National Abortion Federation Blog: Saporta Reporter

We commend law enforcement on an excellent job in investigating the attempted bombing of the Austin Women's Health Center in Austin, TX and apprehending the individual responsible.

We are grateful that the suspect is in federal custody and is unable to further endanger the lives of abortion providers or others in the area.

This arrest should send a clear message that violence against abortion providers will not be tolerated and that perpetrators of such crimes will be apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Here is the press release we issued today:

Washington, DC - Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), released the following statement today praising the government of Mexico City for moving forward with a law requiring city hospitals to provide abortion services in the first trimester and allowing the establishment of private abortion clinics:

Women in Mexico City and throughout Mexico deserve to have access to a full range of safe reproductive health care options. We know from experience that access to safe, legal abortion care protects the health and saves the lives of women. No longer will women in Mexico City have to jeopardize their lives and health by self inducing or seeking a back alley, illegal procedure.

As the professional association of abortion providers in the United States and Canada, NAF has worked for 30 years to ensure the safety and accessibility of abortion care for women. We set the standards for quality abortion care in North America and conduct continuing medical education to ensure that providers are able to offer the highest quality care.

NAF plans to share our quality guidelines and experience with abortion providers and medical facilities in Mexico City. Several of our members have already expressed an interest in assisting colleagues in Mexico to begin offering quality care.

Here is the press release we issued today:

Washington, DC - Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, released the following statement today urging members of Congress to sponsor and support the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA):

NAF condemned a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a federal law banning certain abortions. The Bush Court clearly put politics ahead of protecting women's health.

"This decision is a major setback for women's health," said Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of NAF. "It undermines the health protections afforded by Roe v. Wade and opens the door for politicians to pass additional laws that could further jeopardize women's safety."

The federal abortion ban interferes with the doctor-patient relationship and the ability of doctors to make appropriate medical decisions. We will be working with our member physicians to ensure that women continue to have access to safe, quality abortion care.

NAF has been on the forefront of challenging this dangerous ban and we need your support to continue our efforts to protect women's health.

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Here is the press release we issued today:

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Abortion Federation (NAF) today sharply criticized a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a federal law banning certain abortions. It is the first abortion decision from the Supreme Court since Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired. Both organizations said that the Court’s decision will endanger women’s health.

“Today’s decision has placed politics above protecting women’s health,” said Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of NAF. “This ruling is a set back for all Americans who believe politicians should not legislate medical decision-making. The decision disregards the opinion of leading doctors and medical organizations that oppose the ban because it is harmful to women’s health.”

The Court ruled today on two challenges to the federal abortion ban, called by its sponsors the “Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.” The two cases are Gonzales v. Carhart, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Dr. LeRoy Carhart and three other physicians, and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, brought by Planned Parenthood Federation of America on behalf of its affiliates throughout the country.

A third challenge to the ban, National Abortion Federation v. Gonzales, was brought by NAF and seven individual physicians, represented by the ACLU, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, the ACLU of Illinois, and the New York Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit put that case on hold until the Supreme Court issued a decision in the other two cases. Today’s Supreme Court decision requires that the ban be upheld in this case as well.

“Today’s decision undermines a core principle of Roe v. Wade that women’s health must remain paramount,” said Louise Melling, Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “The decision invites politicians to meddle even further into the doctor-patient relationship by passing additional restrictions on abortion.”

Leading doctors and medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents 90 percent of OB-GYNs in this country, opposed the federal ban.

Congress passed the federal abortion ban and President Bush signed it into law in 2003, despite numerous court decisions striking down similar state bans, including the decision in 2000 by the Supreme Court in Stenberg v. Carhart.

As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her dissent to today’s opinion: “Though today’s opinion does not go so far as to discard Roe or Casey, the Court, differently composed than it was when we last considered a restrictive abortion regulation, is hardly faithful to our earlier invocations of ‘the rule of law’ and the ‘principles of stare decisis.’”

Today’s cases are Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, No. 05-1382 and Gonzales v. Carhart, No. 05-380.

Democratic lawmakers in Texas are introducing legislation that would regulate Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs). The bills would create licensing standards for the facilities and penalties for providing inaccurate medical information. Recently, CPCs have received national media attention for their deceptive tactics and public sources of funding. In 2005, Texas lawmakers designated $5 million of the state’s family planning budget for antiabortion centers that do not offer medical care or referrals for contraception or abortion. This session, Texas lawmakers have again earmarked $5 million in the budget for these centers in 2008 and 2009.

>View NAF’s report, Crisis Pregnancy Centers: An Affront to Choice.

Here is the press release we issued yesterday:

Washington, DC - In response to yesterday's passage of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act with strong bipartisan support in the United States Senate, Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, released the following statement:

Wednesday, Senators expressed their commitment to medical research and passed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act 63-34. This legislation would expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and permit scientists to extract stem cells from embryos that were created for the purposes of fertility treatments, so long as they are in excess of a couple's need and donated with appropriate informed consent.

