The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hear an appeal of a case that challenges whether the state’s parental consent law for abortion can be used as a defense in a criminal case, the AP/Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports. Mississippi law allows minors to obtain an abortion with either parental consent or a judicial waiver.
The case involves a Columbus, Miss., woman named Charlotte Sherron who in 2004 was sentenced to three years in prison with two years of post release supervision for attempting to hide her husband’s crime of statutory rape by assisting the survivor, her 13-year-old daughter, in obtaining an abortion. The Mississippi Court of Appeals in 2006 unanimously upheld the conviction. The court ruled that by consenting to an abortion for her daughter, Sherron helped hide her husband’s crime by removing its most obvious evidence.
In the 8-0 decision, former Judge Leslie Southwick wrote that while Sherron’s case raised a constitutional question of criminalizing a “parent’s decision to consent to a minor child’s abortion,” Sherron waived it at the trial court level, and there was no reason for the appellate court to address the issue. Southwick also wrote, “Sherron argues that even though the constitutional right [to abortion] is with the minor, a parent’s fundamental right is to assist in a minor child’s pursuit of an abortion,” adding that “prosecuting the parent would under this argument constitute an undue burden on the child’s right.”
However, Appeals Court Judge Larry Roberts wrote that there was no constitutional conflict and the court should confirm that position. “In this case, Sherron’s conviction did not restrict her daughter’s right to an abortion, it established a restriction on Sherron’s right to conceal the fact that her husband committed statutory rape of her own daughter,” Roberts said (Elliott, AP/Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 6/28). He also said that he could not see how “prohibiting a parent from concealing the fact that their spouse committed statutory rape against their minor child amounts to a substantial obstacle to that minor child’s right to an abortion.” Roberts added, “I find no constitutional protection that effectively immunizes Sherron’s behavior” (Elliott, Associated Press, 6/28).
“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) on Friday signed legislation (HB 184) to repeal a state law (HB 763) that required physicians to notify by certified letter a parent or guardian of a minor who is seeking an abortion at least 48 hours before performing the procedure, the AP/Washington Post reports. New Hampshire is the first state to repeal a parental notification measure (Love, AP/Washington Post, 6/29). The law also barred parents from forbidding the procedure, and the notification requirement could have been bypassed by a judge if a doctor determined that the minor’s life was in danger.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England; the American Civil Liberties Union; the Concord Feminist Health Center; the Feminist Health Center of Portsmouth, N.H.; and Manchester, N.H.-based ob-gyn Wayne Goldner in November 2003 filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law. U.S. District Judge Joseph DiClerico and the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently struck down the entire law. New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte (R) appealed the rulings to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that the judicial bypass clause in the measure combined with other state laws that allow doctors to act in an emergency protect a woman’s health.
The Supreme Court in January 2006 unanimously ruled that the lower courts should not have invalidated the entire measure and ordered lower courts to review the legislative intent regarding exceptions to the law for medical emergencies. The state Senate last month voted 15-9 to pass the House-approved repeal measure (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 6/11).
Lynch Comments, Reaction
Lynch said, “I strongly believe parents should be involved in these decisions, providing important support and guidance. Unfortunately, that is not possible in every case” (AP/Washington Post, 6/29). He said that the “Supreme Court found this law unconstitutional because it fails to protect the health and safety of all women, which is why I am signing its repeal.” Lynch added, “I deeply believe that as a state we must continue to work to reduce the need for abortions and to achieve greater parental involvement in these important decisions, in a manner consistent with our constitution” (Fahey, Manchester Union-Leader, 6/29).
State Republican Party Chair Fergus Cullen said, “One can be pro-choice and still believe that parents have a right to know whether their minor daughter became pregnant,” adding, “Lynch is saying that parents don’t have a right to know their minor children became pregnant.” State Rep. Fran Wendelboe (R), who advocated keeping the law, said its supporters have not decided whether to introduce a new law in January 2008 or wait until after the 2008 elections (AP/Washington Post, 6/29).
“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
The British Medical Association on Wednesday at its annual conference in Torquay, England, voted 189-89 to approve a proposal recommending the United Kingdom eliminate a requirement that women seeking abortions of a fetus of less than 13 weeks’ gestation obtain the signature of two doctors before undergoing a procedure, London’s Times reports (Hawkes, Times, 6/28). The proposal would only require one physician to approve an abortion of less than 13 weeks’ gestation after explaining the positives and negatives of the procedure, BBC News reports (Triggle, BBC News, 6/27).
Tony Calland, chair of the BMA ethics committee, said that the change could reduce the time women must wait to obtain the procedure, which currently can be up to seven weeks in some areas. According to the Times, nearly 90% of abortions in the country are conducted in the first trimester (Times, 6/28).
According to Reuters, the proposal now becomes official policy of BMA, which represents about 70% of doctors in the country, and executives of the association plan to lobby U.K.’s Parliament to adopt the changes. Members of Parliament are expected to consider amendments to 1967 Abortion Act later this year (Castle, Reuters, 6/27). A spokesperson for the U.K. Department of Health said, “The government has no plans to change the law on abortion” (BBC News, 6/27).
