By Dave Andrusko
Itās helpful, even if their perspective is skewed and the numbers inflated, to get NARAL Pro-Choice Americaās annual evaluation of the state of the abortion landscape.
The 22nd edition of āWho Decides? The Status of Womenās Reproductive Rights in the United States,ā weāre told, āshows a mix of progress and setbacks for womenās reproductive freedom across the country.ā
NARAL (and the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation) always assigns a letter grade, usual D-. This year the nation moved up in NARALās eyes: it earned a D.
That, in spite of 2012 being āanother record year of anti-choice attacks.ā NARALās tally of legislation (proposed and passed) differs from National Right to Life for a host of reasons, but both agree 2011 and 2012 were excellent years for the Movement in many state legislatures.
āEach of these measures interferes with a womanās right to make her own private, personal decisions about her reproductive health,ā NARAL says. āAnd state governments continue to be dominated by anti-choice politicians, which likely means the trend of legislative attacks on reproductive freedom will continue in the year ahead.ā Really?
Letās look at a few of NARALās findings and then explain what they really were about:
At the state level, āthe most prominent trends were: bans on abortion care after 20 weeks; laws prohibiting abortion coverage in state health-insurance exchanges; and laws that prohibit state funds from going to Planned Parenthood or to any health center that provides abortion services.ā
āAbortion careā after 20 weeks? Oh, they mean legislation to say youĀ Ā canāt crush the heads and sever the arms of unborn babies mature enough to feel pain.
*Under ObamaCare health insurance plans offering abortion coverage are allowed to participate in a stateās exchange and to receive federal subsidies unless the State legislature affirmatively opts-out of allowing plans that cover abortion (or unless a state already has a law preventing health insurance in the state from covering elective abortions, except by a separate rider.)Ā Specific language in the Obama health care law authorizes the states to ban abortion in the exchanges. 17 states have done so. NARAL Pro-Choice is not so hot on choice when state legislatures exercise their choice to opt-out.
*Some states are prioritizing full service health providers as recipients of their family planning or preventative care dollars rather than the money going to abortion clinics or their affiliates.
Additional paragraphs follow mischaracterizing pro-life (āanti-choice) bills as a way of portraying the abortion industry as under siege. For example, there are āburdensome requirements on abortion providers,ā according to NARAL. Abortion clinics can self-regulate, they assure us.
They seem never to have heard of abortionists such as Kermit Gosnell, who will go on trial on eight counts of murder, or Robert Alexander, whose pit of an abortion clinic was just shut down by Muskegon, Michigan, authorities.
It will be the job of pro-lifers in the state to keep the pressure on. Thatās never easy and even more so given the success of pro-abortionists in turning even the most routine, commonsense regulations into a āwar on women.ā
But thatās okay. No one ever said it would be easy.
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