New Jersey abortion ban struck down
By Sue Davis
On Dec. 8 a federal judge issued a permanent injunction
against a New Jersey law that had banned a medical procedure
used only in late-term abortions. The law was ruled
unconstitutional because it had threatened women's health by
denying them access to safe medical procedures that have been
legal since the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision in
1973.
The New Jersey law was so vaguely worded, ruled the judge,
that it could also be used to ban some of the most common
abortion procedures employed at any point during pregnancy. It
also failed to make exceptions for cases where the health or
life of the woman was at risk. Furthermore, it violated the
rights of health care providers by allowing the state to fine
doctors and strip them of their licenses if they performed
procedures legalized by the Supreme Court over 25 years
ago.
The New Jersey law would have placed the first restrictions
on abortion in the state since it was made legal. Since 1995,
similar laws have been passed by 28 other states. But federal
judges have struck them down in at least 10 states, and a
presidential veto has twice blocked a similar federal law.
Referendums banning the abortion procedure were defeated by
voters in Colorado and Washington state this past November.
Why outlaw a medical procedure? The procedure in question is
known medically as "intact dilation and extraction." Yet it has
been sensationally mislabeled "partial birth abortion" by the
right wing to deliberately whip up public opinion against all
abortions.
The procedure is rarely used. Doctors resort to it only in
cases of late-term abortion when they determine it can save the
life or health of the woman. A survey of all known abortion
providers in the United States, conducted by the Alan
Guttmacher Institute and made public on Dec. 10, showed that
the procedure accounted for only 650 of the 1.4 million
abortions performed in 1996--about 0.03 to 0.05 percent.
Why are laws being passed to ban an obscure medical
procedure?
The right wing--backed by the Republican Party and by the
Catholic Church and Christian fundamentalists--seeks to ban it
as a stepping stone to banning all abortions. That has already
happened. Last May doctors in Wisconsin stopped performing all
abortions for a week after a similar vaguely worded law was
passed threatening them with mandatory life imprisonment. An
injunction, finally issued in Wisconsin on Nov. 3, reaffirmed
women's right to choose abortion in that state.
A vast array of social and economic conditions are needed
before all women, including lesbians and/or women of color, can
truly be free to decide whether or not to have a child. Women
decide on abortion for a variety of reasons. Poverty and
economic insecurity can be factors in a woman's decision not to
have a child, and it is the responsibility of the progressive
movement to fight for every person's right to a job or income
so no woman is forced to end a pregnancy for economic
reasons.
But the right wing does not address these problems. It only
punishes and often terrorizes women and health care providers
for making abortion safe and available to all women.
The best way to defend legal abortion--and stop both the
bills and the bullets--is to mobilize the broadest possible
politically independent women's movement to demand reproductive
freedom for all.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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