ABORTION ACCESS: LIFE-CHANGING, LIFE-SAVING
Women and doctors talked about “the disastrous, real-world consequences of abortion bans” at a Capitol Hill hearing on April 26. As reported by the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin, “The most compelling and heartbreaking testimony came from Amanda Zurawski” — a woman who was denied the care needed to save her life and health by Texas’s abortion ban. Knowing that the fetus she was carrying had no chance of survival, she nevertheless was forced to wait until she developed sepsis and delivered her stillborn baby, before being whisked off to the ICU, deathly ill. She may not be able to have a child in the future.
Amanda is not the only woman who has had to undergo such physical and emotional trauma following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. State after state has enacted laws denying or severely restricting access to abortion, regardless of risks to women’s lives and health. Fourteen states now have near total bans, also aptly referred to as forced-birth laws. Texas may have taken the lead, but it has been followed by Arkansas, Alabama, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin, plus Georgia, which has a 6-week ban.
ACCESS TO MEDICATION ABORTION
Against this backdrop, a drama is playing out in the courts regarding access to the most effective way to terminate early pregnancies, abortion pills. A single federal district court judge in Texas decided that the Federal Drug Administration – the agency responsible for deciding on the efficacy and safety of medical drugs – made the wrong decision in 2000 when it approved mifepristone. The mifepristone pill is the first in the two-pill regimen that experience has shown safely terminates pregnancy, up to 10 weeks. Over 5 million women have used it and it is the method of choice that accounts for over half of all abortions. Reviewing that decision, an appeals court disagreed about overturning the FDA’s original decision, but reimposed more recent FDA restrictions on how the pill can be dispensed, e.g., requiring an in-person doctor’s visit. The Supreme Court has stayed both decisions for now, meaning access to medication the abortion remains available, but that access in the future is uncertain.
PROMOTING ABORTION ACCESS: CA as a haven for abortion
States like California that honor the rights of women to choose abortion have responded by adopting strategies to promote abortion access. California has joined a Multi-state Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a non-partisan coalition of 20 Governors committed to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom in their states, including also Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
California’s commitment is shown by its continuing support of the CA Future of Abortion Council’s legislative work – which Citizens for Choice also supports. This year, 17 proposals were introduced by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, building on the FAB Council’s recommendations. They include bills to expand privacy and other legal protections for those seeking or assisting with abortion care, and to take additional steps to expand affordable access to abortion. Just two examples are a bill that provides privacy protections for digital data related to patients accessing abortion services in California (AB 254) and one that enhances privacy protections for medical records related to abortion and pregnancy loss (AB 352).
We at Citizens for Choice continuously advocate in support of abortion access. We are working with allies, particularly with the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom, to do all we can. We will be joining with the Coalition during its annual Reproductive Freedom Week the first week in May to let our legislators know of key policy priorities. And, with your continuing support, we will remain the defenders we are of reproductive choice and rights.
Elaine Sierra