National Abortion Federation Blog: Saporta Reporter

Letter to the Editor: Abortion and the Health Pledge

2010-02-05T12:35:00.004-05:00

Today, my letter to the editor was published in The Globe and Mail:

If the Prime Minister is serious about improving women’s health internationally, his initiatives must address the comprehensive maternal and reproductive health care needs of women, including access to safe abortion care. As we’ve seen here and in other countries around the world, access to safe, legal abortion care preserves women’s health and saves women’s lives. Unsafe abortion remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in developing nations. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 70,000 women worldwide die from unsafe abortions annually and millions more are injured, many permanently.

This is a critical opportunity for Mr. Harper to champion the health of some of the world’s poorest women. We join Mr. Ignatieff in urging the Prime Minister to include access to contraception and abortion care in his efforts to improve maternal health care.

Montgomery County (MD) Regulates Crisis Pregnancy Centers

2010-02-04T15:48:00.003-05:00

This week, the Montgomery County Council in Maryland passed a bill that requires pregnancy centers without licensed medical professionals to post signs telling women that they are not receiving information from medical professionals.

This bill is expected to affect the operations of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), the majority of which do not have medical professionals on staff, and often use deceptive advertising practices to give the appearance that they are legitimate medical clinics that provide a variety of reproductive health care services, including family planning and abortion care.

In reality, most CPCs do not provide full options counseling and generally will not refer for abortion care or birth control. Women who mistakenly visit CPCs describe being harassed, intimidated, and given blatantly false information at their appointments.

The bill passed on a vote of 7-2.

If you have experience with a deceptive CPC, we would be interested in hearing your story.

>Learn more about CPCs.

“The Abortion Monologues” Opens in Calgary

2010-02-04T12:43:00.004-05:00

Following its 2009 premiere at NAF’s Annual Meeting, The Abortion Monologues is set to open today at Mount Royal University in Calgary. In a profile in this week’s Maclean’s, playwright Jane Cawthorne, a former women’s studies teacher who now writes full-time, discusses the show, which presents more than 20 fictional female characters’ experiences with abortion. “I felt that the public discussion on abortion was polarized, and didn’t reflect what goes on in the real lives of women,” says Cawthorne, who has volunteered with non-profit women’s health and reproductive rights groups for two decades. “Whatever you believe about abortion, at some point in the play, you will be forced to think again.”

Wednesday's Words from Women

2010-02-03T17:51:00.003-05:00

Roeder Found Guilty of First Degree Murder

2010-01-29T14:46:00.001-05:00

Today we released the following statement:

Today in just 37 minutes, the jury in Wichita found Scott Roeder guilty of first degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

While this verdict won't bring back Dr. Tiller, it is important that justice was served. Important for the safety and security of other abortion providers and important for women's continued ability to access quality abortion care.

In a civilized society, we cannot allow anti-abortion extremists to murder abortion providers in order to advance their own religious and political beliefs.

There is no justification for murdering doctors who provide abortion care. We hope this verdict will be a deterrent to those who may be considering following in Roeder's footsteps, and send a clear signal that violence against abortion providers will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Wednesday's Words from Women

2010-01-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

National Abortion Federation and ACLU Ask Court To Preclude Voluntary Manslaughter Charge In Trial Of Dr. Tiller’s Murderer

2010-01-27T12:06:00.004-05:00

Today we issued this statement announcing a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the National Abortion Federation:

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the National Abortion Federation, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Kansas in the trial of Scott Roeder, the alleged murderer of Dr. George Tiller, asking the court to preclude Roeder from arguing his anti-abortion beliefs in support of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter rather than first degree murder.

“In a civilized society we cannot allow extremists to commit murder to advance their own religious or political beliefs,” said Vicki Saporta, President of the National Abortion Federation. “Scott Roeder should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“Allowing the defense to argue that Scott Roeder’s anti-abortion beliefs in any way lessen his accountability in Dr. Tiller’s murder sends an ominous signal to all vigilantes,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project. “We should all be concerned; having sincere political beliefs does not mean someone should be able to get away with murder.”

Scott Roeder has been charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of Dr. George Tiller on May 31, 2009, while Dr. Tiller was attending services at his local church. Earlier this month, in pre-trial hearings, Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert ruled that he would not allow Roeder to use a justifiable homicide defense, but left open the possibility that the defense could put on evidence that would support the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. This ruling might permit Roeder to argue that he was motivated by anti-abortion beliefs and therefore should be held less accountable.

