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December 7, 2005
Don’t be fooled over Ayotte
Former Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt has a great editorial in Women’s eNews today on Supreme Court case Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood.
Feldt reminds us what Ayotte is really about.
Don't mistake Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England--the abortion case now before the Supreme Court--for a run-of-the-mill case about minors' access to abortion.
Think of it as two poisonous arrows aiming straight for the heart of Roe v. Wade.
Think of it as two poisonous arrows aiming straight for the heart of Roe v. Wade.
Scary image, but a correct one.
The two arrows Feldt refers to are central to women’s reproductive rights and health:
The questions the sections in the law put before the court are whether protection of women's health--the so-called health exception--can be absent from laws that restrict abortion, and whether the standard for challenging laws restricting abortion will be lowered to the point that a woman would have to actually be harmed before the law could be challenged.
If the high court upholds the New Hampshire law, poof, there goes Roe's health standard that has continued to protect women even as states and Congress have chipped away at access to abortion. And poof, there goes the legal standard allowing us to immediately prevent these laws from being enforced when a court deems they are likely to cause harm to women.
If the high court upholds the New Hampshire law, poof, there goes Roe's health standard that has continued to protect women even as states and Congress have chipped away at access to abortion. And poof, there goes the legal standard allowing us to immediately prevent these laws from being enforced when a court deems they are likely to cause harm to women.
Truly terrifying. Make sure to read the whole piece.
Posted by Jessica at December 7, 2005 10:03 AM
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