On the anniversary of Roe: State of abortion access

On the anniversary of Roe, I began to think more and more about the question 'what good is a 'legal' abortion, when you can't access it?'.  Without access, you have no choice. In a report from 2005, 87% of counties in the US have no abortion provider; in Minnesota, 95% of counties lack an abortion provider. This may seem like a win for anti-choice advocates, but what we really have is a culture that is punishing women because of other's religious beliefs. When a women doesn't have access to family planning resources, the number of unintended pregnancies increase. Later term, more risky abortions happen when a woman doesn't have access to an abortion clinic or doesn't have the funds or means to obtain one.

One of the biggest hurdles for abortion rights activists is that people have forgotten what it was like for women prior to Roe. Anti-choice groups have succeeded in removing real stories of real women from the abortion access fight.  Yes, abortion illicits strong feelings in many people, but we often forget that abortion isn't about you. Its about a woman making a choice about her body and her life. Not yours. You have to think about how you would want your daughter or mother or best friend to be treated when they are making this decision for their life.

As a reminder of what abortions were like prior to Roe, I'd like to share a story about a woman who ended up founding several health care centers that offer abortion care.
Abortion care network

My name is Renee Chelian. In 1966, when I was 15 years old, I had an illegal abortion. It was a very brave decision that my parents helped me with. My father took me because my mother was six months pregnant with my younger sister, and he was afraid for her safety as well as mine. We were blind folded and taken to some kind of warehouse. When the blind fold was removed there were many other girls there. No one talked for fear of being turned away. It was dangerous, it was very expensive, my parents could have been jailed, I don’t know who did my abortion – I’m sure not a doctor and I could have died or had serious complications or been left infertile. And we could tell no one out of fear and the stigma associated with a crime that so many other women were also risking their lives for.

I was willing to risk my life for a second chance. I didn’t know then how this experience would change me forever. After the legalization of abortion in 1973, I became passionate about working to ensure that NO woman would ever have to experience another back alley, illegal abortion.

As we learn more about Dr. Kermit Gosnell's practice in Philadelphia, we can see the parallels. Limiting access to abortion and preventing funding for abortion hurts women. You can put all the legal blocks you want, women will still seek out and obtain abortions. And desperate women, who don't know where to turn, may end up dying.

I recently heard a story about a woman named Leila.  She had a young son who had numerous medical problems.  In order to care for him, she dropped out of school but soon lost her job because of the numerous doctor appointments for her son.  Leila soon found out she was pregnant. She knew that she could not have another child. Leila spent weeks getting the money together for an abortion, even selling her belongings on Craigslist.  She felt relieved when she had gotten together the money but then found out at her appointment that the cost was $100 more than she had. She broke down and tried to sell everything that she had in her diaper bag.  Luckily for Leila, the clinic was connected with the National Network of Abortion Funds and they were able to provide Leila with the funds to obtain an abortion.  Not everyone is as fortunate as Leila, NNAF is only able to help 1 in 9 women who call for help. (Leila's full story is here: the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF))

Another story about the challenges of accessing an abortion is a little closer to home, coming from Minnesota.

Prochoice Resources

"I was 29 with a 11 year old and a 2 year old, I was in a very bad abusive relationship with a man and I got pregnant, I knew from the start that I couldn't keep the baby, I knew that I would be stuck and have to take the abuse forever, and even worse I knew that my children would have to endure the abuse if I stayed. I had nowhere to go, no money and no one to talk to. I called the Hersey Abortion Assistance Fund number and for the first time in 2 months I felt I could breathe again, the lady that I talked to seemed so caring and understanding. They don't just give you money they help you emotionally and when you go through something like that it means more than all the money in the world. I could never thank them enough. And just so you know I got rid of the boyfriend, and me and my 2 kids have never been better.. Thank you so much" -Denice, age 30

Abortion opponents strategy for targeting public funding are two-fold, first to immediately reduce access and secondly as a broader strategy to recriminalize abortion. The limits on abortion coverage overwhelmingly affect the most vulnerable among us. Anti-choice legislators are even trying to limit access to birth control. We know that prevention works. We need to fund more family planning services, not remove funding.  When you eliminate or limit access to care, you create desperate situations for women.

We often assume that because someone identifies personally as 'pro-life', that they are 'anti-choice' but I would argue that for the majority of Americans this simply isn't true. I think the majority of Americans are pro-life AND pro-choice. I made a choice as a teenager (and now my child is a teenager) but it was my choice to make.  All women should be able to make that choice without restrictions or limits or social stigma. To accomplish this, we need equality in comprehensive family planning access, including equality in funding for our health care programs.


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If you would like to donate to an abortion fund and help women who wouldn't otherwise have a choice, here are some links:

National Network of Abortion Funds
Prochoice Resources (Twin Cities)

Obama administration: Birth control is too politically risky

When did birth control become such a political football? I'm not talking about abortion. I'm talking birth control pills; that medicine most women take at some point in their lives to prevent pregnancy. The political fight over birth control access ramped up significantly with the health care reform debate and is back as the committee appointed by members of congress now debate what should or should not be covered as preventative medicine.

If birth control is specified as a preventative, insurance companies will cover the total cost of the prescription (meaning no copay for women).  For many, a copay may not be a big issue. They may not see the importance or impact of providing free birth control to low income women. To those who are barely getting by, a $10-$50 expense per month is significant. A college student making 12K per year (my sister made less than this as a student) per year as a waitress and has a $50/month prescription has to spend 5% of her income. 5% of her income just for birth control. And people wonder why there are so many unplanned pregnancies.

Sadly, the Obama administration seems content to sit back and let the chips fall as they may.
The Nation

Douglas Laube, a veteran ob-gyn and chair of the board of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, who attended a fall meeting with White House staff to discuss the issue, described members of the administration as appreciative of the importance of birth control – but also worried. “Nobody in that room disagreed,” said Laube. “It all had to do with the potential political fallout.”

If the GOP, who fights access to family planning at every turn, REALLY cared about reducing the numbers of abortions, they would fight FOR expanded coverage of birth control. We need a leader to stand up and protect women's access to comprehensive health care. Prevention works. Prevention saves money. Prevention saves lives.