Tag Archives: abortion pill

Reproductive Health-Care Providers Challenge Arizona Laws That Put Women’s Health at Risk

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On Thursday, April 11, women’s reproductive health-care providers filed a federal lawsuit seeking to remove Arizona TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws that prevent and delay many women from accessing abortion. The lawsuit was filed by reproductive health-care provider Planned Parenthood Arizona and individual clinicians represented by O’Melveny & Myers, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Squire Patton Boggs.

Arizona’s extreme, medically unnecessary TRAP laws violate Arizona women’s constitutional right to access legal abortion. Their effect has been dramatic: a 40 percent decline in abortion clinics, leaving 80 percent of Arizona counties with no access to abortion clinics, and weeks-long waiting times for services. There is only one abortion provider in the northern part of the state, and that health center only provides medication abortion one day per week.

“Arizona lawmakers have made it difficult or even impossible for women to access safe, legal abortion,” said Bryan Howard, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona. “Medically unnecessary laws that only serve to attack women’s rights and put women’s health at risk should be overturned to protect women’s health and rights.” Continue reading →

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

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  • I’ve talked about the high rates of maternal mortality among black women many times on this blog before. Yet still I was surprised and horrified to hear that Serena Williams, a woman with significant privilege and resources, could have easily ended up a statistic after the near-death experience she had giving birth to her daughter. (Vice)
  • The crude and overt racist in the White House made some truly abhorrent comments last week, condemning countries and continents with majority black populations as “s**thole countries” while wondering aloud why more people from places like “Norway” don’t immigrate to the U.S. Well, Slate has delved into the differences between how our country treats women and families and how Norway treats women and families, and it’s enlightening to say the least. (Slate)
  • Our xenophobe-in-chief is also “poised to overhaul the HHS civil rights office as part of a broader plan to protect health workers who don’t want to perform abortions, treat transgender patients seeking to transition or provide other services for which they have religious or moral objections.” I have a moral objection to health workers not wanting to treat other human beings who need health care! Health care is a basic human right! (Politico)
  • College campuses in California could see expanded access to abortion for its students. A first-of-its-kind bill in the California legislature would require student health centers at California public colleges and universities to dispense medication abortion. (Rewire)
  • The California story is good news because more and more information is emerging to show that medication abortions are safe and effective, and have very low rates of complications. (The Lily)
  • Some other potential good news: Arizona could become the 10th state to bar mental-health professionals from practicing “conversion therapy,” making attempts to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity illegal. A new bill was introduced into the Legislature last Friday, and we hope with all our hearts it passes! (AZ Central)
  • The Trump administration is determined to push Title X off the rails and once again, the health care of millions of citizens is at risk. (The Hill)
  • Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican weasel who considers himself “pro-life” (so much so that he has never fostered or adopted any children in need), recently urged us to “have more babies,” but is still playing hardball over funding health insurance for children who’ve already been born. The Democrats need to take a stand and stop.this.madness. Period. (Splinter News)
  • When the likes of Mr. Ryan and other opponents of “entitlements” slash assistance for families in need, everyone suffers as a result. Recent research out of the University of Kansas shows a direct link between a family’s ability to access government assistance, such as TANF, and foster care cases. (Rewire)
  • After losing several court battles in relation to their attempts to bar undocumented immigrant teenage girls from having abortions, the the Trump DOJ has showed its cruel and vindictive true colors. They recently tried to reveal an undocumented teen’s abortion to an uncle who threatened to “beat her” if she terminated her pregnancy. The fact that these people are monsters should be lost on no one at this point. They are fully aware this girl is under a direct threat of violence and instead of protecting her, they’re intentionally putting her at risk of physical harm from an abusive family member. They want this girl punished for having the abortion they tried to prevent. This should chill you to the bone, folks. Seriously. (Slate)

No, the Morning-After Pill Is Not the Abortion Pill

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The other week, I was talking to a family member about the threats to contraception access in this country, “thanks” to our new president and his fanatical administration. He thought it was ridiculous that abortion opponents also fight tooth and nail to put obstacles in front of birth control — after all, reliable contraception prevents unintended pregnancies, which itself prevents untold abortions. It seems like a win-win for everyone, regardless of where their opinion on abortion falls.

The morning-after pill prevents pregnancy. The abortion pill ends pregnancy.

Then he said, “Of course, I understand them not wanting tax dollars going toward the morning-after pill, since that causes abortion.”

