New legislation is chipping away at a woman’s right to choose.
In college, I took a class called “The History of Reproductive Rights.” Growing up in a liberal community – and with the kind of parents who agreed that a class called “The History of Reproductive Rights” was a solid part of my academic growth – I remember being amazed by both the amount of abuse women took and the lengths they went to ensure they got the sexual health care they needed.
At that time, a group of Chicago women, collectively known only as Jane, became heroes of mine. Jane was an underground abortion service run by women in the Hyde Park neighborhood from 1969 to 1973. A doctor taught the women how to do the procedure, and over those four years, until the passage of Roe vs. Wade, Jane provided more than 12,000 safe (and totally illegal) abortions in the city.
Reading about these women as an 18 year-old in the time of Clinton (Bill, that is), I was sure there would never again be the need for a group like Jane. Was I ever naive.
There are a number of ways anti-choice groups and legislators are currently battling the right to choose:
On March 24, South Dakota became the first state to implement a 72-hour waiting period between the time a woman requests and gets an abortion. The bill also mandates that she get what amounts to anti-choice counseling from a crisis pregnancy center (CPC), even in cases of rape and incest. Governor Dennis Daugaard (R), signed the bill into law and it goes into effect July 1. Just for comparison, in 2009, the state voted to repeal the 48-hour waiting period to purchase a gun.
In addition to the legislative implication that women are flighty, rash or are simply not smart enough to know what they want, this is a huge problem logistically – especially in South Dakota. There is but one abortion provider in the entire state. If you don’t live close to Sioux Falls, or can’t afford to travel there on multiple occasions (which means you probably can’t afford a baby, but there’s nothing to indicate that the Governor is worried about that), you won’t be able to get an abortion.
Then there’s the CPC. Sarah Stoesz, president of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, explains, “They’re not licensed, they’re not regulated, they’re not accredited and they’re openly ideological.” According to Ms. Stoesz, CPCs are often run by anti-choice activists who aren’t licensed to practice medicine. Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) plan to take legal action.
Earlier this month, Senator Mark Christensen of Nebraska decided it would be good to legalize killing doctors who perform abortions – he got the idea from his cohorts in South Dakota – so he introduced a bill allowing murderers to use the “justifiable homicide” defense for killings intended to prevent harm to a fetus. The South Dakota version, which didn’t pass, would have only applied to a pregnant woman, her husband, her parents or her children, while the Nebraska legislation would also apply to any third party. If this bill passes, anyone can go ahead and walk into a Planned Parenthood and kill a doctor without consequence. Meanwhile, in Nebraska, it remains illegal for a mother to give her daughter a perm without a state license. Christensen claims that he didn’t intend the bill to allow for or encourage murdering doctors and is reportedly revising the language.
In Ohio, a fetus took the stand. State Rep. Lynn Wachtmann’s heartbeat bill would “prohibit women from ending pregnancies at the first detectable fetal heartbeat,” which can come as early as 18 days after conception, a time when most women don’t even know they are pregnant. The groups, Ohio Right To Life and Faith2Action, put on quite a show when they gave two pregnant women ultrasounds while lawmakers listened for fetal heartbeats. One March 24, the vote was postponed; Watchmann said the bill “wasn’t quite ready.”
Nationally, things aren’t much better. On February 18th, the House voted to cut off all funding to Planned Parenthood, using language to imply that federal money is being used to fund abortion – which hasn’t been the case since the passing of the Hyde Amendment in 1976. Luckily, the Senate defeated the bill allowing Planned Parenthood to continue providing preventative care including STI testing, HIV testing, breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer tests and access to birth control to more than three million women a year.
But the fight isn’t over. Meet H.R.3. The bill known for finally defining rape as “forcible,” is going after private insurers. Here’s how it works: If a company provides health care benefits and that plan includes coverage for abortion, the company becomes ineligible for the federal tax deductions and credits usually granted to companies that provide benefits. This will impact 87% of private insurance plans. Meaning, more employers will seek the coverage that doesn’t specifically exclude abortion coverage and fewer women will have insurance that covers this legal procedure.
And, as if your taxes aren’t complicated enough, if H.R.3 passes, the IRS will be looking to get in your pants. “Under standard audit procedure, a woman would have to provide evidence to corroborate facts about abortions, rapes, and cases of incest,” Marcus Owens, an accountant and former longtime IRS official told Daily Kos. If a taxpayer received a deduction or tax credit for abortion costs related to a case of rape or incest, or because her life was endangered, then “on audit [she] would have to demonstrate or prove, ideally by contemporaneous written documentation, that it was incest, or rape, or [her] life was in danger,” Owens says. “It would be fairly intrusive for the woman.” Yes, fairly.
2011 is already a newsworthy year in the history of reproductive rights. I’m doing what I can: emailing and calling my legislators, donating to Planned Parenthood and talking about this with anyone who will listen. But, I’m from Chicago. If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, I may be calling Jane to learn a new skill.
Photo via u2canreed