This excellent report uses extensive research to explain how maternal mortality in the US is a human rights issue. It exposes a range of systemic failures from lack of quality healthcare, language barriers, lapses in informed consent and other issues that have played a major role in the death of women related to pregnancy. You can download the full report.

Polish anti-choice activists echo U.S. "abortion = Nazi genocide" rhetoric for International Women's Day. People with experience with actual Nazis are outraged by the comparison.

NAPW E.D. quoted in New York Times coverage of this dangerous new law.

Change.org created a petition to the UT Governor against the bill.

And a Facegroup to oppose the bill has also been created.

New Utah bill leaves pregnant women vulnerable to arrest whether or not they intended to end a pregnancy.
A Utah bill that was passed by the House and Senate this week and is waiting for the governor's signature, will soon potentially make it a crime for a woman to have miscarriage, and certainly a crime to induce an abortion outside of the legal arena.

National Advocates for Pregnant Women and New York University present...
Drugs, Pregnancy and Parenting: What the Experts Have to Say Part II
Thursday, April 29, 2010
New York City

Iowa mom won't be charged for falling down the stairs.

Friday, February 12, 2010
10:30 am - 12:00 pm at NYU Law on
Lynn will be speaking at NYU's Reproductive and Sexual Rights Page to Practice Symposium on a panel called Reproductive Justice: Expanding the Vision to "Collateral" Fields.

Newsweek covers the issue of fetal rights is a new article, The Prenatal Problem:
Recent court cases revisit questions about a fetus's rights—and the rights of a pregnant woman which quotes NAPW E.D. Lynn Paltrow.

The latest coverage of the Kentucky Cochran case from The Slate's Double X.

On Tuesday, January 12, 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union will argue in the First District Court of Appeal as friends of the court in support of Samantha Burton who was confined to a hospital bed, against her will, after disagreeing with her doctor's recommendations for treating pregnancy complications last year. You can watch the oral arguments live at 9 AM on 1/12/2010 or in the archive here.

In Oklahoma, a new law requires any woman seeking an abortion to first answer dozens of personal questions, with answers eventually posted on a state Web site. Listen to the story on NPR. OK student activists are actively organizing against this law.

The Center for HIV Law and Policy is releasing a groundbreaking report and guide on the medical and legal issues surrounding HIV and pregnancy in the United States. The guide, HIV and Pregnancy: Medical and Legal Considerations for Women and Their Advocates, makes it clear that persistent beliefs among medical, social service, and justice system professionals that women with HIV should avoid childbearing are unsupported by medical science or the law. The guide is the first of its kind, and charts the intersecting medical, ethical, and legal issues that can arise for HIV-positive women who are or may become pregnant.

Gary Johnson former governor of New Mexico, Novia Lagard, Lynn Paltrow, Ethan Nadelmann and Gabriel Sayegh closed out the Drug Policy Alliance conference in Albuquerque. You can listen to the audio by clicking on the top audio file (11/15/09) at Drugtruth.net

NAPW would like to congratulate Deborah Small, executive director, Break the Chains who has frequently collaborated with NAPW and presented at our events, for receiving The Robert C. Randall Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action a Drug Policy Reform Conference this week in Albuquerque! This award honors citizens who make democracy work in the difficult area of drug law and policy reform. We honor and respect her work in the struggle for just reforms.

The CO Independent reveals problems with personhood:Anti-abortion ‘personhood’ measures shrink the rights of women.

A new CNN story, Pregnant and addicted, mothers in South Carolina find hope, features Serenity Place, a model program that allows women to obtain treatment and keep some of their children with them. Unfortunately, Serenity Place only has 16 beds. Moreover, by focusing on a rare positive program, the story misses an opportunity to address the junk science, the racism, and the focus on punishment that governs South Carolina’s policies toward drug using pregnant and parenting women. There is also a video about the program featuring wise comments by Wanda McMichaels.

NAPW legal fellow in birthing rights, and University of Texas alumna, Farah Diaz-Tello published a letter in The Daily Texan explaining that, in fact, Prison is Bad for Pregnancy.

Also, UT senior Anna Russo wrote an excellent letter explaining her perspective on sex discrimination in the case. She clarifies many details of the treatment the Ms. Lovill received to "protect" her fetus which are actually dangerous.

