By Lori Adelman • @ladelman • 10 years ago

Quick Hit: Abortion in America is already ridiculously safe; new restrictions only put more people in danger

Newsflash for the GOP! All those terrible abortion restrictions you keep trying to pass? They are not making anyone safer, and are in fact only serving to hinder reproductive health access  How do I know? Because, evidence.

Exhibit A: RH Reality Check has put together an excellent analysis of documents  showing that even though states are regulating abortion like it’s going out of style, there is virtually no evidence that patients are being harmed by accessing abortion services in the U.S. From the article, describing letters provided by 38 of the state attorneys general, and 31 of the health departments:

Together, these documents make up an extensive repository of rules, legislation, and official reports about abortion in the United States…The responses received to date include thousands of pages of legislation and regulations on a wide range of topics that could relate to abortion…

An analysis of these documents shows that congressional Republicans will find no support for their arguments in favor of new restrictions on abortion care in the evidence presented by the states. In particular, to the extent that anti-choice advocates claim that women are being put at risk by abortion services, these documents—from the very state entities charged with overseeing and regulating abortion—show the contrary. They show that abortion in the United States is highly regulated and overwhelmingly safe.

For more, review the database of state documents yourself or see other pieces from RH Reality Check‘s State of Abortion series here.

Brooklyn, NY

Lori Adelman started blogging with Feministing in 2008, and now runs partnerships and strategy as a co-Executive Director. She is also the Director of Youth Engagement at Women Deliver, where she promotes meaningful youth engagement in international development efforts, including through running the award-winning Women Deliver Young Leaders Program. Lori was formerly the Director of Global Communications at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and has also worked at the United Nations Foundation on the Secretary-General's flagship Every Woman Every Child initiative, and at the International Women’s Health Coalition and Human Rights Watch. As a leading voice on women’s rights issues, Lori frequently consults, speaks and publishes on feminism, activism and movement-building. A graduate of Harvard University, Lori has been named to The Root 100 list of the most influential African Americans in the United States, and to Forbes Magazine‘s list of the “30 Under 30” successful mediamakers. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Lori Adelman is an Executive Director of Feministing in charge of Partnerships.

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