jones an opening in a state that hadn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1992.

Yet Jones could not have won without crossover votes from conservative Republicans who oppose abortion, and that’s just what he did.

Exit polls show Jones won a third of voters who said abortion should be illegal in most cases, and 27 percent of those who want it outlawed completely.

These numbers suggest that abortion may not necessarily be a defining issue in the 2018 midterm elections.

Abortion is “still a dividing line in American politics,” said Republican pollster Greg Strimple, who surveys voters for the Congressional Leadership Fund, the political action committee backed by Speaker Paul Ryan that is helping defend the GOP’s House majority.

But a candidate’s stand on abortion mobilizes only slices of the two parties’ bases, and for most every voter in between, “it’s a secondary issue,” Strimple said.

There’s an argument that this contest was unusually unsavory for conservatives, making them choose between a man accused of preying on girls, and a Democrat. But it’s clear that Jones’ support of legalized abortion wasn’t a deal-breaker for just enough Republicans to give Democrats a 20,000-vote margin, out of more than 1.35 million votes cast.

That’s heartening for Democrats looking to dent Republican domination in Congress and statehouses by targeting voters dissatisfied with President Donald Trump and unhappy over Republican moves to roll back Democrats’ 2010 health insurance expansion and push tax cuts tilted to corporations and wealthy individuals.

“We are competing on a massive offensive battlefield, in districts that went for both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and that are suburban, rural and urban,” said Meredith Kelly of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Regardless of where they are running, (our) candidates have no reason to compromise on their support for a woman’s health care, her right to choose, and her economic security.”

Nationwide, polling suggests that a majority of Americans avoid taking an absolutist stance on abortion. According to a Pew assessment in July, the largest plurality is the 33 percent of voters who say abortion should be legal in most cases. The next largest segment, at 25 percent, says it should be legal in all cases. Twenty-four percent say abortion should be illegal in most cases, while just 16 percent say it should be illegal in all cases.

Of course, those voters aren’t distributed proportionally across state and congressional boundaries, and partisan leanings are much more intense: 65 percent of self-identified Republicans say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while 75 percent of Democrats say it should be legal in most or all cases. Independents lean in favor of access, with 60 percent saying it should be legal.

Religious influence sharpens voters’ leanings further. White evangelical protestants are the most likely religious group to oppose abortion rights: 70 percent say it should be illegal in most or all cases. Majorities of Catholics, black protestants and mainline protestants all support more access, while unaffiliated voters lean overwhelmingly toward legality.

A state like Alabama, where Republican nominees usually win at least 60 percent of the vote and where half the population is white evangelical protestant (as opposed to a quarter nationally), is more fundamentally anti-abortion than many other states now under Republican control, such as Ohio or Wisconsin, which have far fewer evangelicals proportionally and are typically presidential battlegrounds.

It’s also true that nearly all the 91 House districts that national Democrats are targeting are less Republican than Alabama. Democrats need to flip 24 GOP-held seats for a House majority. In the Senate, Republicans will have a narrow 51-49 advantage when Jones is sworn in, meaning they need a net gain of two seats to regain control. Democrats also must defend 10 seats in states where Trump won, but all these states are less conservative than Alabama, perhaps with the exception of North Dakota.

In Alabama, Moore and his supporters certainly tried to make abortion a dividing line. Republicans circulated an interview in which Jones affirmed his position. After losing, Moore highlighted the issue again in a video to supporters explaining his refusal to concede. “Abortion, sodomy and materialism have taken the place of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he said, lamenting that “we have killed over 60 million of our unborn children.”

Yet throughout the campaign, including the months before the sexual misconduct allegations surfaced in early November, Jones stood his ground, certainly not emphasizing abortion rights, but not denying his views when asked.

“Everyone felt like I needed to be someone I was not to try to get votes,” he told The Associated Press the day after his election. “I promised myself I would not do that.”

Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/alabama-abortion-may-backseat-issue-2018-races-142035537–election.html

 

December 16, 2017

A Federal Judge Just Blocked The Trump Administration’s Contraception Coverage Rules

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A judge in Pennsylvania put a temporary, nationwide block on Trump’s rules creating exceptions for no-cost contraception coverage, saying that they could potentially cause women “enormous and irreversible” harm.

Mark Wilson / Getty Images

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s new rules allowing employers and universities to opt out of covering contraception for their employees due religious or moral reasons.

The Trump administration rules, implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services in early October, allowed entities with “religious or moral” opposition to contraception to stop providing coverage, or participating in an Obama-era federal program that separately provided contraception coverage.

US District Judge Wendy Beetlestone heard arguments in Philadelphia Thursday in the case brought by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. The following day, she agreed to grant Shapiro’s motion for a preliminary injunction, saying that the Trump administration’s rules could potentially cause the women of Pennsylvania “enormous and irreversible” harm. The injunction applies nationwide.

The injunction will stay in place as the trials continue, keeping the Obamacare requirement that employers provide no-cost contraception, while the arguments for and against the Trump administration’s rules are heard in Pennsylvania.

Department of Justice spokesperson Lauren Ehrsam told BuzzFeed News in a statement that the administration “disagrees with the court’s ruling and are evaluating next steps.”

“This administration is committed to defending the religious liberty of all Americans and we look forward to doing so in court,” she added.

The Pennsylvania case is one of many lawsuits filed by states and organizations, more than dozen of which were filed in the days following HHS’s ruling. California’s lawsuit had its first hearing earlier this week.

“This is just the first step, but today is a critical victory for millions of women and families and for the rule of law,” Shapiro, Pennsylvania Attorney General, said In a press conference following the ruling.

“We’re pleased we’ve won the first battle in our fight today and look forward to the next steps.”

Judge Beetlestone explained in her written opinion that a preliminary injunction can only be granted if it is determined that the plaintiff, in this case the state of Pennsylvania, is likely to “suffer irreparable harm.” Beetlestone said she believes that it is likely Pennsylvania would suffer two kinds of harm: financial harm to the state, and “harm to the health, safety, and wellness of the Commonwealth’s female residents,” she wrote.

Based on the testimony of doctors that Pennsylvania brought before the court, Beetlestone wrote she was convinced that women who could no longer receive cost-free birth control from their employers or schools were likely to either turn to “state and local programs” that provide free contraceptives, thereby costing the state money, or to forgo contraception altogether, thereby increasing the likelihood of unintended pregnancies and imposing “additional costs on Pennsylvania’s state funded health programs.”

The judge summarized the Trump administration’s arguments against Pennsylvania’s assertions — that the state could not identify any woman who lost contraceptive coverage since the new rules were rolled out in October.

Following the release of the rules, BuzzFeed News reached out to more than twenty Catholic colleges and universities and around a dozen small businesses that had previously expressed interest in dropping contraception coverage, to ask if they had done so. While many did not respond, and several of the colleges said they do not provide any health insurance to their students, none of the entities told BuzzFeed News that they planned to take advantage of the new rules.

Notre Dame University initially announced it they would stop participating in the Obama-era federal program that enabled their insurance company to provide separate contraception coverage for their students and employees, but following uproar from students and faculty, the school reversed its decision.

Despite the lack of evidence of harm caused by the rules so far, Beetlestone wrote, “there is no need to wait for the axe to fall before an injunction is appropriate.” Especially, she added, since January 1 is the deadline for many insurance plans to change benefits enrollment.

California had also sought a nationwide temporary injunction to block to the contraception rules, but U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. has not yet ruled. Gilliam said in the hearing this week that he was also likely to grant the preliminary injunction because the Trump administration bypassed normal protocol for agency rules; instead of waiting for the designated public comment period before enacting the rules, they went into effect instantly.

The comment period went forward, however, ending in early December. HHS is required to review the comments and consider making changes to the rules, leaving employers who wanted to take advantage of them uncertain about the policies’ future. HHS has not announced how long it will take for them to review the comments, or whether they plan on making any changes the rules.

