Uncertainty Around Abortion Access in New Brunswick, Canada

Today, the National Abortion Federation issued a statement denouncing the failure of the Honourable Brad Green, QC, the Minister of Health in New Brunswick, to clarify where and how women will be able to access publicly funded abortion services. The Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, the only facility that regularly provides publicly funded abortions in the province, suspends its services today, June 30.

>View NAF’s Press Release

Dangerous Parental Involvement Proposition in California

Last year, California voters considered Proposition 73, which proposed to amend the California constitution to require minors to notify a parent or legal guardian at least 48 hours before an abortion. Californians rejected Proposition 73 recognizing that these measures can endanger teens.

Abortion opponents have collected enough signatures for a ballot initiative that will place a dangerous measure similar to Proposition 73 on the ballot this November.

>View the California Healthline article on the 2006 ballot initiative

For more information on this measure and Proposition 73, visit the Campaign for Teen Safety.

Another Battle Over Abortion in South Dakota

Women’s eNews reports that Cecelia Fire Thunder, the first woman president of the Oglala Sioux Nation, is under attack for advocating for a women’s health clinic that would provide abortion care be built on the Pine Ridge Reservation, located in southwest South Dakota. Fire Thunder has since come under attack from abortion opponents, and the Oglala council has passed an abortion ban. Fire Thunder is now facing an impeachment hearing.

The article notes that, “Legal abortion, Fire Thunder said, is particularly important for Native American women, who lack access to birth control, who tend to live in poverty and who face epidemic sexual violence.”

Read the article on Fire Thunder from Women’s eNEWS.

Supreme Court Declines Review of Anti-Choice License Plates

The Washington Post reports that the Supreme Court denied pro-choice groups’ request that states be blocked from offering specialty license plates that say “choose life.” The cases focused on Louisiana and Tennessee, where drivers can pay extra for anti-choice vanity plates, but are not offered alternative plates that support reproductive freedom. Federal judges in Louisiana and Texas found the license plates unconstitutional, but federal appeals’ courts overturned the decisions.

The revenue from “choose life” license plates is often used to fund Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) or other anti-choice organizations.
>View NAF’s report on CPCs

For more information, including a list of states offering anti-choice license plates, read the Guttmacher Institute report State Policies in Brief.

Abortion Policy Report

Stateline.org released an abortion policy report that outlines the history of abortion in the United States. The report, entitled States Probe Limits of Abortion Policy, traces and breaks down states’ past, present and future anti-choice policies. The report explores the various abortion legislation that could potentially threaten the future of choice.

Citizens of South Dakota Will Have a Choice in November

South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson certified this week that the required signatures had been gathered and the restrictive anti-abortion repeal initiative would appear on the ballot in November.

Citizens of South Dakota will have a chance to repeal the state’s extreme ban on abortion. The South Dakota ban outlaws abortion, making it a felony for a doctor to provide an abortion and makes no exception for rape, incest, or to protect the health of the woman.

In March 2006, NAF called the actions by South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds in signing into law the abortion ban, "a direct attack on American women and their reproductive freedoms."

View NAF’s press release

The New York Sun has a story on NAF’s new report on the deceptive tactics of Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

A taskforce of U.S. Catholic Bishops have concluded that the decision to allow pro-choice politicians to receive communion will rest in the hands of local bishops.

The Internal Revenue Service is warning churches in South Dakota that they may lose their tax-exempt status if they campaign against the abortion ban, which may be on the ballot this November.

NAF Releases Report on Crisis Pregnancy Centers

NAF released a comprehensive report today detailing the many ways Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) have deceived and intimidated women. The report, entitled Crisis Pregnancy Centers: An Affront to Choice, highlights numerous instances where CPCs have harassed and given false information to women who have come through their doors, leaving them feeling betrayed and misled. The report also discusses legal action taken against CPCs, their current sources of funding, and what concerned citizens can do to combat their harmful tactics.

You can read the full report here.

On Tuesday, an Ohio State House committee heard testimony on a bill that would ban abortion in all circumstances, including when a woman’s life is threatened. At a rally protesting the bill, a woman told her story of having an unsafe, illegal abortion in the days before Roe v. Wade.

The Kansas City Star reports on a trend in state legislatures to consider “trigger laws,” which would ban abortion in their states if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire is challenging a rule that would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense prescriptions on religious grounds, including emergency contraception and birth control.

A Visit to New Brunswick

Last week I visited New Brunswick and called on the health minister to ensure that women in the province had adequate access to abortion care.

On Friday authorities apprehended an anti-abortion extremist who was planning to bomb an abortion clinic in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The suspect appeared in court wearing an anti-abortion t-shirt.

Kathryn Harris reviews a new book examining the history of women forced to give up their children for adoption after they faced an unplanned pregnancy before abortion was legalized. The book, by Ann Fessler, is titled The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade.

Lousiana Legislature Sends Abortion Ban to Governor

The Louisiana legislature has sent a sweeping abortion ban to the governor for approval. Governor Katherine Blanco is expected to sign the ban into law.

Mifepristone is expected to be available in Australia next month.

The New York Times has an article analyzing the role of abortion in state elections.

South Dakota Activists Turn in Petition Signatures

Tuesday, pro-choice activists in South Dakota turned in more than 37,000 signatures in support of a ballot initiative to overturn South Dakota's ban on abortions.

The Toronto Star reports on the decision of Amnesty International's Canadian section to include reproductive health in its mission of advocating for human rights.