A new article in The Awl, Real America, with Abe Sauer: Fat, Fetuses and Felonies, presents some of the research on the risk of obesity to birth outcomes and presents the threat that "fetal personhood" legislation might pose to obese women who become pregnant (especially through artificial reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization). NAPW's executive director is quoted in the article, providing her analysis of fetal personhood.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will hear oral arguments this week in the case of Amber Lovill, a woman who had her probation revoked and was jailed due to her pregnancy. You can read the article in the Austin American Statesman which quotes NAPW's staff attorney.

An Arizona mom must leave her family and travel 350 miles to avoid unnecessary and unwanted surgery because her local hospital has banned vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC), allegedly due to lack of staffing. The hospital threatened to obtain a court order if she came to the hospital in labor without first consenting to preemptive surgery; "Fetal Personhood" measures would provide hospitals with the legal authority to carry out such threats. Read the story from CNN.

NAPW's recent law student writing contest was launched to address the legal issues surrounding VBAC bans. The contest asked students to develop statutory, constitutional, and human rights challenges to the trend of refusing to allow women with a prior cesarean to deliver in a hospital unless they undergo repeat surgery.

Today's op-ed from the New York Times condemns shackling and explains the recent Eight Circuit Court of Appeals decision.

At an Arizona hospital that does not permit VBAC (vaginal birth after a previous cesarean), a woman and her family are taking action for her right to try to give birth vaginally. Read the article here.

Joy of Resistance: Multicultural Feminist Radio @ WBAI will host a show on Thursday, October 1, @ 11 am, featuring a panel of feminist leaders and experts to address the question "Is the Obama healthcare plan a step forward- or backward-for women?"

Guests will include: Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation; Stephanie Poggi, Executive Director of the National Network of Abortion Funds; Emily Douglas, Web Editor for The Nation Magazine; Loretta Ross, National Coordinator of SisterSong, a Woman of Color Reproductive Health Collective; and Allison Guttu, Vice Chair, New York Women's Liberation(who recently completed an Equal Justice Works Fellowship with NAPW).

NAPW board member Carol Mason explains the history of anti-choice messaging in her latest entry on RHrealitycheck.

A new bill signed into law in New York state will prevent pregnant prisoners from being shackled or handcuffed during medical visits or while they are in labor. After nearly 10 years of struggle and a persistent collaboration between grassroots activists and policy organizations, Governor Paterson finally signed the bill to end the cruel and inhumane practice. The use of restraints on pregnant prisoners, even after they go into labor, is still widely used in some states. The bill in New York is a key victory upholding the human rights of pregnant women.

NAPW's rally posters showed up in numerous press photos including the Associated Press.

NAPW would like to express our appreciation to the law firm Outten & Golden who have provided pro bono support and referrals for numerous pregnancy discrimination cases around the country. Their expertise and hard work in the area of employment law has be a powerful resource for pregnant women seeking to maintain their civil rights while pregnant. Thank you!

Governor David Paterson appeared at a demonstration outside of his Manhattan office and pledged to sign legislation that would restrict the use of shackles on pregnant inmates during labor and after delivery.

Among those at the demonstration were women who have given birth while shackled and women from across New York City who wore simulated pregnant bellies and handcuffs to show their support for this legislation. The event was organized by the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Correctional Association of New York and Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH).

Read more.

Today a group of 52 Texas and national medical, public health, and child welfare experts and advocates filed an amicus curiae (friend-of the-court) brief with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in support of Amber Lovill, a woman who was incarcerated because she was pregnant.

A U.S. District Court Judge in Maine held a sentencing hearing for an HIV positive, pregnant woman from Cameroon and released her on time served. You may recall that earlier this summer Judge Woodcock sentenced her to 238 days, stating this sentence was calculated specifically to ensure that she remained incarcerated for the duration of her pregnancy, rather than time served as recommend by Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the U.S. Attorney and the defense attorney.

The anti-abortion movement has created the illusion that there are two kinds of women: those who have abortions and those who have babies. The truth is that the vast majority of women who have abortions are already or will someday also be mothers. If you have had an abortion and given birth, experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth, adopted or raised a child, please tell your story with a picture, a sign, a 1 minute or less video and we will post it on our new My Story website.

