Friday, December 18, 2015

Women's LEGAL reproductive rights are under attack and being made illegal

Repro Health Watch

SPECIAL EDITION:
Repro Health Watch Year in Review | December 18, 2015

As 2015 comes to a close, we at Repro Health Watch are bringing you highlights from the most defining reproductive health issues we've covered in 2015. Thank you for following Repro Health Watch and for all that you do to support our efforts to amplify the voices of advocates across the country and to shine a light on the ever-changing reproductive health landscape in the states. 



ROE AT 42

As we began 2015, which marked the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Repro Health Watch considered the battles ahead for reproductive rights in the states. Advocates this year continued to work to make Roe "real"; advancing women’s health protections despite attacks by state legislatures. Guest blogger Cristina Aguilar reflected on the successful efforts by Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, including their work to block Amendment 67, which would have written personhood into the Colorado state Constitution.

Featured Blog: Beyond Amendment 67: Looking Ahead in the Fight for Reproductive Justice in Colorado

Cristina Aguilar 2.jpgCristina Aguilar, Executive Director, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR)
As a new year begins, we have a lot to celebrate in Colorado. We were able to defeat, for the third time, an attempt to write personhood into our state Constitution. But we are already seeing more attempts to limit access to abortion this year. More »

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ABORTION RESTRICTIONS

State legislatures were busy this year, introducing nearly 400 bills and enacting 47 bills restricting reproductive health in 2015. Many state-level attacks on abortion access came in the form of anti-abortion legislation that was disguised and misrepresented as promoting women's health. Prime examples of these laws, which undermine the patient-provider relationship, include mandatory ultrasounds, mandatory delay laws and restrictions on medication abortion. Guest blogger Sue Frietsche from Women's Law Project in Pennsylvania explained the significance and insidious nature of these laws, while guest blogger Maggie Moran from NARAL Pro-Choice Montana provided a closer look at Montana activists' fight to prevent a ban on telemedicine abortion in their state.

Featured Blog: New Report: Politics in the Exam Room, a Growing Threat

RHW.Sue.10-16.jpgSusan Frietsche, Senior Staff Attorney at Women's Law Project
The most insidious way American politicians attempt to influence the behavior of private citizens is by quietly passing laws that legislate doctor-patient communications, going so far as to force doctors to lie to patients. It's a growing problem. Across the country, politicians have been passing laws and regulations that either coerce doctors to mislead their patients or alternatively, gag them from having truthful conversations about their patient's health. More »

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Featured Blog: Montana House Moves to Preemptively Ban Telemedical Abortion, But There Is Good News

Moran.jpgMaggie Moran, Executive Director, NARAL Pro-Choice Montana
In Montana, we are two-thirds of the way through our 64th Legislature and there is no doubt that 2015 is a tough year for reproductive rights. From bans on telemedicine for early abortion care to fetal anesthesia requirements for later term abortions, politicians seem bent on making abortion, at any stage, as difficult to access as possible in our state. However, upon some much-needed reflection, my optimism allows me to see bright spots to appreciate. More »

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The good news is that advocates across the country are pushing back against these laws and have achieved significant victories. In June, the Iowa Supreme Court struck down a ban on telemedicine abortion as unconstitutional.

Iowa Board of Medicine Unlikely To Appeal Decision Allowing Telemedicine Abortion

Iowa Board of Medicine Chair Hamed Tewfik said the board does not intend to appeal a state Supreme Court ruling that struck down a ban on using telemedicine in abortion services, the Des Moines Register reports. " More »

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CLINIC VIOLENCE AND ATTACKS ON PLANNED PARENTHOOD

For the past several months, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers have come under severe attack by antiabortion-rights organizations and lawmakers whose endgame is clear: to ban abortion and roll back access to reproductive health care. Across the country, states have attempted to cut Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs. Lawmakers launched politically motivated investigations into Planned Parenthood health centers across the country, but have found no evidence of the alleged wrongdoings.

Amid the heightened antiabortion-rights rhetoric, we have witnessed a sharp increase in harassment and violent attacks on abortion providers and clinics, including the deadly shooting at a Planned Parenthood health center in Colorado in November. But clinic staff and volunteers refuse to be deterred from providing critical reproductive health services to women. Repro Health Watch tackled the issue of antiabortion-rights violence, with guest blogger David S. Cohen describing the violence that abortion providers face and outlining legal changes that could better protect and support the work they do.

