Guest Author - Candance Gordon
For the past eights years our right to choose what we do with our reproductive system has been under attack. The Bush Administration cut funding to the Office of Women’s Health, opposed and attempted to stop the distribution of Plan B and allowed fetus’ to be awarded healthcare coverage under SCHIP in order to make abortions harder to obtain. Up until his last minutes in office, George W. Bush attacked women’s health by pushing through the HHS rule, which allows pharmacists to refuse to provide birth control for women on Medicaid and doesn’t require doctors who oppose abortion to recommend an alternate location that does perform them. President Obama proposed a rule to rescind the HHS rule in its entirety on March 6th. It appears someone might finally be on our side, but women all over the country are still facing challenges to their reproductive rights.
Twelve states including Texas, Kansas and Maryland are proposing a bill requiring women to have an ultrasound and to look at the pictures of the ultrasound before they can have an abortion. In some states, if they refuse to look at the ultrasound the doctor is required to describe the picture in detail. The goal of abortion opponents is to make women feel badly about their decision and change their minds. Six states already have similar laws.
The North Dakota house just approved a bill that defines life as beginning the minute an egg is fertilized. Joining North Dakota in introducing “personhood” legislation are Alabama, Maryland, Montana, and South Carolina. Oregon just started a petition drive to get the legislation on their ballot in 2010 and Mississippi plans to begin a petition drive in coming weeks. These personhood bills are dangerous because of a statement in Roe v. Wade by Justice Harry Blackmun stating that establishing the “personhood” of a fetus protects it’s right to life under the 14th amendment.
In the Tennessee state senate, hearings are scheduled to begin on a proposed constitutional amendment to eliminate abortion protections. If the amendment passes, and it’s expected to, 48 hour waiting periods and informed consent will be enforced. It will also mandate that second and third trimester abortions be performed in hospitals. Planned Parenthood plans to sue.
With the election of a pro-choice president and a primarily democratic congress, things might get better for us girls. But we shouldn’t breathe easy just yet. A lot of the attacks on our rights are happening at the state level and, 47 percent of the House and 41 percent of the Senate are still anti-choice, so we’re not out of the woods yet. The only way to protect our reproductive rights is to stay informed. Websites such as www.prochoice.org, www.plannedparenthood.org and www.now.org have lists of issues, how members of congress are voting and how you can get involved. It’s our responsibility to bring these issues to the forefront and demand our representatives to protect our right to choose.
