women’s health

Looking for Common Ground in Pittsburgh

May 20, 2013 By Sarah

Last week I went to Pittsburgh to give a book talk. Before the event I wondered idly what kind of questions I might receive during the discussion portion, which has consistently been my favorite part of talking about Generation Roe. I’ve had my share of anti-choice audience members and even a crasher during a talk in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I actually like having such a diverse audience, having a chance to hear different opinions and perspectives.

The Pittsburgh audience was polite and attentive, at least while I was talking. But once the discussion portion began, it soon became clear that a number of members of the local Feminists for Life chapter and other anti-choice audience members would be satisfied with nothing less than raising their voices, calling me a liar, refuting the nonpartisan sources I used for research purposes, and willfully take both my written words and spoken answers completely out of context. The hour that I spent in a nonstop whirl of questions, comments, answers, and thinly veiled insults was quite unlike any other experience in my life.

Mississippi’s Last Abortion Clinic Remains Open!

April 16, 2013 By Sarah

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 Tagged With: Abortion, jackson women's health organization, mississippi, women's health

Kansas Weighs New Anti-Choice Laws

April 16, 2013 By Sarah

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.

Hospital Refuses to Accomodate Pregnant Employee, Places Her on Unpaid Leave

April 8, 2013 By Sarah

Late last month, the National Women’s Law Center filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of Amy Crosby, a pregnant hospital cleaner in Florida. Crosby was forced to take unpaid medical leave when her employer, Tallahassee Medical Hospital, refused to accomodate Crosby’s doctor’s request that she not be required to lift anything heavier than 20 pounds. At the time that Crosby was placed on leave, she was 23 weeks pregnant.

Tallahassee Medical Hospital’s response was particularly puzzling because they had previously allowed other employees who had temporary physical disabilities or on-the-job injuries to be transferred to lighter duty. Yet in Crosby’s case, she was told that if she did not return to work by April 11, she will be fired even though the hospital still refuses to follow her doctor’s request.

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Filed Under: Women Tagged With: amy crosby, florida, national women's law center, pregnancy, women's health

Why South Wind Women’s Center Matters

April 4, 2013 By Sarah

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.

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Filed Under: Abortion, Women Tagged With: Abortion, george tiller, julie burkhart, wichita, women's health

North Dakota: The Personal, The Political

April 2, 2013 By Sarah

Two very different but equally thought-provoking pieces about the North Dakota’s draconian new anti-choice laws were published today. In the Washington Post, Sarah Kliff’s interview with Tammi Kromenaker, director of the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo, discussed the challenges faced by both the clinic and the women in the state. The New York Times’s Motherlode blog published a guest post by Alison Piepmeier that focused on one particular aspect of these laws: that women will not be allowed to terminate pregnancies for reasons of genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome.

I’ve long admired Kromenaker and her staff, so was happy to see her interviewed by such a prominent publication. North Dakota’s attempt to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected — which could be as early as the sixth week of pregnancy — has not gone into effect yet, and it is highly likely that the law be enjoined while it is challenged in the courts. But the very fact that it did pass is a clear sign that legislators in North Dakota have complete disregard for the realities of women’s lives. “The women who were actually in the clinic, the day it was signed, were just outraged,” Kromenaker tells Kliff. “They were just like, this is ridiculous. They have no idea what my life is like.”

In her Motherlode essay, Piepmeier offers readers a glimpse of what her life, as the parent of a child with Down syndrome, is like. She also discusses some of the reasons that women do decide to terminate pregnancies after receiving a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome, and as thought-provoking as both of these sections are, I was particularly interested in her take on how North Dakota really could welcome people with disabilities. Piepmeier’s suggestions are almost breathtaking in their rationality: provide early intervention services and medical care. Work to make schools more inclusive. Improve the housing options for adults, and strengthen rape prevention efforts.

