March 19, 2022

The race for the states is on…

As advocates of both sides of the abortion debate await a decision in the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson, states are wasting no time to get out ahead of a decision that may well severely curtail, if not outright overturn, Roe v. Wade and once again return abortion laws to the states themselves.

One of those states is Indiana.

A bipartisan bill has passed in Indiana to protect women from coerced abortion. FFL applauds the efforts to protect these women who are so beaten down that they don’t feel they have the strength, and often the money, to stand up to the brutes that push them into a clinic. According to a 2017 survey of 1,000 women published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, 75% of women who had an abortion said they experienced “at least subtle forms of pressure to terminate their pregnancies.”

LifeNews reports: “The law, which passed the state legislature with bipartisan support, makes sure abortion facilities inform women that coerced abortions are illegal and offer her information about protective services, counseling, the use of a telephone, an alternative exit from the facility to help escape a potential abuser, and more. It also creates felony charges for anyone who coerces a woman into an abortion.”

I can still remember the first call I received for help. A woman with children audible in the background asked, “Do you do the procedure?” I knew what she meant: abortion. She sounded so scared. I said, “We are a pro-life group, and I can help you get to a pregnancy resource center now.” She was listening. Then, a man grabbed the phone and started screaming at me, “DO YOU DO IT OR NOT??” I repeated myself, and he slammed the phone down.

I realized she had CHOSEN to call a pro-life group listed clearly under “Abortion Alternatives” for help. I wonder about her to this day, and the other women who have told me similar stories since then. Many women are coerced into abortions by unloving, controlling, abusive men who have used them but have no use for their own child in their life. But abortion providers seem to be fine with this, as they profit from women’s misery.

As Feminists for Life, we are not. We will never trade one form of violence for another. Women, find the strength to protect yourselves and your children. There is help out there. If you or someone you care about is in danger, read these tips to safely escape, courtesy of our Women Deserve Better helpsite.

But it’s not just Indiana.

The Florida legislature has sent a 15-week abortion ban to the governor, who is expected to sign it.

Idaho’s legislature has passed a fetal heartbeat law similar to that of Texas, which the governor will likely sign.

The Oklahoma legislature is expected to pass its own fetal heartbeat law soon as well.

Missouri is debating a bill that would outlaw residents helping to pay for an abortion or obtain insurance coverage for abortion.

Ohio is considering a law that would automatically ban nearly all abortions, in the event Roe is overturned.

And a remarkable 21 state attorneys general have signed onto a brief in support of South Carolina’s pro-life fetal heartbeat law, which is currently being blocked by the courts.

But supporters of abortion-on-demand are not resting on their laurels.

Just as many states with pro-life legislators and governors are passing laws similar to that in Texas, others are passing laws to preempt such legislation — and then going even further. In Washington state, the governor signed a law doubling down on the state’s already expansive abortion law and which also allows nurse practitioners and physician assistants to perform abortions.

Not content merely to make it easier to obtain abortions generally, legislators in California and Oregon have voted to force millions of pro-life taxpayers to fund the procedure.

Colorado is inching closer and closer to legalizing abortion-on-demand throughout all of pregnancy.

And Maryland is looking to follow suit with a law so extreme that a provision curtailing investigations of possible infanticide is reportedly being removed by the bill’s author. The archbishops of Baltimore and Washington D.C. and the bishop of Wilmington, Delaware, recently co-wrote an impassioned plea to support women and their children, rather than making it easier to kill those children.

Likewise, if you live in any of the states mentioned above, we ask you now, speak out!

Write to your legislators and governors in support of pro-woman, pro-life legislation or in opposition to anti-woman, anti-child legislation. Tell them, “Women and children deserve better!” If you likewise write a letter to the editor or op-ed that gets published, please let us know! And be sure to mention in your writing that you are a proud Feminist for Life.

Finally, we are celebrating our 50th Birthday. Even if Roe is overturned, our work is not yet finished; it will just look different. We need you now more than ever so we can keep going, keep moving, keep winning for women and children. Please consider increasing, renewing, or starting your support of us and those we serve today. Thank you.

Because women — and girls — deserve better,

Serrin M. Foster
President
Feminists for Life of America
Editor-in-Chief
Women Deserve Better
& The American Feminist