A Justice Department lawyer argued in the California hearing earlier this week that the rules needed to be implemented quickly, due to legal uncertainty over who Obamacare’s contraception mandate applies to. But Gilliam questioned that reasoning, Reuters reportedTuesday.

“I don’t know why that could not be done consistent with the standard notice and comment period,” the judge said.

The Catholic organization Little Sisters of the Poor, filed motions to join in on the lawsuits in California and Pennsylvania to help defend the Trump administration’s decision. The California judge granted Little Sisters’ request to join the suit, and heard their arguments. But the Pennsylvania judge denied Little Sisters’ motion to join the case. Mark Rienzi, a lawyer for The Becket Fund, which has helped defend Little Sisters of the Poor, told BuzzFeed News that they appealed this decision and expect their appeal to go to the Supreme Court.

“It doesn’t make sense to have these two secular governments fighting over the rights of religious parties,” Rienzi said. “This directly affects the Little Sisters.”

The organization, which is comprised mostly of nuns and cares for the elderly, have been at the forefront of the opposition to Obamacare’s contraception mandate since it was implemented. They participated in a lawsuit that went before the Supreme Court in 2016, before it was sent back down the the district courts for The injunction will remain in place as the court continues to hear Pennsylvania’s arguments against the rule.

Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/emaoconnor/a-federal-judge-just-blocked-trumps-contraception-coverage?utm_term=.gekNxxX52#.rwaPQQDr9

 

December 16, 2017

Paul Ryan says American women need to have more babies

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“I did my part, but we need to have higher birth rates in this country,” said the father of three.

CREDIT: SCREENGRAB

During a news conference on Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan urged American women to have more babies, saying their lack of procreation was stunting economic growth.

“People — this is going to be the new economic challenge for America. People,” Ryan said, in response to a question about entitlement reform.

Alluding to the fact that he’s a father of three, Ryan added, “I did my part, but we need to have higher birth rates in this country. Meaning, baby boomers are retiring, and we have fewer people following them in the work force.”

“We have something like a 90 percent increase in the retirement population in America, but only a 19 percent increase in the working population in American,” the Speaker continued. “So what do we have to do? Be smarter, more efficient, more technology — still going to need more people. And when we have tens of millions of people right here in this country falling short of their potential — not working, not looking for a job, or not in school getting a skill to get a job — that’s a problem.”

While it is true that birth rates in the U.S. have been declining, that’s not necessarily bad news — for instance, birth rates for teenagers hit a record low last year. Ryan’s comments also overlook the possibility that people may not share his belief that economic growth is a goal to be pursued at any and all costs.

Furthermore, there’s an obvious solution to the problem that Ryan completely ignores — allowing more immigrants into the country to fill the jobs being vacated by retiring baby boomers. But instead of using his position as House Speaker to pursue immigration reform, Ryan has instead indicated he’s on board with Trump’s hardline anti-immigration positions, including the president’s insistence on spending billions of dollars on a border wall.

Ryan isn’t alone among male Wisconsin Republicans in believing that women should have more babies for the good of the economy. On the floor of the Wisconsin State Assembly last month, Wisconsin state Rep. Scott Allen (R) argued on behalf of a bill that would prevent health insurance plans for state employees from covering most abortions, saying more births are needed to spur economic growth.

“Labor force shortages are tied to population declines. Labor force shortages are a limiting factor in economic growth,” Allen said. “And limited economic growth poses a problem when government tries to pay for public services and infrastructure. In spite of this Mr. Speaker, ironically, the Democrats continue their effort to support the abortion industry.”

Source: https://thinkprogress.org/paul-ryan-says-american-women-need-to-have-more-babies-dc45cb1afec2/

 

December 15, 2017

Abortion Rights Foes Flail, Finger Point, Mourn as Roy Moore Falls in Alabama

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Many leaders in the movement to outlaw abortion care in the United States continued to support the Republican Senate candidate in the face of sexual misconduct allegations.

