Gloria Feldt - The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Womens Rights and How to Fight Back

Table of Contents

To Alex

HOW MUCH LONGER WILL A WOMAN HAVE A RIGHT TO HER OWN BODY?

Theres a hidden war on women being waged across America and the right wings most radical zealots are winning. A shocking expos as well as a passionate call to arms, The War on Choice lays out in frightening detail the right wings thirty-year campaign to undermine the hard-won laws protecting a womans freedoms. Did you know that there are:

335 new state laws restricting a womans right to choose in justthe last 8 years

87 percent of U.S. counties with no safe abortion provider... and that number isincreasing

24 statesso farwith mandatory delays and state-preparedanti-choice propagandadespite the objection of the AmericanMedical Association

Gloria Feldt, the president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, reveals how right-wing extremists are quietly plotting to snatch away our rightsand the rights of our sisters and daughters while the vast majority of Americans assume our access to reproductive information and health care is protected. She describes:

Doctors prevented from giving accurate information about birthcontrol and abortion to their patients

Right-wing legislation that gives fertilized eggs more rights thanwomen

Anti-condom policies that result in unwanted pregnancies as well as an increase in STDs, including AIDS

The War on Choice combines investigative research with the voices of those directly affected by this campaign, to reveal the extent of the damage already inflicted by the anti-choice right wing and its allies in the White House, Congress, and state legislatures. Most important, it also delivers a practical, realizable plan for victorybefore it is too late.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My first acknowledgment goes to you, because if you have opened this book, it means you are already concerned about the threat to reproductive rights and health-care access. Thats the first step toward fighting back and fighting forward to right the many wrongs you will read about herein.

But before you start reading the text, I want you to fix in your mind, or take out of your billfold and look at, a picture of a young woman you care deeply about. Maybe it is your daughter, your niece, your sister, your friend, your love. Keep that picture as the lens through which you read, because The War on Choice is about her, and for herher dreams and aspirations for her life and her ability to realize those dreams. Too often we lose sight of that focus on the real lives of women, and on the people who care about them, in the increasingly vitriolic debate that surrounds the war on choice. Too often politicians and the media have reduced the rich complexity of some of lifes most important decisions to one wordabortion and reduced the intricate questions about individual rights under law to one issuethe future of Roe v Wade. Yet whats at stake is so much more, as these pages will attest.

I was so fortunate at the start that Paula Balzer and Sarah Lazin of Sarah Lazin Books believed that this book must be written, and that the amazing women of Bantam Dellespecially Nita Taublib, the associate publisher, Barbara Burg, the director of publicity, and my extraordinary editor, Beth Rashbaumbelieved and convinced others that this book must be published. Beth worked as many weekends as I did to make sure the book was on time and on point. I was soon to understand why people told me she is one of the few real editors. And she cajoled me into changes in the nicest way.

It has taken the proverbial village, and then some, to research and write this book. It was a pleasure to work with Laura Fraser, a talented writer with a passionate commitment to womens rights. I already miss our late-night conversations and shared outrage. To the incredibly committed, courageous, compassionate Planned Parenthood people everywhere, my profound appreciation is not nearly enough to express the full depth of my feelings for your contributions to this movement every day and to this book in particular. You are joined by the many sister and brother organizations that make up the larger movement devoted to womens human and civil rights. To all those heroes on the frontline every day making sure women have access to the services that make their rights meaningful, thank you.

I could fill an entire book with kudos to the many Planned Parenthood Federation of America staff whose passion for telling the important story of the war on choice led them to contribute way above and beyond the call of duty. They include Elizabeth Toledo, who was determined we would get this book published and doggedly pursued the myriad steps that are necessary on the path to publication; Mary Guidera, whose enthusiasm for the book kept my spirits up as she cheerfully did the impossible many times over; Gustavo Suarez, who was assigned the task of managing production of this book immediately upon joining the staff and did so admirably; Helena Clarke, who kept them all in line; Kate Rounds, whose journalistic skills were invaluable; our crackerjack editors, Barbara Snow and Jim Lubin, and researchers Jim Byrnes, Jennifer Johnsen, Jon Knowles, Jessica Davis, Sarah Hill, Adina Wingate-Quijada, along with Rebecca Wind of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, and Vanessa Richardson, who assisted Laura Fraser. Page McCarley handled many and complex exchanges of information with grace and could miraculously always find just the thing I was looking for, Suellen Craig could pull things together when it looked like they were falling apart, and Traci Perry came aboard just in time to help get the final manuscript done while we were criss-crossing the country.

The brilliant Susanne Martinez and her equally stellar Washington staff responded with alacrity to my many questions about the facts and the politics and were so helpful with scheduling interviews with members of Congress: Jodie Leu, Jennifer Bolduc, Chris Korsmo, Deena Maerowitz, Dennis Poplin, Amy Taylor, David Broder, Shirine Mohagheghpour, Connie Watts, Corey Simmons, Abby Tibbs, Dresden McIntosh. Others who contributed content included Vanessa Cullins M.D., Ann Glazier, Mike McGee, Allie Stickney, Valerie De Fillipo, and Kirsten Sherk. Caren Spruch snagged some important interviews.

And then there are the lawyers, and ours are wonderful: Carole Chervin and Beth Otten, Dara Klassel (I hope that I have not given you grey hair), Roger Evans, Helene Krasnoff, and paralegal, Julie Strauss. Thank you for your patience and your precision in reviewing book drafts and contracts, and answering countless queries. Thanks also to Bantam Dells lawyer, Matthew Martin, who contributed his own careful reading and helpful queries.

Many staff and volunteers from Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide and the national board shared their stories of trial and triumph, action, political smarts, and courage. There were so many stories I did not have space for all of them in the book, but all of them informed me and I want to thank everyone who contributed: Christine Charbonneau, Audrey Bracey Deegan, Bob Lohrmann, Jamie Leonard, Scott Heyman, Betty Cockrum, Chris Funk, Jeanette Vargo, Chris Lalley, Tamara Carpenter, Carla Holeva, Karla Peterson, Liz Accles, Elizabeth Snyder, Emily P. Goodstein, Lindsay Boyd, Linda Hahn, Pamela Smallwood, Rebecca Poedy, Barry Raff, Tony Thornton, Tomasina Chamberlain, David Nova, Jennifer Olenchek, Susan Flayer, and Bonnie Bolitho.