Gosnell Case and Abortion Access

Gosnell Case a Reminder of Why Restrictive Abortion Laws Must Be Overturned

The case against Kermit Gosnell in the state of Pennsylvania, USA is an important reminder that restrictive abortion laws open the door for people to prey on desperate women and lead to medical negligence. On Monday, Gosnell was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of manslaughter in relation to his illegal abortion clinic. What has come to light, both in the grand jury report in 2011 and media reports of the trial, is how Gosnell took advantage of Pennsylvania’s lax monitoring of abortion clinics to operate outside the confines of the law and safe medical practice to perform abortions on some of the most oppressed and desperate women.

The majority of his clients were women of colour and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds unable to afford an abortion at a safe, registered clinic. This highlights the racial and class element to the politics of abortion, which all to often means that the most marginalized in society are those most at risk of unsafe abortions when access and availability is restricted.

Echoing the sentiments of Ilsye G. Hogue, president NARAL Pro-Choice America, ALRANZ believes justice was served by the jury’s verdict against Gosnell. However, this should not be all that comes out of the Gosnell case. In a powerful statement, Hogue said:

“From the lack of funding available for low-income women to access abortion services, to the sharp decline of reputable providers in Pennsylvania, to the gross negligence of authorities to enforce the law after complaints were filed against Gosnell, each aspect of this case must be a teachable moment for lawmakers: until we reject the politicization of women’s medical care and leave these decisions where they belong—between a woman and her family and her doctor—women will never be safe. The horrifying story of Kermit Gosnell is a peek into the world before Roe v. Wade made legal a woman’s right to make her own choices”.

Countering the stories told by the anti-choice contingent, further restrictions on abortion will not lead to fewer Gosnell cases, but more. Looking to our own abortion laws in New Zealand and the continued criminalization of women, it is a stark reminder that safe and legal abortion cannot be assured until it is a choice made freely by the pregnant person with free and easy access to all reproductive health services.

For more information and  analysis on the Gosnell case, see:

Ilyse Hogue of NARAL Pro-choice America’s full statement.

RH Reality Check:

“A Gosnell Amendment: Jennifer Rubin Plays Doctor and Legislator, and Fails” by Jodi Jacobson.

“Gosnell Found Guilty on Three First-Degree Murder Charges” by Jennifer Mason Pieklo.

“Separating Truth From Lies Around the Kermit Gosnell Case” by Amanda Marcotte 

Salon: “Megan McCardle Doesn’t Understand the Kermit Gosnell Case” by Tara Murtha

ALRANZ calls for more vigilance of anti-abortion tactics

Press release issued following news of an attack on a nurse’s car at an Auckland abortion clinic.

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The pro-choice organisation ALRANZ today called for increased vigilance by the authorities in the wake of an attack on an Auckland abortion clinic worker’s car.

Television New Zealand last night revealed that a nurse had called the police after she got into her car on March 13 and found it would not run. An examination of the car concluded that the fuel line had been cut.

“Abortion care providers are valued and supported in their communities,” ALRANZ spokeswoman Annabel Henderson Morrell said today. “It is outrageous and disappointing that some in the anti-choice community in New Zealand resort to intimidation and threats.”

The most recent attack follows a threat late last year directed toward ALRANZ and the new abortion service in Invercargill. The police investigated, but those behind the threat were never identified.

Ms. Henderson Morrell said abortion care providers and patients have the right to both be safe and to feel safe.

“It’s stressful enough for abortion patients, who have to jump through hoops to access abortion care because of our antiquated laws, without their having to fear physical harm from abortion opponents,” she said.

ALRANZ appreciates most anti-choice groups make clear they oppose this kind of behaviour. “We hope they will do their utmost within their own community to ensure New Zealand does not return to the bad old days of threats, attacks and physical intimidation,” she said.

Defend Family Planning

A great post by Alison McCulloch, about why defending Family Planning and Women’s Health Action are about more than abortion advocacy. This post originally appeared at The Hand Mirror.

Back when Christchurch anti-choice activist Andy Moore was still around (he’s gone and left us, and moved to Texas), he and a few others set up a campaign called Stop Family Planning (FP) – a campaign that looked a lot like the one in the U.S. against Planned Parenthood.

