Pre-abortion "counseling" costly and risky

by Leigh Graham · 2009-05-15 12:00:00 UTC
Topics:

24 states require women seeking abortions to receive "counseling" and then wait for 24 hours before they can undergo the procedure.  A recent study by the phenomenal Guttmacher Institute demonstrates that this ideological action meant to undermine women's personal decisions about their own bodies and lives also adds unnecessary costs and health risks, by forcing many women to seek abortions elsewhere, often at a later stage in their pregnancy, when the procedure has a greater risk of complication.

Why is that, you wonder?  And why is Leigh writing about this on the poverty blog?

First, because there are so few abortion providers in the U.S. that countless women, especially rural women, drive hundreds or thousands of miles to access abortion services.  This takes time, money, usually a car, and often a companion.  This kind of economic and logistical hurdle can prove too much for many women, especially low-income women.

Almost 75% of women cite as the reason for abortion that they cannot afford a child at that time.  It should go without saying, but unfortunately it doesn't - this is not a decision women make lightly.  We need to increase access to abortion services - not to mention prenatal care for pregnant women - so that when women do arrive at this decision, they can see it through safely.  Driving women to seek later-term abortions disrupts their lives and may increase the fears many of them may have of recrimination by employers, spouses or parents.  For even the most paternalistic among us, this is not the kind of "protection" we want to offer women to save them from themselves.  The photo above says almost everything, except "accessible."

Keep abortion safe, legal and accessible.  "Counseling" requirements?  Not helping.

(Photo by OpenDemocracy)

Leigh Graham
PREVIOUS STORY:
Helping Foreclosure Victims Return Home
NEXT STORY:
Sallie Mae Blinks!

COMMENTS (3)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.