As Moore refuses to concede the race to Jones, many in the anti-choice community are grappling with the ramifications of losing Jeff Sessions’ former Senate seat.
 Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Texas has seen some of the nation’s most regressive abortion restrictions in recent years. This series chronicles the fall-out of those laws, and the litigation that has followed.

Anti-choice activists are baselessly questioning election results and lamenting a massive blow to their agenda after Democrat Doug Jones’ stunning victoryagainst Republican Roy Moore in Alabama’s special election for the U.S. Senate Tuesday.

Many in the media suggested Jones’ pro-choice views could keep him from winning the race, and Moore attempted to use the issue to distract from allegations that he sexually abused a minor and engaged in inappropriate behavior with other young women. Moore’s radical views on abortion, which include support for so-called personhood legislation that would criminalize abortion and ban some forms of contraception, made him a favorite of anti-choice advocates. Many leaders in the movement to outlaw abortion care continued to support him in the face of the allegations of sexual misconduct.

As Moore refuses to concede the race to Jones, many in the anti-choice community are grappling with the ramifications of losing Jeff Sessions’ former Senate seat.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, blamed Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for Moore’s loss in a Wednesday press release, calling on the Senate majority leader to step down and claiming that Congress would no longer be able to pass anti-choice legislation after Moore’s defeat.”It is my opinion that Sen. Mitch McConnell heavily contributed to Moore’s defeat, and because that led to giving a seat away to a pro-abortion Democrat, he should resign immediately,” he said.

“McConnell has ensured that pro-life legislation will never pass, Planned Parenthood will never be defunded, and babies that can feel pain will continue to be aborted after the mid-point of pregnancy,” Newman said in his statement, referring to the GOP’s attempts to pass a 20-week abortion ban based on the unsupported claim that a fetus feels pain at that point in a pregnancy.

Newman, who is notorious for using violent and extreme rhetoric to discuss abortion and for co-founding the discredited anti-choice front group known as the Center for Medical Progress, was a vocal supporter of Moore’s campaign. He stood by the Alabama Republican amid allegations that Moore sexually abused a minor and behaved inappropriately with other young women.

Rusty Thomas, national director of Operation Save America—the group that made headlines this year when it spent a week protesting in front of Kentucky’s last abortion clinic—said the race may not be over. “Apparently, Alabama did not count all the votes, like the military vote that is traditionally Republican,” Thomas wrote in a Wednesday post to his Facebook page. “As a result, Roy Moore will not concede until there is a recount. This may not be over brethren.”

Thomas spoke on Moore’s behalf at a November press conference, telling the crowd that he continued to support the Republican “without hesitation” despite the flood of allegations against him.

Matt Trewhella, whose endorsement was touted on Moore’s campaign site, took to social media to encourage supporters not to give up the cause. “The Democrats and Republicans are all happy by the Potomac – Moore has lost and Bannon suffers a blow in his cause to destroy the GOP Establishment,” he wrote in a post to his Facebook page. “Business as usual in DC. – status quo maintained. Don’t lose your fight however – stay true to Christ and rally the lesser magistrates! Tomorrow’s another day.”

Trewhella signed a statement in the early 1990s saying the murder of an abortion care provider was “justifiable.” Though he later withdrew his name from the statement, a 1994 investigation by Newsweekdescribed Trewhella as “a mentor for potentially violent anti-abortion extremists.”

Cal Zastrow, an anti-choice activist connected to Operation Save America and co-founder of Personhood USA, claimed—without evidence—that voter fraud could have played a role in the results. “Please pray with us that all voter fraud will be exposed during the recount,” he wrote on his Facebook page. Voter fraud has been proven tonot be prevalent in the United States, and it is often used as a baseless excuse to erect barriers to the ballot box.

American Family Association Action and the Family Research Council, both of which supported Moore’s campaign, did not respond to Rewire’s requests for comment.

Source: https://rewire.news/article/2017/12/13/abortion-rights-foes-flail-finger-point-mourn-roy-moore-falls-alabama/

 

December 15, 2017

Bill banning Down syndrome abortions passes in Ohio, heads to Kasich’s desk

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Protesters with shirts saying "Stop the Bans" gathered in the Ohio Senate chamber after legislators passed a bill banning abortions based on a Down syndrome diagnosis.