“This is a dangerous misinterpretation of the law,” said Doug Bonney, Chief Counsel & Legal Director, ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri. “No matter what our political or moral beliefs, we are not entitled to kill those who disagree with us. We would not allow someone who murders a general to get a lesser sentence because the murder was motivated by a belief that war is unjustifiable.”

Doctors who provide abortion care deserve the full protection of the law. They devote their lives to ensuring that women can obtain the health care they need. It is important that we support a woman’s ability to make this most private, personal decision, and it is critical that we protect the medical professionals who care for them.

If convicted of first degree murder, Roeder could be facing a life sentence; if convicted of voluntary manslaughter, he could receive less than 10 years for Dr. Tiller’s murder.

Lawyers on today’s brief include Kolbi-Molinas and Talcott Camp of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project and Bonney of the ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri.

The ACLU brief is available at http://www.aclu.org/reproductive-freedom/state-kansas-v-roeder-aclu-amicus-brief

Wednesday's Words from Women

2010-01-20T13:34:00.000-05:00

Wednesday's Words from Women

2010-01-13T08:51:00.000-05:00

Wednesday's Words from Women

2010-01-06T11:16:00.001-05:00

NAF Member Shares Stories of Providers, Patients in New Book

2010-01-05T16:43:00.002-05:00

NAF member Carole Joffe has just published a new book, Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients, and the Rest of Us.

After thirty years embedded in reproductive-health research, Joffe relays compelling testimony from doctors, health care workers, and patients as they struggle against barriers that attempt to shame women and marginalize physicians, even within the medical community. Real-life stories include those of poverty-stricken rape victims scrambling—and sometimes failing—to cover the cost of abortions that should be covered by Medicaid; a doctor having to beg her superior for permission to perform in-hospital an abortion too complicated to handle at a clinic; and a woman whose miscarriage caused septic shock, and was refused care and bundled off to another hospital.

Some of the real-life stories come from Joffe’s observations of the NAF Hotline.

>Read more about the book.

Wednesday's Words from Women

2009-12-30T08:06:00.001-05:00

Wednesday's Words from Women

2009-12-23T09:19:00.000-05:00

Kansas Judge Rejects Change of Venue and “Necessity Defense” in Scott Roeder Trial

2009-12-22T16:02:00.001-05:00

Statement of Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF) in response to the pre-trial hearing for Scott Roeder:

Today Judge Warren Wilbert denied the requests of Scott Roeder’s defense team to move the trial venue out of Sedgwick County, Kansas, as well as to introduce the so-called “necessity defense” as justification for the cold-blooded murder of Dr. George Tiller.

Although an extreme wing of the anti-abortion movement believes that it is justifiable to use deadly force to stop abortion, their attempts to use such a defense in court have been repeatedly rejected. Attempts by convicted murderers Paul Hill and James Kopp were both found to not meet the legal standards of justifiable homicide laws and were not permitted during their trials.

There is no justification for murdering doctors who provide abortion care. Scott Roeder has confessed to the murder, and he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

President Obama Signs Budget, Which Lifts DC Abortion Ban

2009-12-17T15:34:00.002-05:00

Today, Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), commended President Obama and Congress for lifting a longstanding ban that prohibits DC from using its locally raised revenue to help low-income women obtain the abortion care they need.

“We are pleased that Congress and the President have removed this discriminatory policy, which has for far too long interfered with DC women’s ability to access safe, legal abortion care,” said Saporta. “This prohibition also interfered with the rights of DC residents and has effectively prevented the DC government from assessing and meeting the needs of its community.”

Since 1977, the Hyde Amendment has prohibited the use of federal Medicaid funds to pay for medically necessary abortion care for most low-income women, except in very limited circumstances. Although states may use non-federal funds to pay for abortion care, since 1988 Congress has restricted DC from using its own locally raised funds to provide abortion care to low-income women. DC now has the ability to choose how to direct its local Medicaid funds.

President Obama signed the FY 2010 Budget, which lifted the ban on the District’s use of locally raised funds for abortion care. This is a major step forward for women in our nation’s capitol.

Wednesday's Words from Women

2009-12-16T15:47:00.001-05:00

NAF Patients in the News

2009-12-09T18:07:00.003-05:00

Last night, the Senate defeated the Nelson-Hatch Amendment, which would have imposed the same restrictions to insurance coverage for abortion as the Stupak-Pitts Amendment passed by the House.

