Abortion

Gosnell Found Guilty (Mostly)

May 13, 2013 By Guest Leave a Comment

Guest blogger Sarah Cohen lives in Philadelphia with her husband and their cat.

Today a Philadelphia jury found Kermit Gosnell guilty on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter, and acquitted him on one count of first-degree murder. This outcome is, in short, excellent news. I want to distill the outrage and bluster over Gosnell’s practices and prosecution into a few simple talking points. The most basic is that everyone, regardless of his or her stance on abortion, should be appalled by Kermit Gosnell.

A quick recap of the case: Women’s Medical Society [WMS] in West Philadelphia, run by Kermit Gosnell, was billed as a clinic that provided health care from geriatrics to OB/GYN, including abortion services. It had a reputation for seeing patients who may have been turned away from other abortion providers due to lack of money, absence of parental consent, unwillingness to comply with Pennsylvania’s mandatory 24-hour waiting period, or the advanced stage of their pregnancy. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Abortion, Guest Writers Tagged With: Abortion, gosnell, legal, safe, trial, verdict

Mississippi’s Last Abortion Clinic Remains Open!

April 16, 2013 By Sarah Leave a Comment

A federal judge has blocked part of a state law that could have closed Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only clinic in Mississippi. Last year, the state passed a law that would have required that physicians at abortion clinics have admitting privileges at local hospitals. While the physicians at JWHO tried to comply with that mandate, no area hospital would grant the privileges. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which has represents the clinic, “the physicians responsible for vast majority of the clinic’s patients were not granted privileges by any of the hospitals in the area-with several hospitals refusing to even process the physicians’ applications, citing hospital policies on abortion care.”

Today’s ruling by District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan III blocks the remaining forms of enforcement of this requirement, and prevents the state Department of Health from revoking the clinic’s license for being unable to comply with the admitting regulation. In his opinion, Judge Jordan wrote that “Closing its doors would — as the state seems to concede in this argument — force Mississippi women to leave Mississippi to obtain a legal abortion.” The judge also stated that Mississippi’s position in the case “would result in a patchwork system where constitutional rights are available in some states but not others.”

Filed Under: Abortion, Quick Hit Tagged With: Abortion, jackson women's health organization, women's health

Kansas Weighs New Anti-Choice Laws

April 16, 2013 By Sarah Leave a Comment

The South Wind Women’s Clinic in Wichita may offer a place for women to receive abortion care, but anti-choice legislators in the state are hoping to impose new restrictions on the procedure. Both the state House and Senate have passed a bill that would define life as beginning at fertilization, and anti-choice Governor Sam Brownback is expected to sign it into law.

The bill does more than include language about when life begins. It would also mandate what information clinics must give women about abortion risks—including the medically inaccurate claim of a possible link between breast cancer and abortion—and fetal development; prohibit clinic employees from providing sex education in schools; ban terminations performed solely because of the sex of the fetus; and prohibit the use of tax credits, tax preferences, and public funds for abortion services, as well as prevent public health-care services provided by the state from being used in any way to carry out abortions.

Antis Freak Out Over Nothing; Also Known As Monday

April 11, 2013 By Sarah Leave a Comment

A recent op-ed by Marc Thiessen in The Washington Post shows off the anti-choice movement’s flair for using emotionally manipulative language and glossing over the facts. In “Planned Parenthood’s Defense of Infanticide,” Thiessen claims that a Planned Parenthood representative was “caught on camera defending infanticide.”

During a recent political hearing in Florida, Planned Parenthood’s Alisa LaPolt Snow was asked what the organization’s response would be if, in the case of a failed abortion, the fetus was born alive. Snow’s answer? “We believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician.”

That seems like a perfectly reasonable response to me. After all, who else should be asked to make a decision in that moment? Isn’t that what happens with any child, whether they’re five minutes old or five years old? Let’s say that a five-year-old was gravely ill. Who would be in charge of making his medical decisions? His parents and physician. That doesn’t mean that I’m advocating killing five-year-olds. It means that in America, as in much of the world, parents are the ones that make medical decisions for their children.

Emergency Contraception Restrictions Overturned!

April 5, 2013 By Sarah 1 Comment

This morning, Judge Edward Korman of the District Court of Eastern New York overturned the Obama administration’s ban on allowing women under age 17 to purchase emergency contraception without a prescription. Judge Korman has ordered the FDA to make Plan B available over the counter to all women “within thirty days.”

In late 2011, the administration overruled a decision by the FDA to allow teenage girls to purchase Plan B without a prescription. The administration’s move came as a surprise and was blasted for being politically motivated. In the decision released today, Judge Korman seemed to agree with that assessment, writing that the restriction was “a strong showing of bad faith and improper political influence … The decisions of the Secretary with respect to Plan B One-Step…were arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.” (The full decision can be read here.)

Plan B has been available to women ages 17 and older without a prescription, and to younger women that have a prescription. But keeping the medication behind pharmacy counters meant that women could only buy the pill when the pharmacy was open, and many pharmacies are closed on evenings and weekends. Since Plan B is most effective if taken within 72 hours of having unprotected sex, such delays matter. Women have also reported encountering pharmacists that refused to sell them Plan B, because the medication violated their own personal beliefs.

