Open Letters

Dismantling Roe v. Wade Would Affect All Pregnant Women
January 12, 2010

NAPW and More than 100 Signatories Request That Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Consider Impact on All Pregnant Women

On June 22, 2009 National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) released to the public a letter with more than 100 signatories sent to the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate requesting that the Committee ask Judge Sonia Sotomayor and all future Supreme Court nominees: Is there a point in pregnancy when you believe women lose their civil rights? This letter, discussed in Rachel Roth's RhRealityCheck Commentary, addresses the harm that will result if abortion is outlawed and provides concrete examples of civil rights violations against pregnant women that undermine both maternal and fetal health and that would occur routinely if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

Dismantling Roe v. Wade Would Affect All Pregnant Women

NAPW and More than 100 Signatories Request That Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Consider Impact on All Pregnant Women

On June 22, 2009 National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) released to the public a letter with more than 100 signatories sent to the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate requesting that the Committee ask Judge Sonia Sotomayor and all future Supreme Court nominees: Is there a point in pregnancy when you believe women lose their civil rights? This letter, discussed in Rachel Roth's RhRealityCheck Commentary, addresses the harm that will result if abortion is outlawed and provides concrete examples of civil rights violations against pregnant women that undermine both maternal and fetal health and that would occur routinely if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

June 19, 2009
 

[Download a PDF of the letter here.]

 

Nominee: Is there a point in pregnancy when you believe women lose their civil rights? 

June 19, 2009

 

 

Dear Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

 

 

Long before President Obama selected Judge Sotomayor as his nominee to the Supreme Court, advocacy groups and media outlets identified the issue of “abortion rights” as a key issue for determining the nominee’s qualifications.

Today's New York Times story, The Epidemic That Wasn't, advances our efforts to challenge the junk science that has been used to justify the prosecution and punishment of pregnant women and their families.

Today, following Governor Sarah Palin's speech accepting her party's nomination as their Vice Presidential candidate, Alternet.org published National Advocates for Pregnant Women's open letter asking her to rethink her position on abortion.

ACOG letter condemning shackling
July 30, 2008

Download file

David Prater, Oklahoma County District Attorney
Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office
320 Robert S. Kerr Ste. 505
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

June 25, 2007

Dear Mr. Prater:

As medical, public health, and child welfare advocacy organizations and as physicians, health care professionals, medical ethicists, midwives, child-welfare advocates, public health advocates, researchers, and as members of the community, we are greatly concerned about the arrest and prosecution of Theresa Lee Hernandez for first degree murder based on the fact that she suffered a stillbirth at 32 weeks of pregnancy.

Dear Friends and Allies:

Thank you so much for signing on to the open letter to the Oklahoma City District Attorney in the Theresa Hernandez case. Nearly 200 leading organizations, public health professionals and community members signed the letter.

NAPW is tracking every case involving the arrests of pregnant women nationwide, and according to news reports, two new arrests have been made in Alabama of women who gave birth to infants who allegedly tested positive for drugs. Telisha Patterson and Haley Mays were recently arrested and charged with torture or willful abuse of a child and child endangerment for giving birth in spite of a drug problem.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Department of Health and Human Services
Attention: CMS-2127-P
P.O. Box 8016
Baltimore, MD 21244-8016

9 April 2002

To Whom It May Concern:

We are writing with reference to the proposal currently being considered that would expand the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to include "unborn children" from conception through birth.