Check out the new commentary and video addressing the demonizing language used by some abortion opponents.

We at NAPW are all saddened by the passing of Evelyn Castro, an amazing woman whose good works helped so many others. Our hearts go out the Arsham / Castro family as we honor and celebrate her remarkable life.

You can Join the Cause
or
Check out our page and become a Fan!

Read the latest New York Times coverage of the anti-shackling bill. If signed by Governor Patterson this law would prohibit the barbaric and dangerous practice of shackling and chaining inmates during and after labor and childbirth.

City University of New York Law School recently opened a childcare center that can accommodate infants. NAPW's former intern and future legal fellow Farah Diaz-Tello led a long struggle for infant childcare at CUNY (which included founding the law student group "Advocates for Students with Kids" - ASK). As a result of her leadership, the CUNY student government has passed a resolution lending it's office to informal childcare arrangements, which were the consequence of the school failing to provide these resources for student-parents. NAPW would like to congratulate Farah for her great work and to CUNY for making legal education more accessible to parents.

Should People Who Opposed Abortion also Oppose "Personhood" Measures?

NAPW's Executive Director and Jacy Montoya of COLOR were quoted in response to the latest 'personhood' efforts in Colorado.

Read the article, Baby-Face Politics, here.

Join fiction, nonfiction, and poetry contributors to celebrate the release of Technologies, the newest issue of WSQ: Women’s Studies Quarterly. From social networking to home pregnancy tests, the issue explores how digital, communication, and medical technologies are affecting our understanding of gender, the body, motherhood, and feminism.

Presenters include Jessie Daniels, Linda L. Layne, Johannah Rodgers, and Stephanie Strickland, and WSQ general editor Talia Schaffer.

Thursday, June 19, 7 pm
Bluestockings 172 Allen Street
New York, NY 10002

NAPW staff attorney Katherine Jack recently published a blog on the American Constitution Society concerning women's civil rights and the supreme court.

Check out Grit TV

Dawn Johnsen has been an extrordinary advocate on behalf of pregnant women, children and families. You can read more about her work here.
Please urge your Senator to Vote Now to Confirm President Obama’s Nomination of Dawn Johnsen to Head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel!

NAPW ally Ilene Ordower published an op ed challenging Missouri bills designed to further limit access to abortion services: Bills to "protect" women who seek abortions ignore the needs of women going to term.

On March 25, 2009, NAPW's video was featured in Lynn Harris' cover story Embryo Nation on Salon.com. Check out this thoughtful piece today!

Doctors, researchers and healthcare advocates will discuss evidence-based treatment and interventions that are effective in addressing the issue of drug use, pregnancy and parenting.

Jeanne Flavin, NAPW's Board President, has recently published her book, Our Bodies, Our Crimes: The Policing of Women’s Reproduction in America.

NAPW Executive Director and Pamela Sankar co-authored a piece published this week in Pennsylvania's Scranton Times Tribune, warning voters to consider what voting on the abortion issue could mean for all pregnant women.

NAPW Executive Director, Lynn Paltrow was quoted this week in the Colorado Springs Gazette in an article entitled 'Personhood' Measures Tops Ballot Controversies, countering the stance of pro-life supporter of Amendment 48, law student Kristi Burton.

NAPW gained national attention in the New York Times in our letter explaining how Colorado, South Dakota and California's ballot measures on "abortion" are in fact assaults on the human rights of all pregnant women.

For many, having a child and having an abortion seem like choices on opposite sides of a spectrum. Join seasoned activists Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner to get their take on how these issues are related, both personally and politically.

Please Join the National Women’s Health Network in celebrating Barbara Seaman's life as they present the first Barbara Seaman Award for Activism in Women's Health to Lynn Paltrow and Gina Arias.

Join the National Women's Health Network in celebrating Barbara's life

Monday, October 6th, 2008
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Reception hosted by Sybil Shainwald
955 Fifth Avenue
New York City

RSVP by calling 202.347.1140
Sponsorships are available.
All sponsors will be recognized at the event.
For more information, please call 202.347.1140 or email jbattalen@nwhn.org.