Today’s decision is great news, and a great way to start the weekend!

Filed Under: Abortion, Birth Control Tagged With: edward korman, emergency contraception, Obama Administration, plan b, women's health

National Women’s Law Center Launches CPC Toolkit

April 4, 2013 By Sarah Leave a Comment

Crisis pregnancy clinics, or CPCs, represent one of the more insidious threats to reproductive rights. These clinics purport to be supportive resources for women and teens that are pregnant and want information about their choice, yet they disseminate scientifically inaccurate information and emotionally manipulative information about abortion and contraception.

The National Women’s Law Center recently introduced a toolkit targeting the deceptive practices at CPCs and ways consumer protection laws can help women given misleading and/or incorrect information at a CPC. The toolkit provides a wealth of material, including an eye-opening fact sheet on the ways that crisis pregnancy clinics target communities of color. The NWLC also has a new hotline (1-855-CPC-FACT) and email to answer questions or assist in filing a complaint.

Filed Under: Abortion

Why South Wind Women’s Center Matters

April 4, 2013 By Sarah Leave a Comment

An abortion clinic opening in any U.S. city would make news these days, but the imminent opening of South Wind Women’s Center in Wichita, Kansas has garnered a special kind of attention. The clinic, which will provide abortions until the 14^th week of pregnancy as well as a wide range of other women’s health care services, will be located in Dr. George Tiller’s former clinic.

South Wind is owned by the Trust Women Organization, a nonprofit that was founded in 2010 by Julie Burkhart, who worked with Dr. Tiller for seven years. “We’re going to provide Pap smears, pelvic exams, well-woman care, contraceptive care, pregnancy confirmation and consultation, and STI (sexually transmitted infection) treatment” Burkhart has said. “We want to work with women who are having trouble getting pregnant and women who have been pregnant — the full range of services.” There are three physicians on staff—one local, two that will travel in from out of state—and a social worker that will offer both miscarriage and post-abortion counseling as well as lactation consultation.

Update: Michigan Keeping Shaming Wands Out of Women’s Vaginas (For Now)

February 14, 2013 By Sarah 1 Comment

In a midwinter miracle, the powers that be in the Michigan legislature have decided that maybe it’s not the best idea to require that women who want abortions must undergo transvaginal ultrasounds. House Speaker Rep. Jase Bolger has said that he has “no interest in forcing a woman to have a transvaginal ultrasound …This House of Representatives will not pass a bill mandating transvaginal ultrasounds.”

While it’s heartening that rational thought has prevailed in this specific matter, it’s important to note that this doesn’t indicate any great desire to stay out of women’s private health decisions. After all, the state passed an abortion “super bill” late last year that, among other things, banned telemed abortions and introduced structural requirements that could force clinics to close.

Filed Under: Abortion, Quick Hit Tagged With: anti-choice, mandatory ultrasounds, Michigan, shaming wands, women's health

Bills, Bills, Bills

February 8, 2013 By Sarah Leave a Comment

Congratulations, Mississippi, you’re a trendsetter. As anti-choice politicians push forward in their bid to close the last abortion clinic in the state, legislators in North Dakota are seeking to close their state’s only clinic, too. Yesterday, state lawmakers passed a bill that requires physicians providing abortions at the Red River Clinic in Fargo to have admitting privileges at area hospitals—the same tactic that is threatening Mississippi’s Jackson Women’s Health Organization (JWHO).

The Red River clinic has often been the target of harassment and threats, and the physicians that work there don’t actually live in the state; in an arrangement similar to the one at JWHO, they travel from other states to provide abortion care. It’s too early to tell if hospitals in the Fargo area will grant these privileges, but as Amanda Marcotte pointed out in The American Prospect, “The chances of the doctors getting the privileges now are low, because hospitals don’t want to draw the same protests” as the clinic has faced.

Remind Me to Choose: A Kit for Reproductive Choice!

February 7, 2013 By Manis 2 Comments

After a very thoughtful month celebrating Roe v. Wade, here is a modest kit for helping to make important reproductive choices.

Know your body and sexuality:

Check out the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, SIECUS
Scarleteen provides information and help for people in their teens and 20s
Learn about contraceptive use in the U.S.
Find patient resources on the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals’s website

Know your rights:

Check out state laws and information about insurance coverage of abortion
For anyone that wants information about reproductive choice as a basic part of religious liberty, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Faith Aloud, and Religious Institute are all great resources
Learn more about crisis pregnancy centers

Share and support:

Read and share positive abortion stories at ThanksAbortion, 1 in 3 Campaign, and I’m Not Sorry
Get help and facts, and learn ways to get involved at the Pro-Choice Public Education Project

Involvement:

Provide a pro-choice presence at a clinic—volunteer as a clinic escort
Learn about pro-choice candidates at Emily’s List
Join your studies to the struggle: Law Student for Reproductive Justice, Medical Student for Choice, and Nursing Students for Choice
Be part of a world where every pregnancy is wanted: UNFPA

Information:

You definitely can choose! Spread the word!