It is not easy getting information about where to find abortion care if your daughter is pregnant and doesn’t want to be and you live in the south. The public health units in my state cannot and do not refer families for abortion care because it is illegal to do so according to state law.
If I bring my thirteen year old to a public health unit in my town today and my daughter is found to be pregnant the public health unit will not provide me information on where to get my daughter professional abortion help. My daughter will be set up for a prenatal care appointment ONLY. My daughter’s circumstances don't matter, nor as a parent do my thoughts on what is best for my daughter matter. At all. This is an example of our wonderful state "abortion laws" working to protect our daughters and our families, right? Is this "family values" at work in our government?
It doesn’t matter if my daughter was coerced into sex. Or has a major health issue like diabetes. Or that she is very young...or even very old and coping with high blood pressure which has gone through the roof with the onset of this pregnancy or that her "post born children" are anxiously waiting at home for mom to return to cook dinner and wash school clothes and help with homework.
Providing information about abortion care is considered "assisting in" abortion care and is illegal according to state law. This law says that "no public monies may be used to provide for or ASSIST IN abortion". Since public health units obviously receive "public monies" this means public health units cannot refer for abortion care as this is considered to be "assisting in" abortion. They don't offer information on where to find abortion care regardless of the circumstances, no matter how dire the pregnancy situation. Of course, if it is OUR daughter who needs abortion care it is always dire.
If my daughter has a positive pregnancy test at a public health unit she is going to be a mom if the state has its way. Health departments in my neck of the woods do NOT refer for abortion care for any reason. Your daughter may have had a stroke recently and is learning to swallow and walk again when she is found to be six weeks pregnant. It is agreed by all the pregnancy will harm your daughter’s recovery. And your daughter may already has five little one’s waiting at home. No matter. The state will NOT PROVIDE ABORTION CARE for your daughter, nor will it REFER you to professional abortion care because it is ILLEGAL to do so. And there is NO HOSPITAL BASED ABORTION CARE here, so forget finding your daughter a hospital that can do her abortion. She will have to "suffer the pregnancy" as will her children and husband and damn the outcome.
My state will do all that it can to keep your daughter pregnant as it is in this state’s best interest to keep your daughter pregnant (did you know this?). This rationale is hard to understand when you look at statistics on public health and welfare. My state remains in the top five lists which indicate human suffering and family despair including but not limited to infant and maternal mortality and morbidity, illiteracy, teen pregnancy, and crime. Forcing women to bear pregnancies against their will has long reaching effects for all of society. Denial of abortion care increases each and every poverty indicator known to humankind so how forcing our American daughters to bear pregnancies against their will is in the BEST INTERST OF THE STATE is beyond me. Please enlighten me on how this works if you can.
Our daughters are denied abortion care AND INFORMATION and forced into maternity by the state in America every single day. And there is no outcry from our policy makers. This occurrence of forced state maternity is no longer rare. However, "abortion care" is becoming extremely rare. The plight of our daughters in Mississippi and Louisiana will be the plight of the majority of American families with limited means when it comes to finding health preserving and life saving abortion care. It simply is increasingly UNAVAILABLE and if the problem is not addressed this crisis in reproductive health care will continue.
Our policy makers who create these inane laws that hurt families and deny professional abortion care to those in need will be able to get very private, deluxe abortion care for their daughters. They always have been able to get the best abortion care for their daughters when their daughters need it. And of course, the abortions for our policy maker’s daughters are the exception and a legitimate and moral choice, unlike our "other" American daughters being forced to continue a pregnancy on behalf of the state.
Until American's wake up and realize our daughters are being hurt by the war currently being waged on abortion care we cannot stop what is occurring. We must demand our federal policy makers address this crisis in reproductive health care occurring now in America and find ways to increase access to professional abortion care for all women in need.
Our American daughters deserve access to professional abortion care and their health and welfare, and the health and welfare of their families, depends on it!