A Time for Stone Cold Realism
Of Counsel, Winter 2006
Message from our President Nancy Northup
I’ll admit that sometimes it’s hard to keep hope alive. The Administration, Congress, and numerous state legislatures are hostile to reproductive rights. Operation Rescue is thrilled with the new make up of the Supreme Court, and welcomed Justice Samuel Alito’s confirmation as “one more nail in Roe’s coffin.” It is not an easy time for reproductive freedom. So now is a good time to remember how critical our work is, and how much we can do and are doing to protect our most essential human rights. Because even now, when the opposition is fierce, we have incredible, inspirational victories which prove that the law can—and does—work for good, and that committed individuals have great power to advance freedom. Our lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration for failing to approve emergency contraception for non-prescription sale is moving forward. Federal District Judge Edward Korman gave a resounding “no” to the government’s request to dismiss our case. And he went a step further, telling the FDA that its continued foot-dragging and legal shenanigans had “all the earmarks of an administrative agency filibuster.” From Peru, we had a victory that will affect women all over the world. When our client K.L. was just seventeen years old, she learned that her pregnancy was doomed because she was carrying a fetus with no chance of survival. Even though her doctor recommended termination, and even though abortion is legal in Peru in cases when the woman’s life or health is in danger, the state hospital’s director simply told her that she could not end her pregnancy.While K.L. was forced to carry her pregnancy to term, she did not give up the struggle for her rights. We took her case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. In November, it ruled in her favor. This groundbreaking decision establishes that denying access to legal abortion violates women’s most basic human rights. The case marks the first time that an international human rights body has held a government accountable for failing to ensure access to legal abortion services. Now we have strong and clear precedent in international law: where abortion is legal it is governments’ duty to ensure that women have access to it. I’m a stone-cold realist. I know that times are tough for reproductive freedom. I know that our opposition is powerful. But I also know that when we challenge wrongs we can win. And I know that the struggle of one seventeen-year-old girl can impact the lives of women all over the world.