Of course, a lot of those ideas run counter to the ideology promoted by the very politicians that supported North Dakota’s anti-choice laws. They’d prefer to just tell women what they can and can’t do with their bodies and lavish support on fetuses, rather than the children that are actually living in their state today.

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: Abortion, alison piepmeier, down syndrome, motherlode, new york times, north dakota, sarah kliff, tammi kromenaker, women's health

Help “Expose the Truth” About Crisis Pregnancy Centers

March 12, 2013 By Sarah

Crisis pregnancy clinics are one of the more insidious tactics that the anti-choice movement employs to give women misleading and dangerous information about pregnancy, contraception, and abortion. These clinics, or CPCs, are often located near reputable abortion clinics and given similar-sounding names in an effort to sound legitimate; many offer free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds and imply that they are staffed by licensed medical providers and counselors, when in fact they often are not. And while the idea that any clinic purporting to help women would deliberately provide false information is disturbing enough, a Feminist Majority Foundation survey found that abortion clinics located near CPCs experience higher incidences of violence than those that are not.

The National Women’s Law Center recently released “Expose the Truth,” a toolkit that not only provides information about CPCs but also gives women useful resources if they would like to file a complaint against these “clinics.” NWLC is also running a week-long blog series about CPCs and to expose the truth about their misleading and harmful practices; the first entry can be found here. Both the toolkit and the series are great, accessible ways to learn about how we can all ensure that women receive the accurate, unbiased information that they are entitled to!

Filed Under: Abortion, Activism Tagged With: cpcs, crisis pregnancy clinics, national women's law center, women's health

Arkansas Outlaws Abortions After Twelve Weeks

March 6, 2013 By Sarah

In the ongoing tennis match that is reproductive rights in Arkansas, Governor Mike Beebe vetoed a 12-week abortion ban earlier this week, mere days after the state Senate overruled Beebe’s veto of a 20-week abortion ban. (Both bans include exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and if the woman’s life is at risk; the 12-week ban also has an exemption for “highly lethal fetal disorders.”)

And then, today the Republican-controlled legislature overruled Beebe’s veto, making Arkansas the answer to the question, “Which state is most hostile to women?” … for this week, at least.

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Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: 12-week bans, 20-week bans, Abortion, arkansas, jason rapert, mike beebe, women's health

Arkansas Bans Abortions after 20 Weeks

March 1, 2013 By Sarah

The race to the bottom continues! On Thursday, the Republican-controlled Arkansas Senate overrode Governor Mike Beebe’s veto of a bill that seeks to ban most abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. And, in an anti-choice twofer, the Senate also voted to approve a ban on most abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected—which can happen as early as the 6th week of pregnancy.

While the 20-week ban includes the usual exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or if the woman’s life is at risk, it does not include an exception for cases of severe fetal anomalies. This is notable, because many abortions done after this point in pregnancy are for just that reason. In fact, many abnormalities that are incompatible with life can’t even be detected until the later stages of the second trimester, or even the third trimester, of pregnancy.

Like other states that have banned abortions after 20 weeks, the rationale for the Arkansas law is the controversial concept of “fetal pain,” even though scant evidence exists that fetuses can feel pain at this point in pregnancy. Indeed, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has stated “that there is ‘no legitimate scientific information that supports the statement that a fetus experiences pain.’”

But why would anti-choice politicians be swayed by the opinion of experts in the field of medicine, when they also blithely ignore legal definitions. The bill’s sponsor has said that he thinks this ban is “constitutional,” even though it blatantly goes against established law.

Several state bills that seek to ban abortion after the 20th week have undergone, or are currently undergoing, legal challenge. It remains to be seen whether Arkansas’s bill will be challenged, or if women in the state will find their rights curtailed by politicians that don’t trust them to make decisions for themselves.

Filed Under: Abortion Tagged With: Abortion, ACOG, arkansas, fetal pain, late-term abortions, women's health

Bills, Bills, Bills

February 8, 2013 By Sarah

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.

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