About Reproductive Choice

This page contains an archive of the last 100 entries posted to ProgressNow.org Daily News Digest in the Reproductive Choice category. They are listed from newest to oldest. You can find older entries using the search box below.

Religion is the previous category.

Science and Technology is the next category.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

Search

[What is this?]
Receive this digest by e-mail

Archives by Category

Tag cloud

Powered by
Movable Type 3.35

Main

Reproductive Choice Archives

February 20, 2008

Kansas high court blocks subpoena for abortion records - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abort20feb20,1,6995354.stor...
The state's highest court Tuesday temporarily blocked a subpoena issued to Kansas' attorney general by a grand jury investigating one of the few U.S. doctors who performs late-term abortions. Atty. Gen. Stephen N. Six had resisted the subpoena from the Sedgwick County grand jury for patient records and had asked the Supreme Court to intervene. The subpoena ordered Six to turn over by today the records of 60 patients obtained by his office from the Wichita clinic of Dr. George Tiller. Tiller's attorneys have asked the court to quash three subpoenas served on him by the grand jury, including one for records of about 2,000 patients. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked enforcement of the grand jury's subpoenas to Tiller. The court said that Six's request was "closely related." "The same action is deemed appropriate," the court said in a one-page order signed by Chief Justice Kay McFarland.
Tags:

February 19, 2008

In-vitro success gives birth to concerns -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-multiple_births_19feb19,1,517...
In the complex, expensive and emotionally charged world of fertility treatment, doctors are sounding a call to arms to reverse the soaring rate of multiple births. The doctors are responding to an unintended consequence of the success of in-vitro fertilization. Since 1980, when the technique became available in the United States, the rate of twins in all births has climbed 70 percent, to 3.2 percent of births in 2004. Much of the increase, experts say, is a result of in-vitro treatment. The rate of triplets and higher increased even more from 1980 to 1998.
Tags:

February 6, 2008

Grand jury can't get abortion files - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abort6feb06,1,963863.story...
The Kansas Supreme Court temporarily blocked a grand jury Tuesday from obtaining patient records from a physician who is one of the nation's few providers of late-term abortions. The grand jury is investigating whether Dr. George Tiller has broken Kansas laws restricting abortion, as many abortion opponents allege. The grand jury subpoenaed the medical files of about 2,000 women, including some who decided against having abortions. Abortion opponents forced Sedgwick County to convene the grand jury by submitting petitions, the second such citizen investigation of Tiller, who has long been a focus of the nation's abortion battle. His clinic was bombed in 1985, and eight years later a woman shot him in both arms.
Tags:

January 31, 2008

Tainted Drugs Linked to Maker of Abortion Pill - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/world/asia/31pharma.html?ref=world...
A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs. Chinese drug regulators have accused the manufacturer of the tainted drugs of a cover-up and have closed the factory that produced them. In December, China’s Food and Drug Administration said that the Shanghai police had begun a criminal investigation and that two officials, including the head of the plant, had been detained. The drug maker, Shanghai Hualian, is the sole supplier to the United States of the abortion pill, mifepristone, known as RU-486. It is made at a factory different from the one that produced the tainted cancer drugs, about an hour’s drive away.
Tags:

Abortion provider must turn over files - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tiller31jan31,1,4756825.sto...
One of the nation's few late-term abortion doctors was ordered Wednesday to turn over about 2,000 patient medical records to a Kansas grand jury investigating his practice. Abortion opponents hope that the records will lead to further criminal charges against Dr. George Tiller, who already is facing 19 misdemeanor counts stemming from late-second and third-trimester abortions at his clinic in Wichita. Tiller's lawyers say he scrupulously follows the law. They plan to ask the Kansas Supreme Court to overturn a state district court judge's ruling that Tiller begin handing over files as early as today. "It's an unprecedented encroachment upon a woman's right to privacy," attorney Dan Monnat said. Monnat was joined in court by a lawyer from the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, who filed affidavits from three patients demanding that their medical records remain private.
Tags:

January 23, 2008

Abortion foes protest 35th anniversary of 'Roe' - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-22-roe-v-wade_N.htm...
Tens of thousands of abortion opponents marched in a cold drizzle to the Supreme Court on Tuesday in the annual "March for Life" rally criticizing the court's Roe v. Wade decision. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the ruling that created a right to abortion. Paul Buede, of Keedysville, Md., was marching with his wife and four children, ranging in age from 1 to 10. Four-year-old Andrew carried a sign with a baby's face and the slogan, "Face it. Abortion kills." "I'm hoping that they grow up with a strong appreciation for life and for the importance of civil disobedience in our society," Buede said. President Bush, who hosted about 200 demonstrators in the East Room of the White House for coffee and doughnuts, voiced support for the cause.
Tags:

Planned Parenthood kicks off lobbying effort - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-parenthood23jan23,1,7271407...
The political wing of Planned Parenthood on Tuesday announced an unprecedented voter-mobilization effort targeting the young, often low-income women who rely on the group's clinics for gynecological exams, birth control and abortion. The nonprofit expects to raise at least $10 million over the next 10 months to recruit patients, as well as their friends and families, to lobby legislators and vote for candidates who support Planned Parenthood's agenda. That agenda includes support for abortion rights, but the campaign will emphasize issues such as affordable contraception, comprehensive sex education in public schools and increased subsidies for Planned Parenthood's basic healthcare services, including pap smears, breast exams and HIV tests. Some of those services have been threatened by budget cuts at the state and federal levels. "To do the work we need to do, we simply have to have change" in the political climate, said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Tags:

Missouri: Ruling on Inmates’ Abortions Is Upheld - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/us/23brfs-RULINGONINMA_BRF.html?ref=us...
The State of Missouri must provide transportation to clinics for inmates who want to have an abortion, a federal appeals panel ruled. In 2005, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the state had to allow a specific inmate to have an abortion after it tried to end the practice of driving prisoners to clinics for abortions. The American Civil Liberties Union then sought a federal ruling making the court’s decision a class-action on behalf of all imprisoned pregnant women in the state. Judge Dean Whipple of Federal District Court ruled in 2006 that the state must allow pregnant inmates to have abortions and take them to facilities for the procedure. The latest decision, by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sided with the lower court. It was not clear whether the state would appeal.
Tags:

A Youthful Throng Marches Against Abortion - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/22/AR2008012201727....
Tens of thousands of abortion opponents took to the cold, gray streets of Washington yesterday, buoyed by a recent report that the number of abortions in the United States had hit the lowest level in years and vowing to continue the fight. Many of the participants in the March for Life were young people, many from religious clubs and church-run schools from as far away as Ohio, Texas and Tennessee. The march has been held each year since 1974 to protest the Supreme Court's Jan. 22, 1973, decision that most laws against abortion violate a constitutional right to privacy. In many ways, the march resembled a gigantic pep rally, with smiling teenagers in matching scarves or sweat shirts holding school banners high as they moved along Constitution Avenue NW toward the Supreme Court. But the individual signs they clutched told of their commitment to a cause: "Give Life, Don't Take It" and "Your Mother Was Pro-Life."
Tags:

January 22, 2008

Antiabortion cause stirs new generation - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-youth22jan22,1,5600743.stor...
Born into a time after Roe vs. Wade, many young adults are eager to reverse it. And veteran activists are happy to enlist their help.
Tags:

As Abortion Rate Drops, Use of RU-486 Is on Rise - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR2008012102075....
Thirty-five years after the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision, a pill that has largely faded from the rancorous public debate over abortion has slowly and quietly begun to transform the experience of ending a pregnancy in the United States. The French abortion pill RU-486, on the market since 2000, has become an increasingly common alternative, making abortion less clinical and more private. At a time when the overall number of abortions has been steadily declining, RU-486-induced abortions have been rising by 22 percent a year and now account for 14 percent of the total -- and more than one in five early abortions performed by the ninth week of pregnancy. The pill, often called "miffy" after its chemical name mifepristone and brand name Mifeprex, also has helped slow the decline in abortion providers, as more physicians who previously did not perform the procedure discreetly start to prescribe the pill. "The impact and the promise is huge," said Beth Jordan, medical director of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. "It's going a long way towards normalizing abortion."
Tags:

January 18, 2008

Kan. abortion foes use 1887 law against clinics - The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/18/kan_abortion_foes_use_1887...
Religious conservatives have dusted off a largely forgotten 1887 state law that allows citizens to launch grand jury investigations, and they are using it to help turn Kansas into one of the nation's biggest abortion battlegrounds. A grand jury that was impaneled Jan. 8 by way of a citizen petition drive is investigating Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita clinic operator abhorred by antiabortion activists because he is one of the nation's few physicians who perform late-term abortions. This is the second such citizen investigation of Tiller since 2006. Phillip Jauregui, counsel for the antiabortion Life Legal Defense Foundation, said Kansans are invoking the law because prosecutors are soft on abortion. "This is a right the people of Kansas have given themselves," he said. But others say the law is a dangerous tool. "This is a witch hunt, plain and simple," said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, an abortion rights group. "It clearly demonstrates the inherent danger of empowering biased advocacy groups to impanel a grand jury."
Tags:

January 17, 2008

Abortions down 25% from peak - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abort17jan17,1,4238265.stor...
A comprehensive study of abortion in America underscores a striking change in the landscape, with ever-fewer pregnant women choosing abortion and those who do increasingly opting to avoid surgical clinics. The number of abortions has plunged to 1.2 million a year, down 25% since peaking in 1990, according to a report released today -- days before the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. In the early 1980s, nearly 1 in 3 pregnant women chose abortion. The most recent data show that proportion is closer to 1 in 5. "That's a significant drop, and it's encouraging," said Randall K. O'Bannon, director of education and research for the antiabortion group National Right to Life. Women looking to end early pregnancies are gravitating to medication abortions, in which they take two pills under a doctor's supervision to induce miscarriage. This approach lets them avoid surgery -- and the protesters who often picket clinics -- and expel the embryo in the privacy of their homes. The Food and Drug Administration approved the pills in 2000 for use through the seventh week of pregnancy.
Tags:

January 7, 2008

Changing abortion's pronoun - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-menabort7jan07,1,3955517.st...
Since the concept of post-abortion syndrome first emerged in the early 1980s, some women have recounted similar stories -- and learned to leverage them into political power. They speak at legislative hearings and rallies organized by the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. They write affidavits detailing their years of emotional turmoil, which the Justice Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, submits to lawmakers and courts nationwide. Last spring, the Supreme Court cited these accounts as one reason to ban the late-term procedure that opponents call "partial-birth" abortion. The majority opinion suggested that the ban would protect women from a decision they might later regret. Women's testimony was also used to justify a sweeping abortion ban passed in 2006 in South Dakota. (Voters overturned the ban before it could take effect.) "It's a rule of thumb that if you want to get a law passed, you have to tell anecdotes that grab people," said Dr. Nada Stotland, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Assn. Antiabortion activists have done that well, she said. "They've succeeded in convincing a lot of the American public" that abortion leaves women wounded. Now, those activists see an opportunity to dramatically expand the message. The Justice Foundation recently began soliciting affidavits from men; one online link promises, "Your story will help legal efforts to end abortion." Silent No More encourages men to testify at rallies.
Tags:

December 28, 2007

Albuquerque Has Renewal of Attacks on Abortion - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/us/28albuquerque.html?ref=us...
A rash of attacks on abortion and family planning clinics has struck Albuquerque this month, the first such violence there in nearly a decade. Two attacks occurred early Tuesday at two buildings belonging to Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, according to Albuquerque police and fire officials. An arson fire damaged a surgery center the organization uses for abortions, and the windows of a Planned Parenthood family planning clinic 12 blocks away were smashed, the officials said. Neither building sustained significant damage, and activities at both of them resumed Wednesday, a spokeswoman said. The attacks came just weeks after the Albuquerque clinic run by a nationally known abortion provider, Dr. Curtis Boyd, was destroyed by arsonists on Dec. 6.
Tags:

