Imagine for a moment
what your life would be like without affordable birth control. Imagine that, because
you can’t get or afford the contraception you need, you get pregnant. If you
aren’t in a place in your life where feel you can continue the pregnancy,
imagine that there’s no way to end it without putting your health, your
livelihood, or even your life, in danger. Or — if you are inclined to carry the
pregnancy to term — imagine that high-quality pregnancy and maternity care is suddenly
out of reach.
For millions of women
in large and growing swaths of the U.S. where reproductive rights have been
under constant attack for several years, the scenario above is quite real. In fact, now even states considered "safe" face increasingly serious
threats due to potential federal regulation. Over the last four
years, opponents to reproductive health have passed nearly 250 laws restricting women’s access to safe
and legal abortion — more than in the previous decade combined. The good news is
there’s a concerted effort to fight back. Here’s what you
need to know.
Safe and legal abortion is still really hard to get if you don’t live in
certain states.
In the poignant and
very funny film Obvious Child, Donna (played by Jenny Slate) becomes
pregnant unexpectedly. Though she struggles to pay for an abortion, she can get
an appointment at a clinic close to her home in New York City, on a day that is
best for her, very early in her pregnancy.
Donna is supported every step of the
way by people who care about her. She isn’t forced to travel hundreds of miles,
make multiple trips to the clinic, push past screaming protestors, or endure a
script written to shame her for her decision. Yet those are exactly
the kinds of obstacles faced by millions of women in states that have severely
restricted access to safe and legal abortion services.
Nearly every state in
the south has passed an onslaught of laws designed to shut down women’s clinics.
In Texas alone, the number of reproductive health clinics offering safe and
legal abortion has shrunk from over 40 to just about a dozen. And, if you live in
North Dakota or Mississippi, you’re in one of the nearly half-dozen states that
now have just one abortion provider in
the entire state. For many women, the
nearest clinic is hundreds of miles away, sometimes even across state lines. Now, imagine facing such distances if you struggle to afford transportation or child
care for your kids, or if you risk losing your job by taking time off to travel.
The right of every woman to decide for herself whether to continue or end a
pregnancy — without interference from politicians who presume to know better — is a
basic right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. And, your constitutional
rights, not to mention essential health care, should never depend on what state
you happen to live in.
Politicians aren’t just restricting access to
abortion. They’re going after your birth control.
Anti-choice politicians
would like you to think that this fight is just about abortion, but it’s not.
In the last few years, they’ve been making it harder and more expensive for
women to prevent unintended
pregnancies, too.
The historic Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, ensures that women’s
health care plans cover contraception without a copay. This includes all kinds
of birth control, including the pill, long-acting IUDs, and the vaginal ring. Yet, conservative politicians have sought to limit and overturn this advancement. You might remember the uproar over the private business Hobby Lobby successfully suing for their right to refuse to cover birth control as part of
their employees’ health insurance.
Other organizations have followed their lead. When politicians pass sham laws that shut down clinics, women aren't just
robbed of access to safe and legal abortion, they often lose their sole
resource for other basic health care services, including birth control,
pregnancy care, annual exams, and cancer screenings.
Everyone deserves affordable access to a full range of reproductive health care,
including contraception.
This means regardless of when we need it, where we live, how much
money we make, or where we get our health insurance. It's the women in states that have
the most abortion restrictions who suffer the most.
Abortion is one of the very safest medical procedures
a woman can have in the U.S. But, in states like Texas and Louisiana, legislators justify
restrictions on abortion services by claiming they’re intended to protect
women’s health and safety. Here’s the reality: States with the highest number of
these restrictive abortion restrictions also have the poorest record when it comes to
the health and well-being of women and children. Across a range of outcomes, women and families are paying the price for politicians’ ideological
agendas.
There ought to be a law against all this.
And, there is! The Women’s Health
Protection Act would prohibit states from imposing restrictions on reproductive
health providers that interfere with women’s
personal decision making or block access to safe and legal abortion services. This federal bill, which was reintroduced in Congress last month, would
enforce and protect
the right of every woman to decide for herself whether to continue or end a
pregnancy, regardless of where she lives. Make sure your representatives in Congress are among those fighting for this freedom of choice.
War on women is over! (If you want it.)
Sometimes, it might seem like we are closer than
ever to the dark days before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision 42 years ago, when women who could afford it could travel to get safe abortion care — and the rest were left with few or no
options. But, you know what? Seven in 10 Americans support a woman’s right to make her own reproductive
decisions. Seven in 10. If we all
make our voices heard, we can shut the extremists down and get lawmakers to
focus on what really matters in our health and lives. You have the power to change
the future — we all do. It means standing up and taking action. Learn more about what you can do.