BMA representatives at the meeting also voted to reject a proposal that would allow nurses and midwives to perform abortions, as well as a measure that would permit the procedure to be performed outside licensed clinics (Reuters, 6/27). Opponents of the proposals said that surgical abortions are highly complex, BBC News reports (BBC News, 6/27).
“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
The latest Abortion Statistics 2006 show yet again a rise in the number of abortions in the UK (a 3.9% rise to 193, 700 abortions carried out over the year). This is very disappointing and points to a failure to address the problem of unplanned pregnancy, particularly in teenagers and young women. In light of widely available contraception, this now represents a major public health issue and a failure of preventive medicine.
As stated in the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV report published recently Sex, Drugs, Alcohol and Young People. A review of the impact of alcohol and drugs on young people’s sexual behaviour , alcohol and drugs have a role in increasing risky behaviour amongst teenagers. The report also established that certain sections of the media are responsible for promoting negative images which impact on self-image and encourage unhealthy lifestyles and poor role-models.
The abortion statistics show that the abortion rate was highest for women age 19. The under-16 abortion rate was 3.9 and the under-18 rate was 18.2 per 1,000 women, both higher than in 2005.
The RCOG publishes its Study Group findings on Teenage Pregnancy over the next week and urges the Government, Department of Health and policy makers to heed the recommendations and proposals from identifying patterns and trends in teenage pregnancy and which interventions work. If abortions carried out on unplanned teenage pregnancies are to be reduced, due attention needs to be paid to increasing the practical research into these areas to assist in the development and implementation of preventive programmes on sexual and reproductive healthcare, public information campaigns, workforce training and the commissioning of services.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) believes there needs to be a rethink in the way Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) is provided in the country with the aim of changing attitudes and behaviour across all ages. A co-ordinated, multi-channel, multi-agency approach with local strategies is needed to tackle the problem.
The RCOG would support better and more effective SRE in schools and local communities and a greater role of the media in rising awareness about sexual and reproductive health.
To assist in the development of such a strategy, the RCOG, through the Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare (FFP-RHC), would welcome an extension of the work done previously by the Teenage Pregnancy Unit and now by the Every Child Matters initiative to include both young and older women, so that the educational and contraceptive needs of women across all age groups are catered for.
The RCOG also believes there is an urgent need for a National Guidance (NICE) developed from the clinical recommendations of the RCOG’s own guidelines on abortion care, produced in 2004. This will be important in assisting commissioning and service needs in the UK.
In the meantime, the current widespread closure of local family planning services will affect access to and availability of such services to women, especially the most needy, and may be a factor in the increase in abortions. It is important that commissioners in primary care trusts factor in the long-term public health implications of these clinic closures.
For more information see:
1. Department of Health. Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2006. Statistical Bulletin 2007/01
2. Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV. Sex, Drugs, Alcohol and Young People. A review of the impact of alcohol and drugs on young people’s sexual behaviour.
3. Every Child Matters
4. RCOG. The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion
http://www.rcog.org.uk
Leaders of 10 African countries, including Kenyan Vice President Moody Awori, on Tuesday during a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, called for the legalization of safe abortion procedures to curb maternal mortality, Kenya’s Daily Nation reports. Awori addressed the three-day conference for women leaders to discuss international and regional human rights agreements to reduce maternal mortality, which included representatives from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
According to the Daily Nation, officials called for “political commitment” and “clear legal grounds” to curb unsafe abortions on the continent. A protocol on women’s rights in Africa that authorizes safe abortions in cases of rape, incest, and when continued pregnancy endangers the life or health of the pregnant woman or fetus has been ratified by 21 countries on the continent. Kenya and Uganda have signed but not ratified the protocol, while Botswana, Central Africa Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan and Tunisia have neither signed nor ratified it.
“The ratification of the protocol is high on Kenya’s agenda,” Awori said in a speech read on his behalf by assistant minister Hussein Maalim. “It is sad to learn that 68,000 women die of unsafe abortion each year and, out of these, 30,000 are in Africa,” Awori said, adding, “We could simply say there is one unsafe abortion for every seven live births in Africa.”
He noted that 10,000 to 15,000 secondary school girls in Kenya drop out of school annually due to unplanned pregnancies. “Without recourse to termination of the unplanned pregnancy, their personal development is usually curtailed and the nation losses their development potential,” Awori said, adding, “At worst they die at the hands of unqualified abortionist. This needs to be remedied” (Barasa, Daily Nation, 6/27).
Catholic Bishops, Antiabortion Group Protest Public Session Discussing Legalization of Abortion in Kenya
In related news, an antiabortion group on Tuesday attempted to disrupt a mock tribunal on illegal abortions held by the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance, the Daily Nation reports (Wafula, Daily Nation, 6/27).
According to Sarah Onyango, regional director of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, abortion is banned in Kenya, but some physicians perform safe abortions for women who can afford them. The tribunal aimed to hear the testimony of women who have undergone clandestine abortions, as well as physicians and midwives who perform them (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 6/18).