In Missouri, vote sought on abortion -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-abortion_scharnbergdec28,1,48...
A major campaign to strictly limit abortion -- if not effectively prohibit the procedure -- could polarize Missouri's electorate next year in this historically critical battleground state. At issue is a measure anti-abortion groups want to put on next November's ballot. If passed, it would stand as arguably the most restrictive abortion law in the country, requiring abortion providers to investigate each patient's background and lifestyle in order to certify that the woman was not coerced into the procedure. Under the initiative, doctors would not be allowed to perform a non-emergency abortion unless they believed "the imminent death or serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman" would occur.
Tags:

December 17, 2007

Abstinence Programs Face Rejection - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/15/AR2007121500773....
The number of states refusing federal money for "abstinence-only" sex education programs jumped sharply in the past year as evidence mounted that the approach is ineffective. At least 14 states have either notified the federal government that they will no longer be requesting the funds or are not expected to apply, forgoing more than $15 million of the $50 million available, officials said. Virginia was the most recent state to opt out. Two other states -- Ohio and Washington -- have applied but stipulated they would use the money for comprehensive sex education, effectively making themselves ineligible, federal officials said. While Maryland and the District are planning to continue applying for the money, other states are considering withdrawing as well.
Tags:

December 3, 2007

Rights for embryos proposed -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-eggsdec03,1,3297674.story...
Opening a new front in their assault on abortion, activists in half a dozen states are preparing ballot referendums that would grant "personhood" and constitutional rights to embryos from the moment of conception. The drive is under way in Colorado, where activists have begun gathering signatures for an initiative, and Georgia, where the legislature will take up the issue when it reconvenes in January. Abortion opponents in Montana, Oregon, Mississippi and Michigan are among those considering similar measures. The new strategy takes an idea that has been central to the pro-life movement -- that human life begins when an egg is fertilized -- and makes it the centerpiece of state efforts to overturn women's legal right to an abortion. If the embryo is declared a person under a state's constitution, the reasoning goes, the termination of its existence must be considered murder.
Tags:

November 26, 2007

A warning on safe sex at any age - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-safesex26nov26,1,3112722.st...
Jane Fowler thinks it's about time college students had "the talk" with their grandparents. She doesn't mean grandmothers and grandfathers explaining the facts of life. She wants kids to explain safe sex to their elders. It's part of a broader message the 72-year-old has advocated for more than a decade. Ever since she contracted HIV when she was in her 50s, Fowler has made it her mission to help aging baby boomers and members of her generation avoid her mistakes. "Once people get past their own embarrassment and understand grandparents today are still sexually active, they realize I'm right," said Fowler, who is scheduled to speak at a safe-sex event on the Kansas State University campus today. "Their grandparents face the same risks of sexually transmitted diseases as they do." The over-50 crowd is a relatively small segment of the nation's at-risk group for sexually transmitted diseases. Approximately four times as many HIV diagnoses occurred in people ages 25 to 44 as in those 50 and older, according to a 2005 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, medical experts agree that older Americans often are among the most overlooked -- and therefore one of the more vulnerable -- populations.
Tags:

November 21, 2007

Va. GOP Assails Kaine on Sex-Ed - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/20/AR2007112001794....
RICHMOND, Nov. 20 -- Virginia's top Republicans called on Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to restore state funds for programs that focus exclusively on teaching teenagers to abstain from sex until marriage, intensifying the partisan battle over sex education. At a news conference Tuesday at the state Capitol, Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling joined other social conservatives and educators in accusing Kaine of ignoring state-sponsored studies that show abstinence-only education works. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling expressed concern about outcome of the elections. "He is a Catholic, and I am a Catholic, and I know our church teaches abstinence," McDonnell said of Kaine. "I am puzzled by his decision."
Tags:

