By Donald A. Collins | 27 February 2017
Church and State
A long time colleague, Richard Grossman, MD, who for years has valiantly provided women with early abortion services in Colorado, works to inform readers through his Population Matters website with information about reproductive rights.
Of course one of the most distressing acts of recidivism yet by the Trump Administration is the reinstallation of the odious Global Gag Rule that has haunted women for decades as the Retro Republicans seek to attack women here and worldwide by withholding funding for this vital service.
I thought his February 27, 2017 post would be of wide interest and hence have quoted it in its entirety here. Information below will enable readers to contact Dr. Grossman with comments and questions.
Let her decide
By Richard Grossman | 27 February 2017
Population Matters
“Father slapped his hand on the table. ‘If Sarah was a boy, she would be the greatest jurist in South Carolina!’”
This quote is from Sue Monk Kidd’s popular novel, The Invention of Wings. It is inspired by Sarah and Angelina Grimké, whose family were slaveholders in the first half of the 19th century. These sisters moved from South Carolina to Philadelphia, where they joined the abolition movement and the Religious Society of Friends. They were condemned because Quakers didn’t allow women to lecture in public at that time. Speaking as a Quaker, I am pleased that one of our religion’s current core beliefs is equality, including equal status of men and women.
In Nobel Prize-winner Orhan Pamuk’s A Strangeness in My Mind, one of the characters waited tables at the Bounty Restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey. A reflection of the status of women in 1984 is that the owner’s idea of success “… was for a woman to come in with a group of men and be able to have a pleasant evening … without being subjected to innuendo and arguments all night, and to enjoy herself enough to come again, though in all the Bounty Restaurant’s checkered history, this had sadly never happened.”
The status of women in many countries is terrible, as it was in the early history of the United States. Fortunately, women’s status is slowly improving globally, but there have been setbacks. Some of the worst have to do with access to reproductive health care. While the science of birth control and abortion has improved, restrictions have made it more difficult and more expensive for women to receive the services they desire.
First came the Helms Amendment in 1973, the year that abortion was legalized in the U.S. Appended to the Foreign Assistance Act, this amendment prevents federal money from being used abroad to provide abortions or even information about abortion.
The Helms Amendment kills women. It is estimated that 11,000 women die annually because they do not have access to safe abortions. Each year, there are 20 million unsafe abortions worldwide, mainly in poorer countries, that kill 47,000 women. Remember that the abortion rate is paradoxically higher where it is illegal! Sadly, many of these women are mothers of large families. Many lives could be saved if the U.S. would encourage safe abortion services.
Passed three years later, the Hyde Amendment prohibits federal Medicaid funding for abortions in the U.S. There are three exceptions to this, fortunately, for cases of rape or incest, or if the pregnancy presents a risk to the woman’s life. Some states use non-federal funds to pay for abortions; New Mexico does, but Colorado does not. Both of these amendments regrettably target the poorest of women, especially women in rural areas with limited access to health care.
Nicknamed the “Global Gag Rule,” the Mexico City policy was announced in 1984. Many overseas organizations get their funding from multiple sources, including from the federal government. This rule prohibits any recipient of federal funds from any counseling or provision of abortion services – even if that funding comes from another source. The Gag Rule is a political football. Started by Reagan, every Democratic president since has rescinded it, but every Republican, including most recently Trump, has reinstated it in even more restrictive form.
One hundred and thirty-eight organizations have signed a statement opposing the Global Gag Rule. What can we as individuals do? The Population Connection (formerly Zero Population Growth) started a campaign supporting Congress’ move to block the rule permanently. Forty-six senators have co-sponsored Senate Bill 210, the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (HER) Act. In the House, a companion bill, HR 671, has support from 140 Representatives. Go to http://www.populationconnectionaction.org/fight4her/ for more information
A new organization was formed in reaction to the reinstatement of the Global Gag Rule. Lilianne Ploumen, a social activist and minister in the Dutch Cabinet, started “She Decides – Global Fundraising Initiative.”
The Dutch government announced that it will contribute 10 million Euros to this initiative to help replace the funding the Gag Rule has taken away – and it has been joined by support from seven other governments. There is more information and the opportunity to donate at: https://www.shedecides.eu.
Here in Colorado, some members of our Legislature have recognized the problems caused by diminished reproductive rights and have written House Resolution 1005. Democrats, including our own Barbara McLachlan, support this resolution. It champions the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion.
If there were more strong advocates nationwide such as we have here in Colorado.
Richard Grossman practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Durango, Colorado. Reach him at richard@population-matters.org.
Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Donald A. Collins, a free lance writer living in Washington, DC., has spent over 40 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas. Yale under graduate, NYU MBA. He is the author of From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013.
From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013
By Donald A. Collins
Publisher: Church and State Press (July 30, 2014)
ASIN: B00MA40TVE
Kindle Store
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