Women’s rights supporters gathered in Montgomery, AL on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013 to oppose the legislature’s efforts to pass a TRAP bill (Targeted Regulations Against Abortion Providers) that would negatively affect women’s health care and options in the state.
If HB 350 becomes law, women seeking safe abortion care will receive a list of sites where they can obtain free ultrasounds, all of which are crisis pregnancy centers that do not provide the forced ultrasounds required by the state, but do intend to talk women out of their decisions. Women would also receive information on a state website of resources allegedly available for a woman who continues her pregnancy to term. She would also have to be provided with the business card of the physician who will be doing the abortion, and printed materials telling her abortion increases her risk of breast cancer (it does not), and that “Abortion terminates the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being.”
The backstory, from Ann Rose at RH Reality Check:
New Woman All Women in Birmingham Alabama is the abortion clinic bombed by Eric Rudolph in 1998 resulting in the death of a police officer and the maiming of a nurse. It has now been “bombed” by the Alabama Department of Public Health under the direction presumably of anti-abortion Governor Robert J. Bentley, a dermatologist.
In February, the clinic transferred two patients to the hospital because of a medication error. The transfer was routine and based on good medical care. The anti-choice protesters followed the ambulance harassed the patients and got their private medical information. The patients were never in any danger and were released with no complications. The protesters then pressured the Alabama Department of Public Health to investigate the clinic. ADPH spent over 4 weeks in the clinic investigating and digging and coming up with 76 violations, one of which was failure to read the doctor’s handwriting and cited 10 or so different ways. They ordered the clinic closed by May 18th.
The owner Diane Derzis, a longtime friend of mine, reached an agreement with the state for someone else to take over the management of the clinic by granting a license to another party to keep the clinic open. Now, the state is saying that they are denying the license because the new owner is closely involved with Diane, and Diane stands to still profit from the clinic because rent is tied to revenues, a process that happens in many malls in this country.
Let’s make some noise. Tell ADPH to back off their politically-motivated take down of New Woman All Women and to focus instead on actual health issues in the state.
It is also helpful to remind them that the less access people have to safe abortion procedures, the more unsafe, life-threatening abortions that will take place. There is no such thing as no abortions, only no safe abortions.
If the ADPH really cared about health/lives/safety, they would not be shutting down New Woman All Women.
Rose gives the following contact information for Alabama Health Department officials:
Dr. Donald E. Williamson, State Health Officer
Phone: (334) 206-5200
Email: sho@adph.state.al.us
Email: DrDonaldWilliamson@adph.state.al.usDr. Walter T. Geary, Medical Director, Bureau of Health Provider Standards
Phone: (334) 206-5366
Email: wt.geary@adph.state.al.usBrian Hale, Legal Counsel
Phone: (334) 206-5209
You can also reach Alabama Department of Public Health these ways:
- Twitter (@ALPublicHealth)
- or by phone (1-800-ALA-1818).
The Governor of Alabama, Robert J. Bentley, can be reached:
- on Twitter (@GovernorBentley)
- on Facebook (though it does not appear that you can comment)
- by Email
- by phone (334) 242-7100)
The message is simple: The ADPH should be in the business of health, not politics.
Alabama bill HB 413, written by Dr. Pippa Abston in response to Alabama’s proposed forced ultrasound law.
From Andy Kopsa’s piece at RH Reality Check, “Right to Professional Medical Judgment Act,” Crafted by Doctor, Introduced in Alabama.”
Today in Alabama, where Republicans have also backed off the vaginal part of their vaginal probe bill, protesters gathered. From the looks of the crowd in Montgomery, they’re not backing down. More on the Rachel Maddow show tonight.
Watch video from the rally at RH Reality Check…
This morning women headed to Montgomery, Alabama to protest the forced ultrasound bill making it’s way through the statehouse. Although the bill’s sponsor, Senator Clay Scofield is reportedly backing off the bill that would require trans-vaginal ultrasound prior to a legal abortion, a rally against SB12 is on for today.
Dr. Pippa Abston is an Alabama pediatrician. Abston, unable to attend the rally in Montgomery, posted a measured and strong objection to SB 12 on YouTube. The video is making its way around Facebook and other social media channels and deserves wider viewership.
Dr. Abston hits on all key points of what a forced vaginal ultrasound would do, and articulates it from her perspective as a physician. Addressing Senator Scofield directly, Dr. Abston reinforces the fact that viewing an ultrasound “didn’t change one mind” of any woman seeking an abortion, that in most cases ultrasound is medically unnecessary prior to abortion and that Scofield’s legislation would cause a doctor to commit physical assault, emotional abuse and by receiving payment for a needless ultrasound, fraud.
This is the latest in Abston’s vocal analysis and opposition to SB 12. Abston has eviscerated both SB 12 and Senator Scofield on her personal blog. This is from a post titled Alabama SB 12: Legally Mandated Rape and Torture:
From the woman’s perspective, she is being required to undergo a medically unnecessary procedure before having the right to consent to a fully legal medical treatment. I believe it meets the legal definition of rape. See this well-done discussion of how rape is defined in court. Rape is clearly understood in courts as not requiring physical force—coercion and manipulation alone is sufficient. An example is given, in date rape, of the assailant saying things like “if you really loved me, you’d have sex with me.” The woman is not considered to have given actual consent in that case. So a doctor saying to a patient “you have to let me stick this probe into your vagina before I can give you medical treatment” would certainly be coercion and would count as rape.
Importantly, Dr. Abston points out the trash science, or as I call it lies, oft cited by the right. She also makes clear that Scofield and others look to fradulent crisis pregnancy centers for corrupted statistics:
To cap the whole thing off, Scofield and his supporters are spouting off some questionable statistics. They are saying that if shown the ultrasound, 95% of women will change their minds and not abort. I wondered about that number so I went hunting on Medline. Lo and behold, there are no such data, at least not published in a peer-reviewed journal. Instead, I found only one study, done recently in Canada. 350 women seeking abortion were asked if they wanted to see the images (remember, the law already says we can request our medical records). Interestingly, the majority said yes, and they also said women should be offered the option. How many, after seeing the images, changed their minds?
Exactly zero. So where is this 95% coming from? My guess is from pseudo- abortion clinics that lure women in on false pretenses and assault them with pro-fascist techniques. I say pro-fascist, not pro-life, because I don’t think life has much to do with most of them—it is about power, not the baby. The unfortunate women who get caught in this trap would probably say anything to get these folks to shut up. How many leave and find a real abortion clinic? I doubt if they keep track. The truth is more likely the result found in the Canadian study—women who have already thought through the decision know what they have decided to do. If this bill passes, it will be unlikely to reduce our abortion rate.
Echoing the refrain of women across the country who will be taking their outrage against anti-choice bills and legislators to the ballot box, Abston says of SB12, “This is a disastrous bill, on all counts. It is an affront to women and their physicians. Please contact your legislators today and tell them that if they vote yes, you will do everything in your power to put them out of office.”
Dr. Abston is in clinic all day and was unavailable to talk but expressed interest in talking to RH Reality Check soon.
Follow Andy Kopsa on Twitter, @andykopsa
