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Restore Reproductive Health Care in Kentucky(Originally posted at RH Reality Check.) Candice Rich knew that she wanted a tubal ligation after she gave birth. From July 2008 through February 2009, Candice had gone to St. Luke Hospitals in northern Kentucky for all her prenatal care. From the beginning, she had told her doctors that she wanted a postpartum tubal ligation. There are medical benefits to having the procedure immediately after childbirth, and it's generally less expensive to do so. Everything seemed to be on track. Her doctor repeatedly assured her that she could have the procedure at St. Luke immediately after delivery. The hospital had some plans of its own. The nonreligious St. Luke was in the process of completing a business merger with a religiously affiliated institution that severely restricts reproductive health care. The birth control counseling and services, IUD insertion, infertility procedures, and tubal ligations that, for years, St. Luke provided to women in northern Kentucky would, without warning, no longer be available at the hospital after the merger. Women in the region seeking these services – especially low-income women and those who rely on Medicaid for their health care – would have little or no access to these important services. No one bothered to tell Candice this until two days after her due date when she saw her doctor and had an ultrasound. At this visit, Candice's doctor recommended that she undergo a cesarean section. Again, Candice discussed her desire to have a tubal ligation at the same time as the cesarean. It was then that her doctor told her, "because of the Vatican," St. Luke no longer offered tubal ligations. Candice's doctor gave her the name of a physician in Ohio who practices at a hospital that provides tubals and told Candice to talk to St. Luke Hospitals Women's Health Nurse Advocate. The hospital also told Candice for the first time that Medicaid requires informed consent for a tubal ligation 30 days prior to the procedure. Clearly, a requirement Candice could no longer meet. When Candice, now three days after her due date, called the nurse advocate, she received no assistance in making arrangements to give birth and receive a postpartum tubal elsewhere. Frantic, Candice called a number of doctors on her own until the recommended Ohio physician agreed to help her. At the last minute, Candice had to switch to a new hospital and doctor to give birth, and she had to pay in full out-of-pocket for the tubal ligation on the day of the surgery. She didn't have the $1,700 she needed; her mother agreed to put it on her credit card. Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kentucky asked Kentucky's Cabinet for Health and Family Services to conduct a hearing into the reduction of reproductive health services at St. Luke Hospitals and to restore access to reproductive health care in northern Kentucky. In the course of the merger, St. Luke had promised to build a separate Women's Health Ambulatory Surgical Center that would provide many of the lost services. In seeking authorization from the cabinet to build such a facility, the hospital noted that "reproductive health is a basic women's health service to which any female resident of northern Kentucky should have access." St. Luke has yet to establish the center and make good on its promise. Unfortunately, last week's filing will not help Candice, but it can help other women and families in the area. It also puts other hospitals considering mergers on notice. According to MergerWatch, a nonprofit that fights mergers between secular and religiously affiliated hospitals throughout the country, since 1990, there have been more than 100 such mergers, resulting in lost reproductive and other crucial services in an alarming number of communities. If we've learned anything in recent months, we need to pay attention to business decisions and, as in Kentucky, act to protect access to crucial care when necessary.
Keep Abortion Providers Safe NowOn Sunday, May 31, Dr. George Tiller, a doctor in Wichita, Kansas, who for decades provided abortions for women even in the face of harassment and violence, was murdered at his place of worship. Sondra Goldschein and Allie Bohm attended events in New York City and Washington, D.C., honoring Dr. Tiller's life. Sondra Goldschein writes: When I heard about the murder of Dr. Tiller on Sunday evening, I went from shock to tears to fear to loss. I could feel those emotions but I couldn't put into words what a tragedy his death is. I finally found the words from Dr. Tiller himself. I attended one of at least forty events across the country honoring Dr. Tiller's life on Monday night. I was one of a large group of people in downtown Manhattan who heard a story about Dr. Tiller that cut to the core of who this remarkable man was. The story was told by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. As many of us have now heard, Dr. Tiller was shot in both arms in 1993. What we haven't heard as much is that he came back to work the very next day. Why? When he needed medical attention, he had received it. His patients needed his care and he was going to be there. "There was never any question in my mind that I was going back to work the next day." Dr. George Tiller truly understood that a woman facing an unintended pregnancy should have the opportunity to make the best decision for herself and her family, whether her decision is raising a child, adoption, or abortion. He respected women and their decisions, and with his wonderful staff, was there to help women from all over the country. According to Dr. Tiller, "abortion is about women's hopes, dreams, potential, the rest of their lives. Abortion is a matter of survival for women. . . . It is my fundamental philosophy that patients are emotionally, mentally, morally, spiritually and physically competent to struggle with complex health issues and come to decisions that are appropriate for them." Thank you, Dr. Tiller, for your humanity, your bravery, and for treating women with dignity and respect. Allie Bohm writes: "When you come here, bring only love . . ." read the