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.
That said, it is hard to characterize the last decade for reproductive freedom. As I look back on the past 10 years, I see some real progress and glimmers of hope, but I also see disheartening setbacks and tragic losses.
Below is a brief account of some of the significant moments in reproductive freedom in the decade.
Progress and Hope
1. President Obama lifts the “Global Gag Rule” and the long-standing ban on abortion coverage for low-income women in the District of Columbia. In one of his first days in office,
President Obama rescinded the “Global Gag Rule,” a federal policy that cut off crucial federal funding for family planning services overseas to any foreign nongovernmental organization that used its own money to advocate for safe and legal abortion care, to perform legal abortions in their own countries, or to counsel and refer women for abortions. Without this prohibition, the U.S. can restore its place as a global leader in support of women’s health and lives.
In 2009, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law a provision that lifted the
long-standing ban that prohibited the District of Columbia from using its own tax dollars to cover abortions for low-income women who live in the district. This is an important first step toward ensuring access for all women. Other
federal bans on abortion coverage remain and need to be lifted, including severe restrictions on coverage for low-income women on Medicaid, Native Americans, federal employees and their dependents, Peace Corps volunteers, federal prisoners, military personnel and their dependents, and disabled women who rely on Medicare.
2. Federal funding of ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programming ends.After years of advocacy by the reproductive rights community, in 2009, the federal government
defunded abstinence-only-until-marriage programming. Starting in 1996, our federal government poured more than $1.3 billion into abstinence-only programs that censor vital health care information, provide inaccurate information, promote gender stereotypes, discriminate against lesbian and gay students, and in some cases impermissibly use taxpayer dollars to advance one religious perspective.
Research increasingly shows that these programs are ineffective and that young people need quality sexuality education to help them make healthy decisions.
The
federal budget for the 2010 fiscal year not only defunds abstinence-only programming but directs significant resources into medically accurate, evidence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs. These changes represent a significant change in the nation’s sexuality education policy, signaling a new commitment to improving young people’s lives.
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Setbacks and Losses
7. Dr. George Tiller, a trusted and compassionate abortion provider, is murdered in Kansas. After what appeared to be a period of decreased violence against abortion providers and clinic staff, on May 31, 2009,
Dr. George Tiller was gunned down in the vestibule of his church. Dr. Tiller was a true beacon of liberty. For decades, he provided compassionate care for women who came from all over the country to seek abortions at his clinic when they had few, if any other, options. Throughout his abortion practice, he faced relentless threats and harassment at his home, his place of worship, and at his clinic, including surviving a shooting in 1993. We continue to mourn Dr. Tiller’s loss and honor his years of service.
8. Congress puts politics above women’s health care needs in health care reform.As the decade ended, we watched Congress take on the important task of addressing an urgent need within the country for improved access to health care. Unfortunately, along with the promise of health care reform came an attack on access to abortion. Both the
House of Representatives and the
Senate passed health care reform measures that would severely undermine women’s access to abortion care. Women stand to lose if the abortion provisions in either bill are included in final health care reform. As of this writing, debate and negotiations over health care reform continue.
Tell lawmakers that abortion is part of basic health care for women and should be covered under health care reform.
9. The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a federal abortion procedure ban.On April 18, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to women’s health and reproductive rights. In a
5-4 decision that puts politics before women’s health, the Court upheld the first-ever federal ban on abortion methods – called by its sponsors the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.” In upholding the ban, the Court undermined a core principle of
Roe v. Wade – that women’s health must remain paramount.
In an impassioned dissent, Justice Ginsburg attacked the majority for placing women’s health in danger and for undermining women’s struggle for equality. She wrote, women’s “ability to realize their full potential . . . is intimately connected to ‘their ability to control their reproductive lives.’”
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