August 14, 2012

FEATURED BLOG

"Proposed Colorado Measure Would Effectively Ban Abortion," Casey Michel, TPMMuckraker: Colorado voters this fall will consider a measure that would define a person as "every member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development"; prohibit the "intentional killing of any innocent person"; and ban "birth control that kills a person," as well as medical treatments and assisted reproduction procedures that do so. Approval of the amendment would "appear to eliminate all legalized abortion, including in instances of rape or incest," Michel writes, adding that some contraceptives, such as intrauterine devices, also would be banned, although the amendment's supporters said they are not sure if it would apply to birth control pills. Michel notes that the measure is "nearly identical" to proposals that Colorado voters rejected in 2008 and 2010 (Michel, TMPMuckraker, 8/10).

FEATURED BLOG

"How To Save an Unconstitutional Abortion Ban, as Dictated by the Supreme Court," Jessica Mason Pieklo, RH Reality Check: One of the "most dangerous signals" in U.S. District Judge James Teilborg's recent decision to uphold an Arizona law (HB 2036) criminalizing abortion after 20 weeks is "the federal court's willing acceptance of the idea that an otherwise unconstitutional abortion ban may be salvaged so long as that ban only affects just a few women," Pieklo writes. "Of course, those women most affected are those women most in crisis who already face significant hurdles accessing reproductive health care: poor women, women of color and women who live in remote parts of this country," Pieklo adds. She writes that these women's "only hope of legal relief comes from lengthy, expensive and fact-intensive litigation, a truth anti-choice advocates are counting on in their crusade to eliminate abortion rights across the country" (Pieklo, RH Reality Check, 8/13).

FEATURED BLOG

"Abortion, the States and the World Health Organization," Anu Kumar, Huffington Post  blogs: The World Health Organization's new guidelines on abortion policy and standards of care "make it painfully clear that, nearly 40 years after Roe v. Wade, we're doing everything wrong here" in the U.S., Kumar, executive vice president of Ipas, writes. "Whether it's gestational limits, ultrasounds, counseling or human rights, nearly every policy proposed by anti-abortion legislators directly contradicts the new WHO guidelines, which are based on years of consultation and discussion, incorporating scientific evidence and international human rights standards" (Kumar, Huffington Post blogs, 8/10).

What others are saying about abortion access:

~ "TRAP Takes Down Another Clinic, This Time in Tennessee," Robin Marty, RH Reality Check.

~ "Losing the Right to Abortion Later in Pregnancy," Susan Yanow, RH Reality Check.