30th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, January 22, 2003
FIVE STORY IDEAS ON ABORTION

The Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States through its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.  By extending the right to privacy to include abortion, the Justices held that under the Constitution, women in the U.S. have the right to choose if they want to carry a pregnancy to term, or not. 

Yet, while abortion remains legal, for many women it is a hollow promise.  There are a variety of restrictions limiting this right, some more obvious than others.  State legislatures across the land have enacted waiting periods, parental consent or notification requirements, and bans on specific procedures.  The implications of these legal restrictions are straightforward in that they hinder a woman's ability to access the reproductive health care services she needs. 

Poor women are especially hard hit.  Since 1977, when Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, there has been a ban on federal Medicaid funds being spent to cover abortion services, excepting only cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the woman is in jeopardy.  Some states cover abortion with state Medicaid money, but more and more low-income women are being forced to rely on the limited private funds provided by non-governmental organizations.  Even with the existence of these private funds, many women in the U.S. are still unable to afford the procedure. 

Further limiting women's access to abortion in the U.S. are some less obvious shifts in our social landscape, including changes in the practices of the health care industry and in medial education.

One of the most insidious trends in the American health care industry is the ever-increasing religious influence over hospitals and entire hospital systems.  Both physicians and patients have been severely affected as religious doctrine rather than public health policies increasingly limit which services providers are allowed to offer at the more than 600 Catholic hospitals.  As stipulated in the Ethical and Religious Directives that govern the provision of care at Catholic hospitals, physicians do not have the right to provide their patients with comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion, tubal ligation and contraception.

It is not only services but also the professional practitioners trained to carry them out that are in short supply in the U.S.  Fewer than half of the medical schools in the U.S. routinely offer first trimester abortion training.  Medical students who wish to incorporate abortion as part of their training encounter a variety of obstacles, which in some cases dissuade them from pursuing such training.  The failure to train new providers, together with the steady decline in the number of physicians currently providing abortions, has created a situation where abortion may be legal, but not necessarily available.   In fact, 87 percent of U.S. counties currently have no abortion provider. 

Useful resources for covering access to abortion in the United States:

People who can give interviews or who can link journalists to other experts:

• Erica Pelletreau, Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health®, (646) 366-1890 ext. 13
• Lovisa Stannow, Pacific Institute for Women's Health, (310) 478-5330
• Jean Cleary, Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, (917) 637-3617
• Rebecca Wind, Alan Guttmacher Institute, (212) 248-1111 ext. 2203
• Shawn Towey, National Network of Abortion Funds, (215) 843-0763
  
  

Websites with significant up-to-date information about access to abortion in the United States:

• www.guttmacher.org
• www.crlp.org
• www.nnaf.org
  
  

Selected documents about access to abortion in the United States:

• "Three Decades of Legal Abortion: New Research and Analysis ," Alan Guttmacher Institute
• "Hierarchy Crackdown Clouds Future of Sterilization, EC Provision at Catholic Hospitals," Alan Guttmacher Institute
• "Portrait of Injustice: Abortion Coverage under the Medicaid Program," Center for Reproductive Law and Policy
• "Medicaid Funding for Medically Necessary Abortions," Center for Reproductive Law and Policy
• "Crafting an Abortion Law that Respects Women's Rights: Issues to Consider," Center for Reproductive Law and Policy
• "State Policies in Brief," Alan Guttmacher Institute
  
  

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