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Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... Latest
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The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| JANUARY
21, 1999 6:54 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Planned Parenthood Steve Plever (212) 261-4310 or Adrienne Verrilli (202) 973-6397 |
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| On the Eve of the 26th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, New Report Confirms That Safe, Legal Access to Abortion Saves Women's Lives | ||||
| NEW
YORK - January 21 - Statement by Gloria Feldt President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America In response to the Alan Guttmacher Institute report Sharing Responsibility: Women, Society and Abortion Worldwide This report is a powerful reminder of the social and medical realities that existed in the U.S. before Roe v. Wade, and sadly still exist in many nations. It is also a powerful reminder of the consequences American women face if access to safe abortion is allowed to erode further. The report provides persuasive evidence that banning abortion and blocking access to safe procedures does not stop women from trying to terminate pregnancies. It does inflict injury and death upon women. Legal abortion saves women's lives. The ability to determine whether and when to become a mother is so central to women's lives that neither politicians nor religious leaders can decide this issue for us. As this report documents, unplanned pregnancy is common among women, young and old, married and single, all over the world. The right to choose birth control and abortion should have a central place in the spectrum of civil and human rights. In many nations, access to contraception is very limited, so women have no means of preventing the need for abortion. Each year, roughly 78,000 women die of complications from unsafe, illegal abortions. Many more are injured. It is the moral responsibility of the community of nations to change the unjust laws and unwise health policies that cause this needless suffering, not just to women, but to their children and families. For Americans, that moral responsibility starts with the U.S. Congress, which has turned its back on the reproductive health needs of women in poor nations, cutting funding for international family planning programs by one-third since 1995. This is unconscionable. Americans understand that family planning programs prevent unplanned pregnancy and prevent the need for abortion. But for too long, Congress has chosen to fight over abortion, rather than help women prevent the need for it. The new Congress must start making responsible choices and support family planning programs here and abroad. On the 26th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the legal right to choose in this nation may seem secure, but for too many Americans, lack of access to abortion is a serious problem. Snipers and bombers bent on terrorizing those who provide abortion services remain at large. The number of abortion providers continues to drop, making access to abortion harder and harder for rural women. Congress has banned Medicaid coverage for poor women who need abortion. U.S. servicewomen and military dependents are barred from having abortions in military hospitals, even if they are willing to pay for it themselves. For these women with no access to abortion, the right to choose is a nice concept, but not a reality. Abortion was a health issue long before it was a political issue. It is time for Americans who remember the years and decades before Roe to start talking to their children about the aunts, grandmothers and great-grandmothers who died from illegal abortions. And it is time for the younger generation to ask older relatives about this, so they can learn what is at stake if we do not protect access to abortion. Decades ago, Americans knew from first-hand experience that legal abortion saves women's lives. Every new report of health data from around the world proves that all over again. ### To view article, visit the Alan Guttmacher Institute
website. |
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