Another Funding Cut for Woman's Health Care?

We need you to take action NOW -- TODAY.

We hope, by now, that you've heard about the two horrible bills introduced in the House that restrict abortion access and funding. The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" (HR3) would penalize companies--in the form of tax credits--that offer health plans that cover abortion and would deny federal subsidies to people who have abortion-covered healthcare. And the "Protect Life Act" (HR358) would "prohibit federal funds from being used to cover any part of the costs of a health plan that includes coverage of abortion services."

On top of this, the Republican led House is trying to completely eliminate the Title X Family Planning Program in the FY2011 federal budget (continuing resolution HR1).

Yes, FAMILY PLANNING in the United States is on the chop-block.

Title X is the ONLY federal funding dedicated to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and critical related preventive health services. Title X is "designed to provide access to contraceptive services, supplies and information to all who want and need them. By law priority is give to person from low-income families." For many women across the country, this crucial family planning care is the only medical they receive each year.

According to Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood "The real impact of eliminating the Title X program is that millions of women across the country will lose access to basic primary and preventive health care, such as lifesaving cancer screenings, contraception, STI testing and treatment, and annual exams...For every public dollar invested in family planning, taxpayers save nearly $4." Title X saves taxpayers money, and more importantly it saves women's lives.

Along with cutting $318 billion for Title X family planning, check out just a few of the other programs the continuing resolution will cut (compared to FY 2010 levels):

• $110 million from the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (eliminating all funding)
• $1.4 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• $747 million for the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC)
• $50 million for Maternal and Child Health Block Grants
• $1.6 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  Thanks to SIECUS for this budget analysis:

WE CAN NOT STAND FOR THIS. TAKE ACTION NOW!

So what can we do to have our voices heard?

We ask you to join in solidarity with Choice USA as part of a National Youth Call-In. Please call your Representatives TODAY and let them know you support reproductive justice.

Call 800-600-5774 and ask for your Representative. (Don't know who your rep is? Go here and type in your zip code to find out.)

Here's a sample script to guide your call:

As a young person/student living in _________ (city/state/district), I am calling Representative ___________ to urge him/her to vote ‘no’ on HR 3 , the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and HR 358, the Protect Life Act. In addition, I strongly urge __________ to not vote to cut funding for Title X Family Planning, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, and other programs for women and children. Abortion access, preventative services, and health and wellness programs are vitally important to young people's lives. As a young person that votes in this district, I believe that taking away insurance coverage for abortion and family planning services disproportionately hurts young people, who are more likely to live in poverty and at a higher risk for unintended pregnancy. We should be protecting the health and decision-making power of young people, not stripping it away. In short, these restrictions hurt everyone. Young people voted in record numbers in the past two elections for more jobs. We want and need jobs, not restricted reproductive healthcare. If you support us now by voting down HR 3 and HR 358, we will support you by giving you our votes in 2012. Please vote with young people, not against us. Do you know if Representative ___________ is planning to oppose these bills?

Call your reps, and make the youth voice heard!! Tell all your friends about these draconian bills and encourage them to call in, too!

P.S. Don't forget to wear a silver ribbon to show solidarity for reproductive rights.

Clinic defense: A prochoice band-aid

My clinic escort buddy Username Catbus recently posted reasons why clinic defense is a crummy volunteer gig, and why he does it anyway. His main points:

a) You have to listen to racist jerks yell babykiller epithets at you and patients. Further reading: Our local antis created a handy manual on how to harass women on the street who might be "abortion-minded"

b) It's boring and you risk sunburn/inclement weather/racist jerks

c) Clinic defense best suits volunteers with an even keeled temperament, so it's not for everyone, and

d) If you don't have an even keeled temperament, you're better off doing other prochoice work like lobbying or campaigning for progressive candidates, since clinic defense is just a band-aid for a bigger problem.

But we continue to volunteer because it is generally the most meaningful and rewarding reason to wake up at 7am on a Saturday. Really, clinic defense is my favorite volunteer activity and I encourage everyone who's pro-choice to try it. In addition to the general warm fuzzy feelings you get from volunteering, consider:

a) It's 8:30am. Sleepiness often trumps crankiness at antis.

b) You get to socialize with cool people you might not ordinarily meet. I've met prochoice bloggers, Hill staffers, dog walkers, federal contractors, college kids, and legendary local escort Phil. Far better than okcupid or networking happy hours.

c) You can have a really productive Saturday when you wake up early. Counterpoint: When you go out that evening, your friends will be perky and you will fall asleep in the bar, if you're me.

d) There's no minimum time commitment for volunteering with DC area clinics. Commitment-phobes welcome.

e) No papercuts.

f) It will make you even more pro-choice. Even if you just go to a short volunteer training, you'll feel smarter and angrier about clinic harassment.