Yesterday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) cited some of our patient's stories during debate on the Senate floor. Today, Women’s eNews profiled one of the patients we brought forward to lobby against the Stupak-Pitts and Nelson-Hatch Amendments:

One Woman Mobilized
One person who was mobilized by the Dec. 2 protest is Dana Weinstein.
In an exclusive interview with Women's eNews, Weinstein said that until recently she'd felt uncomfortable even uttering the word "abortion."

But then it happened to her.

In the early part of this summer, Weinstein was still a happily pregnant 38-year-old watching TV at her home in Maryland. A reporter interviewed a physician in Boulder, Colo., named Warren Hern. After the murder of Dr. George Tiller earlier this year, Hern is one of the country's last doctors who still provides late-term abortions.

"I remember lying in bed thinking, how could anybody terminate later term?"
Weinstein said.

But then, a few weeks later in late June, at 28 weeks, a routine sonogram showed an abnormality in her fetus's brain. A subsequent MRI showed that the fetus had two life-threatening conditions. If it survived birth, it would likely require immediate resuscitation and a life of feeding tubes.

After consulting more doctors, Weinstein and her husband wound up in Hern's clinic in Colorado.

Now, five months later, Weinstein is still fighting with her insurance company, hoping to be reimbursed for some of $17,500 it cost for the late-term abortion.

"I was fortunate to be able to pull the money together," Weinstein said, adding that the experience has spurred her to speak out on behalf of other, less fortunate women.

Her first move: vocally opposing the Stupak-Pitts amendment. In recent days Weinstein has shared her story with members of the National Abortion Federation, the staff of Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Women's eNews.

>Read the full article.
>Share your abortion experience.

Wednesday's Words from Women

2009-12-09T16:04:00.004-05:00

Letter to the Editor in New York Times

2009-12-07T17:19:00.004-05:00

Today’s New York Times published my letter concerning restrictions like the Stupak Amendment in health care reform:

To the Editor:

Re “False Alarm on Abortion,” by Phillip B. Levine (Op-Ed, Nov. 25):

Mr. Levine dismisses talk about the potential impact of the Stupak amendment as an exaggeration of what would change for women. Eighty-seven percent of employer-based health plans currently provide coverage for abortion care. If the Stupak amendment or equally restrictive language were included in the final version of the health care reform bill, millions of women could risk losing their coverage.

No woman plans to have an abortion. The individual circumstances for this choice are as varied as the women themselves; fetal anomalies, health risks and spousal abuse do not discriminate based on age, income or insurance status.

Likewise, Mr. Levine’s contention that nothing would change for uninsured women or women covered by Medicaid does little to advance his argument. Restrictions on public funding for abortion are one of the biggest barriers to women seeking abortion care. Just because these restrictions are already in place does not mean that further limitations should be accepted.

Meaningful reform of health care cannot take place by sacrificing the well-being of half of the citizens of this country.

Women Speak out Against Stupak Amendment

2009-12-07T17:08:00.007-05:00

Last week, NAF brought a group of patients to Capitol Hill to share their abortion experiences with legislators as part of a DC lobby day to oppose the Stupak Amendment. Each of these women had a different experience with insurance coverage for their abortion care, and they represent the women who could be affected by restrictions like the Stupak Amendment and the Nelson-Hatch Amendment, which was introduced in the Senate today.

NAF member and author, Professor Carole Joffe joined us last week in DC and spoke with some of the patients we brought forward. Today, she blogged about her experience:

“….the most moving and significant part of the day was my conversation with three women who had later abortions….In spite of the different outcomes experienced by Mary, Christie and Dana, all three of these women have taken the step of going public with their stories because of their profound belief that no woman or her partner should be fighting bureaucracies or facing possible bankruptcy at the saddest moment in their lives.”

>Read Joffe's complete post.
>Share your abortion experience.

Illinois Parental Notification Law Halted for 2009

2009-11-23T15:51:00.001-05:00

An Illinois circuit court judge has upheld a restraining order preventing enforcement of a parental notification law. The law, which was originally scheduled to go into effect on November 2, would require physicians to notify a parent or guardian before a minor obtains abortion care.

The restraining order will be in effect through the end of the year, as the judge waits for briefs from both sides before making a final determination about the law.

>Learn more about parental involvement laws.

Wednesday's Words from Women

2009-11-18T15:00:00.004-05:00

Over one-third of women of reproductive age have an abortion by the age of 45. However, women who have chosen abortion are often absent from the public debate. In order to break the silence surrounding abortion, we will be featuring real stories from real women each Wednesday on our blog. If you would like to share your story with us or have it published on our blog, go to http://www.prochoice.org/pregnant/hotline/share.html.