The campaign here was prompted by FP’s proposal, which began in 2009, to provide early medication abortion at its Hamilton clinic – which was to be a sort of a test clinic for possibly offering this option elsewhere. FP waited two long years for a decision from the Abortion Supervisory Committee, while the anti-choicers got busy whipping up a frenzy. Eventually, in 2011, FP withdrew the application, and last time I checked, women from the Waikato who wanted an early medication rather than a surgical abortion had to travel to Auckland for it. You can thank, in part, our backward laws for that – and for the fact that we’re way behind comparable nations in providing this early abortion option. But not helping the situation of course were the sterling efforts by Right to Life and Voice for Life and ProLife NZ and all those charities like Family First and Family Life International, who are only doing this because they care so much about the health and well-being of (certain) women.

The Week Before Christmas: Invercargill Style

Goodwill between groups ruined by pro-life bully-boy

Smiles, conversations, muffins and Christmas treats were exchanged between Southlanders for Life and ALRANZ members at the weekly protest/counter protest today at Southland Hospital. I can hear you thinking what the heck – but hey, it’s Christmas. Norman McLean, head of Southlanders for Life and I have managed to defuse much of the tension between the two groups over the last month, and it is fantastic to protest without threat of harassment.

That is, until a Gore Southlander for Life arrived.

Could this happen here? The unnecessary death of Savita

The unnecessary death of Savita: Why safe and legal access to abortion must be an essential part of all reproductive health services

In Ireland (and around the world) this past weekend tens of thousands of people marched in memory of a young woman, whose life ended in horrific manner because of an outdated and harmful law. Savita Halappanavar was the victim of Ireland’s archaic abortion laws, which equates the right to life of the mother to that of the ‘unborn’. She was left in excruciating pain for days until she finally succumbed to septicemia, all because of medical uncertainty around the current law.

Outing Doctors and Threats

UPDATE 31 OCT: The police have informed us that they have tried, in conjunction with our web hosting service, to recover the computer logs for the date and time the email threat we received was sent, in an effort to trace the sender, but that the settings for saving site info were set too short and this information was no longer on the host’s servers. (We’ve been advised not to give out more detail on this.) Those settings have since been changed so the relevant information will be retained for longer. The police are pursuing the source of the threat via the email address that came with it, but they aren’t hopeful because the message came in via a form on our Web site, rather than in an actual email, meaning any address could have been inserted. The detective in charge told us the e-mail address attached to the message appears to be false. So, even though it looks like the source of the threat will not be found, we are grateful to the police for pursuing this, and for keeping us informed of their progress.

UPDATE 19 OCT: Labour’s Maryan Street and National MP Paul Hutchison have spoken out about the threat. A further update on that: the police, to whom we reported this threat after it came in (i.e. on Wednesday), are following it up with no further info on what, if anything, they have found. We also informed the SDHB’s management at the same time.

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ALRANZ spokesperson Alison McCulloch appeared on the TVNZ programme Close-Up on Tuesday night  opposite Southlanders for Life spokesman Dr. Norman MacLean on SfL’s effort to get the names of doctors and other healthcare professionals working in the newly opened Southland Clinic.

There’s already a strong atmosphere of fear and intimidation in Southland over this issue, and Dr. MacLean is surely the peaceful man he says he is. But on this issue, there is simply no doubt that publicizing names and escalating rhetoric is part of an atmosphere of intimidation and bullying.

QoT has blogged about the TV thing (thanks QoT!)  and we’ve had some supportive comments. In addition, the poll question asked of viewers came out more than 80% in favour of letting the health care workers keep their anonymity.

But, less than 24 hours after that went to air, ALRANZ received a message threatening violence against us and the clinic. Interestingly, the writer said, among other things, “The Doctor on Close Up said his group will be peaceful and not cause harm to anyone who works at the abortion clinic.But I am different.” The person went on to say that “people who work at the clinic are legitimate targets and so are you.” There was a bit of creepy stuff about “inside contacts” being helpful and the promise that we’d be hearing from him/her again “that is if your computer or in fact your premises are in one piece”.

Real or just noise, it’s part of the environment of intimidation and bullying that ALRANZ has been talking about, and that anti-abortionists deny, even as they fuel it with their requests for names accompanied by “reasons” that at, at best, are disingenuous. (Other doctors don’t mind being named; women need to be fully informed, etc etc)

At last, some of our elected reps are speaking out agains these tactics — the Greens and Labour women — and we’re grateful for their voices. But we need more! Bill English, the MP for Southland-Clutha and a well-known abortion opponent, has pretty much washed his hands of the whole business. He said on Close-Up that he wouldn’t expect anything the protesters did would break the law or stop people going about their lawful duties. He did say that health professionals involved in the service deserve “the same kind of ability to go to work without being hassled as we all have”, but didn’t offer any action to ensure that remains the case.