If you are in the DC area and want to become a clinic escort, contact the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force. If you are elsewhere, join FMF's Adopt-a-Clinic campaign and email campusteam (at) feminist (dot) org for help finding a provider. Comment below and let us know how you're supporting your friendly local abortion provider!

Photo of crisis-pregnancy-center-mobile: j-No on Flickr

Anti-Choice Virginia Attorney General Tries to Increase Regulation of Abortion Clinics

Anti-Choice Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued an opinion Monday that gives the Virginia Board of Health the power to implement hospital-like regulations on women’s health clinics that provide abortion procedures.

According to the Washington Post, “In his seven months in office, Cuccinelli has sued the federal government over new health-care rules; waded into the national immigration debate, saying law enforcement can ask about immigration status; and launched an investigation into whether a former University of Virginia professor and climate scientist manipulated data to reach his conclusions about global warming.” Add abortion to the list and this guy is has taken on every right-wing issue in the book! These are the same anti-abortion regulations Cuccinelli failed to implement as a state senator. However, now that he suddenly has the “unbiased” authority of attorney general, he thinks he can bypass the actual lawmaking process to get his anti-woman policies through!

If the Virginia Board of Health moves to enforce Cuccinelli’s legal opinion (which is thankfully unlikely because a majority were appointed by VA’s former governor, a Democrat), 17 of VA’s 21 clinics might close because they would not be able to afford to make the required changes.

South Carolina has already implemented similar regulations to women’s health clinics in their state. Target Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP laws, are used by anti-s to drive up the cost of abortion through intentionally burdensome regulations in an attempt to cut off women’s constitutionally protected reproductive rights. According to the National Abortion Federation, 34 states already have some type of TRAP law on the books. It’s important that activists stay vigilant in their state legislatures to ensure that our constitutional reproductive rights are not circumvented through these purely political policies that seek to regulate only one type of procedure, abortion, above all else.

From the Front Lines: A Warm Welcome in Charlotte

Last week, I went to Charlotte, North Carolina with Feminist Majority Foundation to help protect reproductive health providers from anti-abortion extremists Operation Rescue/Operation Save America during their national siege. This summer I've worked a great deal on with our NCAP project, and am following various anti-abortion organizations as part of my internship. Before this summer, I didn't really know a lot about NCAP or the history of anti-abortion violence. I heard about the murder of Dr. George Tiller over a year ago, and that was about as much as I knew.

FMF's National Clinic Access Project (NCAP) began shortly after FMF was founded and provides a great gamut of assistance to women's health care providers targeted by anti-abortion extremists. Just to give you an idea of what we do - NCAP specializes in tracking anti-abortion extremists, works with federal, state and local law enforcement to protect abortion providers, provides grass-roots organizing support for clinics, recruits pro-bono legal help for clinics under siege, and even makes emergency grants to targeted clinics to improve security measures. So when the National Clinic Access Project heard Operation Rescue/Operation Save America announce a national siege of Charlotte-area abortion providers in July, NCAP immediately began to organize to protect the clinics, their workers, physicians and patients in advance of the OR/OSA week of harassment.

That's where I come in. As part of my internship, I traveled to Charlotte as part of the NCAP team to work with FMF national organizer, campus organizer, legal coordinator and two other interns to help organize clinic defense, grass roots trainings, legal observing and escorting, but most of my efforts focused on clinic defense. Clinic defense is literally about mobilizing a ton of pro-choice peeps to create a human buffer zone between anti-abortion zealots and clinic staff and patients. Clinic defense is also critical to helping maintain access to clinic driveways and entrances while sending a critical message of support to the clinic.

Also, what I learned is that clinic defense can also provide a distraction for anti-abortion protesters so that they don't bother the patients. If OR/OSA is too busy yelling at a clinic defender, they don't tent to notice a car pulling into the drive way with a patient. Although clinic defenders create a buffer zone and often take the focus of the anti's attention, we (as clinic defenders) must not cause problems for the clinic -- or the police, which is why NCAP strictly enforces a non-engagement policy. No witty comebacks, no arguing, no general conversation with the anti's. You have to be completely stone-faced. Which frustrates them even more so they get caught up in "breaking" you and forget about patients (win).