I had to stop him right there: “Nope.” A bit self-conscious of appearing to be a persnickety know-it-all, I summarized the vast differences between the morning-after pill and the abortion pill — differences that many people, even full supporters of reproductive rights, don’t understand. Opponents of abortion and contraception exploit this misunderstanding, pretending these two pills are one and the same, hoping to elicit “compromise” from “reasonable” people. Compromises that harm real people with real lives and real families. Just as women’s health opponents have been so successful at chipping away at abortion access, so too do they hope to erode access to contraception.

The morning-after pill and the abortion pill are completely different medications, used for different purposes and made up of different ingredients. Let’s look at a quick rundown of the two. Continue reading →

TRAP Laws: Slowly Chipping Away at Abortion Access

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Repeal TRAP laws nowThis week marks the third anniversary of the decision in Planned Parenthood Southeast, Inc. v. Strange, a lawsuit that challenged HB 57. This bill, passed by Alabama’s state legislature, required every physician who performs an abortion at a clinic to have staff privileges at a local hospital. Planned Parenthood clinics in Birmingham and Mobile, as well as providers at Reproductive Health Services in Montgomery, would have been unable to obtain hospital staff privileges for various reasons, including a hospital board’s opposition to abortion, requirements that doctors admit between 12 and 48 patients a year to retain staff privileges, and stipulations that the physicians live within a certain radius of the hospital. (Ridiculous, right?)

Luckily, on August 4, 2014, a federal court blocked the requirement that abortion providers obtain admitting privileges at local hospitals — a victory for reproductive rights, but just one small battle in the larger war against abortion access in the United States.

We will not let our state laws be templates for other anti-choice legislation.

Bills like HB 57 are called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers laws. TRAP laws selectively focus on medical facilities that provide abortions to make it more difficult for reproductive health care providers to offer abortion services to their patients. In a nutshell, TRAP laws segregate abortion from regular medical procedures, discourage doctors from providing abortion services because of the tedious requirements to do so, and dramatically increase the cost of obtaining an abortion.

Many state legislatures pass these restrictions by arguing that abortion is a risky medical procedure. However, according to the Guttmacher Institute, “abortion is one of the safest surgical procedures for women in the United States. Fewer than 0.05% of women obtaining abortions experience a complication.” Continue reading →

Pro-Choice Friday News Rundown

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  • The POTUS, who is so pro-life he hasn’t fostered or adopted any children in need, has signed legislation that allows states to withhold federal Title X funds for family planning services from clinics that also provide abortions. But thankfully, the change won’t impact Arizona. (AZ Central)
  • For women in other states: Please know, we are listening and we know what’s at stake for all of you. We’re fighting. (Bustle)
  • Impoverished minority women will be ESPECIALLY endangered by this legislation: 80 percent of women who rely on Title X funding are well below the poverty line, and 21 percent are black and 32 percent are Latina. (Ebony)
  • Will absolutely all of my rundowns during this bleak era of GOP dominion include yet another story about how they’re trying their best to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and make us all poorer and sicker and closer to death so rich people can have tax cuts? Signs point to “yes.” (WaPo)
  • The list of the 25 cities with the highest STD rates doesn’t include anywhere in Arizona. Let’s keep it that way? (Insider Monkey)
  • California could be the first state in the country to require its public universities to offer abortion pills on campuses. (Mercury News)
  • Attorneys general from 16 states came out Thursday in support of a Planned Parenthood lawsuit challenging an Ohio law that would deny state and federal funds to organizations providing abortions. (HuffPo)
  • The zero-copay birth control we’ve come to enjoy via Obamacare is still the “law of the land,” but for how much longer? (Rewire)
  • Why does America offer only five versions of the IUD when Britain has 22??? (The Atlantic)
  • Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who is so pro-life he hasn’t fostered or adopted any children in need, got his you-know-what handed to him by constituents at his town hall last week! (AZ Central)
  • Television is a treasure trove of lies. Abortion depicted on the small screen is 20 times deadlier than in real life, where it’s actually safer for the woman than childbirth. (Slate)
  • New Maryland Bill Would Require Domestic Abusers to Wear GPS Trackers. (NY Mag)
  • Maryland is on a roll! Victims In Maryland No Longer Have To Prove They “Fought Back” For Their Rapes To Be Crimes. (HuffPo)
  • With all of the “out and proud” anti-choice zealots in our government who are proud to admit they think women should be forced to give birth whether they wish to or not, the last thing we need is a phony, wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing turncoat like Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. He claimed to be pro-choice on the campaign trail in 2013, so why in the hell is he now indicating he will veto a bill protecting the right to choose and permitting coverage of abortion in state health plans and Medicaid? Can the pro-choice voters of Illinois spearhead a gubernatorial recall over this? (Rewire)
  • It would do Gov. Rauner a lot of good to remember that abortion is a matter of economic life or death for women and use the power of his office to help rather than hurt the economic fates of women. (Rewire)
  • “Dystopian” doesn’t even BEGIN to describe how the world would look without Planned Parenthood. (HuffPo)