Read Sara Ainsworth's excellent commentary about the High rate of C-section births and how they are a health concern for women.

We found out today that the 8th Circuit has granted the petition for rehearing in Nelson v. Norris. In any year, less than 100 cases in the entire federal system are granted en banc (full court) review. NAPW and allies filed an emergency amicus (friend of the court) brief with the court, condemning the dehumanizing practice of shackling pregnant women during labor and delivery and asking for review.

An Associate Press story featured in Alabama and in papers and online media sources across the country discusses the NAPW and Southern Poverty Law Center amicus brief filed on behalf of more than 25 leading public health and advocacy groups. The story leads with:

Tiffany Michelle Hitson says she made the biggest mistake of her life by
using cocaine shortly before giving birth. About two-dozen national women's and
medical organizations say an even bigger mistake occurred next, when the new
mother was taken from her baby and sent to prison for a year.

Prosecution of Woman Struggling with Addiction During Pregnancy Draws Local and National Criticism.

Over 25 Leading Medical and Public Health Organizations, Experts, and Related Advocates Say Prosecution Will Undermine Fetal and Maternal Health

Listen to Lynn Paltrow and Dorothy Roberts on the Joy of Resistance: Multicultural Feminist Radio @ WBAI
Talking about: "THE POLICING OF PREGNANCY AND THE CASE OF REGINA McKNIGHT"
Does a woman lose her Civil Rights when she becomes pregnant?
To access it, go to www.wbai.org and click on "archives." Then scroll down to Thursday, June 5, 11 am, Joy of Resistance.

Thoughtful activists and bloggers are posting stories about the victory, on the Salon Broadsheet(scroll down), on Feministe, RHhealitycheck as well Jointogether and one with a very interesting historical perspective. The New York Times also reported this important victory New York Times.

The Charlotte Observer , the Myrtle Beach News and papers around the country are starting to report on Ms. McKnight's victory. NAPW's Executive Director is quoted, saying: "Justice is a constant struggle, and low-income pregnant women of color who have drug problems are always going to be an easy political target," said Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women. "We hope that this puts her case and other cases like it to rest so we can focus on recovery."

An NAPW commentary Using "Iron my shirt" to talk about the issues, is now featured on Alternet.org. It reflects NAPW's commitment to finding ways to focus public debate on key issues of concern to pregnant and parenting women. It offers a little advice about how to turn a sexist jeer about domestic chores into an opportunity to discuss domestic policies. Read it today!

Incarceration of Pregnant Woman Draws Local and National Criticism

Medical, Public Health, Child Welfare Advocacy groups and Experts Ask Court to Free Amber Lovill

We are pleased to let you know that Lillie Pearl Allen, Executive Director of Be Present Inc. has been named one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century 2008 by Women's eNews!!
Ms. Allen and Be Present Inc. have been instrumental in the development of NAPW, provided key trainings at our groundbreaking conferences, and provided support to numerous women working to change punitive state policies. Congratulations Lillie Pearl Allen!

In Today's New York Times on-line, NAPW comments on a recent decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court:

September 21, 2007
New Jersey Abortion Case

To the Editor:

Re “New Jersey Top Court Rejects Woman’s Malpractice Suit on Abortion” (news article, Sept. 13):

The New Jersey Supreme Court correctly ruled in the Acuna decision that doctors should not be forced to tell a woman considering an abortion that she is “killing an existing human being.”

The case itself, which stems from strategic anti-choice efforts to create the illusion that women seeking abortions are not adequately informed, distracts attention from those situations where this really is the case.

For example, women who go to term are not informed that 15 to 20 percent of all pregnancies end in a miscarriage or stillbirth.. They don’t usually know their providers’ C-section rate (among providers this number routinely exceeds evidence-based medical recommendations). Or that many hospitals prohibit vaginal births after C-sections, denying women the opportunity to have a trial of labor and avoid unnecessary surgery.

Indeed, there is little evidence that women seeking abortions are under-informed, but a lot to indicate that women going to term could be better served.