The National Abortion Federation (NAF) supports embryonic stem cell research, which has the potential to help find new treatments, or even cures, for those individuals suffering from degenerative diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Parkinsons, ALS, and Alzheimers. We applaud the Senate's passage of this bill. The House also passed its version of this legislation with strong bipartisan support in January.

Unfortunately, President Bush has pledged to veto this critical legislation. We urge President Bush to follow Congress's lead and sign this legislation into law, instead of continuing to play politics with people's lives and health.

The New York Times ran an editorial today about Dr. Eric Keroack’s appointment and recent resignation as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. We were seriously concerned and opposed to Keroack’s November appointment given his history as the Medical Director for a chain of crisis pregnancy health centers that do not distribute, encourage the use of, or offer referrals for contraceptive drugs and devices. The editorial affirms that “Keroack was always a disturbing choice to lead the federal office that finances birth control, pregnancy tests, and other health care services for five million poor Americans.”

Last month Keroack resigned after Medicaid officials took action against his practice in Massachusetts.

Here is the press release we issued today:

The National Abortion Federation (NAF), New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women (ACSW) and the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) are calling on Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Consumer Affairs, Hon. Thomas J. Burke, Q.C., to introduce legislation to establish an access zone around facilities providing abortion services, residences of doctors and service providers, and doctors’ offices in New Brunswick.

Similar legislation has already been enacted in British Columbia which created an access zone around the boundaries of abortion clinics.

Abortion clinics and providers in Canada have been targeted for violence and harassment by anti-abortion extremists,” said Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of NAF. “We urge New Brunswick to follow the lead of British Columbia and enact legislation to protect patients, providers and the communities in which they live.”

Establishing an access zone is extremely important for the Morgentaler Clinic in Fredericton, where there is no patient parking on site. Patients must park across the street in a parking lot and walk to the clinic.

“On days abortion services are provided, protestors march outside the clinic carrying signs designed to discourage women from entering. Our patients have made their choice and do not deserve to be intimidated or harassed,“ said Simone Leibovitch, Manager of the Fredericton Morgentaler Clinic and member of ARCC. “Volunteer escorts are recruited to assist women as they enter and leave the Clinic.”

Although protesters are not allowed on private property, there was recently an incident with protesters when the police had to be called when protesters have come onto the clinic’s property.

"If New Brunswick had access zone protection, anti-choice demonstrators could not continue their unacceptable interference. Women who access this legal health care service and the staff who provide it must be treated with respect for their dignity and privacy," affirmed Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, ACSW Chairperson.

Portugal’s President Anibal Cavaco Silva ratified a law Tuesday that legalizes abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy. Last month Portugal’s parliament voted to legalize abortion following a popular referendum, which showed that 59.3 percent of voters were in favor of legalizing abortion. The old abortion law was one of the most rigid abortion bans in Europe, with the procedure prohibited except in cases of rape, fetal malformation, or if a woman's life or health was at risk. Portugal's Socialist Government now has 60 days to regulate the new law before it can be implemented.

Today, the U.S. Senate will consider the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007 (S. 5), which lifts existing federal restrictions and expands the number of stem cell lines that are eligible for federally funded research. Such research has the potential to help find new treatments for diseases like cancer, diabetes, Parkinsons, ALS and Alzheimers. Please urge your Senators to support this important legislation!

Yesterday a jury failed to convict Rev. Norman Weslin of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use force, the threat of force, or physical obstruction to prevent individuals from obtaining or providing reproductive health care services. According to clinic staff, Weslin entered the clinic and blocked the door while he harassed patients and clinic workers. Weslin has served time in prison for blockading a clinic, and is a member of the anti-abortion extremist group the Lambs of Christ.

>Learn more about anti-abortion extremists.

This week the Oklahoma House passed a bill, which would prohibit a state employee from providing or assisting with an abortion being provided in a public facility if it was not necessary to save the life of the woman. This bill received strong opposition from the state’s two leading medical associations: the Oklahoma State Medical Association and the Oklahoma Osteopathic Association, because their members felt “the legislation impedes on the physician's ability to practice medicine.”

The Tulsa World ran an editorial, which states that the bill is aimed at preventing poor women from having abortions, even if their health is threatened by their pregnancies.

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon issue a decision in two legal challenges to a federal ban on abortion. The Federal Abortion Ban was signed into law by President Bush in 2003. This dangerous and extreme measure prohibits abortions as early as 13 weeks in pregnancy, abortions that doctors say are safe and among the best to protect women's health.

The ban was immediately challenged in three federal courts and was struck down in every court as a danger to women’s health. On November 8, 2006, the Supreme Court heard arguments in two of these cases, Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America. A third challenge to the federal abortion ban, NAF v. Gonzales, was brought by NAF and seven individual physicians. That case is now on hold, pending a Supreme Court decision in the other two cases.

Abortion bans jeopardize women’s health. The National Abortion Federation is closely monitoring these cases, and we will alert you when the Supreme Court decision is issued in these cases.

>Learn more about the Federal Abortion Ban.