"Missouri officials justified keeping women inmates from obtaining abortions by citing the state's laws that 'discourage abortions and encourage childbirth.'"

"Discourage" it all you want, shitheads; you're not allowed to deny someone access to it, prisoner or no. If that's justification, President Bush is a member of Mensa.

No one's saying she can't get an abortion. That's not the issue. They're just telling her she can't use taxpayers' money to get it.

But Ann is right to point out that prisons have been failing women on other grounds.

Leyan, a person in prison can't very well rent a limo to take her to an afternoon at the family planning clinic.

Though, I have to wonder why the procedure can't be performed on the grounds of the prison. It's not like it's open heart surgery.

Further, what's the deal with the term "abortion clinics?" Aren't abortions also performed in hospitals? Why aren't they "abortion hospitals?" If it's because that's not the only reason hospitals exist, it's not like Planned Parenthood is all abortions all the time either. Then there's "abortion doctors" who probably spend more time prescribing birth control pills and reading pap smears than they do performing abortions. Am I wrong here, or is there a weird medical ghettoization of abortion and family planning?

Point taken, yellow, and I completely agree that anti-choicers have been successful in painting all reproductive health care professionals as "abortionists."

In this case, I said "abortion" clinics because that was the type of service this woman needed. In Missouri, women (even those that aren't incarcerated) can't just go to any local OB/GYN and terminate a second-trimester pregnancy. They have to go to one of two clinics that provide abortions.

But even if Missouri repealed the ban on state funding for abortion services, I'm not sure I'd advocate for any medical procedures within prisons. At least not while Correctional Medical Services is running things. But that's another post...

just lost my post twice, so briefly...

ann, wow... great job bringing this up... and so thoroughly... not that i'm surprised - all y'all feministers are geniuses... but you even know the health care geography of missouri???

leyan, i totally understand that you're trying to bring in the state's argument... but we're talking about a few hundred bucks for a cab... not paying for the procedure or anything... on top of it all, if you're concerned about tax-payer dollars, think about the money that's gonna go into paying for the state supervision of her child...

kids i know who were born to incarcerated moms, even if they did stay with family part of the time, spent nuff time in - foster care, probation, drug treatment, juvie, etc. etc. etc... - and all that stuff sucks big time, too...

on another tip, let's not forget that illinois is the only state so far to ban shackling women inmates who are giving birth (though california's considering it)...

big ups, ann...

The fact that this case came out of Missouri was just lucky for me-- I went to school there, and have done some reporting on the women's prison system in the state, specifically how it affects mothers.

>>No one's saying she can't get an abortion. That's not the issue. They're just telling her she can't use taxpayers' money to get it.

But Ann is right to point out that prisons have been failing women on other grounds.>>

As a prisoner, her medical care--like her meals, her shelter, her clothing, and her transportation--is provided by the state. She does not have an independent life or any resources independent of the prison system, and it is therefore unfair to expect her to pay and arrange for her own abortion. Also, the transportation costs are only an issue because of the state's overriding interest in detaining her; that means that they are obligated to accomodate medical decisions she would otherwise be free to make herself.