ABORTION POLICY PROJECT

Nancy Ding

HISTORY: BEFORE ROE v. WADE Abortion was legal at the time when the settlers came to

America During the creation of the Constitution

Abortion was performed commonly as long as it was before the “quickening” stage Quickening= “the first signs of life”

Late-1800s State laws were passed to make abortion illegal Possible reason

Population would have a higher rate of children from immigrant parents than “native Anglo-Saxon women.”

Back alley abortions became more frequent

HISTORY: AFTER ROE v. WADE

Supporters of abortion were overjoyed (obviously) and had felt that they had won the battle

Anti-abortion supporters began taking extreme measures Disturbing abortion clinics e.g. harassing the

patients when they try to enter the front door Clinic bombings and deaths

Prime example: Dr. George Tiller

PROBLEMS

PROBLEMS Definition of a Person

Should a fetus have the same legal rights as a regular person?

A complete 180 from the actions of the Bush Administration

Had taken anti-abortion measures e.g. limiting the use of contraceptives

These measures heavily affects organizations who have no government funding

Abortion Funding Not covered under Medicaid unless it is in terms

of “rape or life endangerment”

PROBLEMS CONT. Against the Hippocratic Oath

Traditionally taken by doctors when they’ve completed their training

One of the “rules” I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked,

nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

“Back alley” abortions would increase if abortion is banned “back alley”= slang for “illegal” Used by many when abortion was illegal before Roe v.

Wade Went to untrained practitioners who performed the

abortions with unsanitary or old methods. Many died or suffered from the results

Proposals

Bush: Limitation to contraceptives Draft proposal from the Department of Health

and Human Services (HHS) Would ultimately redefine abortion and limit

access to contraception Purpose:

withhold government funds from health-care providers and organizations that don't hire people who refuse to perform abortions or provide certain types of birth control

Possible consequences State laws that secure women’s access to birth

control= obsolete Disrupt federal programs, for example, Title X

109th Congress: Prevention First Act

Introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Representative Louise Slaughter and Representative DeGette

Purpose To increase access to “preventative health care

services that help reduce unintended pregnancy, reduce the number of abortions, and improve access to women's health care…”

This never became a law It was referred to committee before it was

put to a stop

Obama: Pregnancy Prevention Fiscal 2010 Budget Proposal

Cut funding for two abstinence-only sex education programs

They would be replaced with funding for programs to prevent teenage pregnancy

Purpose Money from cutting the abstinence-only sex education

programs would be used to further teen pregnancy prevention

$75 million would be used towards this while the 25% of the funding would be for “promising models” of abstinence-only programs that are allow to stay

Policy Window I think that of his ideas, this one would most likely

have a better chance of surviving because it’s neutral at best and it won’t affect the budget to the point that something else important would be cut

Obama: Title X Program

Purpose The Title X program helps low income women

avoid unintended pregnancy and prevent sexually transmitted diseases

His decision Proposal to the Health Resources and Services

Administration= increase funding to $10 million Consequences

Budget proposal would eliminate Medicaid and Medicare spending by $309 billion over 10 years

Evaluation of Obama’s actions

Obama may support abortion but his new programs in his “budget proposal” are not dramatically helping abortion

He’s trying to meet everyone halfway b/c he has yet to eliminate the idea of using federal funding for abortion Budget proposal includes a provision that would

remove restrictions barring the District of Columbia from using its own public funds for abortion services

It would also leave in place restrictions on the use of federal money for abortion in the district and all 50 states

POLITICS

Public Opinion

PRO-ABORTION: NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION

Established in 1977 by combining National Association of Abortion Facilities and the National Abortion Council

An interest group whose goal is to “ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care”

Team of professional abortion providers Expanded its branches to Canada and European

countries Operate from donations and is a registered charity

Pro-Abortion: Planned Parenthood

An interest group created in 1916 by Margret Sanger (originally only for birth control issues) whose sole purpose is to “ensure that family planning and reproductive health care services are available to everyone who wants and needs them.”

Active in Supreme Court cases e.g Planned Parenthood v. Casey

1/3 of its funding is government grants and contracts Heavily supported by private donations

PRO-ABORTION: GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE

A think tank that is a quasi-independent division of Planned Parenthood

Purpose “Advancing sexual and reproductive health

worldwide” Help to make unplanned abortions avoidable

ANTI-ABORTION: NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE

An interest group that was founded as a result of the Roe v. Wade court case decision

Purpose Provide legal protection to innocent human life

Lobbies at the federal level= achieved success of a few of legislative reforms e.g “a ban on non-therapeutic experimentation of unborn and newborn babies…”

ANTI-ABORTION: SUSAN B. ANTHONY LIST

A political action committee (PAC) group whose goal is to increase pro-life women’s role in the political process to end abortion Helps these women to

become elected to Congress

POLITICAL POSITIONS

POLITICAL POSITIONS CONT. Democratic Party

Considers abortion women’s rights Doesn’t matter if she is unable to pay

Consistent with the decision in Roe v. Wade Believes that choice is a constitutional right=

constitutional liberty “Abortion should be rare, legal, and safe”

Republican Party Stands by the “first guarantee of the Declaration of

Independence” Unborn child has a right to life

Believes in other options like adoption

CONCLUSION

Political Forecast I believe that Obama would stay consistent to his

views of making teen pregnancy prevention stronger

I don’t think that he would allow all types of abortion to be legal though because he’s not trying to step on anyone’s tail

In short, he is trying to accommodate everyone’s interests

My thoughts I believe in the idea of abortion to a certain

extent because ultimately, it is a woman’s right to choose what she wants to do with her body