Lynn M. Paltrow
Executive Director, National Advocates for Pregnant Women
New York, Sept. 14, 2007

The New York Times publishes NAPW Executive Director Lynn Paltrow's response to Melissa Henneberger's Op Ed entitled "Why Pro-Choice is a Bad Choice for Democrats".

Supreme Court of New Mexico Strikes Down State’s Attempt to Convict Woman Struggling with Addiction During Pregnancy.

Leading Physicians, Scientific Researchers, and Medical, Public Health, and Child Welfare Organizations Applaud Court’s Order

Leading Physicians, Scientific Researchers, and Medical, Public Health, and Child Welfare Organizations Oppose Treating Pregnant Women Who Give Birth in Spite of a Drug Problem as Felony Child Abusers

Laura Flanders' new book Blue Grit is an upbeat, optimistic look at the real difference people make at the grassroots and statebased level. We here at NAPW particularly like pages 50 -53, 139, 141-412, 146-147, and 151-153 where NAPW, friends, and allies including Wyndi Anderson, Lynn Paltrow, and Luciano Colonna are mentioned! Read it and be inspired!

NAPW also recommends: With Child: Substance Use During Pregnancy: A Woman-Centred Approach
Susan C. Boyd (Victoria, British Columbia) and Lenora Marcellus, (Alberta), eds. This book is a valuable resource in informing those interested in developing policies based on what women and families actually need and what has been demonstrated to really work.

With the support of over 60 co-sponsors and more than 300 participants we celebrate a wonderful, groundbreaking event. We will have much more to say about it in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, check out a variety of blogs on the Summit by fascinating bloggers from across the country in: Join this Organization!; Semi-live blogging from NAPW conference; NAPW Summit, end of the 1st day; the first part of the conference; and second session of the day; thoughts inspired by sessions; Why I want to be Dorothy Roberts When I Grow Up (Day 2 @ NAPW’s Conference); Summit Day 1 Continued and NAPW Conference is happening now!

Angry Black Bitch;

Fabulosa Mujer;

BitchPHD;

Feministe

Brown Femi Power;

A Womb of Her Own;

Egotistical Whining;

Belly Tales;

Is there no sin in it?;

BlogSheroes, the feminist bloggers network;

Amanda at Pandagon;

I juswannasing;

I juswanna Sing ;

SarahtheDoula;

From Gymno

South Dakota allies Barbara Chapman and Karen Miller, in an op ed featured in the Rapid City Journal challenge the lies some doctors are telling about the new law that would ban virtually all South Dakota women from legal abortion services.

Women's eNews features a commentary, Jailing Pregnant Women Raises Health Risks by former NAPW legal intern/NYU law student Julie Ehrlich and Lynn Paltrow.

The Guardian (London)
September 4, 2006 Monday
Women: The pregnancy police are watching you
By Diane Taylor

Women: The pregnancy police are watching you: In the US, women of
child-bearing age are being advised to consider themselves 'pre-pregnant' at all
times, by giving up smoking, drinking and drugs. What are the implications of
treating people as glorified incubators, asks Diane Taylor

The right to choose includes the right to give birth with dignity and respect. On Labor Day weekend BOLD is sponsoring three exciting events to ensure that maternity care is mother-friendly. For more information about these events please go to NYC BOLD Events

(List in Formation)

