Read the week's best commentary from bloggers at Care2, Slate's "XX Factor" and more.
ABORTION RESTRICTIONS:
"National Abortion Data Reporting Law a disturbing attack on abortion rights," Robin Marty, Care2: Marty writes about an antiabortion-rights legislative proposal, crafted by Americans United for Life (AUL), that would require the creation of a "full, national" database on abortion care "to allegedly provide the statistics that [abortion-rights opponents] can use to make a stronger case that abortion is dangerous to the people who undergo the procedure." According to Marty, AUL plans to "push forward with this plan aggressively, both at a federal level and, if that fails, a state-level as well." However, Marty explains that the misleadingly phrased proposal, called the National Abortion Data Reporting Law, would in effect "make both patients and doctors worry about their privacy." She notes that in rural areas and small towns, in particular, "there is a ... danger that a patient could be outed by the data provided." Further, Marty writes that a "national database could easily be used to provide the names of all of those who work within clinics across the country, or even have work that involves those clinics, subjecting them to pressure and harassment." According to Marty, such a law, if enacted, would effectively "act as ... a tool to potentially ID patients, providers and those who may work with them -- or at least make those people worry that their info may become vulnerable" (Marty, Care2, 8/13).
POLITICS & ELECTIONS:
"Planned Parenthood will register voters at health centers across the country," Christina Cauterucci, Slate's "XX Factor": "In the months leading up to November's election, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America [PPFA] will register voters at its health centers and college campuses in 45 states," Cauterucci writes. She explains that the organization "is a particularly apt organization to lead voter registration efforts, since its clientele is disproportionately populated by members of historically marginalized demographics," with roughly 25 percent identifying as Latina and about 75 percent reporting incomes at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty line. She writes, "For people who don't speak English or live in [low-income] or rural areas, Planned Parenthood may be one of the most accessible, affordable community institutions. In these places, a health clinic may be the best way to reach those without easy entry points into electoral politics." Cauterucci notes that PPFA's "voter registration program is nonpartisan." She concludes, "After a year of repeated attempts to 'defund' Planned Parenthood, all that hullaballoo about the straw man of fetal tissue donation, and state and congressional hearings excoriating Planned Parenthood for all manner of fictitious misdeeds, the impact of representative politics on women's health care has never been clearer" (Cauterucci, "XX Factor," Slate, 8/12).
ABORTION IN THE MEDIA:
"'There's so much shame and stigma': 'Abortion Stories' director Tracy Droz Tragos pulls back the curtain on 'super complicated' issue," Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon: Williams interviews Tracy Droz Tragos, whose new documentary "'Abortion: Stories Women Tell,' ... invit[es] you to walk in a uniquely vilified pair of shoes -- those of pregnant women seeking abortion." Droz Tragos, a Missouri native, shares that she chose to focus the documentary on her home state because of its restrictions on sexuality education, birth control access and 72-hour mandatory delay law, which went into effect immediately prior to filming. According to Droz Tragos, the goal of the documentary was "to shift the conversation [about reproductive rights] back to women -- back to women who are affected -- and away from the abstraction." She explains, "Abortion is accessed by women of all walks of life, all circumstances ... It was really important to cast as wide a net as possible -- which was a logistical challenge because there are many more stories." Noting that "women's rights are human rights," Droz Tragos states, "Anyone who gets pregnant should have access to the healthcare that they need." She concludes, "I hope audiences who see this film come away with greater appreciation of what's at stake and deeper compassion" (Williams, Salon, 8/12).