The groups hosting the tribunal said they aimed “to publicize the negative consequences of the criminalization of abortion in Kenya.” They added that the “denial of a pregnant woman’s right to make an independent decision regarding abortion violates or poses a threat to a wide range of human rights.”
However, a statements signed by all the Roman Catholic bishops in the country condemned the tribunal, saying, “A state which legalizes abortion most definitely abdicates a very basic reason for its own existence.” The bishops said that it is “important … to note that abortion has never put an end to women’s social distress but that it simply adds a personal tragedy,” adding that “there is no reason or motive that can ever objectively confer the right to dispose of another’s life” (CISA/AllAfrica.com, 6/26).
According to the Nation, the antiabortion group that disrupted the meeting accused the forum organizers of “advancing a foreign agenda” and called for a “more representative sitting” at the meeting. Health assistant minister Enoch Kibunguchy, who arrived to the forum during the protest, said it showed how controversial the abortion issue is and called for a rational debate on the subject (Daily Nation, 6/27).
“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison (D) on Tuesday in a letter to Pedro Irigonegaray, the attorney representing Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, said he has ended the investigation against a clinic operated by the organization in Overland Park, Kan., for allegedly performing illegal late-term abortions, the Kansas City Star reports (Carroll/Klepper, Kansas City Star, 6/26).
Former state Attorney General Phill Kline (R) in 2004 subpoenaed the records of 90 women and girls who in 2003 underwent late-term abortions at Comprehensive Health, which is operated by PPKM. Kline also subpoenaed the records at Women’s Health Care Services in Wichita, Kan., saying there is probable cause that each record contains evidence of a felony. The state Supreme Court in February 2006 ruled that Kline can seek access to the records but that he must return to Shawnee County, Kan., District Court Judge Richard Anderson and present his reasons for seeking the subpoenas. Anderson turned over the records to Kline’s office in November 2006 after removing information that would identify individuals (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 1/10).
Morrison in the letter to Irigonegaray wrote, “Our investigation is now complete, and we have found no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing by your client.” He added, “As a result, we will not be filling any charges against your client.” PPKM officials subsequently released the letter during a news conference, the AP/Topeka Capital-Journal reports. Peter Brownlie, president and CEO of the organization, said the letter confirmed that the clinic provides high-quality medical care and complies with state law (Hollingsworth, AP/Topeka Capital-Journal, 6/26). “From the beginning, we’ve also said that Mr. Kline’s investigation was nothing more and nothing less than a fishing expedition, conducted for a political agenda,” Brownlie said. He added that the organization is “grateful” the “witch-hunt is over” but is still concerned that Kline — who is now district attorney of Johnson County, Kan. — will continue his own investigation (Kansas City Star, 6/26).
Kline did not comment on whether an investigation was underway, but said he was not surprised by Morrison’s letter. Morrison’s “actions were predicted
months ago and fully anticipated,” Kline said. Mary Kay Culp, executive director of Kansans for Life, said the letter to PPKM is significant because it is “probably a harbinger of what’s to come with [George] Tiller,” who owns Women’s Health Care Services (AP/Topeka Capital-Journal, 6/26).
Tiller Case
Morrison spokesperson Ashley Anstaett on Wednesday said that 15 of the 30 charges filed by Kline last year against Tiller were based on incomplete and substandard information, the Kansas City Star reports (Klepper, Kansas City Star, 6/27). Kline charged Tiller with 30 misdemeanors for allegedly performing 15 illegal late-term abortions in 2003 on women ages 10 to 22 without properly reporting the details to the state. Kline hired attorney Don McKinney to be special prosecutor in the case. Morrison — who defeated Kline in the November 2006 election — fired McKinney in March, and Morrison’s office asked the state Supreme Court to dismiss McKinney’s appeal. Morrison has said he is conducting his own investigation and will decide whether to reinstate charges against Tiller (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 6/14).
According to the Star, 15 of the charges filed by Kline said that Tiller relied on inadequate diagnoses to justify late-term abortions that otherwise would be illegal, and the other 15 charges alleged that Tiller did not properly report the procedures on mandated state health forms. According to Morrison’s office, Kline mixed up copies later used for four of the charges. In addition, Anstaett said Kline withheld from court documents a statement from a state health official that Tiller completed the forms. The statement should have been submitted to the judge before Kline filed 11 of the charges, Anstaett said (Kansas City Star, 6/27).
Kline said Morrison’s “depiction is false.” Tiller attorney Dan Monnat said Morrison’s investigation will show that Tiller is following state law (Hanna, AP/Forbes, 6/27). According to the Washington Post, a decision on the other 15 charges is expected by the end of this week (Slevin, Washington Post, 6/28).
“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
The New York Times on Tuesday published several letters to the editor in response to a June 22 Times opinion piece written by Melinda Henneberger, author of “If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians to Hear.” According to Henneberger, abortion-related issues have been “very, very good to the Republican Party,” and many women who previously voted for Democrats but voted for President Bush in the last presidential election cite abortion as the reason for their “defect[ion].” She adds, “Again and again, these voters said Democrats are too unwilling to tolerate dissent” on the issue (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 6/25). Click here to read the letters.
“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.