Our Bodies Ourselves
International Center for Traditional Childbearing
Citizens For Midwifery, Inc.
Mothers United For Midwifery
Realbirth Education Center
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
Gynuity Health Projects
Vanderbilt University Women’s & Gender Studies Program
Justice Now
Feminist Women’s Health Center-Cedar River Clinics-WA State
ProKanDo
Abortion Access Project, Inc.
Civil Liberties & Public Policy Program and Population & Development Program, Hampshire College
Reproductive Health Technologies Project
Catholics for a Free Choice
Choice USA
Harm Reduction Coalition
Brooklyn Childcare Collective
Exhale
Ipas, USA
Pro-Choice Public Education Project
Center For Reproductive Rights
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Real Cost of Prisons Project
Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents
National Organization for Women, Inc.
The Tatia Oden French Memorial Foundation
American Civil Liberties Union
The Rebecca Project for Human Rights
Causes in Common, a National organzing project of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Breaking the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs
HIV Law Project, Inc.
Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice & Healing
Family Violence Prevention Fund
Mother's First Initiative
Feminist Women's Health Center
National Women's Health Network
Salud Promujer, School of Medicine University of Puerto Rico
The MergerWatch Project
Conextions Inc.
Harm Reduction Project
National Network of Abortion Funds
Law Students for Choice
NARAL Pro-Choice New York
The Institute for Reproductive Health Access
NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia
Democracy in Action
Reproductive Health Access Project
American College of Nurse-Midwives
Committee on Women Population and the Environment
Generation Five
Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH)
National Lawyers Guild
ReproNetwork.org
Idaho Women's Network
Midwives Alliance of North America
Planned Parenthood of Georgia
Drug Policy Alliance
Backline
Third Wave Foundation
Council on Anthropology & Reproduction
Individual Co-Sponsors:
Steve Cochran
Barbara Katz Rothman & Wendy Simonds
Robbie Davis Floyd
Lisa Bernstein
Ilene & Henry Ordower

Charges Rejected for Moms Who Bear Babies Exposed to Illegal Drugs

By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 4, 2006; B06

Maryland's reckless endangerment law cannot be used to prosecute women who give birth to babies exposed to illegal drugs, the state's high court ruled yesterday, overturning the convictions of two Eastern Shore mothers.

Prosecutors said such charges were needed to protect children, but some advocates for pregnant women welcomed the decision by the Maryland Court of Appeals as an affirmation that such cases could make pregnant women vulnerable to prosecution for an array of potentially dangerous behaviors -- such as smoking cigarettes and driving without a seatbelt -- and that drug-using mothers need treatment, not punishment.

"Imprisonment is not only the most costly thing the state could do," said Lynn Paltrow of the New York-based National Advocates for Pregnant Women. "It's the most family-destructive thing the state could do."

Kelly Lynn Cruz, seven months pregnant and belligerent, arrived at an Eastern Shore hospital in the middle of the night in January 2005. The three-pound boy she gave birth to tested positive for cocaine. Last August, she was convicted of reckless endangerment.

Regina Kilmon, whose case was similar, was also convicted in 2005 of reckless endangerment. She was sentenced to four years in prison.

The cases were clear-cut for prosecutors. "We're talking about unlawful activity, use of a narcotic substance," Scott Patterson, the longtime state's attorney in Talbot County, said last summer.

But Talbot was the only jurisdiction in Maryland to bring such charges against women for using illegal drugs while pregnant. Elsewhere in the country, such cases have often turned into emotional debates over the rights of the unborn.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland stepped in to defend Cruz, who was the fifth woman to face similar charges in Talbot.

In the 1980s and early '90s, public horror over crack use coincided with early reports of babies damaged by drugs. Arrests followed, and legislators debated how to control the problem. But most cases were struck down, and medical research tempered the earlier fears.

A National Institutes of Health study has found that maternal cocaine use can cause slightly lower birth weights and intellectual and behavior problems later in childhood. Alcohol and tobacco can be just as damaging. An array of public health, drug treatment and medical organizations filed briefs supporting the women, arguing that such prosecutions are more likely to harm than to help mothers and babies.

The court ruled that allowing such prosecutions could open the door to so many potentially dangerous behaviors that "criminal liability would depend almost entirely on how aggressive, inventive, and persuasive any particular prosecutor might be."

Some experts say they believe there have been more such cases in recent years, driven perhaps by the increase in methamphetamine use in some parts of the country and by recent laws that allow prosecutors to treat some crimes against pregnant women as cases with two victims.

This year, a similar case was dismissed in Virginia, and in Hawaii, the state Supreme Court overturned a manslaughter conviction of a woman who smoked methamphetamine while pregnant.

Of the Maryland Court of Appeals ruling, Patterson issued a statement saying his office "fully accepts its decision as a definitive statement of the law of Maryland" and would continue to work with public health and social services employees "toward the common goal of assisting women in their fight to defeat drug addiction and in their efforts to deliver children who will be born without illicit drugs in their systems."

© 2006 The Washington Post Company
Ads by Google

Today the Women's Media Center featured a biting NAPW commentary about a federal law entitled the "Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act." This WMC Commentary by Lynn M. Paltrow: A Modest Proposal or Why I Support the Full Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act discusses one of the many disturbing bills pending in Congress.

