SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
January Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is commemorating the 38th anniversary of the landmark case Roe v. Wade decided by the United States Supreme Court in 1973. A panel from the medical community will speak at the event on Saturday January 22, 2011 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. about the challenges to providing abortions such as political pressure, persecution and new regulations denying access included in healthcare reform.
“As we mark Roe v. Wade this Saturday, we find ourselves facing serious anti-choice legislative threats at both the state and federal level,” said Alison Gaulden vice president of public affairs. “The medical community faces politicians pretending they’re doctors and legislating specific procedures when they aren’t even qualified to do a diagnosis.”
Doctors who do provide abortions have to deal with protests and clinic violence as well as personal harassment. Medical practices often have doctors with opposing views, so to keep the peace pro-choice doctors aren’t willing to provide the service. At medical schools across the country, students also face harassment from the opposition deterring them from providing the procedure when they become OB/GYNs.
At the federal level, a bill introduced by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) would strip Planned Parenthood of all Title X family planning funding which would increase the need for abortion with less access to birth control. Another bill to be introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) would go beyond last year’s proposed Rep. Stupak’s abortion ban to severely restrict women’s ability to purchase health insurance that includes abortion — even forcing Americans to pay higher taxes if abortion is a part of their health care or health care coverage.
Two generations of Americans have grown up with Roe v. Wade as the law of the land, and Americans still strongly support this decision. According to a recent Hart Research poll, 62 percent of voters oppose overturning the landmark decision.
The cost is $25 per person. RSVP to the event for venue details to [email protected] or call 321-8719 before January 19. Roe anniversary serves as an important opportunity to remind our activists and supporters and the public that these proposed restrictions are completely unacceptable, opposed by the majority of the public, and not what the new federal and state legislators were elected to office to do.