I am pro-choice because being a feminist is one of the most fundamental pieces of who I am. I’m committed to fighting for policies that expand the possibilities of women’s choice. The Hotline has helped me to have my own choice, and for this I am very grateful. The clinic was the only place I contacted (and I contacted many!) where I found quality and care and I felt respected. Thank you. Both the Hotline and the clinic have made a huge difference.

--submitted by Jordan* through a member clinic

I have always been pro-choice, and I always kept myself informed as to what my options were when it came to reproductive health care. I never thought I would have to use the information on abortion until I found out I was pregnant.

I am a 22-year-old college student who lives at home with her parents. I work as a waitress and my boyfriend works at a grocery store and plans to go to graduate school. There is no way we could have supported a child.

From the time I found out I was pregnant to the time of the abortion, I threw up two to three times a day, every day. I hid my sickness from my parents and had to put on a happy face. It was so hard. I became depressed and frustrated because not only was I tired from being pregnant; I was also very weak from not being able to eat.

If my parents ever knew I had an abortion, they would kick me out of the house and disown me. They told me this when I was a teenager.

My boyfriend and I had only been going out for three months when we discovered we were pregnant. We both discussed our options and came to a conclusion quickly. Throughout the whole medical abortion, he was there every step of the way. We had to get a hotel room in order for me to have my medical abortion. With how sick and weak I was, there was no way I could have covered that up at my house or at his. I am so grateful to him.

It scares me to think that there are 70-year-old men over in Washington DC who I have never met before, and probably never will, that could have had the chance to decide my life's path, and not me. No complete stranger should be able to take away my education and the life I dream of.

I did it for my future. -- I did it because I was concerned that I would not be able to raise the child in the right way and give it everything it needed, and because as supportive as my boyfriend was, I did not know him well enough to ensure that we would be together forever.

There are days where I still sometimes feel sad, because this was not an easy decision. But in my heart I know I did the right thing.

--submitted by Alexa* through our website

*Names have been changed to protect patient privacy

RNC Ends Insurance Coverage of Abortion for Employees

2009-11-13T18:11:00.001-05:00

Late yesterday, Chairman Michael Steele told Republican National Committee (RNC) staff to immediately stop providing RNC employees with insurance coverage for elective abortion care. The coverage, through the insurance carrier Cigna, had been in place since 1991, according to a spokeswoman from the RNC. Steele’s decision came after details of the RNC’s coverage broke in the media this week.

Last weekend, all House Republicans except one, voted for an extreme anti-abortion amendment to health care reform, which would restrict insurance coverage of abortion. If the Stupak-Pitts Amendment is included in the final version of health care reform, women who get their health insurance through the Exchange could lose the opportunity to choose coverage for abortion care. Research shows that most typical employer-based plans currently cover abortions; so with the passage of Stupak-Pitts, millions of women could lose their access to safe, affordable abortion care.

Take action against this dangerous new restriction on women's reproductive health care. Sign the Stop Stupak petition today!

Wednesday's Words from Women

2009-11-11T14:45:00.003-05:00

House Assaults Women’s Access to Reproductive Health Care

2009-11-10T10:41:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, I released the following statement in response to the Stupak/Pitts Amendment:

This weekend, women’s access to reproductive health care was dealt a devastating blow when the House of Representatives passed an extreme anti-abortion amendment to health care reform.

It is inexcusable that anti-choice representatives are using this important opportunity to reform our country’s health care system to further restrict women’s access to reproductive health care, including abortion care.

The Stupak/Pitts Amendment would not only prohibit coverage for abortion in the new public option, but would take away women's ability to purchase coverage for abortion care with their own funds in the health insurance Exchange. This would result in millions of women losing health care benefits they have today, for while most typical employment-based health plans currently cover abortion, those plans would likely have to drop abortion care in order to compete in the insurance exchanges. In order for a woman to obtain coverage for abortion care, she would have to purchase a single-service rider. This system is extremely unworkable, because women do not plan to have a complicated pregnancy or need to obtain abortion care, and would therefore not purchase the rider.

Abortion care is basic health care for women and should not be treated differently from any other health service. It is unconscionable that women’s reproductive health is being used as a pawn in the health care reform debate. NAF calls on the Senate to stop these attacks on women’s health and ensure that women can access the comprehensive care they need, including abortion care.