NAPW's Wyndi Anderson and Lynn Paltrow continue to ensure that Project Prevention's (founded as C.R.A.CK. --Children Require A Caring Kommunity) misinformation about pregnant women and drug users does not go unchallenged.

In a society that values children, it's striking how frequently our public policy falls short of our rhetoric. Too often, the notion of collective responsibility for the nation's children translates into collective demonization of pregnant women. Collective responsibility for our children should mean support for policies that help pregnant women get the care they need to have healthy babies. Instead, states and localities are increasingly blaming individual women, exaggerating the harms from individual behaviors.

In Arkansas' recent special spring session, Hot Springs Rep. Bob Mathis followed up his successful proposal to make it illegal for someone to smoke in a car with children with a proposal to ban pregnant women from smoking.

For those who subscribe to the view that pregnant women are vessels, treating them like cars makes perfect sense.

On May 30, 2006, the South Dakota Healthy Families Campaign sent a big thank you to its grassroots activists who collected more than twice the number of signatures needed to challenge South Dakota's law banning abortion. Entitled: 37,846: Thank You! they wrote:

On Wednesday, June 14, 2006, the New York Academy of Medicine invites you to attend: Seeking the Perfect Baby through Cesarean Delivery: What's at Stake? at The New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street, New York City. Participating on a panel with distinguished doctors and bioethicists, NAPW Executive Director, Lynn Paltrow will address the question "Do Women Lose Their Civil Rights Upon Becoming Pregnant?"

Today, South Carolina's leading newspaper ran a commentary by two members of the South Carolina Women's Health Coalition, a coalition NAPW has been helping to support. KATHRYN LUCHOK AND SARAH GAREAU explain how the state's latest fetal rights bill purports to protect pregnant women, but actually undermines them.

The prestigious Hastings Center Report, a journal "promoting thoughtful, balanced reflection on the ethical and social issues of medicine and medical science" published an article by Dr. Howard Minkoff and Lynn Paltrow, NAPW Executive Director. The article, "The Rights of 'Unborn Children' and the Value of Pregnant Women" discusses fetal rights legislation and how mothers are "beatified in words and vilified in deeds."

Download file

The Court of Appeals will consider tomorrow the opinion of more than 50 national medical, public health, child welfare, and drug treatment experts that prosecution of addicted mothers is counterproductive to the mother, the welfare of the child, and the interests of society.

AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY HOSTS
LECTURE ON THE LEGAL ISSUES REGARDING
SOUTH DAKOTA’S BAN ON ABORTION

Lynn Paltrow, civil rights attorney and presenter to the South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion, will present, “Does South Dakota’s Abortion Ban Violate the Constitutional and Human Rights of Pregnant Women?” on Wednesday, April 5, 2006 at 7:00 PM in the Freedom Forum’s Al Neuharth Media Center at the University of South Dakota.

Tex. Court Overturns Convictions Under 'Fetal Rights' Law
by Michelle Chen . . .

Pointing to a stark imbalance between punitive measures and health
resources, Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women said that
pregnant women with substance-abuse problems too often lack access to
appropriate treatment facilities in their communities. Prosecutions
based on fetal-rights laws, she said, "create the illusion that there is
treatment... when in all sorts of healthcare areas, patients of all
kinds, and particularly ones... who have drug problems, are completely
abandoned."

http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3024

Today in a 3-0 unanimous decision, the Seventh Court of Appeals of Texas reversed the convictions of Tracy Ward and Rhonda Smith.

Read about Nancy Goldstein's call to South Dakota's abortion-ban-supporting Senator Bill Napoli and the grandmothers of South Dakota speaking out for all pregnant women.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Letter: Arresting Consequences?

By: Charon Asetoyer and Lynn M. Paltrow

The new abortion law's supporters have created the impression that only the
people providing the abortions will be punished, not the women having them.
It is clear, however, that women will be punished, too.
Before 1973, when abortion was illegal in most states, even if the statute
did not specifically apply to the woman herself, pregnant women could still
be arrested under separate laws permitting the prosecution of those who aid
and abet a crime. Moreover, many women, while not arrested, were publicly
shamed and subjected to police investigations that were in and of themselves
a form of punishment.

