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Media coverage of Dr. George Tiller’s murder may have lessened since his fatal shooting on May 31^st, but the severe restrictions placed on women’s access to abortion services continue. A new report from the Center for Reproductive Rights describes the “unacceptable obstacles” that abortion providers face in providing reproductive rights, using testimony from both providers and women seeking abortions throughout the country. The reasons cited for limited access to abortion services include a shortage of providers due to the social and financial costs of performing abortions, intimidation and harassment of providers and women seeking abortions, and legal restrictions such as mandatory waiting periods and prohibitions on federal funds.

Constant harassment and intimidation at abortion clinics continue to limit the ability of abortion providers to do their jobs and of women to obtain abortions in a safe and respectful space. Laws such as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) are meant to stop the often violent harassment that anti-abortion protesters use outside of abortion clinics. However, local and federal law enforcement can be lax in investigating threats: the report notes that the police often do not understand the provisions of FACE, or are unwilling to interfere with what they perceive as “the expected cost of providing abortion.”

Increasingly, anti-abortion groups are using litigation as a strategy to further harass abortion providers and burden law enforcement and the judicial system. For example, an anti-abortion group in Allentown, Pennsylvania sued the city after their protesters were arrested for “trespass, impeding access, racist and sexual taunting, and residential picketing” outside of a women’s clinic. The city eventually settled after a lengthy case, paying $10,000 to each of the 13 protestors. Experiences such as these have made law enforcement officials reluctant to interfere with protests outside clinics for fear of the legal repercussions. In this case, the Allentown City Solicitor told the clinic director that the city could no longer respond to any complaints at the clinic “unless there is a threat to life or person,” effectively admitting to the city’s almost complete inability to enforce the law with regards to abortion protestors. Read more

The absolute abortion ban enacted in Nicaragua in 2008 is endangering the lives of women and girls in that country and marks a “grave departure” from the Nicaraguan government’s efforts in improving health and equality, according to a new report from Amnesty International. The report details the results of the ban, which it says has denied women and girls life-saving treatment and prevented health care professionals from providing necessary medicine. Of the 115 maternal deaths that occurred in Nicaragua in the past year, it has been estimated that over 10% (at least 12 deaths) could have been prevented if therapeutic abortions had been available.

The ban, included in Nicaragua’s revised Penal Code, allows no exceptions, even in the case of maternal health, incest, or rape. Previously, therapeutic abortion (performed if the life or health of the woman is at risk because of the pregnancy) was legal but highly restricted – it was only permissible if three medical practitioners deemed it necessary and a family member agreed. Now, however, medical practitioners can even be arrested for treating a pregnant woman with a condition such as HIV/AIDS or cancer, because the treatment may cause injury or death to the fetus. Health care workers can also be prosecuted if a fetus is accidentally injured or harmed during birth. The threat of these harsh legal consequences may simply keep medical professionals from seeing pregnant women at all, to avoid prosecution in the event of unintentional fetal injury or death. Even women who have miscarriages fear being arrested, as it can be nearly impossible to determine whether an abortion was spontaneous (a miscarriage) or intentional.

Women and girls who are raped or victims of incest are also included under the abortion ban. Most reported rape cases in Nicaragua involve victims under the age of 18, and 87% of rape or incest victims who get pregnant are between 10 and 14 years old. In the report, a local NGO described supporting a nine-year-old victim of incest and rape through pregnancy, because no other legal options were available. Young women and girls who have not reached physical maturity have higher rates of pregnancy complications and are particularly endangered by this abortion ban. Read more

[Editor's note: This is a guest post written by Dr. AuTumn Davidson.]

The recent murder of Dr. George Tiller, a prominent Kansas abortion provider, is a tragedy whose consequences will reverberate far beyond the immediate devastation of his friends, family and patients. Dr. Tiller was a true hero, an activist who dedicated his life to women’s reproductive rights, and now the most recent in a line of martyrs murdered for ensuring the safety of women around the country.

Thirty-six years after abortion became legal, the United States faces a dearth of providers: only 12% of counties have doctors who provide this service, the vast majority of whom are in metropolitan areas. This unfortunate statistic is in part the result of the coordinated attacks on abortion providers that have persisted over the decades. Since 1977, there have been 8 murders and 17 attempted murders of physicians. There have been 41 reported bombings of clinics, hundreds of cases of arson and invasions, and thousands of reported cases of vandalism and trespassing. Every one of these acts serves to deter practitioners from providing abortions services, in effect hindering the possibility for Americans to access safe, legal procedures.

As doctors, women, and concerned members of our communities, we refuse to stand silent as our mentors are murdered. We write this letter in solidarity with Dr. Tiller and the many brave defenders of women’s rights who devote their careers to providing women with safe reproductive options. We implore the medical community to join us to demand that our communities stand up to the domestic terrorism that continues to attack our profession, and insist that these criminals and their handlers be brought to justice. Only in this way can we assure that Dr. Tiller’s legacy is preserved for women around the country.

AuTumn Davidson, MD
Kenneth Barron, MD
Gabrielle Burger, MD
Tiffany Forti, MD, MPH
Tara Kumaraswami, MD
Monica Lucero, MD, MPH
Jennifer Scanlon, MD

See also: Responses: The murder of Dr. Tiller

UPDATE: Dr. Tiller’s former clinic to close.

(originally posted June 2, 2009)

From Nancy Northrop, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights,

I am deeply saddened by the tragic news of Dr. Tiller’s murder. Dr. Tiller has long been a stalwart and fearless defender of women’s fundamental health and rights, providing abortions despite decades of relentless and vicious attacks on his clinic, family and private life. His death is a devastating loss to the reproductive rights movement and to women across this country. We send our condolences to his family and friends.

Others on the web react to the event:

NY Times: Abortion Doctor Shot to Death in Kansas Church

The American Prospect: Why Clinic Violence is Obama’s Problem

The Huffington Post: Rachel Maddow interviews Dr. Susan Wicklund, abortion provider and friend of Dr. Tiller

The Lede: Doctor Was Target of O’Reilly’s Rhetoric

Salon: Sure, killing a doctor’s wrong — but don’t overreact!

Protesters seek legalization of abortion in Brazil

It may be hard to imagine a 9-year-old, all of 79 pounds and four feet tall, 15 weeks pregnant with twins. Now compound that image with the girl’s story– sexually abused repeatedly, allegedly by her stepfather, since the age of 6. While the alleged rape should be enough to raise media attention, it is the tense controversy over reproductive rights in the predominantly Catholic country that is making headlines after the medical team who performed the legal abortion, as well as the girl’s mother, were summarily excommunicated by the Church.

Brazilian Minister of Health Jose Gomes Temporao declared, “It is legitimate for the church to have its dogmas, but theses dogmas must not be imposed on society as a whole.” Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of the coastal city of Recife countered in a TIME interview, “They took the life of an innocent… Taking that life cannot be ignored.” Read more