Week in Review 7-10-2020
Submitted by holliswein on Fri, 07/10/2020 - 12:00am
We can never rest when it comes to protecting women's reproductive rights.
Last week we breathed a sigh of relief when the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. This law would have left the state with only ONE abortion clinic.
This week we gasped. The Supreme Court said that employers and their companies' insurance plans do not have to cover birth control because of religious or 'moral' objections. This threatens thousands of women's healthcare and weakens the separation of religion and state.
These two decisions are playing out at a time when we are in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, when women are struggling even more for access to abortion and reproductive health care. The war on women and their ability to make their own health decision continues, despite the pandemic sweeping the nation.
Many states implemented restrictions that have effectively banned or blocked the availability of abortion services. Some states declared that abortion is not an essential service. Even though states are reopening, women can never make up the lost time when it comes to their medical care.
Trump's vehement opposition to abortion and his effort to build support with the extreme right is even preventing a potential vaccine breakthrough for COVID-19. He banned the National Institute of Health from using donated fetal tissue from elected abortions for medical research. Scientists were working to find a cure and treatments for illnesses such as Parkinson's disease. They also wanted to use the tissue to produce a COVID-19 vaccine.
Forty-seven years after the landmark case Roe v Wade was decided, our rights are still on shaking ground. States, Congress, and the President are still trying to ban abortion regardless of how it impacts Americans' lives.
We need to continue to work to elect pro-choice candidates to Congress and to elect Joe Biden. Our federal government - on all levels - must respect and protect a woman's right to make her own medical decisions.