This principle of non-engagement is covered meticulously in clinic defense trainings -- along with a pledge of non-violence. On the last training before the siege, the NCAP clinic defense team, along with ProChoice Charlotte and the UNCC Feminist Union, met with an eager group of activists who were ready to face Operation Save America. A few had done escorting in the past, but most were new to the clinic defense scene. We had everyone introduce themselves and explain why they were there and then gave some general information about the non-engagement policy and what should be expected throughout the week. We emphasized that we are the guests of the clinic and that we must abide by what the clinic wants, and engaging with anti-choice protesters would not be tolerated. We then all got up and practiced linking arms in a line and also how to create a buffer around a patient (you can never be too prepared, plus it's also just good to know). After getting the basic linking down, we then took a stab at practicing our non-engagement faces. We formed two lines and stood facing each other. We then started yelling insults at each other, one side pretending to be anti-choice protesters. Then one side pretended to be anti's while the other completely ignored them so we could get a feel of just how reserved we would need to be.

We also mentioned as clinic defense it's important to be aware of any information relevant to helping the clinic. This included alerting law enforcement when there was a problem, and notifying NCAP leaders if OR/OSA was trespassing or violating city ordinances.

Despite OR/OSA running amuck in the city, the pro-choice community of Charlotte was amazing. The NCAP team was welcomed with wide open arms. My campus organizer and I stayed with a professor from Davidson College that I had never met before, and he went out of his way to make sure we were as happy as could be. We were welcome in everyone's home, even those who weren't connected to the clinics at all. Pro-Choice Charlotte, Charlotte NOW, Planned Parenthood, UNCC Feminist Union, and many unaffiliated individuals who worked alongside NCAP created a dazzling web of pro-choice support and grassroots activism that would eventually lead to the first harassment-free day at a local clinic in eight years. Even local law enforcement which had been reluctant to help in the past took a new turn in supporting the clinics. It also lead to the creation of new alliances, friendships, and overall feminist fuzzy feelings between everyone there. My convictions were reaffirmed, and even strengthened by facing the extremist opposition. While draining emotionally and physically, and at times just ridiculous, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

--
Photo: Chalk message outside a local Charlotte clinic Friday, July 16th
Cross-posted at Ode to Patriarchy

Feminist book review: The Story of Jane

Talk about things they didn't teach you in school - comprehensive sex ed, how to write a cover letter, America's underground abortion networks.

I've been pro choice since I was a kid, and I understood as a teenager that illegal back alley abortions killed women. But I'm a little ashamed to say it wasn't until recently that I learned about pre-Roe feminist organizations that linked women with reputable abortion providers. This is all changed when I read Laura Kaplan's social history The Story of Jane.

Kaplan was one of the Chicago women who served in Jane from 1969 to 1973. She interviewed her former colleagues from Jane to weave a fascinating narrative of how a few feminists organized an underground railroad through which thousands of women safely obtained illegal abortions.

The story is incredible. A University of Chicago student named Heather Booth was active in civil rights and women's rights, and desperate women kept asking her where they could obtain abortions. She became known as a local resource for referrals, and recruited a group of women to help her field phone calls from women with unintended pregnancies. They contacted doctors and negotiated prices for the patients.

When Jane members realized one of their abortion providers was not licensed or professionally trained as a doctor, they saw it was possible to provide quality abortion care without a degree. One of the Jane leaders, referred to in the book as "Jenny," believed the organization could assist more women if Jane members became providers instead of relying as heavily on local doctors, many of whom charged high fees.

Jenny and several other women learned to perform first and second trimester abortions, though they had little or no medical background. Despite police surveillance and several serious setbacks, they operated for four years until the passage of Roe enabled women to legally seek out doctors for abortion services.

Kaplan's brisk prose is refreshingly readable, not academic. I finished the book in an afternoon and was never bored. My only regret is I don't know the identities of the women who were involved with Jane. They are true feminist role models, and were too humble to want or need recognition.

Jane and its sister organizations in other cities set out to meet the overwhelming demand for abortion services in the late sixties, and of course we still face numerous barriers to abortion access today. But there are lots of ways we can organize to expand access. Your pro-choice campus group can join FMF's Adopt-a-Clinic Campaign to support your local clinics.

We can educate ourselves and our decision makers by speaking out on how abortion works, sharing abortion stories, and discussing how prevalent and safe abortion is in the US. In the spirit of Jane, we can increase the number of abortion providers by pushing states to allow nurses and midwives to become providers, and working with med schools to include abortion care in the curriculum.

Jane exemplified civil disobedience at its best, where individuals took collective action to improve women's lives. It is an important part of our past that must stay in the past, and a reminder of why we fight for women's lives today and tomorrow. I hope to be as plucky and dedicated an activist as the women of Jane, and I am excited and privileged to know so many pro choice warriors who continue to embody that independent feminist spirit. We know we must never go back, and we won't.

