Reproductive Justice

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[edit] Where do Progressives Stand?

Progressives in this issue area believe that controlling fertility is every woman’s right and that there is more to reproductive freedom than legalizing abortion. They believe that women must be empowered, not merely allowed to exercise reproductive choice. A whole host of issues affect how any one woman experiences this right, including availability of contraception, availability of information through comprehensive sex education, and finally the safety, adequate funding, and accessibility of family planning clinics that provide reproductive health services including abortions. More specifically, progressive advocates of reproductive choice support:

  • Affordable and readily available contraception for all women, regardless of their marital status, age, or sexual identity
  • Insurance coverage for birth control prescriptions and public funding to assist women without health insurance coverage
  • Research for increasingly safe and effective contraception
  • Comprehensive sex education in public schools which includes information about contraceptives, STD prevention, LGBT issues, and abstinence
  • Protection of women’s confidentiality in a doctor/patient relationship and respect for the medical choices made by women and their doctors.
  • Recognizing the decision to produce or terminate a pregnancy is between a woman and her chosen health care professional. This should be a confidential, affordable, and easily accessible right.
  • Protection of clinics and physicians that provide abortion services against violence and harassment from anti-choice groups.

[edit] Hot Topics

[edit] Contraception

Readily available and affordable contraception is vital in preventing unintended pregnancy, the primary cause of high abortion rates in the U.S. That fact notwithstanding, contraception remains out of reach for many women, primarily because of cost. There is also a rising trend among pharmacists who refuse to fill valid birth control prescriptions because of their own beliefs. This is called “right to refuse” and is recognized by pharmacies here in Colorado.

[edit] Judicial Appointments

The Supreme Court decision in Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that lays the foundation for reproductive freedom in the U.S. is in danger of being overturned if one more anti-choice judge is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. G.W. Bush has already appointed many anti-choice judges to the federal courts and the Republicans in the U.S.

[edit] Fetal Protection/Definition Laws

Reproductive freedom has been threatened by a rising tide of legislative attempts to confer legal personhood on fetuses and legally redefining pregnancy as beginning at conception rather than implantation (the latter being the AMA recognized definition). Rather than deal with the abortion issue directly, these threaten reproductive freedom by redefining the terms of the debate in such a way as to make a woman a third party in reproductive decisions.

[edit] Bans on Abortion Procedures

Already a federal ban on so-called “partial birth abortions” has been signed into law without even a medical emergency or fetal non-viability exception. The anti-choice right is increasingly using the unfortunately successful tactic of attempting to ban individual procedures instead of the practice itself. Many states, including Colorado, have seen statewide abortion bans in their state legislatures.

[edit] Wisconsin issues

  • Women's Health and Safety Act: Repeals Wisconsin's Criminal Abortion Ban. More information at:
NARAL Pro-Choice WI Bill Watch
Information Sheet on Abortion Bans

[edit] In The News

  • Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill passed the WI Assembly
http://www.prochoicewisconsin.org/instate/political.shtml

[edit] Facts and Statistics

  • 98% of women use contraception at some point during their lifetime.
  • A bi-partisan survey of Wisconsin voters in August 2004 found that 82% of voters favored ensuring access to emergency contraception for victims of rape and incest.

[edit] Sources

This article incorporates text from Colopedia.org through a prior agreement with the content creators.

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