Surge in Abortion Restrictions Awful, May Be Gaining Momentum

Sorry to bring down your Saturday, but the New York Times has a new report on the recent surge in abortion restrictions, and it’s not looking great. We’ve seen this happening at an unsettling pace recently, and it’s scary that women aren’t getting access to care that they need. So far, twenty-four states have barred abortion coverage by the new health exchanges and nine of them forbid private insurance plans from covering this crucial component of women’s healthcare.

And now that the Supreme Court may be getting involved in Arizona’s 20-week ban, the restrictions may get worse, depending on the rulings. According to Suzanne Goldberg, director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia University:

I think we are at a potential turning point: Either access to abortion will be dramatically restricted in the coming year or perhaps the pushback will begin.

The anti-abortion/anti-women’s healthcare folks believe in victory, as well:

“I’m very encouraged,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “We’ve been gaining ground in recent years with laws that are a stronger challenge to Roe.”

“I think it is more difficult to get an abortion in the country today,” she said.

All
we can do now is watch, wait, and advocate (loudly and frequently!
We’re never ever shutting up!) for women’s most basic healthcare
rights.