Repro Health Hub

With the 35^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade just a week behind us, abortion opponents in West Virginia are already gearing up for the 2008 legislative season. Among their top priorities: limiting Medicaid funding for abortions.  

If passed, this bill (HB 3077) would limit Medicaid funding for abortions, allowing such funding only in those exceptions that the federal government has permitted through the Hyde Amendment (in cases of incest, rape, or when the mother’s life is endangered). In the 30 years since the passage of the Hyde Amendment, only 17 states have elected to provide additional financial assistance to low-income women through Medicaid, with West Virginia among this small and possibly shrinking minority.  

WV reproductive rights activists, however, are not letting this regressive proposal go unchallenged. WV FREE, a local non-profit supporting reproductive rights, has called on West Virginians to join together as a united voice for reproductive rights on their upcoming Lobby Day (February 28). To further this end, WV FREE has issued a set of talking points to address HB 3077. Of notable significance within these talking points is the reference to Women’s Health Center v. Panepinto, a 1993 case that found limiting abortion funds for poor and low-income women to be unconstitutional. And contrary to what abortion foes might argue, this type of funding has not caused the abortion rate to increase in the state. In fact, consistent with the national trend, the abortion rate has been on the decline in West Virginia since 1990.  

This recent decline, coupled with the previous ruling of unconstitutionality, should serve as sufficient proof that this type of legislation is unnecessary and discriminatory.  

- Michelle Martelle

Last Tuesday, January 22 2008, marked the 35th anniversary of the monumental Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision establishing a woman’s right to privacy when making decisions about her own reproductive health.  

Before Roe, an estimated 1.2 million women each year resorted to illegal and unsafe abortions. Although Roe was a great step towards progress, reproductive rights in America are still facing many challenges and the National Institute for Reproductive Health and others are actively fighting those threats. 

NARAL Pro-Choice America celebrated the anniversary with “Blog for Choice Day” in which bloggers around the country were invited to write about why they vote pro-choice. While Roe is about choice, we would also like to recognize the fantastic work that’s being done around the nation surrounding all reproductive health issues. So here goes:   

• I vote pro-choice because women should not be dying from unsafe abortions. 

• I vote pro-choice because all women in the US should have access to safe abortions. 

• I vote pro-choice because a women’s ability to obtain an abortion should not be determined by her income. 

• I vote pro-choice because a woman and her partner should have the ability to avoid unintended pregnancy. 
  

• I vote pro-choice because birth control should be available to everyone. 

• I vote pro-choice because women should not be criminalized.  

• I vote pro-choice because abortion providers should not be criminalized. 

• I vote pro-choice because accurate information about sex, sexuality, and health should be accessible to everyone.  

• I vote pro-choice because abstinence-only education doesn’t work. 

• I vote pro-choice because comprehensive sex education can reduce teen pregnancy and prevent the spread of STDs. 

• I vote pro-choice because reproductive health care can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. 
  

• I vote pro-choice because our government should not be prohibiting women around the world from necessary family planning services.  

• I vote pro-choice because I believe in the right to do what is best for myself and my body. 

• I vote pro-choice because I value human rights.  

 Nuff’ said.

- Teresa Mozur

Members of the Hyde 30 Years is Enough Campaign delivered thousands of petition signatures to Congress today asking for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment!

 The Hyde Amendment, as many of you know, is an egregious policy that prohibits federal Medicaid dollars from being used to pay for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest and danger to the life of the woman. This horrific policy has left many women without access to needed care. 

The Hyde 30 Years is Enough Coalition, spearheaded by the National Network of Abortion Funds, is working to change this policy. As part of a multi-pronged approach that demonstrates its grassroots support across the country, the campaign gathered over 12,500 petition signatures calling on Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment. Activists from the coalition brought the petitions to Congress today and delivered their important message that indeed, 30 years is enough! 

For more information about the coalition and how to get involved, check out their website.     

- Myra Batchelder 

The Guttmacher Institute just released an unbelievably useful and thorough new study examining the results from their census of abortion providers nationwide. Guttmacher has conducted this study regularly since the 1970s.  The 2005 study surveyed 1,787 abortion providers. The full study is available online here and more information, including state-specific fact sheets, can be found online here.  