Protesters with shirts saying “Stop the Bans” gathered in the Ohio Senate chamber after legislators passed a bill banning abortions based on a Down syndrome diagnosis.  (AP)

The GOP-led Ohio state Senate on Wednesday passed a ban on abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome, and Republican Gov. John Kasich has sent signals that he will soon sign the measure into law.

Lawmakers voted 20-12 in favor of the ban, which would prohibit doctors from performing an abortion if doctors know that it is being sought, “in whole or in part,” to avoid a Down syndrome pregnancy.

Doctors who violate the ban would lose their medical license and face a fourth-degree felony charge, including up to a $5,000 fine and 18 months in prison. Mothers would not be punished by the law.

Three Republicans voted against the measure, which was opposed by all of the state Senate’s Democratic lawmakers.

The bill has also divided the disability community in Ohio, with some disability advocates testifying against the proposal because, they said, it prioritizes Down syndrome over other disabilities.

“This bill sends a very clear message, that some disabilities are more worthy of life than others and that one disability — Down syndrome — is the most worthy,” Jane Gerhardt, a woman whose daughter suffers from Down syndrome, testified Tuesday, according to local reports.

The ACLU has characterized the bill as an unconstitutional effort to usurp well-established abortion rights.

A group of abortion-rights activists staged a silent protest in the Senate chamber after the Down syndrome bill’s approval, standing in a row wearing T-shirts that spelled out “Stop the Bans.”

The legality of aborting fetuses with Down syndrome, a genetic abnormality that causes developmental delays and other serious medical problems, has recently been debated in other states. Indiana and North Dakota already have passed laws like the one that Ohio is advancing.

The Indiana measure, enacted in 2016, was blocked by a federal judge on constitutional grounds after a lawsuit by the ACLU. An appeal by state officials is pending.

The 2013 North Dakota law has not been challenged, so courts have not yet had the ability to rule on its constitutionality. The state’s sole abortion clinic, in Fargo, says the issue hasn’t arisen under its policy of not performing abortions after 16 weeks into a pregnancy.

The Ohio vote was a key policy victory for Ohio Right to Life, the state’s oldest and largest anti-abortion group.

“Both the House and the Senate sent a loud message that we are a society built on compassion, love, equality,” said president Mike Gonidakis. “We expect Governor Kasich will sign this legislation, as he said he would in 2015. Every Ohioan deserves the right to life, no matter how many chromosomes they have.”

Kasich’s spokesman declined to say what the governor would do. Kasich has said in recent weeks that he thought the measure seemed “appropriate,” but that he would review it when he received it.

Last December, Kasich vetoed the so-called “Heartbeat Bill,” which would have banned abortions after a heartbeat is detected — typically about six weeks into a pregnancy.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/12/14/bill-banning-down-syndrome-abortions-passes-in-ohio-heads-to-kasichs-desk.html

 

December 14, 2017

Dáil committee votes for abortion law change in Ireland

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Oireachtas committeeImage copyrightRTÉ
Image captionThe cross-party committee was set up to assess abortion law in Ireland

A parliamentary committee in the Republic of Ireland has voted to recommend changes to abortion law.

The committee was set up to consider a report by the Citizens’ Assembly on abortion law in Ireland.

The cross-party group is in favour of repealing the 8th amendment to the Constitution of Ireland.

The 8th amendment acknowledges “the right to life of the unborn and with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother”.

Committee members voted 14-6 to recommend to the Oireachtas (parliament) to repeal the 8th amendment, and voted 12-5 to recommend to allow terminations without restrictions up to 12 weeks.

Woman with hand and clipboardImage copyrightKATARZYNABIALASIEWICZ
Image captionThe Republic of Ireland has a near total ban on abortion

The constitutional article reads: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”

The committee also voted on numerous scenarios which would provide guidance on parameters for abortion legislation.