November 19, 2007

Proposed Colorado Measure on Rights for Human Eggs - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/us/politics/18ballot.html?em&ex=1195621200&en=...
DENVER, Nov. 16 — A proposed amendment to the Colorado Constitution that would give legal rights to fertilized human eggs may be headed for the ballot next year, raising the prospect of a heated local debate over abortion at the same time that Democrats are gathering here for their national convention. The ballot measure, which passed a legal hurdle this week when the Colorado Supreme Court upheld an administrative panel’s ruling about its wording, would give Colorado perhaps the most sweeping language in the nation about the rights of the unborn, legal experts said. The proposal must go through several other steps between now and Election Day 2008, including gathering of enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. But both sides agreed that the measure, if it passed, would have immense ripple effects. The measure, just one paragraph long, would ask voters whether inalienable rights, due process rights and equality of justice rights as defined in the state Constitution should be extended to “any human being from the moment of fertilization.”
Tags:

November 13, 2007

Study pinpoints factors for early sex - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-12-teen-sex_N.htm...
There's a "recipe" that raises the odds of a teen starting sex early, and the more risky ingredients in a child's life — for example, not feeling close to parents, low self-esteem and lots of TV — the more likely he is to be sexually active by age 15, suggests a study released over the weekend. "It isn't any one thing. It's cumulative, and the more risks there are, the greater the chances that they'll begin sex early," says Janet Shibley Hyde, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She and co-author Myeshia Price reported on their two-year study of 273 children at the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality meeting in Indianapolis. The students were in a larger database study, which gave many facts about their families. Using anonymous surveys, the researchers asked about sexual activity at age 13 and again two years later. By 15, one out of five boys had participated in oral sex and about one in 10 said they'd had intercourse; the numbers were somewhat lower for girls. (Because the teens were mostly middle class and white, they had lower rates of sexual experience than the U.S. average.
Tags:

November 12, 2007

Study Debunks Theory On Teen Sex, Delinquency - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/10/AR2007111001271....
Researchers at Ohio State University garnered little attention in February when they found that youngsters who lose their virginity earlier than their peers are more likely to become juvenile delinquents. So obvious and well established was the contribution of early sex to later delinquency that the idea was already part of the required curriculum for federal "abstinence only" programs. There was just one problem: It is probably not true. Other things being equal, a more probing study has found, youngsters who have consensual sex in their early-teen or even preteen years are, if anything, less likely to engage in delinquent behavior later on. That new analysis, a reworking of the same data the Ohio team used, is one of several recent instances in which a more precise parsing of data has begun to turn long-standing societal presumptions on their head. By bringing evidence to bear on complex social issues, these studies are forcing individuals and policymakers to rethink such hot-button topics as the benefits of breast-feeding, the risks of teen child-bearing and, in the latest example, the harms long presumed to result from teen sex.
Tags:

November 9, 2007

Anti-Abortion Postings Ordered Removed - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/09/AR2007110900728....
A federal judge ordered an anti-abortion activist to remove Web site postings that authorities said exhorted readers to kill an abortion provider by shooting her in the head. District Court Judge Thomas Golden granted an injunction Thursday seeking the removal of postings on Web pages maintained by John Dunkle. The injunction, sought by prosecutors in August, also bans him from publishing similar messages containing names, addresses or photographs of health clinic staff members. Prosecutors said one posting targeted a former clinician for the Philadelphia Women's Center, and that she later stopped providing reproductive health services because she feared for her life. Dunkle, of Reading, said Thursday that the postings had been removed. "They're down now," said Dunkle, who represented himself. "I won't put up language that (the judge) has told me not to put up." Authorities said the postings violate the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. One posting, which featured the provider's name, photo and address, stated that "while it does not sound good to say go shoot her between the eyes, it sounds even worse to say let her alone."
Tags:

November 7, 2007

Report: Abstinence not curbing teen sex - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-07-teen-sex_N.htm...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a non-partisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies. "At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners" among teenagers, the study concluded. The report, which was based on a review of research into teenager sexual behavior, was being released Wednesday by the non-partisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The study found that while abstinence-only efforts appear to have little positive impact, more comprehensive sex education programs were having "positive outcomes" including teenagers "delaying the initiation of sex, reducing the frequency of sex, reducing the number of sexual partners and increasing condom or contraceptive use."
Tags:

November 6, 2007

Teen Wins Fight for Antiabortion Club at School - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/05/AR2007110502000....
By Theresa Vargas Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, November 6, 2007; Page A01 For Stephanie Hoffmeier, it came down to believing in a power higher than a school system. With prayer, persistence and a lawsuit against the Stafford County schools, the 16-year-old recently succeeded in starting what might be the region's only antiabortion club in a public high school. The Pro-Life Club, which attracted about 20 people to its first gathering, also promotes teen sexual abstinence as well as opposing abortion. Hoffmeier said her legal fight was a matter of equity. "We just wanted the same rights as other clubs," Hoffmeier said in an interview last week at her Fredericksburg home. "It's not a radical thing to expect equal treatment." Asked why she started the club, Hoffmeier said: "I feel God has put it on my heart for a pretty long time."
Tags:

Telling the Stories Behind the Abortions - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/health/06abor.html?ref=science...
By CORNELIA DEAN Published: November 6, 2007 Dr. Susan Wicklund took her first step toward the front line of the abortion wars when she was in her early 20s, a high school graduate with a few community college credits, working dead-end jobs. She became pregnant. She had an abortion. It was legal, but it was ghastly. Her counseling, she recalls, was limited to instructions to pay in advance, in cash, and to go to the emergency room if she had a problem. During the procedure itself, her every question drew the same response: “Shut up!” Determined that other women should have better reproductive care, she began work as an apprentice midwife and eventually finished college, earned a medical degree and started a practice in which she spends about 90 percent of her time on abortion services. Much of her work is in underserved regions on the Western plains, at clinics that she visits by plane. In her forthcoming book “This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor” (Public Affairs), Dr. Wicklund describes her work, the circumstances that lead her patients to choose abortion, and the barriers — lack of money, lack of providers, violence in the home or protesters at clinics — that stand in their way.
Tags:

November 2, 2007

Judges Appear Hesitant on Virginia 'Partial Birth' Abortion Ban - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110102372....
Virginia's attempt to revive its law restricting abortion received a skeptical reception from a panel of federal judges here Thursday in a key test of how the Supreme Court's decision to uphold federal abortion limits will affect restrictions imposed by the states. The Supreme Court this spring upheld the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, for the first time agreeing that a specific abortion procedure could be banned, and emphasizing government's "legitimate and substantial interest" in preserving fetal life. But as quickly as Virginia Solicitor General William E. Thro told the three appellate judges hearing the case that the court's decision in Gonzalez v. Carhart"removes any doubt that the Virginia act is constitutional," he was stopped short. "That doesn't really quite get you home, Mr. Thro," Judge M. Blane Michael said.
Tags:

November 1, 2007

Poll: Most OK Birth Control for Schools -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-teen-contraceptives-ap-pol...
People decisively favor letting their public schools provide birth control to students, but they also voice misgivings that divide them along generational, income and racial lines, a poll showed. Sixty-seven percent support giving contraceptives to students, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. About as many -- 62 percent -- said they believe providing birth control reduces the number of teenage pregnancies. "Kids are kids," said Danielle Kessenger, 39, a mother of three young children from Jacksonville, Fla., who supports providing contraceptives to those who request them. "I was a teenager once and parents don't know everything, though we think we do." Yet most who support schools distributing contraceptives prefer that they go to children whose parents have consented. People are also closely divided over whether sex education and birth control are more effective than stressing morality and abstinence, and whether giving contraceptives to teenagers encourages them to have sexual intercourse.
Tags:

October 24, 2007

School Board to Look at Contraceptives -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-middle-school-contraceptiv...
A local school board will consider limiting student access to birth control pills and patches at a middle school's health center. Earlier this month, the Portland School Committee approved a plan that made King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to offer a full range of contraception to students in grades 6 through 8, when most students are 11 to 13 years old, according to state officials. On Monday, committee member Benjamin Meiklejohn submitted a proposal that would give parents the option of blocking access to prescription contraceptives if they enroll their children in the health center. It also would limit contraceptives to students who are at least 14 years old. Meiklejohn was one of two board members who voted against providing prescription birth control.
Tags:

October 22, 2007

Not All Are Pleased at Plan to Offer Birth Control at Maine Middle School - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/us/21portland.html?em&ex=1193198400&en=50042b8...
Carissa Porcaro, a student at King Middle School here, did not hide her feelings about the Portland school board’s decision to let the independently operated clinic at her school provide girls access to prescription contraceptives. Wearing a sticker with the words “I’m against giving out birth control” written in black marker, Carissa, 13, said she did not think the school should make the drugs available. Her mother disagrees. “She thinks it’s really good,” Carissa said after school on Friday. “I think it’s stupid because what people are saying is that it’s O.K. to be sexually active.” Two days after the school committee voted 7 to 2 in favor of adding prescription contraceptives to the services offered at the health clinic, the issue continues to draw fervent support and ardent opposition in this city of 64,000, the largest in Maine. “I think it’s a great idea,” said Cathleen Allen, whose son is enrolled at King. “Someone is finally advocating for these students to take care of themselves.”
Tags:

October 19, 2007

No Cut in Money for Abortion Providers -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-senate-abortion,1,3793568....
The Senate blocked a bid by anti-abortion forces Thursday to cut off money for clinics that provide family planning and other health services in addition to abortions. By a 52-41 vote, the Senate rejected a proposal by Sen. David Vitter, R-La., to stop funding health clinics, Planned Parenthood and other providers of reproductive health services if they use money from nonfederal sources to perform abortions. The issue arose during the Senate's second day of debate on a health and education spending bill that finances hundreds of programs, including one dealing with federal family planning efforts.
Tags:

October 18, 2007

Maine middle school can provide birth control pills - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-contraception18oct18,1,2274...
The school board approved a proposal Wednesday for pupils at a city middle school to be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center. The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades six through eight, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. There are no national figures on how many middle schools, where most students range in age from 11 to 13, provide such services. "It's very rare that middle schools do this," said Divya Mohan, a spokeswoman for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care. The Portland School Committee voted 5-2 for the measure.
Tags:

Abortion Charges Filed Against Kansas Clinic - New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/us/18abort.html?ref=us...
A county prosecutor in Kansas who waged a vociferous battle against abortion in his former role as the state’s attorney general filed dozens of felony and misdemeanor charges yesterday against a Planned Parenthood clinic, saying the facility provided illegal late-term abortions, among other crimes. The prosecutor, Phill Kline, now the Johnson County district attorney, has a history of wrangling with the clinic, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. When he was the state attorney general, from 2002 until last year, Mr. Kline, a conservative Republican, developed a reputation for challenging abortion providers. In a suit that brought national attention to Kansas as a battleground for abortion rights, Mr. Kline sought the names and personal information of women and girls who had had abortions at the Planned Parenthood clinic and one other medical facility. Early last year, the State Supreme Court restricted the investigation, ruling that personal information must be removed from the records Mr. Kline sought. Mr. Kline’s effort to prosecute the clinics ultimately failed.
Tags:

October 2, 2007

Planned Parenthood clinic allowed to open in Ill. - USATODAY.com

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-01-illinois-abortionclinic_N.htm...
A suburban Planned Parenthood clinic prohibited from opening after anti-abortion activists raised questions about how it received its building permits will be allowed to open, city officials said Monday. Mayor Tom Weisner said reviews by three different attorneys found no legal basis to deny an occupancy permit to the clinic. He said the building department could issue a temporary occupancy permit as early as Monday. The clinic could open as soon as Tuesday morning, Steve Trombley, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area, said hours after Aurora announced its decision. "It's always a victory when we can expand access to reproductive health care services, including abortion services," he said. "If our opponents block us from entering any community, it opens the door to them blocking us from going into every community." The 22,000-square-foot, $7.5 million building, which was supposed to open last month, has been the target of anti-abortion protesters, who accused Planned Parenthood of deceiving the city into granting building permits.
Tags:

September 28, 2007

Catholic Hospitals to Follow Plan B Law -- chicagotribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-morning-after-pill,1,89611...
Roman Catholic bishops in Connecticut have agreed to let hospital personnel give emergency contraception to all rape victims, reversing their decision days before a new state law requires it. The church, which runs four of the state's 30 hospitals, had fought the state law requiring medical personnel to give rape victims emergency contraception, sold as Plan B, even if the women are ovulating. Church officials had said the treatment was tantamount to abortion and had been considering legal action, but they took a step away from that position Thursday, in a joint statement by the Catholic Bishops of Connecticut and leaders of the Catholic hospitals.
Tags:

September 21, 2007

Judge rules against Illinois abortion clinic - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abort21sep21,1,6466494.stor...
An Illinois city may continue to block the opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic while officials investigate whether the abortion-rights group lied to obtain its building permits, a federal judge ruled Thursday. Planned Parenthood used the name Gemini Office Development in applying for permits to build the $7.5-million clinic in Aurora. As recently as March, the organization used the Gemini name on a permit application and added: "Tenant is not determined . . . unknown at this time." At least four other permits dating to March 2006 refer to the tenant or property owner as Gemini, according to city spokeswoman Carie Anne Ergo. Aurora officials have asked the county prosecutor to review those permits for possible criminal violations, such as fraud. Steve Trombley, who directs Planned Parenthood's Chicago affiliate, has acknowledged that his organization used the Gemini name to mask Planned Parenthood's involvement in the hopes of preventing antiabortion pickets. But he said Planned Parenthood never tried to hide the building's purpose.
Tags:

September 20, 2007

Inquiry Stalls Abortion Clinic - washingtonpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091902061....
AURORA, Ill. -- When Planned Parenthood wanted to open an abortion clinic in this Chicago suburb, its construction contractor opted not to disclose the purpose of the building when applying for city building permits. Now, antiabortion activists are seeking to block the clinic on the grounds that Planned Parenthood deceived city officials.
Tags:

September 19, 2007

The conundrum of genetic testing - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-gaucher19sep19,1,6449311.s...
Thirty-five years after genetic screening was first used to identify babies at risk of being born with debilitating diseases, a new study of a potentially serious but treatable illness among Ashkenazi Jews questions whether such testing has gone too far. One-quarter of fetuses found to have Gaucher disease were aborted over an eight-year period, even though half of all children with the metabolic disorder will never experience any symptoms, such as pain, organ enlargement and anemia. The rest can lead normal lives with treatment. Importantly, the researchers found that among couples who met with a Gaucher expert and learned that the disease was treatable, only 8% chose to terminate their pregnancies. All of the couples who didn't have those meetings opted for abortion. The disparity underscores what some experts say is a flaw in genetic testing: It provides a bounty of knowledge that is not necessarily accompanied by wisdom.
Tags:

September 17, 2007

For Kansas abortion doctor, pressure mounts - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tiller17sep17,1,2720631.sto...
Antiabortion activists in Kansas are stepping up a campaign to drive one of the nation's last late-term abortion providers out of business. Dr. George Tiller, who draws patients from across the country to his Wichita clinic, faces trial next month on 19 misdemeanor counts. The charges -- which he vigorously disputes -- accuse him of aborting viable fetuses without first consulting an independent physician as required by state law. Each count carries a penalty of up to a year in jail. If convicted, Tiller could also lose his medical license. His opponents aren't waiting for the outcome of the trial. This month, the antiabortion group Kansans for Life submitted nearly 8,000 signatures to Sedgwick County District Court in Wichita, calling for a grand jury to review Tiller's handling of late-second- and third-trimester abortions. Tiller's lawyers appealed to federal court to block the grand jury, calling it a "vigilante effort," but were rebuffed last week. State law allows citizens to force the seating of a grand jury. At the Capitol, meanwhile, a committee controlled by antiabortion lawmakers held a two-day hearing this month to lay the groundwork for tougher restrictions on abortion. Among the witnesses: a woman who said Tiller rushed her into an abortion at the end of her second trimester without counseling, informed consent or a second opinion because she had arrived late for her appointment at the clinic. State officials said they might investigate those claims.
Tags:

September 10, 2007

Missouri abortion law under review - Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-abortion10sep10,1,4090012.s...
Facilities that regularly provide first-trimester terminations — including the pill version — may be regulated as outpatient surgical centers. Two of the state's three clinics would have to close.
Tags:

September 7, 2007