1. A BORTION P OLICY PROJECT Nancy Ding

2. HISTORY: BEFORE ROE v. WADE Abortion was legal at the time when the settlers came to America During the creation of the Constitution Abortion was performed commonly as long as it was before the “quickening” stage Quickening= “the first signs of life” Late-1800s State laws were passed to make abortion illegal Possible reason Population would have a higher rate of children from immigrant parents than “native Anglo-Saxon women.” Back alley abortions became more frequent

3. HISTORY: AFTER ROE v. WADE Supporters of abortion were overjoyed (obviously) and had felt that they had won the battle Anti-abortion supporters began taking extreme measures Disturbing abortion clinics e.g. harassing the patients when they try to enter the front door Clinic bombings and deaths Prime example: Dr. George Tiller

4. PROBLEMS

5. Definition of a Person Should a fetus have the same legal rights as a regular person? A complete 180 from the actions of the Bush Administration Had taken anti-abortion measures e.g. limiting the use of contraceptives These measures heavily affects organizations who have no government funding Abortion Funding Not covered under Medicaid unless it is in terms of “rape or life endangerment”

6. PROBLEMS CONT. Against the Hippocratic Oath Traditionally taken by doctors when they’ve completed their training One of the “rules” I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion. “Back alley” abortions would increase if abortion is banned “back alley”= slang for “illegal” Used by many when abortion was illegal before Roe v. Wade Went to untrained practitioners who performed the abortions with unsanitary or old methods. Many died or suffered from the results

7. Proposals

8. Bush: Limitation to contraceptives Draft proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Would ultimately redefine abortion and limit access to contraception Purpose: withhold government funds from health-care providers and organizations that don't hire people who refuse to perform abortions or provide certain types of birth control Possible consequences State laws that secure women’s access to birth control= obsolete Disrupt federal programs, for example, Title X

9. 109 th Congress: Prevention First Act Introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Representative Louise Slaughter and Representative DeGette Purpose To increase access to “preventative health care services that help reduce unintended pregnancy, reduce the number of abortions, and improve access to women's health care…” This never became a law It was referred to committee before it was put to a stop

10. Obama: Pregnancy Prevention Fiscal 2010 Budget Proposal Cut funding for two abstinence-only sex education programs They would be replaced with funding for programs to prevent teenage pregnancy Purpose Money from cutting the abstinence-only sex education programs would be used to further teen pregnancy prevention $75 million would be used towards this while the 25% of the funding would be for “promising models” of abstinence- only programs that are allow to stay Policy Window I think that of his ideas, this one would most likely have a better chance of surviving because it’s neutral at best and it won’t affect the budget to the point that something else important would be cut

11. Obama: Title X Program Purpose The Title X program helps low income women avoid unintended pregnancy and prevent sexually transmitted diseases His decision Proposal to the Health Resources and Services Administration= increase funding to $10 million Consequences Budget proposal would eliminate Medicaid and Medicare spending by $309 billion over 10 years

12. Evaluation of Obama’s actions Obama may support abortion but his new programs in his “budget proposal” are not dramatically helping abortion He’s trying to meet everyone halfway b/c he has yet to eliminate the idea of using federal funding for abortion Budget proposal includes a provision that would remove restrictions barring the District of Columbia from using its own public funds for abortion services It would also leave in place restrictions on the use of federal money for abortion in the district and all 50 states

13. P OLITICS

14. Public Opinion

15. PRO-ABORTION: NATIONAL ABORTION FEDERATION Established in 1977 by combining National Association of Abortion Facilities and the National Abortion Council An interest group whose goal is to “ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care” Team of professional abortion providers Expanded its branches to Canada and European countries Operate from donations and is a registered charity

16. Pro-Abortion: Planned Parenthood An interest group created in 1916 by Margret Sanger (originally only for birth control issues) whose sole purpose is to “ensure that family planning and reproductive health care services are available to everyone who wants and needs them.” Active in Supreme Court cases e.g Planned Parenthood v. Casey 1/3 of its funding is government grants and contracts Heavily supported by private donations

17. PRO-ABORTION: GUTTMACHER INSTITUTE A think tank that is a quasi-independent division of Planned Parenthood Purpose “Advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide” Help to make unplanned abortions avoidable

18. ANTI-ABORTION: NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE An interest group that was founded as a result of the Roe v. Wade court case decision Purpose Provide legal protection to innocent human life Lobbies at the federal level= achieved success of a few of legislative reforms e.g “a ban on non- therapeutic experimentation of unborn and newborn babies…”

19. ANTI-ABORTION: SUSAN B. ANTHONY LIST A political action committee (PAC) group whose goal is to increase pro-life women’s role in the political process to end abortion Helps these women to become elected to Congress

20. P OLITICAL POSITIONS

21. POLITICAL POSITIONS CONT. Democratic Party Considers abortion women’s rights Doesn’t matter if she is unable to pay Consistent with the decision in Roe v. Wade Believes that choice is a constitutional right= constitutional liberty “Abortion should be rare, legal, and safe” Republican Party Stands by the “first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence” Unborn child has a right to life Believes in other options like adoption

22. CONCLUSION Political Forecast I believe that Obama would stay consistent to his views of making teen pregnancy prevention stronger I don’t think that he would allow all types of abortion to be legal though because he’s not trying to step on anyone’s tail In short, he is trying to accommodate everyone’s interests My thoughts I believe in the idea of abortion to a certain extent because ultimately, it is a woman’s right to choose what she wants to do with her body