By Sheila Reynoso, Research Intern
A recent report released by the Center for American Progress, Abortion Bills by the Numbers, written by Jessica Arons and Alex Cawthorne, caught my attention this week. It highlights the increase in state laws restricting access to abortion.
The health care reform bill and President Obama’s Executive Order are making it possible for states to “opt-out” of abortion coverage and pass laws that will prohibit insurance companies from providing abortion coverage in the exchange market. Three states to this date have passed such laws, with 14 states following suit introducing laws that will either ban, limit, or a combination of both for abortions.
The report also mentions how states have passed laws that place all sorts of absurd restrictions on abortions, including (but not limited to) banning abortions based on the gender or race of the fetus; mandatory ultrasounds; and time frame limitations. Finally, this article also comments on how much time and effort is spent lobbying for these abortion restrictions while other important legislation and programs are underfunded or cut altogether. Arons and Cawthorne highlight the irony in this:
While state legislators have been busy making abortion almost impossible to obtain for an untold number of women, they have done little to provide women with the support they need to carry their pregnancies to term, have childbirth options available to them, and raise the children they have. States are facing a budget shortfall of about $260 billion over the next two fiscal years, leading to unprecedented cuts to a variety of critical programs for vulnerable families and children, including public health programs and early childhood and K-12 education.
We need better public health programs that will provide education on contraceptive use, public health programs that will support a woman if she chooses to raise her child, and programs that will prevent unintended pregnancies. I urge legislators to put themselves in a woman’s shoes and look at the reality of the position that these women are in, stop passing abortion laws that prohibit a woman’s right and instead move in a direction that will give women and families better reproductive health options.
By Sheila Reynoso, Research Intern
Great post, Sheila! I think the sex and race selection bans are particularly scary because they begin a slippery slope of legislating away women’s reason for choosing abortion. Women and their doctors need to protect their precious patient privacy from intruding politicians who want to unconstitutionally narrow the grounds for seeking abortion.
#1: these bans are NOT the way to stop racism or sexism
#2: what’s next? a 35-page questionnaire that requires doctors to ask women all sorts of questions about why they’re seeking abortions for fear that they’ll be prosecuted by the state if they fail to do so?