This included a vote which supported the decriminalisation of women who seek to procure an abortion, when a termination is carried out in a hospital or licensed clinic.

The committee will publish its final report on December 20.

Speaking in the Dáil Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he intends to hold a referendum on the issue next May.

Presentational grey line

Abortion in the Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has a near total ban on abortion.

In 2013, abortion was legislated for under certain conditions – when doctors deem that a woman life’s is at risk due to medical complications, or if she is at risk of suicide.

The law does not allow for terminations in cases of rape or incest, or when there is a fatal foetal abnormality.

The law was introduced in the wake of the case of Savita Halappanavar who died in a Galway hospital in 2012 after she was refused an abortion.

In what was known as the X Case of 1992, a 14-year-old rape victim was prevented from travelling to England to terminate her pregnancy by the High Court.

This ruling was overturned by the Irish Supreme Court and a referendum approved a further update to the constitution, stating that the eighth amendment did not restrict the freedom to travel to another state.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42344858

 

December 14, 2017

Pennsylvania Governor: Women Can ‘Make Their Own Health Care Decisions’

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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) speaks during the Geisinger National Symposium, “From Crisis to Cure: Revitalizing America’s Healthcare System,” on Nov. 9 in Danville, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has reaffirmed his intention to veto a highly controversial bill passed by his state’s Republican-controlled legislature to restrict abortions after 20 weeks.

The ban, known as Senate Bill 3, passed in the state’s House on Tuesday night, 121-70, after passing the state Senate back in February, 32-18.

“This bill is an attack on women, and it should never have reached my desk,” Wolf said in a tweet posted Wednesday. “I will veto it, because all Pennsylvania women deserve to make their own health care decisions.”

Support for the bill in both chambers of the state legislature was just shy of a veto-proof majority.

SB3 represents “the most extreme restrictions” on abortion in the country, according to Planned Parenthood.

Pennsylvania currently allows abortions up to the 24-week mark. SB3 would roll back that limit, allowing abortions after 20 weeks only in rare emergency situations, with no exception for cases of rape, incest or fetal abnormalities.

The measure would also criminalize a certain medically accepted abortion procedure known as “dilation and evacuation,” although SB3 refers to it as “dismemberment abortion.” Were the bill to become law, Pennsylvania would become one of nearly 20 states that have laws banning abortion after 20 weeks ― but experts say the so-called “dismemberment” ban is unprecedented.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the governor called SB3 an “an assault on the doctor-patient relationship by politicians without medical or health expertise.”

“We’ve got to keep politics out of the doctor’s office,” Wolf told HuffPost in March, after holding events with doctors and women who have had the same kind of late-term abortions that would be restricted if the bill became law.

“When people are choosing where to go to school or begin their professional lives or where to start their business or family, Pennsylvania has got to show that it’s open to them,” he continued. “This bill just says the reverse, that you can’t make your own decisions here, this is not a place where we value freedom of conscience.”

Supporters of the bill argue that 20 weeks is the threshold at which a fetus can begin to feel pain, a statement debated by doctors.

The bill’s opponents ― a group that includes the Pennsylvania Medical Society ― argue that some fetal abnormalities are only discovered after the 20-week mark, while others fear that such bans aim to erode Roe v. Wade.

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pennsylvania-governor-abortion_us_5a317c9be4b091ca2684f0cf

 

December 13, 2017

U.S. judge questions Trump administration on birth control rules

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A U.S. judge questioned on Tuesday whether the federal government properly formulated new rules that undermine an Obamacare requirement for employers to provide insurance that covers women’s birth control.

New rules from the Department of Health and Human Services announced in October let businesses or non-profit organizations lodge religious or moral objections to obtain an exemption from the Obamacare law’s mandate that most employers provide contraceptives coverage in health insurance with no co-payment.

The move from President Donald Trump’s administration kept a campaign pledge that pleased the Republican’s conservative Christian supporters.

California and several other states with Democratic attorneys general promptly sued and asked for the policy to be blocked while its legality is decided.

