First, Trump proposes a “gag rule” denying funds for any organization that makes referrals for abortions, shares physical space with an abortion provider, or provides abortions directly. Next, he appoints Diane Foley, an avowed religious activist, to oversee family planning at the Department of Health and Human Services. Then the Supreme Court rules that California cannot regulate Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) based on a dubious free speech argument. And now, with Justice Anthony Kennedy stepping down, the future of Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to a safe abortion is threatened.
As deputy secretary of H&HS, Diane Foley will oversee Title X (the sole federal program that supports family planning and preventive services). Foley is the former president of Life Network, an organization that runs two CPCs.
CPCs are nonprofit organizations. Here’s a typical vision statement: “A culture where women and men faced with pregnancy decisions are transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and empowered to choose life for their unborn children and abundant life for their families.” Yet their ads claim that all options about pregnancy are provided. This is a consistent tactic – deliberately deceptive advertising followed by falsified information stating abortions cause breast cancer, lifetime depression, and suicide. Note that the gag rule eliminates requirements that providers counsel patients about all health care options (including parenting, adoption, and abortion). Voila – CPCs will be replacing full-service nonprofits like Planned Parenthood.
And the Supreme Court just ruled that the state of California can’t require CPCs to provide accurate information about all pregnancy options. This, even though the Court has allowed states to require that medical providers tell pregnant women about the possibility of adoption.
I have worked in the nonprofit world all of my adult life. I didn’t do it for the big bucks or the bright lights; I chose this work because it’s a world in which people and organizations choose to heal the world, to make it a better place. For me, it is profoundly unethical for a nonprofit to lie to clients based on religious doctrine.
Here’s my personal story. In my early twenties, shortly after the Roe V. Wade decision, I had two abortions. I was young, trying to find my way in life; I was using contraception that failed. All I had to do was walk down the street to the local clinic where the doctor (a friend of mine) treated me compassionately and professionally, without judgment. I have never regretted those abortions; they were absolutely the right choice for me at that time in my life. And when I was older, ready, and in a stable relationship, I chose to have a family (two sons and now four completely adorable grandchildren).
Here’s a powerful quote from Ruth Bader Ginsberg: “The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, her well-being and dignity. When the governments controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a full adult human responsible for her own choices.”
So what I am feeling now is deep and angry. It’s professional, political, and very personal. Anyone who does not believe in abortion has the right to let that determine her personal decisions. But no one – and certainly not five men in black robes – has the right to tell women what our personal reproductive choices should be. I urge you all to join me in speaking out against the gag rule, opposing the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, and donating to Planned Parenthood.