Notably, we’ve heard nothing from the church. It’s Father Vaughan Leslie who has been among the most vocal in Southland. According to an article in the Timaru Herald, Father Leslie, also a spokesman for Southlanders for Life, said they planned weekly demonstrations outside the clinic and to name those who work there.

Does Bishop Campbell support this? Responsible religious leaders need to speak out against these dangerous tactics.

ADDENDUM: We did pass this on to the authorities, who are following up. And the message did come with a name and email address, possibly false, and to which we did not ourselves reply.

Media Release: ALRANZ Calls on Deputy PM to Denounce Anti-Abortion Threats

ABORTION LAW REFORM ASSOCIATION OF NEW ZEALAND

14 October 2012                                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALRANZ Calls on Deputy PM to Denounce Anti-Abortion Threats

The Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ) today called on Deputy Prime Minister and Clutha-Southland MP Bill English to denounce plans by anti-abortionists in Southland to “name and shame” medical professionals working in abortion care, ALRANZ spokeswoman Alison McCulloch said today.

According to a report in today’s Sunday Star Times, Mr. English supports the anti-abortionists who have been campaigning against Southland’s newly opened abortion service.

“We want to know if he also supports the menacing tactics this group is apparently planning, including harassing women outside the clinic and a ‘name and shame’ campaign against medical staff,” Ms. McCulloch said.

“Mr. English, along with the religious leaders backing this campaign, must denounce these dangerous threatening tactics,” she said. “It is outrageous that MPs and religious leaders have stood by as the rhetoric and attacks against healthcare professionals performing a legal medical procedure have continued to escalate. It is time to stop this before it leads to violence.”

Anti-choice activists claim local staff won’t take part in abortion care because they oppose abortion, Ms. McCulloch said. “That’s simply not true. Some staff may well be anti-choice, but ALRANZ has been told by the Southern District Health Board that those opting out do not necessarily personally object, but they do fear backlash from anti-abortion activists.”

“We can certainly understand why they have those fears when they face these kinds of bully tactics,” Ms. McCulloch said.

More info:

www.alranz.wordpress.com and www.alranz.org

ALRANZ is at: 021-082-76474
email: safeandlegal@gmail.com

Does Bill English Support Anti-Abortion Bully Tactics?

WITH AN UPDATE 15 OCTOBER AT THE END.

We want to know!  Because that’s essentially what anti-abortion activists are claiming according an article in today’s Sunday Star Times. We know English is anti-abortion; he’s made that clear for many years. But does he really support the kind of tactics anti-abortionists say they’re planning for Invercargill? We like to think he does not. But he needs to say so.

Here’s a quote from the Sunday Star Times article about the newly opened abortion service in Invercargill:

To protect the workers’ identities, the Southland District Health Board would not say whether the clinic’s staff were from the area, or were travelling from other regions. Anti-abortion group Southlanders for Life is vowing to step up protests outside the clinic, and to “name-and-shame” medical staff.

Pro-lifers, who name Deputy Prime Minister Bill English as a supporter in their press releases, and religious leaders are also backing the pro-life movement, with Catholic bishop Colin Campbell recently rallying followers to stop the “culture of death” from spreading.

Bill English must denounce these kinds of tactics. As Global Abortion Rights News said in a post on Facebook about what’s going on in Southland: “Anti-choicers in New Zealand vow to ‘name and shame’ abortion providers at the new clinic, which is a form of terrorism that puts providers at risk of violence and harassment.”

We all have to stand up to these bullying tactics. Anti-abortionists frequently make the claim that medical staff in Invercargill won’t take part in abortion care because they are anti-abortion. Ken Orr’s Right to Life group published a post on 29 September under this headline: Southland Doctors and Nurses Applauded for their Defence of Life.

