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So I work with teen mothers and families where unwanted/unplanned pregnancies can be an issue. I am posting this article with two views in my mind. 1) It is cool to me to have a 24 hour waiting period for abortions, BUT 2)I think it is not okay to provide ANTI-Choice legislation to hurt women's rights! I mean passing measures so pharmacists can not be sued if they refuse to fill contraception and emergency contraception prescriptions? That is not okay! Why do these women and men have to fight to have consensual sexual relations when if you give the prescriptions they are less likely to go for abortions as they prevented getting to that point in the first place?????Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I believe everyone can have an opinion, but when it is trying to stop some thing that isn't an issue yet.... well hello? You don't want abortions then don't stop prevention of pregnancies!!!!!!!
Okay here is the article. And I bolded some of this as I wanted you all to see some of this stuff! It is too much!
Abortion in Missouri
by Chris Hayhurst
05.04.06
The way Alison Gee recalls, the woman had given it a lot of thought. She'd come to Planned Parenthood for an abortion, to one of just four abortion providers in the entire state of Missouri, and for the moment, she was about to be turned away.
"She was a single mom with four kids," says Gee, political director of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region. "She found herself unintentionally pregnant ... she was working and going to school." The woman, says Gee, found child care for the kids so she could come to the clinic. When she arrived, however, she was in for a surprise.
"If Missouri's legislators are really serious about reducing abortions in the state, they need to focus on prevention programs. Good sex ed, access to family planning, better awareness of and access to Plan B [EC] — that's the way you'll reduce abortions in this state."
Missouri law mandates that after listening to a doctor discuss the "physical, psychological, and situational" risk factors of abortion, a woman must wait 24 hours before undergoing the procedure. Providers who violate the rule risk jail time, fines, and the loss of their medical licenses; and women like the one Gee recalls face an unexpected, potentially devastating inconvenience. A challenge to the law was rejected by the Missouri Supreme Court on February 28. "As much as we disagree with the law, we have to follow it," says Gee. "We had no choice. We had to tell her to come back another day."
Missouri: A Case Study in Abortion
Welcome to Missouri — but also, lest you think it's anything less than typical, welcome to America. As a recent article in Time magazine made clear, Missouri is a case study in how anti-choice state legislators around the country are waging a war intended to undermine the constitutional right to choose abortion. And indeed, Missouri's mandatory counseling-and-delay law is just one glaring example of how it and many other states have gradually become hostile territory for those who support access to safe and comprehensive reproductive health care.
Last September, Gov. Matt Blunt (R) convened the Missouri legislature into special session to pass several anti-choice laws. Among them: one allowing civil suits against those who help teens get abortions without parental consent (parental consent is mandatory in Missouri, but not in neighboring Illinois), and another requiring physicians who provide abortions to have privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic where they work.
Currently under consideration is a measure that would protect pharmacists from lawsuits if they refuse to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception (EC), and a tax credit for anti-choice "crisis pregnancy centers," fake clinics that discourage women from having abortions. Also, on March 1, Sen. Jason Crowell (R) filed two bills that would outlaw nearly all abortions in the state.
At the state level nationwide, more than 1,000 choice-related bills have been introduced or carried over in the first two months of the 2006 legislative session. While some have been proactive efforts to protect reproductive rights, the majority have been attempts to restrict those rights. The fact is, access to comprehensive reproductive health care is being threatened now as it has never been threatened before.
Taking Action
But pro-choice advocates are fighting back. In Missouri, the four Planned Parenthood affiliates serving the state have joined forces with other pro-choice groups to mount a concerted counterattack.
"We've been trying to move the conversation toward prevention," says Gee. "If Missouri's legislators are really serious about reducing abortions in the state, they need to focus on prevention programs. Good sex ed, access to family planning, better awareness of and access to Plan B [EC] — that's the way you'll reduce abortions in this state.
"Unfortunately, what we're seeing are attempts to gut a good sex ed law, attempts to make it harder for women to get Plan B or even regular contraception, attempts to equate contraception with abortion, attempts to define pregnancy as the moment of conception, a lot of attempts to make it harder for women to prevent unwanted pregnancies. It makes no sense."
In the most recent attack on prevention efforts, the Missouri House revived and passed a bill on April 27 that would bar Planned Parenthood from teaching in schools as well as mandate that parents opt-in their children to sex education courses. Through the lobbying and field work of the Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri, several members of the House changed their votes, including some anti-choice members. But the legislation still passed and will now move to the Senate for consideration.
