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"My Abortion" stories meant to sway Supreme Court, change public perceptions
Modern Healthcare ^ | January 7, 2016 | Lisa Schencker

Posted on 01/07/2016 3:00:29 PM PST by presidio9

More than 110 prominent members of the legal profession shared stories about their abortions with the U.S. Supreme Court this week to try and persuade it to rule against a Texas law that they say limits access to the procedures.

Their stories are part of a campaign encouraging women to talk openly about their experiences. In addition to the amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court (PDF), women have also been sharing their stories online.

"People are just hungry for breaking the silence that has sadly, unfortunately surrounded abortion for years and years and years by speaking out about their own abortion stories," said Kelly Baden, director of state advocacy for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the abortion clinics challenging the Texas law before the Supreme Court.

Baden said the center felt it was important that women's personal stories be part of the strategy in the Supreme Court case.

The case, Whole Woman's Health v. Cole, centers on whether a Texas law limits access if it requires doctors at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at local hospitals and providers to comply with the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers. A decision in the case could affect state abortion laws across the country.

The women behind the brief hail from a variety of legal backgrounds, and say they all have had abortions. They include partners at major law firms, attorneys for public organizations and law professors at well-known universities, among others.

"Amici obtained their abortions at different ages and life stages, under a variety of circumstances, and for a range of reasons both medical and personal, but they are united in their strongly held belief that they would not have been able to achieve the personal or professional successes they have achieved were it not for their ability to obtain safe and legal abortions," according to the brief.

Susan Katz Hoffman, a shareholder at Littler Mendelson, was among those who joined the brief, though she noted that she did so as an individual not as a representative of her law firm.

She said she had not previously shared her story. But she felt it was important to speak out because of the current threat to women's reproductive rights.

The Supreme Court has also agreed to hear a case about whether religious not-for-profits should have a role in helping employees get contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act. And Planned Parenthood has faced backlash from conservatives in recent months after an anti-abortion group released videos showing Planned Parenthood staff talking about providing fetal remains for research. Even Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman has come under attack for saying in recent days that women in their 20s and 30s have become complacent when it comes to abortion rights. Liberal group Credo has called for her resignation.

"There just seems to be more and more attacks on the ability of women to control their own lives," Katz Hoffman said.

Elizabeth Sepper, an associate professor of law at Washington University, said personal stories from female attorneys might be an effective strategy both from legal and emotional standpoints.

For one, she said, their stories bear witness to the court's opinion in a previous abortion case, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, that women's equal participation in society depends on their access to abortion.

Speaking to Justice Kennedy

Also, she said, the fact that the women are involved in the legal profession might help the justices better relate to them.

"Like all the amici on both sides, these women are speaking to Justice Kennedy, the swing vote," Sepper said. "These women, for better or worse, are the types of people that Justice Kennedy relates to."

Not everyone, however, agrees that the women's stories will help the abortion clinics win the case.

Kerri Kupec, legal communications director for the the conservative Christian not-for-profit Alliance Defending Freedom, believes the stories have little to do with the case before the court.

"To me, this is a safety and health standards issue, and while personal stories are very important, that's not really what this case about," Kupec said.

Those behind the Texas lawsuit say the state law would limit access to abortion by forcing many clinics to close. Kupec, however, said if so many clinics are "subpar in their health and safety protocol," that should be the larger concern.

Either way, personal stories about abortion are likely to keep coming, especially as arguments in the Whole Woman case near. Oral arguments are scheduled for March 2.

Efforts such as the 1 in 3 Campaign, the Draw The Line campaign, the My Abortion My Life campaign and the recent Twitter hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion have been encouraging women to share their experiences.

Robin Fretwell Wilson, a law professor and director of the family law and policy program at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, said the campaigns are trying to put a human face on the issue.

"This takes a page from the gay rights movement," Fretwell Wilson said, “which has been wildly successful.”


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; anthonykennedy; lovingabortion; moralabsolutes; scotus; womanshealthvscole
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1 posted on 01/07/2016 3:00:29 PM PST by presidio9
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To: wagglebee

ping


2 posted on 01/07/2016 3:02:46 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: presidio9
"These women, for better or worse, are the types of people that Justice Kennedy relates to."

I had the impression he didn't relate to women at all.

3 posted on 01/07/2016 3:02:55 PM PST by madprof98
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To: presidio9

“they are united in their strongly held belief that they would not have been able to achieve the personal or professional successes they have achieved were it not for their ability to [murder their babies].

Probably true.


4 posted on 01/07/2016 3:03:37 PM PST by Mercat (But God prefers crockpots to microwaves.)
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To: presidio9

“There just seems to be more and more attacks on the ability of women to control their own lives,” Katz Hoffman said

In the end, you’ll find out who has control over your life. Eternity will give you quite a long time to reconsider your choices.


