In a new and very welcome development in the fight to preserve women’s abortion rights, two Arkansas doctors have filed suit against the state. According to the ACLU chapter that filed the suit on their behalf, they are challenging a new law that restricts the availability of abortions after the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and trying to block its taking effect this summer.
Doctors Louis Jerry Edwards and Tom Tvedten, who are affiliated with the Little Rock Family Planning Services, are requesting a court order to block the law, which they say violates the Constitution. The new law was passed in March over Democratic Governor Mike Beebe’s veto.
Arkansas is one of a number of states passing ever more restrictive laws in recent years in a effort to limit or eliminate women’s rights to reproductive health and privacy — including the right to safe, legal abortions if and when they, their families, and their doctors make that decision.
Politicians have no place in these constitutionally protected decisions, but doctors are directly involved in each and every one. It’s encouraging to see two of them step up and speak out in defense of their patients, the women of Arkansas, and women everywhere. Hopefully they will be an inspiration to doctors across the country, because this is their fight, too.
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Wow! Finally happening: pressure from the doctors. Great news and I hope doctors in other states will support them. Even states not under fire, please. There have always been courageous physicians (mine in 1956) who performed abortions before Roe v. Wade. Now waiting for the profession to stand up, support this suit.
Very exciting development. Why didn’t anyone think of this before? Stand up, doctors!
It’s about time. The religious zealots who seek to control others need a court decision that cracks them right upside the head. That would be after they remove their head from their anal canals as they have been breathing methane for a very long time.
Oh come on, tell me what you really think.
To me women having absolute control over their medical and reproductive decisions is a civil and human rights issue. I strongly believe that reproductive decisions are private choices made by a woman (or man where applicable) in consultation with her (or his doctor) and restricting access to either abortion or contraception does not belong on the governmental agenda.
The hard line religious right wingers clearly intend to
(1) redefine contraception as abortion
(2) strip a pregnant woman of her civil rights;
(3) grant civil rights to her fetus; and
(4) compel her to become a human incubator and deliver an unwanted child.
This agenda flies into the face of reality as we know the majority of unwanted children will be raised in unhealthy and supportive environments or abandoned to become wards of the state.
These right wing people harp on how much abortions cost the medical system but fail to admit to the fact that unwanted wards of the state cost society much more – much much more and not only in terms of dollars.
When combined with the concept of redefining contraception as abortion, we can readily see that pro-life advocates claim to uphold democratic principles when, in fact, they are not democratic at all.They are committed to their campaign to establish government control over women’s medical and reproductive decisions by way of dirty politics. Dirty politics enabled by the lack of separation between the church and the state. Dirty politics based on the distortion of facts and fueled by emotional religiosity.
The fact that in the last 40 years the majority of administrations have been conservative makes Roe v. Wade a very real issue in these times and I’m so glad that doctors are prepared to stand up for choice.
Yep, those are the salient points. Reduced to the simplest terms: “My body, my choice.” Period.
Agreed.
Perfect phrasing that I’ll have to remember!
Hooray for these doctors! Here’s hoping many others join them across the land.
Yep, who better to make the case for good medical science and proper patient care?