Virtual headquarters for all pro-choice efforts is the Planned Parenthood Missouri Action Center, where visitors are greeted with a list of ways they can contribute to the fight. There are petitions, invitations to join community groups and e-mail lists, information about ongoing advocacy campaigns, and notices about "lobby days," daylong excursions to the capitol in Jefferson City that involve activists from across the state.
Traci Gleason, director of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which operates eight reproductive health care clinics in Missouri, says the hard work each Planned Parenthood affiliate does to rally its constituents has paid off. "We've been pleased with all of the support we've had. I think folks realize there's been enough posturing on these issues and that the anti-choice legislators are taking it too far."
Services Suffer
According to Lisa Ecsi-Davis, director of education and public affairs at Tri-Rivers Planned Parenthood, a three-clinic operation serving more than 5,000 mostly low-income clients in rural Missouri, the continual battle against new anti-choice legislation can be taxing. "The frustrating thing is there are so many other issues that need to be addressed in this state, and when we get involved, and when the other affiliates get involved in legal actions, an enormous amount of time and money is wasted.
"Not that these cases aren't important, but the money could be spent on providing direct care to clients. We could be doing so much more with our resources to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, to do all the good things that we do every day, the things that help prevent the need for abortion in the first place and help keep women and families healthy."
The Tri-Rivers affiliate is small, says Ecsi-Davis, and rarely sends representatives to Jefferson City to testify, but they do contribute. "Due to time and people constraints, we're stretched pretty thin. But we do what we can to get our activists involved, to get at the system. We mainly cheer the other affiliates on. We're helping them get people to lobby day, to get e-mails sent. We're not the movers and the shakers, but we're kind of helping things behind the scenes."
Power to the People
No matter how they fight back, all those involved agree: ultimately, victory requires more people in Missouri to get involved. "What's happening in Missouri is what's happening across the United States," says Kellie Rohrbaugh, public affairs coordinator at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in Southwest Missouri. "The anti-choice hardliners are determined to chip away at abortion access, so until they can make it illegal, they are pleased to make it inaccessible. The average Missourian believes that birth control is not only responsible, but that women should be respected in terms of how they practice contraceptive use. Our legislators are out of touch, and that's a shame."
Chris Hayhurst is a freelance writer living in upstate New York.
I believe everyone can have an opinion, but when it is trying to stop some thing that isn't an issue yet.... well hello? You don't want abortions then don't stop prevention of pregnancies!!!!!!!
Okay here is the article. And I bolded some of this as I wanted you all to see some of this stuff! It is too much!
Abortion in Missouri
by Chris Hayhurst
05.04.06
The way Alison Gee recalls, the woman had given it a lot of thought. She'd come to Planned Parenthood for an abortion, to one of just four abortion providers in the entire state of Missouri, and for the moment, she was about to be turned away.
"She was a single mom with four kids," says Gee, political director of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region. "She found herself unintentionally pregnant ... she was working and going to school." The woman, says Gee, found child care for the kids so she could come to the clinic. When she arrived, however, she was in for a surprise.
"If Missouri's legislators are really serious about reducing abortions in the state, they need to focus on prevention programs. Good sex ed, access to family planning, better awareness of and access to Plan B [EC] — that's the way you'll reduce abortions in this state."
Missouri law mandates that after listening to a doctor discuss the "physical, psychological, and situational" risk factors of abortion, a woman must wait 24 hours before undergoing the procedure. Providers who violate the rule risk jail time, fines, and the loss of their medical licenses; and women like the one Gee recalls face an unexpected, potentially devastating inconvenience. A challenge to the law was rejected by the Missouri Supreme Court on February 28. "As much as we disagree with the law, we have to follow it," says Gee. "We had no choice. We had to tell her to come back another day."
Missouri: A Case Study in Abortion
Welcome to Missouri — but also, lest you think it's anything less than typical, welcome to America. As a recent article in Time magazine made clear, Missouri is a case study in how anti-choice state legislators around the country are waging a war intended to undermine the constitutional right to choose abortion. And indeed, Missouri's mandatory counseling-and-delay law is just one glaring example of how it and many other states have gradually become hostile territory for those who support access to safe and comprehensive reproductive health care.