5 posted on 01/07/2016 3:04:09 PM PST by nobamanomore
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To: presidio9
"Amici obtained their abortions at different ages and life stages, under a variety of circumstances, and for a range of reasons both medical and personal, but they are united in their strongly held belief that they would not have been able to achieve the personal or professional successes they have achieved were it not for their ability to obtain safe and legal abortions," according to the brief.

Sob stories by women who murdered their babies is supposed to sway anybody? The women could not have been successful if they could not kill? What kind of story line is that?

6 posted on 01/07/2016 3:04:22 PM PST by olezip
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To: presidio9

Imagine the moral compass of any lawyer who says that at the core of her career was the decision to kill her own unborn child.


7 posted on 01/07/2016 3:06:20 PM PST by allendale
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To: presidio9

“Hey! Look at me! Listen to me! I killed my baby! Everyone should have a right to kill their babies, those beastly little things! No limitations!”


8 posted on 01/07/2016 3:07:32 PM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: presidio9

All this stupid emotional crap. Abortion doesn’t benefit women psychically or mentally. Abortion does not benefit society. Abortion only benefits those who are paid to torture and murder babies and sell their corpses for sick twisted experiments.


9 posted on 01/07/2016 3:08:29 PM PST by Politicalkiddo ("Even peace may be purchased at too high a price." -Benjamin Franklin)
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To: madprof98
"This takes a page from the gay rights movement," Fretwell Wilson said, "which has been wildly successful."

I'm guessing that I will keep repeating this on this website until my fingers bleed:

Over the past eight years a lot of things have come to pass that we on this website thought could never happen, things even mainstream Democrats were saying they didn't want.

If the wrong person is elected president, it is entirely likely that we could be looking at an America were babies are killed for any reason right up to (and possibly after) the moment of delivery.

Yes, as some people have pointed out to me on other threads, that is already happening in a handful of states right now. Get ready for it to be enshrined as a Constitutionally protected right.

The sanctity of human life, and the protection of those who are incapable of protecting themselves -not foreign policy, not immigration, and not even the economy -is the most important issue facing our next president. We should all be concerned about the GOP establishment's reluctance to discuss this (other than as it pertains to government funding of Planned Parenthood) in any of the debates thus far.

10 posted on 01/07/2016 3:09:32 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: nobamanomore

They had control over their bodies when they got knocked up.


11 posted on 01/07/2016 3:09:33 PM PST by Politicalkiddo ("Even peace may be purchased at too high a price." -Benjamin Franklin)
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To: presidio9

So sad those aborted little girls have not had the opportunity to advance a career nor to present their cases to the justices.


12 posted on 01/07/2016 3:11:21 PM PST by nclaurel
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To: presidio9

“My Abortion My Life”

No selfish intention there./s Seems to me keeping it in the first person truthfully would be “My abortion, my baby to kill”.


13 posted on 01/07/2016 3:13:21 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy, Cruz that is.)
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To: Politicalkiddo

One thing I never understand, where does the guy stand if he accidentally knocks one up, and she wants to kill his kid? He has no rights, period??


14 posted on 01/07/2016 3:13:55 PM PST by nobamanomore
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To: nobamanomore

Exactly.
If only this were about women controlling “their own lives”

No.
These women are demanding they have control over others’ lives.
And what a trajedy that they view their very own offspring as a threat.

A mother’s womb should be the safest place for a baby.


15 posted on 01/07/2016 3:15:36 PM PST by Scotswife
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To: Politicalkiddo

Abortion only benefits those who are paid to torture and murder babies and sell their corpses for sick twisted experiments.

And GOP candidates, ironically.

16 posted on 01/07/2016 3:15:44 PM PST by presidio9 (Islam is as Islam does.)
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To: olezip

Meanwhile - as these women pursued their goals & careers ... Any potential talents and dreams of their babies has been long forgotten.


17 posted on 01/07/2016 3:18:54 PM PST by Scotswife
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To: Cicero
“Hey! Look at me! Listen to me! I killed my baby! Everyone should have a right to kill their babies, those beastly little things! No limitations!”

"And just how did those little bastards get in there in the first place?"

18 posted on 01/07/2016 3:21:44 PM PST by immadashell (Save Lives - ban gun free zones)
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To: madprof98

Isnt it condescending to assume men do not know the woman’s view on something? They always seem to think they know the man’s side of everthing, that nobody has to tell them.

Leftist hypocrisy is utterly intolerable.


19 posted on 01/07/2016 3:33:36 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: presidio9

In several states babies can be killed right up to delivery. Several hundred are most certainly murdered by late term abortionists after birth every year. Gosnell is the rule, not the exception. These people are ghouls.


20 posted on 01/07/2016 3:40:44 PM PST by Jim from C-Town (The government is rarely benevolent, often malevolent and never benign!)
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