Featured Blog: Living in the Crosshairs: Violence Against Abortion Providers Hurts Us All

cohen.jpgDavid S. Cohen, Professor of Law, Drexel University
In an ideal world, abortion providers would lead lives just like any other medical professional. However, in the highly charged environment we live in, abortion providers’ lives are different. Because of their work, providers have been murdered, shot, kidnapped, assaulted, stalked and subjected to death threats. Their clinics have been bombed, attacked with noxious chemicals, invaded, vandalized, burglarized and set ablaze. Unfortunately, as the attacks of the past few months show, this kind of targeted harassment of abortion providers is not a relic of the past. More »

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Clinic Escort Describes Protesters' Ongoing Harassment Outside Texas Clinic

In an opinion piece for the Texas Observer, reproductive-rights advocate Melissa Arjona describes her experiences volunteering as a clinic escort for "Whole Woman's Health, the last remaining legal abortion clinic in the Rio Grande Valley." More »

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TEXANS FIGHT BACK

Texas has been a hotbed of attacks on women’s health. Most notably, the Supreme Court in November agreed to hear Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole, a challenge to parts of an omnibus antiabortion-rights law (HB 2) passed in 2013 that has already closed half of the abortion clinics in Texas. Over the course of this year, politicians in Texas have attacked abortion coverage in insurance plans, passed a bill requiring parental consent for youth to access abortion care and banned abortion providers from contracting with the state’s sexuality education program. Local advocates have pushed back against these restrictions, mobilizing a strong proactive movement in support of reproductive rights. Guest blogger Adriano Perez described the efforts by Texas millennials to stand up to legislative assaults on reproductive health care.

Featured Blog: Millennials Lead a Texas-Sized Movement for Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice

Perez.jpgAdriano Perez, Campus Organizer (University of Texas at El Paso), Texas Freedom Network
Everything is bigger in Texas, and Texas legislators have proposed more anti-abortion legislation -- at least two dozen bills -- than legislators in any other state. That's why a coalition of progressive organizations across the state including Texas Freedom Network, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, ACLU of Texas and many others -- have come together to launch "Trust. Respect. Access." More »

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Featured Video: Texas Rep. Says Abortion-Rights Opponents' 'Hypocrisy Must Stop'

In this excerpt, Texas Rep. Jessica Farrar (D) condemns the lawmakers trying to impose additional abortion-rights restrictions while simultaneously refusing to approve legislation designed to support families and breastfeeding women.

FerrarVideo4-28RHW copy.jpg


CRIMINALIZING PREGNANCY

Other attacks on reproductive rights took the form of laws targeting the rights and health of pregnant women. Throughout the year, we have continued to see an increase in the number of states that criminalize pregnant women for drug use and use feticide laws to prosecute women based on pregnancy outcomes. Guest blogger Farah Diaz-Tello from National Advocates for Pregnant Women explained the dangerous repercussions of these policies.

Featured Blog: The Imperative To Challenge Public Policies That Criminalize Pregnancy Outcomes

FarahDiazTelloRHW5-27.jpgFarah Diaz-Tello, Senior Staff Attorney, National Advocates for Pregnant Women
By now, most reproductive rights, health and justice activists have heard of Purvi Patel, the Indiana woman sentenced to decades behind bars after what she maintains was a miscarriage. Her case is still being fought in the courts, but supporters have recognized it as a wake-up call about what a post-Roe America might look like, with bedside interrogations and trials that pry into emotional responses to pregnancy loss. More »

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Feticide Laws Across the Country

In this map, the National Conference of State Legislatures pinpoints which states have enacted feticide laws and at what stage of pregnancy they take effect. These laws are increasingly being used to prosecute women based on the outcome of their pregnancy.

FeticideLawsMap.RHW.jpg

TAKING A STAND

Abortion-rights supporters pushed back in 2015, filing lawsuits against abortion restrictions; proposing legislation aimed at bolstering women's reproductive rights; and standing strong against antiabortion-rights rhetoric, harassment and violence. Repro Health Watch highlighted the work of reproductive health, rights and justice advocates across the United States, with guest bloggers commenting on how advocates are fighting to change the landscape in their states.