Some of the key findings from the census include: 

The abortion rate in the United States continues to decline. In 2005, the U.S. abortion rate fell to its lowest level since 1974, with a rate of 19.4 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44. The abortion rate peaked at 29.3 in 1981 and has steadily declined ever since. 

The number of abortion providers continues to decline, though at a slower rate than in previous years. The number of abortion providers in the United States fell 2% from 1,819 in 2000 to 1,787 in 2005. This decline is one of the reasons why women continue to face difficulty in accessing a needed provider. Nearly 35% of women ages 15 to 44 were living in one of the 87% of counties nationwide that did not have an abortion provider in 2005.  

Medication abortion (mifepristone) use is growing. The proportion of all abortions that are medication abortion procedures increased substantially between 2000 and 2005, with more providers offering the service even when they do not offer surgical abortion services. In total, medication abortion accounted for 13% of all abortions and 22% of eligible abortions (before nine weeks’ gestation) in 2005. 

More effort is needed to reduce unintended pregnancy and abortion. Despite recent declines in abortion rates, slightly more than one in five pregnancies ended in abortion in 2005, indicating that much more still needs to be done to help women and their partners avoid unintended pregnancy. Half of American women aged 15-44 have experienced an unintended pregnancy, and about one in three will have had an abortion by the time they reach age 45.  

Much Kudos to Guttmacher for releasing this valuable information; make sure to check it out!  

By Myra Batchelder

It looks like Iowa has been in dire need of reproductive health services, until now.  Here’s a few not-so-fun facts about Iowa’s report card on repro health:

• Iowa ranks 48th in the nation in making family planning services available
• It ranks 39th in its public funding for family planning
• More than half of Iowa’s counties do not have family planning services.
• Half of all pregnancies in Iowa in 2006 were unintended.

In short, Iowa is not on the top list of family planning provider states. But something is finally being done about it, thanks to former first lady Christie Vilsack, whose determination has resulted in the recent launch of the Iowa Initiative to Reduce Unintended Pregnancies.

The organization’s goal is to broaden family planning services to the people who need them, and disseminate information to Iowans about contraception and family planning through public education outreach.

“As a woman and a mother, I believe we have a responsbility to give all women in our state the knowledge  and means to prevent unintended pregnancies,” says Vilsack. “Access in family planning results in better lives for women, children and families and the greater Iowa community.”

Amen. The best of luck to Vilsack and the Iowa Initiative! Click here for more info on this fantastic (and much-needed) project.  

Comprehensive sex ed.  Teens want it, and some state officials are starting to pay attention. 

In Florida, Democratic lawmakers are proposing a bill to include curriculum about contraceptives, as opposed to promoting only abstinence.  Though the bill will maintain that abstinence is the only absolute way to prevent getting pregnant or contracting STDs, it will allow for students in the 6^th grade onwards to receive education about contraceptives, their benefits and their side effects.   

As promoted to be “middle-ground” between what conservatives want and what liberals want, this bill addresses the reality that teens are talking about sex and have more questions than they do answers.   

In the meantime, New York City high school students are trying to get that very fact across to City Councilmembers.  Ten courageous Bronx teenagers stood in front of City Council last November, defending that comprehensive sex ed should be mandatory in New York City schools.  As it stands now, principals have the final say in approving the comprehensive sex curriculum that was passed by the city’s Department of Education in October 2007.   

The young female activists, who originally started this project to fight for comprehensive sex ed while volunteering at a non-profit organization, have continued to rally for their rights through starting a petition, creating a MySpace page, and disseminating self-designed brochures on sex.  It’s apparent that these teens are more aware than their lawmaking counterparts of the discrepancy between teen pregnancy rates in the Bronx and those rates citywide. 

Now that’s teen power at its finest.

By Pooja Awatramani

As the 35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade is rapidly approaching, this is just serving as a reminder for Blog for Choice Day that NARAL Pro-Choice America, along with hundreds of other bloggers, will be blogging away about the importance of reproductive rights. This year’s question: Why do you vote pro-choice?

We need to keep reproductive health and justice in the national spotlight, so make sure to Blog for Choice on January 22nd!