News & Commentary

March is Women’s History Month! We're celebrating some of our favorite champions, from Maine and away.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.

March is Women’s History Month! We're celebrating some of our favorite champions, from Maine and away.

March is Women’s History Month! We're celebrating some of our favorite champions, from Maine and away.

South Dakota is dealing with a bevy of anti-choice bills this legislative session. One of the more preposterous bills is HB 1162, An Act to Prohibit the Practice of Sex-Selective Abortions. The bill is being touted as a women's rights bill, but, of course, nothing could be farther from the truth. The "urgent need" for the bill is premised on the misconception that some women's sole purpose for seeking an abortion is to abort their female fetus. The racism involved in this assumption is not veiled. The "urgent need" for the bill is based on the stereotype that Asian and Asian-American women living in the US engage in the same selection practices that are reported in India and China. When expressing his concern about sex-selective abortions, Don Haggar (who voted in favor of the bill) stated: "Let me tell you, our population in South Dakota is a lot more diverse than it ever was. There are cultures that look at sex-selection abortion as being culturally okay. And I will suggest to you that we are embracing individuals from some of those cultures in this country, or in this state." Representative Stace Nelson (also in favor of the bill) recalled his time in Asia as a Marine to advocate for the necessity of this bill: "Many of you know I spent 18 years in Asia...and sadly, I can tell you that the rest of the world does not value the lives of women as much as I value the lives of my daughters." You can listen to the hearing here.

Earlier this week, both the Maine State Senate and House voted down LD 1428, a bill that would have authorized discrimination in the name of religion. The so-called "religious freedom" bill actually had little to do with religious freedom, which the ACLU of Maine has a long (and successful) history of defending, but would have created a gaping exemption to the Maine Human Rights Act. We testified against the bill last month, along side our partners in the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination, the LGBT Coalition, the Coalition for Maine Women, the Choice Coalition, and many more. You can read our testimony here.

New Hampshire  senate just passed a bill that would create a 25-foot buffer zone around abortion clinics. SB 319 passed 15 to 9, despite the fact that the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 3 to 2 to reject the bill. The bill had strong bipartisan support in the senate; this most likely contributed to the bill’s passage. The bill is now headed to to the house for a vote.

Abortion rates are dropping. According to an extensive report published by the Guttmacher Institute, the US abortion rate has reached its lowest level since the implementation of Roe v. Wade in 1973. The charted numbers reflect a slow increase until 1982, and then a fairly steady decline. Abortion rates declined 13% between 2008 and 2011, alone. While this information may come as good news to people on both sides of the choice debate, the decreasing numbers lead to some crucial questions. Namely, who can claim this victory? Because the study doesn't provide concrete data explaining the drop in abortion rates, it becomes easy for either side to claim this as a victory.

Researchers Dr. Gretchen Sisson and Dr. Katrina Kimport of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) recently presented a study in which they identified and traced abortion-related story lines in American film and television since 1916. They found 310 pregnancy decision related story lines. Out of that 310, 173 (55.8%) pregnancies resulted in abortion, 80 (25,8%) in parenting, 13 (4.2%) in adoption, 21 (6.7%) in miscarriage, and 16 (5.1%) were unresolved. 13.5% of the story lines ended with the death of the woman who had considered an abortion, regardless of whether or not they actually had an abortion. Of that 13.5%, approximately half died from complications arising from the abortion.