Meet Our Candidates: Stefanie Mach for State Representative, LD 10

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The Arizona primary election will be held on August 30, 2016. Reproductive health care access has been under attack, both nationally and statewide, but Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona has endorsed candidates who have shown strong commitment to reproductive justice. To acquaint you with our endorsed candidates, we are running a series called “Meet Our Candidates.” In order to vote in the primary election, you need to have been registered to vote by August 1. Missed the deadline? You can still register online for November’s general election. Make your voice heard in 2016!

Stefanie_Mach_Headshot[S]tefanie Mach is seeking a third term in the Arizona House representing Legislative District 10. When she first won in 2012, her hometown newspaper in Wisconsin noted that Mach had overcome nearly insurmountable odds to get there.

As a teenager, Mach and a friend were involved in a minor automobile accident, but stepping out of the car they stepped on a live electrical line. The friend died instantly. Mach was severely burned, lost her right arm, and the sight in one eye.

“Sex education is only effective if it addresses real relationships and safe-sex practices for all.”

“If you’re already at the bottom, there is nowhere to go but up,” Mach told the newspaper. “What do you do after your life has changed so dramatically?”

What she did was become the first member of her family to graduate from college — the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point — after which she earned a master of public policy degree at Brown University.

Deeply affected by the events of September 11, 2001, Mach joined AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, responding to a flood disaster, teaching in an elementary school, and working on the Cumberland Trail, a wildlife preserve, and Habitat for Humanity houses.

In the Legislature, Mach has focused on improving education, infrastructure, and the child welfare system, and protecting state parks and growing small business.

Rep. Mach, whom PPAA first endorsed four years ago, responded to our questions by email on August 4, 2016.

Since we last spoke, how has your commitment to serving Arizona grown? What has happened during that time to give you hope, and what has happened to strengthen your convictions?

After two terms in the Legislature, I’ve developed strong relationships, I understand the system, and I’m more aware of how critical it is that we continue to strongly advocate for reasonable policies that serve all Arizonans, not just the wealthy and privileged. The good news is that I run into more and more people who feel the same and are willing to work alongside me to reach our goals. True change is difficult and requires a lot of push and a little patience. Sometimes this change happens quietly, behind closed doors, and with people whose names you’ll never learn. This unrest we feel lately, as a nation, is proof that it is happening. What we do with this unease will determine what the change looks like. Continue reading →

Telling the Truth About Abortion Politics

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Sens. Yee and Barto asked. We answered. It’s Our Turn to share the truth behind abortion politics. We have submitted the following op-ed to the Arizona Republic, but they have not (yet?) published it.

Thank You PP croppedAs a medical professional, I am dismayed at the recent “Our Turn” published in the Arizona Republic titled, “Make doctors tell the truth on abortion drug.” I would like to do just that — tell the truth and correct the record, because the opinion by legislators Barto and Yee was laden with revisionist history, misstatements of legal fact, and most important, non-medical junk science.

Doctors practice up-to-date, evidence-based medicine. I appreciate lawmakers repealing their intrusive foray into the practice of medicine, SB 1324. This law attempted to mandate how doctors dispense abortion medication according to an outdated, 16-year-old protocol contained in the original drug label. SB 1324 was an attempt to re-start a legal case that Arizona was losing. Despite the FDA’s update of the drug label to reflect current medical practice, policymakers and the governor stubbornly insisted on enacting SB 1324. Why, I cannot imagine. The repeal of this legislation was certainly welcome.

Real doctors reject junk science. More disturbing than the FDA label issue is Sens. Yee and Barto’s assertion that “at least 170 healthy babies have been born when medication abortions were reversed.” There is no scientific support for this assertion, just as there is no peer-reviewed medical evidence for the whole notion of “abortion reversal.” A handful of doctors with a moral agenda have attempted to use progesterone to “stop” a medication abortion. However, there is nothing in the literature to justify this practice, save for one report of six informal clinical anecdotes. No significant sample size, no control group, no oversight, no peer review. Regardless, last year these same legislators passed SB 1318, violating physicians’ and patients’ constitutional rights by forcing physicians to inform their patients that it is possible to reverse a medication abortion, which is untrue. Continue reading →