It’s quite simply a lie. Yes, there may well be staff at the hospital who are abortion opponents, but that’s not why local staff are reluctant to take part in the service. It’s because of the bullying by anti-abortionists. ALRANZ asked the Southern DHB about claims made in public by Norman Maclean of Southlanders for Life that staff in the obstetrics department at Southland Hospital had “unanimously” refused to be part of the service, apart from dealing with complications. ALRANZ wrote to the board and asked the following:

Can you let us know if Dr. McLean’s contention regarding the unanimity of the Obstetrics Department’s staff is indeed correct and, if so, what procedures the hospital has in place to ensure women facing decisions about pregnancy are given non-biased, non-coercive support and care? And given Dr. McLean’s position on the subject and his former role as head of Obstetrics Department, did the hospital have a hiring policy that excluded those who support abortion services and has this policy continued since his retirement?

The hospital replied, telling us this:

To clarify, current Obstetric Department staff have made a personal decision not to perform terminations. However, our staff are committed to supporting and treating all their patients in a caring and professional way.

The decision not to perform terminations does not necessarily represent an opposition to the procedure, but instead reflects that Invercargill is a small community. Staff are understandably reluctant to face the personal backlash from the sections of the community who oppose the termination service. It has in no way been a policy of the DHB to only employ staff that are opposed to terminations. [emphasis added]

Southland Hospital staff have always supported and provided care to women who choose not to continue with a pregnancy, but due to terminations not being provided in the area, we have had to refer women to Christchurch or Dunedin for the procedure. The DHB is committed to ensuring women have appropriate access to termination services, and the initiation of the service in Invercargill will bring the DHB in line with national standards.

We wonder if Bill English supports this kind of intimidation. Does he really support violating the privacy of hospital staff performing a legal medical service? Does he support harassing women outside abortion clinics? Does he really want to end access to legal abortion through threats and intimidation? We know anti-abortion activists do, but does Mr. English?

We are naive if we think this escalation of attacks on abortion services isn’t dangerous. Now is the time for politicians like Bill English, and especially those who say they are pro-choice, and for responsible church leaders, to speak out against these menacing tactics.

UPDATE, 15 October: The Southland Times followed up today with an article Pro-lifers accused of bullying clinic staff. Bill English didn’t return calls (what a surprise!) and Norman MacLean of Southlanders for Life said:

… the group had “no intention” of stepping back now the service had begun and would continue to find ways to stop abortions being performed.

He had personally asked for the names of doctors and nurses doing abortions at Southland Hospital, he said.

The group “would then consider what we would do with that information”.

“Why is it that these people will not be named? It is not a private company and they are providing a public service. In every other area of the hospital they would name [the doctors]. The public should be aware of what is funded by the taxpayer.”

Hmmm, we wonder why “these people” don’t want to be named? Rather disingenuous question in the face of “naming and shaming” threats, and other risks of harassment and attack abortion providers face. This is not like “every other area of the hospital” precisely because of anti-choice campaigns like this one. And what does it have to do with taxpayer funding? If a private clinic opened up in Invercargill, they would be doing exactly the same thing — since it’s abortion they want to stop. Though if it were private, the shouting would be about how immoral it is to profit off abortion.

Southland Events: First Update

UPDATE: 23 August. This in today’s Southland Express. woo hooo:

ALRANZ, supported by Mothers for Choice, had some great meetings in Dunedin and, mainly, Invercargill this past week and weekend. We made contact with a number of supporters, gained some new ones (and members, yay!) and talked about ways to support the Southland abortion service when it gets under way and/or comes under threat. More detailed reports are yet to come, and will appear here and in ALRANZ’s August newsletter, due out … well … soon. Meanwhile, thanks to prochoice Southlanders for their hospitality, and even to the anti-choice folks who showed up on Thursday night at the meeting and were respectful of it being a ‘safe place’.  (Excepting the person who called one supporter of choice a “Baby Killer” on the street a few days after the meetings.) Here’s one side of the flyer we did for the meeting:

Supreme Court Dismisses Right to Life Case

Finally, after seven long years, Right to Life’s court effort to restrict abortion access in New Zealand  might be over with the Supreme Court’s dismissal of their appeal. ALRANZ welcomes the news as a relief, but this clearly points — yet again — to the need for action to modernise our 35-year-old abortion laws to give New Zealanders the right to make their own decisions about their fertility, and to stop endless court assaults. This decision comes in the wake of the UN’s CEDAW Committee’s call for action to improve NZ’s “convoluted” abortion laws. Let’s face it, this decision could have gone the other way: this was only a majority 3-2 decision. Would Parliament have acted then? Will it act now? (The court suggests it should look at whether it considers the law is acting as it should.)