If a Kansas bill passes, a doctor who opposes abortion could lie about prenatal test results so a woman won't have information that might lead her to decide to end her pregnancy.
This week, we mark the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that significantly expanded the ability of women across the country to decide whether and when to become a parent. We also stand at the beginning of a new decade and at a moment that calls for reflection.
It seems that some newspaper editors think that a "10-inch ultrasound wand" does not belong in the funnies section of their papers — and their reluctance is getting national attention. The comic that is causing the uproar is Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury. Several newspapers around the country have decided not to publish the popular satirical comic this week because of a storyline dealing with those now-infamous ultrasounds.
I am so excited I am beside myself. I'm a long-time reproductive health advocate looking at politicians around the country lining up to make it harder for a woman to get birth control, to defund Planned Parenthood, and to set up demeaning and obstructive roadblocks for women seeking abortions. And yet I am positively giddy. Why?
I am giddy because I can see that change is a coming. Those who would turn back the clock to the days of the aspirin-between-the-knees method of birth control have gone too far. And women across the country have had enough.
In a last-ditch, 11th-hour move during Florida’s 2010 legislative session, legislators tagged two harmful amendments onto a health care bill (H.B. 1143) without opportunity for public comment, review by any committee of the legislature or expert testimony. The result of the legislation would have been devastating to women in Florida, drastically undermining access to reproductive health care and dictating what types of health insurance coverage private employers may offer their employees.