Abortion Democracy: Poland/South Africa

At least 80,000 women die annually as a result of botched abortions. But abortion, when performed under safe and legal conditions, poses fewer health risks than carrying a pregnancy to term and giving birth. So why are women dying needlessly?

The documentary film, Abortion Democracy: Poland/South Africa, by Sarah Diehl, examines two countries with very different abortion policies and thus, very different realities for women.

In South Africa, abortion is legal, but it is highly unavailable. In Poland, abortion is illegal, but easy (yet expensive) to obtain. These two localized scenarios perfectly demonstrate two facts that are applicable worldwide: 1) Making abortion illegal doesn't stop it from happening; and 2) Just because abortion is legal, it doesn't mean it is accessible. The film takes an extremely interesting and in-depth examination of the forces at play, shaping the policy and the reality for women in both Poland and South Africa.

Abortion was legalized in South Africa after the fall of apartheid in 1994, when the African National Congress was elected to power. Abortion is always legal in the first trimester, and in the second trimester, it is permitted due to mental or physical health problems, rape or incest, or socioeconomic problems (all of which are very vague and ambiguous classifications). South Africa is also one of only two nations (Vietnam being the other) where nurses and midwives are legally permitted to perform abortions. In terms of abortion policies worldwide, South Africa's is one of the most progressive.

But, women who want to obtain an abortion have an extremely difficult time doing so. More and more providers are beginning to refuse to perform abortions based on religious and moral beliefs and many providers are not informed of the new law. Further compounding the problem, training for abortion is usually not provided in obstetrics and gynecology medical school.

As a result, in the Western Cape Province, for instance, there are only three providers. They spend their time driving hours and hours between cities, only to be faced with more women in need than they can possibly help. Women find it difficult to even obtain contraceptives due to the shaming and harassment that accompanies the request.

Abortion providers and their families are being ostracized and shamed within their communities and one nurse recounted stories of the doctors he worked with acting like they were "just waiting for him to fail". Anti-abortion organizations and activity are on the rise, and one of their tactics is to try to label abortion as an import from the West, when truly, as in every society on the planet, abortion has been happening all along - the men just rarely found out about it.

Sarah conducts a particularly powerful series of interviews with a young woman who was raped, became pregnant, and then was kicked out of her house, who was unable to obtain an abortion. Her story drives home the interconnected nature of shame associated with rape, unwed motherhood, and abortion in a society where there are high rates of rape and incest and women often lack the power to negotiate safe sex, even with their partner.

Contrarily, in Poland, abortion was made illegal (except in cases of rape or the woman's health) after the fall of communism in 1993, when the right wing party, in an attempt to form a new national identity, sought the backing of the Catholic church and was elected to power. At the same time, half of all public child care centers closed and comprehensive sex ed ceased to exist. Essentially, it was (and continues to be) a reproductive health nightmare.

Despite the exception for rape and women's health (yet another vague term), women who truly do fall into these categories have an extremely difficult time obtaining a legal abortion. For instance, one woman suffered hemorrhaging in her eye, yet no one would perform the abortion. She is now partially blind. When she brought charges to the European Court of Human Rights, the first lady of Poland argued that she should have her child taken away for attempting to abort it. The Court ended up awarding her reparations.

While only 150 legal abortions are performed each year in Poland, it is estimated that 80,000-200,000 illegal abortions are performed each year in the country. These are almost always performed by doctors who do know what they are doing, so there is no record of any women dying from illegal abortion (although this is notoriously difficult to keep track of). But, should you obtain an illegal abortion in Poland don't expect to be treated well, see any follow up care, or to pay anything other than a pretty penny for it. Doctors, in fact, have a vested interest in keeping abortion illegal because it is so lucrative.

Poland became a member of the European Union in 2004 and along with Ireland and Malta (where abortion is also illegal), the EU admitted Poland without asking for a change in the country's abortion policy. While the EU does not have an official stance on abortion, it has to the power to adopt one and to regulate abortion policies of member countries. Pro-choice forces throughout Europe hope to begin exploring the avenues available to address abortion policies at the EU level.

I highly recommend seeing Sarah Diehl's film, Abortion Democracy: Poland/South Africa. It brings real life, global examples to the political and ideological issues we often address when talking about abortion in our local, state and national context.

Filmmaker, Sarah Diehl is from Berlin, but will be touring the U.S. with her film in fall 2010 and is available to screen the film and host a discussion at your campus! For more information about setting up a screening on your campus this fall, contact FMF Campus Organizer, Allie McDonald at amcdonald@feminist.org or 310-556-2500.