Congress Learns that Abortion is Very Safe
We
have come to expect that most every piece of legislation restricting access to
abortion will be accompanied by a sentence or two from an extremist politician
expressing “deep” concern over the health and safety of women.
Earlier
this year, two separate committees in the House of Representatives went on
fishing expeditions, seeking to find proof that women were endangered by
abortion, and that clinics were making it difficult for state officials to
regulate these health services. These committees asked for reams of
documentation on the monitoring of abortion clinics.
Sharona
Coutts, an investigative reporter for RH Reality Check, used the Freedom of
Information Act to get copies of the documentation provided to Congress by
state health departments and attorneys general. Her work appears in an amazing report published by
RH Reality Check
that confirms what we have known for a long time: abortion is an incredibly
safe procedure, and one that is extremely regulated:
An
analysis of these documents shows that congressional Republicans will find no
support for their arguments in favor of new restrictions on abortion care in
the evidence presented by the states. In particular, to the extent that
anti-choice advocates claim that women are being put at risk by abortion
services, these documents—from the very state entities charged with overseeing
and regulating abortion—show the contrary. They show that abortion in the
United States is highly regulated and overwhelmingly safe.
The
answers also underscore another reality of abortion services in this country:
The rules governing access and oversight are highly complex, and they vary
considerably between states.
The
report is part of a tool launched by RH Reality Check called State of Abortion,
and includes state by state information and documentation about abortion. And
it will be a major asset in refuting the arguments of extremist politicians
that women need to be protected from abortion. In fact, they need to be
protected from extremist legislation.