banner that backdropped the Washington DC vigil in honor of Dr. Tiller. Some 200 people circled the banner, standing in front of the White House. One woman tearfully read prepared remarks, and then the floor was opened up, and women and men of all ages came forward to speak as the spirit moved them. Some of them knew Dr. Tiller personally. Many did not. Some were long-time veterans of the pro-choice movement; for others, Dr. Tiller's murder had galvanized them to come to a pro-choice event for the first time. "When you come here, bring only love . . ." Many of us in DC live in a heady world of policy debates, political statements, and moralizing. Dr. Tiller did not. Speaker after speaker emphasized that while we debate policy, the doctors, nurses, and receptionists in abortion clinics see their jobs as helping women and providing health care services, not as making a political statement. Dr. Tiller is a hero to many of the vigil's attendees and a martyr to others. But, he did not set out to be a hero or a martyr. He set out to be a doctor. The speakers who knew Dr. Tiller emphasized his compassion and understanding for women. One of the vigil's speakers was a man who has been a clinic escort for 20 years, influenced by a high school classmate of his who died from a botched illegal abortion before Roe v. Wade; at the time she could not afford to go to NY for a safe legal abortion. Those of us who work in the policy sphere sometimes forget that access to safe abortion is a public health issue. He said, "I do not want my son to have to continue escorting when I finally retire." At the same time, a young woman who works with college students reported that in April Dr. Tiller told her, "Now, it's your generation's turn." It is now all of our turns. Doctors should not have to risk their lives so that women do not have to die from pregnancy complications or back-alley abortions. As signs at the DC vigil read, it is time to "keep abortion providers safe now."
Time's Running Out! Submit Comments to Rescind Health Care Denial RuleWhat are you waiting for? If you haven't already, be sure to submit your comments supporting President Obama's proposed rescission of the Heath Care Denial Rule by Thursday, April 9. The rule, finalized in the waning hours of the Bush administration, severely limits access to medical care and information by allowing heath care providers to deny care to anyone who needs services the provider objects to. 
Now, we at the ACLU are all about protecting religious freedom. But that isn’t what this rule is about. This rule doesn’t just apply to protect individual religious belief. It allows corporations like insurance companies and hospitals to deny patients care. Individuals’ religious beliefs are already protected by a federal law that carefully balances religious liberty with the need for patients to access health care. But this Bush rule takes patients’ needs completely out of the equation. Which is why it's essential that those of us who support access to heath care for all—whether it's the morning-after pill for a rape victim or an HIV test for a college student—submit comments to support the rescission of this rule. President Obama needs our support. When President Bush first proposed the rule back in August, more than 200,000 comments were submitted, most of them in opposition to the rule. We need to show President Obama that we support his actions to protect our access to health care. So give the administration the backing it needs and submit a comment. Add your name to the growing list of people and organizations calling on the Obama administration to restore access to health care. Take action now. (Cross-posted to Feministing and Daily Kos.)
Win One for Sexuality EducationWe had some exciting news this week. After two years of organizing, parents and teens in Pittsburgh are celebrating a victory for comprehensive sexuality education. On Tuesday night the Pittsburgh school board voted 8-1 to drop the district’s abstinence-only-until marriage approach and to put in its place a curriculum that gives students the information they need to make healthy and responsible decisions about sex. We featured the early stages of this organizing effort in last year’s Freedom Files episode, The Freedom to Know: Sex Education . We applaud everyone who helped make this battle to ensure that Pittsburgh schools provide students with accurate and complete information about contraception and help them develop the skills they need to lead healthy lives. Now let’s hope our federal government sees the light and stops funding failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in our federal budget. You can help by sending a message to President Obama urging him to fund comprehensive sex education. As Pittsburgh goes, so goes the nation. . . .
ACLU Freedom Alert: Roe v. Wade Under Fire
On November 4, voters in South Dakota must decide once again whether to ban virtually all abortions in their state. Two years ago, South Dakotans acted to protect private health care decisions when they voted against a sweeping abortion ban. Today, these same voters need your help to stop yet another intrusive attack on reproductive freedom: the 2008 abortion ban ballot initiative, Measure 11.
The outcome of South Dakota's election could affect us all. As Louise Melling, Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, warns, "The real purpose of Measure 11 is to overturn Roe v. Wade."
We may not all feel the same way about abortion, but we can agree that these are private decisions. Everyone's life and circumstances are different; we must respect people's personal choices even if we wouldn't make the same decision. Measure 11 would take these profoundly personal decisions out of the hands of women and their families. We can't let this happen.
Watch Louise Melling deliver this important "Freedom Alert." Please forward it widely: Measure 11 reaches far beyond South Dakota and could take away everyone's right to make private family decisions. And be sure to visit www.sdhealthyfamilies.org for more information about what you can do to help defeat this dangerous measure.
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