At a hearing in an Oakland, California, federal court on Tuesday, attorneys for California argued the Trump administration acted too quickly and did not follow proper notice procedures when issuing the new rules.

U.S. Justice Department lawyer Ethan Davis responded that the Trump administration had to move quickly, given legal uncertainty over who is covered by the Obamacare mandates.

U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam questioned that argument.

“I don’t know why that could not be done consistent with the standard notice and comment period,” the judge said.

Gilliam also asked several other questions about the logistics involved with issuing an injunction. He did not announce a ruling at the hearing.

The contraception mandate was implemented as part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare legislation, popularly known as Obamacare. Republicans, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate and White House, have so far failed to repeal the law, a top presidential campaign promise of Trump.

In its reasoning for the move, the administration said among other things that mandating birth control coverage could foster “risky sexual behavior” among teens and young adults. It overturned the Obama administration’s view that the birth control requirement was necessary to meet the government’s “compelling interest” to protect women’s health.

The state of California said it expected a surge in unwanted pregnancies as more women lose contraception coverage, which it said would affect public services.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-healthcare/u-s-judge-questions-trump-administration-on-birth-control-rules-idUSKBN1E632H

 

December 13, 2017

Even in States With Progressive Policies, Shame Can Contribute to Reproductive Health-Care Obstacles

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When it came to accessing contraception, women I spoke with as part of my research often framed it as a way to prevent abortions rather than preventing pregnancy: a subtle, but important, difference.

Interviews with women in rural California illuminate the complexity of their experiences with contraception and abortion.
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Texas has seen some of the nation’s most regressive abortion restrictions in recent years. This series chronicles the fall-out of those laws, and the litigation that has followed.

“If I was pregnant because I wasn’t taking care of myself, I’d have to just suck it up and say, ‘This is your mistake, you have to live with it.’”

This was just one of the stories I heard while interviewing women in rural California in 2016, when I was a social work PhD student whose research focused on reproductive justice. Contrary to frequent misconception, despite the state’s robust family planning program and overall progressive policy stances on reproductive health, I found that it is not enough to have laws in place that protect a person’s right to make decisions about her body. Many women, especially women of color and poor women, are locked out of health-care systems because they don’t have transportation, money, or the support of their partner to access those services. Furthermore, internalized shame can contribute its own obstacles toward access.

Over the course of the summer, I conducted 68 in-depth semistructured interviews with adult women age 44 and younger who were accessing clinical reproductive health-care services in two rural California counties. Ninety percent of the women who participated self-identified as Hispanic. A majority of women reported that they were married or in a serious relationship, and nearly half had never had a child.

Many of the women’s attitudes toward reproductive health can best be described as conflicts between familial and community-based stigma and the need for personal agency over health-care choices. Some described this stigma as gender inequality and a glorification of sex for men, coupled with judgment and stigmatization against women. And when it came to accessing contraception, women often framed it as a way to prevent abortions rather than preventing pregnancy: a subtle, but important, difference.

Some women in the study reflected that if they were not using contraception and became pregnant, they would live with their pregnancy rather than obtaining an abortion. These women felt that having a child, even from an unplanned pregnancy, would be “their responsibility.” If they wanted to be sexually active, they believed they should “own up” to the result.

At the same time, however, they faced both internal and external hurdles to contraception access. For one thing, the women reported that many providers in private practice or community health centers do not offer a wide range of birth control. Some said they had trouble finding a provider who honored their decisions to use contraception at all.

Furthermore, many of the women I spoke with felt the need to hide their desire or use of contraception from their families. One woman reported, “Someone in my family found out I was using contraception and their response was, ‘So you’re sleeping around or something?’” Another told me, “I don’t feel like I can tell my mom or my sister [about contraception use] because I’m just going to be judged.”

Many women talked about how their families and neighbors expected them to remain virgins until they were married. They say their communities generally tend to describe those seeking reproductive health care as “promiscuous.” This did not keep women from seeking reproductive health services, but it did prevent them from feeling like they could openly discuss their choices.

