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Attack on reproductive rights deepens

Published Aug 13, 2005 8:26 AM

On Aug. 4, despite opposition from pro-choice demonstrators on the State Capitol steps, New York Gov. George Pataki vetoed legislation that would have made conception-preventing pills available to women without a doctor’s prescription. Those rallying to protest Pataki’s veto included members of Family Planning Advocates of New York State and Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood.

The so-called “morning-after pill” is actually an emergency contraceptive (EC). It is particularly needed by women whose birth control has failed, and by women who have been raped. The pill prevents fertilization of eggs.

Reproductive-rights advocates in New York speculate that Pataki, who has supported abortion rights in the past, is swinging to the right as preparation for a presidential bid in 2008.

However, Pataki’s veto is part of a continuing national campaign against reproductive rights. The campaign’s most visible target has been women’s access to an abortion.

Recently a right-wing campaign has focused on denying women’s access to birth control by promoting pharmacists’ “right” to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraception, including the EC pill.

On July 26, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney vetoed legislation that would have required hospital emergency rooms to offer the EC pill to rape survivors.

In the U.S. Senate, third-ranking Republican Rick Santorum of Pennsyl vania has publicly criticized the landmark 1965 Supreme Court ruling in “Griswold vs. Connecticut.” That decision made married couples’ access to birth-control methods a legal right.

Until the ruling, purchase of contraceptive aids, even by a married person, was a crime in many states. In 1975 the Supreme Court extended to unmarried women the right to access to birth control.

Santorum emphatically asserted that he does not believe the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to contraceptive methods under “the right to privacy” argument used in Griswold and subsequent cases.

Giant corporate retailer Wal-Mart has banned the EC pill from its stores across the United States. But women are organizing to protect their right to contraception.

At a demonstration called by the group “UMass Vox: Voices for Choice” outside a Wal-Mart in Hadley, Mass., UMass Vox President Linda Forman said: “Wal-Mart is one of the biggest chains there is. We have access to CVS and Target [pharmacies], but some women don’t. There only is a Wal-Mart in their neighborhood.” (Daily Collegian, March 28)

Just as the reactionary forces are trying to defeat reproductive rights on many fronts, the pro-choice movement must defend the broad range of rights for women. These include women’s ability to decide when or if they will become pregnant; maternity leave, child care, living wages, and family health insurance for women who do decide to have children; women’s right to choose to terminate pregnancies through abortion; and an end to forced sterilization.