By Dave Andrusko
Every year, as surely as the swallows return to Capistrano, NARAL Pro-Choice America cranks out its “Who Decides? The Status of Womenās Reproductive Rights in the United States.”
Each year, the nationās grade hovers between āDā and āD+.ā (No grading on a curve for NARAL.)
So what grade does the latest iteration (the 25th) of āWho Decidesā assign the U.S. for 2015? Another D! (Even the equally pro-abortion Population Institute gave out a D+.)
āWhen a country earns a āDā grade in respecting the rights that seven in 10 Americans want protected, it becomes clear that our political leadership is out of touch with our values and priorities as a nation,ā intoned Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. ā2016 can be a turning point for reproductive freedom if we all stand up against the anti-choice rhetoric from the extreme minority and make policy-makers understand the importance of these fundamental rights for all.ā
Anything particular stand out? (You can read the report here.)
NARAL did find a few silver linings. ā19 states enacted 31 pro-choice measures in 2015, the most since 2008.ā NARAL, as does its pro-abortion allies, counts different issues than we do (they include items that are outside our single-issue purview) and has its own measuring stick about what and how something is counted).
But no sooner did they sing this one sweet note than NARAL wrote, āStates also enacted more anti-choice measures in 2015 than they did in 2014, highlighting the need to protect reproductive freedom in 2016 at the Supreme Court, in Congress, from the White House and in state legislatures across the country.ā
In her Presidentās letter, Hogue emphasized the importance of the Texas law currently before the Supreme Court:
By striking down Texasā TRAP law, the Court could end the greatest threat to womenās reproductive freedom since Roe v. Wade was decided more than 40 years ago
What the heck is a āTRAP law?ā Thatās an acronym for āTargeted Regulation of Abortion Providers.ā Thatās code for anything that requires anything of abortion clinics.
In the case of Texasās HB2, it is a reference to requiring abortion clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers and abortionists to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic. The latter provision has already gone into effect.
The report, like those from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute [here and here] are worth reading.
They perfectly illustrate how out of touch they are with a majority of the American people.