A few women were embarrassed to discuss issue with me because they are not like “those girls.”

“I don’t know how to say that in a nice way. I’ve heard people call them a lot of terrible things, saying that they’re easier because they’re this and that,” one said. Another told me that openly seeking contraception meant “you’re looked down upon. You’re bad names or a bad person.” Many women said in their communities, young men receive positive reinforcement for being sexually promiscuous, while young women are labeled as “sluts.”

“Most of the time when you hear about young couples having sex, you hear them talking about the girl. It’s like she’s easy and she’s just giving it up … but when it comes to the guy, no one ever really says anything. … They’re giving him props for it,” a respondent said.

For some women, the fear of familial stigma led to choices like crossing the border into Mexico to avoid having their parents find out that they are using contraception: “I’d rather pay this $10 … to get birth control than to come here to a family doctor and have them tell. I feel that’s the fear, too. Like I’m going to go to my family doctor and they’re going to tell my parents”—a clear breach of patient confidentiality.

Women also described religion as a barrier to seeking services. “Since religion says you should be married before being sexually active, it stops you from looking for help,” said one. In response, many created close relationships with friends who were going through something similar to normalize their experiences and give them opportunities to discuss reproductive health free of judgment from their family members.

Even as many participants spoke about the shame exerted on them for seeking birth control, they still expressed judgment about women who did not “take care of themselves”—in other words, by using contraception—and then chose to have an abortion after becoming pregnant.

“If you were irresponsible and you just didn’t take care of yourself and you came out pregnant and then you just want to end it, that makes me feel mad,” said one woman.

Many of the respondents talked about the effects stigma had on their decisions. “I couldn’t get here to do it,” one said. “The reason I delayed it was just going back and forth in my head, like. … how am I going to look at [my mom] in the face after this.”

Another woman talked about how nervous and scared she was—not about the procedure itself, but about potential reactions from her loved ones. “I chose not to talk to anyone in my family about it because they’re very judgmental and they’re probably going to be angry at me and they won’t understand me. I’ve heard them make comments about other girls who have abortions.” But after the care, she said, “I came out [of the clinic] and I felt good. Like I just felt a little sick and I went home and I rested and I felt good.”

A different participant described the experience as “horrible,” continuing, “Well, that’s why I’m [at the clinic]. I don’t want to have kids right now. That’s why I’m on birth control. It’s a really big deal.”

For these women, there is one exception to the abortion rule. Many women articulated that rape is theprimary exception in which abortion should not only be considered but also encouraged.

These interviews illuminate the complexity of many women’s experiences with contraception and abortion. Religious beliefs, especially their mother’s, affected how they discuss sex and contraception. If their mother was passionately opposed to contraception or focused on abstinence until marriage, women would seek advice from female relatives who they knew would support their decision to “take care of themselves.” When it came to abortion, meanwhile, most would stick to speaking to friends or romantic partners.

The “pro-choice” community should not ignore the nuances surrounding feelings about abortion and contraceptive care among many individuals—a reality recognized by the reproductive justice framework, which Black women created in the early 1990s to recognize that bodily autonomy went beyond pro-family planning policies. Oversimplifying the reproductive health-care debate into a conflict between the rights of the government and the right of a woman to control her body ignores the philosophical underpinnings that rural women grapple with on a daily basis. And maintaining a narrow view of the purpose of contraception solely as avoiding pregnancy overlooks the deep cultural and religious experiences of some women in rural areas.

Policymakers, service providers, and health-care researchers must take into account the consequences of ignoring the background that shapes women’s belief systems. Many women stated that community leaders and service providers publicly talking about sex and sexuality, especially among young people, would make getting reproductive health-care services more acceptable in their communities.

“It’s the combination of ignorance, lack of knowledge of the resources you have and what an abortion really is, the culture, religion,” one concluded. “I think that stigma prevents women from obtaining services when they want them.”

Source: https://rewire.news/article/2017/12/12/even-states-progressive-policies-shame-can-contribute-reproductive-health-care-obstacles/

 

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