Last September, Gov. Matt Blunt (R) convened the Missouri legislature into special session to pass several anti-choice laws. Among them: one allowing civil suits against those who help teens get abortions without parental consent (parental consent is mandatory in Missouri, but not in neighboring Illinois), and another requiring physicians who provide abortions to have privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic where they work.
Currently under consideration is a measure that would protect pharmacists from lawsuits if they refuse to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception (EC), and a tax credit for anti-choice "crisis pregnancy centers," fake clinics that discourage women from having abortions. Also, on March 1, Sen. Jason Crowell (R) filed two bills that would outlaw nearly all abortions in the state.
At the state level nationwide, more than 1,000 choice-related bills have been introduced or carried over in the first two months of the 2006 legislative session. While some have been proactive efforts to protect reproductive rights, the majority have been attempts to restrict those rights. The fact is, access to comprehensive reproductive health care is being threatened now as it has never been threatened before.
Taking Action
But pro-choice advocates are fighting back. In Missouri, the four Planned Parenthood affiliates serving the state have joined forces with other pro-choice groups to mount a concerted counterattack.
"We've been trying to move the conversation toward prevention," says Gee. "If Missouri's legislators are really serious about reducing abortions in the state, they need to focus on prevention programs. Good sex ed, access to family planning, better awareness of and access to Plan B [EC] — that's the way you'll reduce abortions in this state.
"Unfortunately, what we're seeing are attempts to gut a good sex ed law, attempts to make it harder for women to get Plan B or even regular contraception, attempts to equate contraception with abortion, attempts to define pregnancy as the moment of conception, a lot of attempts to make it harder for women to prevent unwanted pregnancies. It makes no sense."
In the most recent attack on prevention efforts, the Missouri House revived and passed a bill on April 27 that would bar Planned Parenthood from teaching in schools as well as mandate that parents opt-in their children to sex education courses. Through the lobbying and field work of the Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri, several members of the House changed their votes, including some anti-choice members. But the legislation still passed and will now move to the Senate for consideration.
Virtual headquarters for all pro-choice efforts is the Planned Parenthood Missouri Action Center, where visitors are greeted with a list of ways they can contribute to the fight. There are petitions, invitations to join community groups and e-mail lists, information about ongoing advocacy campaigns, and notices about "lobby days," daylong excursions to the capitol in Jefferson City that involve activists from across the state.
Traci Gleason, director of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, which operates eight reproductive health care clinics in Missouri, says the hard work each Planned Parenthood affiliate does to rally its constituents has paid off. "We've been pleased with all of the support we've had. I think folks realize there's been enough posturing on these issues and that the anti-choice legislators are taking it too far."
Services Suffer
According to Lisa Ecsi-Davis, director of education and public affairs at Tri-Rivers Planned Parenthood, a three-clinic operation serving more than 5,000 mostly low-income clients in rural Missouri, the continual battle against new anti-choice legislation can be taxing. "The frustrating thing is there are so many other issues that need to be addressed in this state, and when we get involved, and when the other affiliates get involved in legal actions, an enormous amount of time and money is wasted.
"Not that these cases aren't important, but the money could be spent on providing direct care to clients. We could be doing so much more with our resources to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, to do all the good things that we do every day, the things that help prevent the need for abortion in the first place and help keep women and families healthy."
The Tri-Rivers affiliate is small, says Ecsi-Davis, and rarely sends representatives to Jefferson City to testify, but they do contribute. "Due to time and people constraints, we're stretched pretty thin. But we do what we can to get our activists involved, to get at the system. We mainly cheer the other affiliates on. We're helping them get people to lobby day, to get e-mails sent. We're not the movers and the shakers, but we're kind of helping things behind the scenes."
Power to the People
No matter how they fight back, all those involved agree: ultimately, victory requires more people in Missouri to get involved. "What's happening in Missouri is what's happening across the United States," says Kellie Rohrbaugh, public affairs coordinator at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in Southwest Missouri. "The anti-choice hardliners are determined to chip away at abortion access, so until they can make it illegal, they are pleased to make it inaccessible. The average Missourian believes that birth control is not only responsible, but that women should be respected in terms of how they practice contraceptive use. Our legislators are out of touch, and that's a shame."
Chris Hayhurst is a freelance writer living in upstate New York.