Guest blogger Allison Glass described the growth of Healthy & Free Tennessee’s network of support in the face of dozens of state bills aiming to increase barriers to abortion care, while guest blogger Chavi Koneru tackled the repercussions of a 72-hour mandatory delay law in North Carolina and guest blogger Tiffany Pryor detailed the restrictions on young people’s reproductive freedom in Illinois.

Featured Blog: Let's Make One Thing Clear: Abortion Access Is Under Attack, and Tennessee Is Fighting Back!

Glass.jpgAllison Glass, State Director, Healthy & Free Tennessee
Tennessee has some of the strongest protections for personal privacy in the country. Unfortunately, last November we lost Amendment 1, a ballot question that was designed to make it easier for politicians in Nashville to push for abortion restrictions. This has now created questions around what protections still exist for people seeking abortion care in Tennessee. More »

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Featured Blog: Lawmakers Should Take a Walk in Her Shoes

Chavi.jpgChavi Koneru, Policy Director, NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina
On June 5, with the stroke of a pen, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) restricted the rights of North Carolina women by signing a bill imposing a 72-hour mandatory delay on abortions. For some lawmakers, it's easy to support a restrictive bill from afar and justify it as "protecting women's health." They should walk a day in a woman's shoes -- a woman dealing with economic and social pressures -- a woman making a hard choice -- a woman who is now being emotionally attacked and economically punished just because she made a decision that was right for her and her family. More »

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Featured Blog: Illinois Youth Leaders Campaign To Repeal Parental Notification of Abortion (PNA) Law

Tiffany FY16 Headshots-3.jpgTiffany Pryor, MSW, Executive Director of the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health
My heart dropped when I heard the news on July 13th, 2013. In just one month, a youth-targeted abortion law was going to be enforced ... requiring that medical providers of youth under 18 notify a parent or guardian at least 48 hours before providing an abortion. Fortunately, the ACLU had already set up a judicial bypass process that could spring into action for youth seeking an abortion, and we were ready to spearhead a movement to repeal this dangerous law. Since that day, it hasn't been easy. More »

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PROACTIVE AGENDA

Despite these uphill battles, Repro Health Watch was proud to share the stories of advocates in a number of states who pushed proactive measures aimed at protecting abortion rights. This proactive agenda in state legislatures aims to shift the fight for women’s reproductive health and rights by promoting policies that improve access to abortion, contraception and other health services. Guest blogger Jaime Miracle from NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio details the ambitious effort underway in Ohio.

Featured Blog: Access Without Apology: The Ohio Proactive Abortion Agenda

miracle-headshot.jpegJaime Miracle, Deputy Director, NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio
Last month, pro-choice Ohioans and legislators gathered outside the Statehouse as we have done time and again. But this time something was different. We weren’t there to talk about the myriad attacks on access to abortion pending in the Ohio General Assembly. Instead we were there to talk about a new proactive agenda -- one that would remove barriers to abortion in our state. More »

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Op-Ed: Texas Bills Would Help 'Protect the Patient-Provider Relationship'

Two measures introduced in Texas "would protect the patient-provider relationship from inappropriate political interference in personal decisions that should be [made] by women and their trained health care providers," family physician Bich-May Nguyen writes in a Houston Chronicle opinion piece. More »

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Ore. Governor Signs Bill To Improve Contraceptive Access

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) signed a bill (HB 3343) requiring insurers to cover a 12-month supply of contraception in a single dispersal, the Huffington Post reports. More »

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Calif. Gov. Signs Bill To Rein In Crisis Pregnancy Centers' Misinformation; CPCs File Lawsuit

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill (AB 775) that aims to prohibit crisis pregnancy centers from disseminating certain misleading information, the Sacramento Bee reports. More »

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LOOKING AHEAD

We know the attacks on reproductive health care are likely to continue in 2016. However, at Repro Health Watch, we are inspired by the men and women across the country that have rallied around proactive measures in state legislatures and fought back against any and all restrictions on reproductive health care.

Whatever the next year brings, Repro Health Watch will be there to deliver the stories and analysis you need to stay informed and engaged.