By National Women's Law Center • 9 years ago

Abortion Restrictions Can Make it Harder to Leave Violent Relationships: What the New Study Means for Our Current Policy Fights

Written by Sharon Levin, Director of Federal Reproductive Health Policy, and cross-posted from NWLC’s blog.

You may have already read about the first-of-its-kind study that documents the connection between denials of abortion and intimate partner violence.  Now it is up to us to use this important new evidence in the fight to stop bad abortion laws at the state and federal levels.

States are passing extreme abortion restrictions at a record rate. According to the Guttmacher Institute, more state abortion restrictions were enacted in the last three years than in the entire previous decade. And in only the first half of 2014, 13 states passed 21 new restrictions.  And in Congress, the only thing stopping the anti-choice proponents in the House is the fact that the Senate is controlled by a pro-choice majority.

The crazy thing is that the anti-reproductive rights lawmakers passing these laws often claim that they are doing it to protect women’s health.  Take a second to think about that.  They claim they are taking away our access to health care to protect our health.  Hmm…no.

Because it documents the harm that these policies can do to women’s health, this study  [PDF] by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California, San Francisco is particularly timely and important. The researchers’ principal finding was that women who experienced intimate partner violence and sought and received an abortion experienced a significant decrease in the risk of violence from the man involved in the pregnancy. However, women who experienced intimate partner violence and sought and were denied an abortion did not.

 In fact, the researchers stated that being denied an abortion can tether a woman to an abusive relationship.

So, what can we do?  Although Congress and state legislatures mostly won’t be tackling these issues again until next year, there are certainly actions you can take right now. ANSIRH’s study adds not only to the already significant amount of evidence that abortion restrictions harm women’s health, but that they are detrimental to all aspects of women’s lives and equality.

  • Colorado and North Dakota are considering ballot initiatives that would criminalize abortion in those states. And Tennessee is considering a state ballot initiative to make it even easier for state politicians to pass restrictions on abortion. Get involved in the fight to defeat these efforts by sharing this new study.
  • When Congress returns in November it will be considering legislation that would allow Peace Corps volunteers whose lives are endangered or who were victims of rape or incest to have coverage for abortion. (The current draconian ban on coverage of abortion for Peace Corps volunteers has NO exceptions.) Write to your Representative and let them know that you support abortion coverage for Peace Corps volunteers – and that need to be aware of what banning coverage can mean to women.
  • You can start spreading the word now in preparation for next year’s legislative sessions.  Tell your friends about the study, post it on FB (there’s a graphic below you can use), tweet about it, write to your representatives.

This study gives us a unique opportunity to bring attention to the danger abortion restrictions pose to women’s lives.  We can’t pass it up.

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

The National Women's Law Center has worked for four decades to expand, defend and promote women’s rights at every stage of the legal process. Learn more at www.nwlc.org.

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