Language in the new law states "nothing in this Act may be construed to
subject the pregnant mother upon whom any abortion is performed or attempted
to any criminal conviction and penalty." The truth is that "this" act need
not authorize arrests of pregnant women for such arrests to take place.

South Dakota has adopted numerous laws asserting the legal personhood of the
unborn. If the unborn are legal persons, then a pregnant woman who has an
abortion can be prosecuted as a murderer under already existing homicide
laws.

Far-fetched? Not at all. In South Carolina, Regina McKnight is serving 12
years in jail for homicide by child abuse for unintentionally causing the
stillbirth she suffered by using a drug during pregnancy. In Utah, a woman
was charged with murder based on the claim that she unintentionally caused a
stillbirth by refusing to have a c-section earlier in her pregnancy. Even
though South Carolina is the only state to uphold such arrests, pregnant
women in states across the country, including South Dakota, have already
been arrested as child abusers or murderers -- without any new legislation
authorizing such arrests.

If women who unintentionally risk harm to the fetus are being arrested, we
must assume that the women of South Dakota, who have intentional abortions
will be arrested, too.

TomPaine.Com Commentary
By Lynn Paltrow and Charon Asetoyer
March 08, 2006
Lynn Paltrow is the executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women in New York and Charon Asetoyer is the executive director of the Native American Women's Health and Education Resource Center in South Dakota.

This week South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds signed a law that bans almost all abortions in the state. Neither the governor nor the law's supporters have been honest about what the effect of the law will be.

Those who authored the law want to create impression that only the people providing the abortions will be punished, not the women having them. They are not brave enough enough to admit what is clear: women will be punished and they and their families will suffer if this law goes into effect.

March 7
While the South Dakota Governor's decision to sign into law a ban on virtually all abortions is horrifying to many, it should not come as a much of a surprise.

Anti-abortion and conservative forces have spent the last 30 years working at the grassroots to inspire and mobilize activists and to elect anti-choice policymakers who can pass ever more restrictive abortion laws. While pro-choice and progressive activists have been very good at stopping those laws once enacted, relatively few resources have been invested in grassroots and state based activism that would prevent these laws from passing in the first place.

http://www.womensmediacenter.com/2006/03/wmc_exclusive_call_for_new_sup.html

Wyndi Anderson of National Advocates for Pregnant Women told me via email that this kind of law isn't exactly a new idea: "[Similar bills have] been shot down in other states because in the end it is bad for the very infants they say they want to help. If we really want to provide an opportunity for women to have healthy pregnancies then we need to think about ways we can support women and their families. These type of measures are almost always someone trying to further their career because no one who understands addiction and cares about children and women would dare to pass such a law."

http://feministing.com/archives/002791.html

By Nancy Goldstein | RAW STORY COLUMNIST

What would it look like to really turn the abortion debate on its head?

http://www.rawstory.com/exclusives/goldstein/testify_120805.htm

To the Editor:

Re "Woman Is Convicted of Killing Her Fetus by Smoking Cocaine" (news article, May 18):

There are numerous causes of fetal demise. Many are related to what pregnant prosecution of Regina McKnight was an outrage, and her conviction (after 15 minutes of deliberation) a travesty. Beyond having a devastating impact on her and her children (one as yet unborn), this case seriously undermines the legitimate societal goal of insuring the best maternal and child health. The threat of prosecution for murder based on medical or behavioral factors of pregnant women will cause those who need prenatal care the most to avoid it.

ROBERT G. NEWMAN, M.D.

New York, May 18, 2001

The writer is director, Edmond de Rothschild Foundation Chemical Dependency Institute, Beth Israel Medical Center.

Download PDF file

By: Lynn M. Paltrow, published in Perspectives, Volume 13, No.3, Winter 2005

I started my career defending a woman's right to choose abortion and now run National Advocates for Pregnant Women, an organization that works on behalf of pregnant women and families. No, I haven't had a political or religious conversion. What I have had is the opportunity to see how the abortion issue distracts us from shared political and family values.