Informing and educating the public and advising policy makers about the impact of public policy decisions on the welfare of women and families is central to NYWA's mission. Through our committees, we develop position statements on various issues that concern us.

NYWA POSITION STATEMENT ON WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM

Reproductive freedom is the fundamental right to decide when and whether to have a child.  Reproductive self-determination encompasses the right to privacy, the right to education and information to make informed choices, and the right to safe, affordable access to comprehensive healthcare services.

Typically, urban women and wealthy women can exercise their reproductive rights and they have access to appropriate medical care.  Sadly, this is not the case for all women.  A woman’s right to choose whether or not to have children was established by the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade.

Without access to reproductive health services, this right is meaningless.

New York Women’s Agenda supports reproductive freedom as essential to women’s rights.  We recognize the interrelationship between reproductive freedom and social, economic and political rights for women.  No woman should be forced to bear children.  We advocate the protection of such rights to promote the equality of women and to help ensure that children are wanted and loved.

Equally important, we advocate the development of educational programs—for young men and young women—that impart the responsibilities and skills of parenthood.

NYWA supports New York State legislative efforts to protect every woman’s right to maintain control over her reproductive choices and health.  Current initiatives under discussion would:

  • Require health plans that offer prescription coverage to include contraceptives.
  • Prevent the reduction of health services, including contraception, due to hospital mergers.
  • Provide permanent funding for school based health services including emergency contraceptives for students of SUNY and CUNY.
  • Expand prenatal care coverage for poor and also legal immigrant women.
  • Pass the Women’s Health and Wellness Act, requiring HMOs to pay for contraception, screening for osteoporosis, cervical cancer and mammograms.
  • Block proposed legislation that would restrict minor children access to abortion services, establish mandatory waiting periods, or restrict the type of abortion method used by doctors.

NYWA FACT SHEET ON REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Public opinion polls continue to document strong, broad-based support for family planning services, particularly government-financed services for low-income individuals and especially teenagers.  According to an October 1997 survey conducted for Planned Parenthood Federation of America by a team of prominent Democratic and Republican pollsters, almost nine out of 10 voters (88%) believe family planning services are important; seven in ten (71%) favor increased public funding for family planning services and counseling.  Further, 85% of the voters consider teen access to family planning services and contraception critically important.  Of these, two-thirds agree that teens should have confidential access to these services.

Yet every year, more restrictions are enacted as law:

  • Thirty-one states require that the parent(s) of a minor child be notified before she can have an abortion, even if the parents may be abusive when they discover she is pregnant.
  • Fifteen states restrict both private and public insurance coverage for comprehensive family-planning services.
  • Thirty-one states do not provide Medicaid funding to poor women who choose to terminate a pregnancy.
  • Fifteen states require not only mandatory counseling for abortion patients, but also a delay to allow for contemplation after counseling.  As a result, abortions in those states are performed later in the pregnancy and require additional visits to the healthcare provider.  This can be a significant hardship, since almost 90% of the counties in the U.S. do not have abortion providers, and may women have to travel a significant distance.  Alaska, for example, has no such providers at all within the state.

New York State has fewer restrictions than most other states, but significant problems still exist:

  • Ninety-two percent of the counties within New York State have identifiable providers.  Some women travel 600 miles to a clinic.
  • Fifty-four percent of New York emergency rooms do not offer emergency contraceptives to rape victims.
  • New York trains many of the nation’s future doctors.  Only 12% of hospital resident training programs routinely train doctors to perform first trimester abortions.
  • New York State’s health Commissioner, Antonia Novello, is vehemently anti-choice and wants to end New York’s policy of paying for Medicaid abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother's life is at risk.

Contributing writers:  Andrea F. Balis, Ph.D.; member of the board of directors of NARAL New York, assistant professor at Thematic Studies at John Jay College, and author of What are You Using?, a book on contraception for teens, and articles on women’s health, contraception, and sexually transmitted diseases; Linda C. Hartley, member of the board of directors of NYWA and former board member of NARAL New York.  Edited by NYWA Board members Susan Alt and Paula Gerard.  Information was obtained from the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Additional Position Statements

1. Arts & Cultural Affairs
2. Housing
3. Pay Equity
4. Racial Harmony

 

 

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