Access to Health Care Shouldn’t Depend on Your Zip Code
By Jacqueline Murphy | June 11, 2013, 1:53 p.m.
Category: Attacks on Planned Parenthood, State Attacks
What just happened in North Dakota shows how far some politicians will go to take away women’s access to safe and legal abortion. On Tuesday, Governor Jack Dalrymple signed a six-week abortion ban, which effectively outlaws abortion in the state. The law is plainly unconstitutional, but that doesn’t seem to deter our opponents from trying to erode women’s access to health care services. At all.
In fact the six-week abortion ban wasn’t the only bill Governor Dalrymple signed. He also signed a ban on abortion for the purposes of sex selection, and a bill requiring any doctor who performs abortion in ND to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, (which one ND GOP lawmaker and surgeon testified would not make women “any safer”). The bottom line is that each of the measures seeks to make abortion access as difficult as possible for the women of North Dakota.
In his signing statement, Governor Dalrymple said,
Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe vs. Wade.
The fact that 70 percent of Americans support Roe v. Wade means little to politicians like the ones in North Dakota that pushed this legislation through.
This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. Republican State Representative Kathy Hawken led 10 Republican state legislators in opposition to the bills.
Hawken noted that
Misplaced priorities.
Sadly, North Dakota isn’t the only state engaging in a full-scale attack on women.
In states across the country, we are seeing new levels of extremism on women’s health and rights. The extraordinary number of bills shows a complete disregard for women and doctors — who see the effects of these misguided policies firsthand and are speaking out against these political attacks.
North Dakota’s six-week abortion ban is just one of 300 outrageous bills in 42 states that would ban or severely limit access to abortion, make it harder for women to get birth control, or cut women off from cancer screenings.
We stand with North Dakota women because access to care shouldn’t be determined by your zip code. We refuse to leave a single woman behind. Join us and other Planned Parenthood supporters: add your name to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America petition!
Tags: Abortion, State Fights, North Dakota
