By Jeanne Flavin and Lynn Paltrow
(This commentary appears on Mobilizing Ideas a production of The Center for the Study of Social Movements at the University of Notre Dame)
As other contributors to this series have observed, “pro life” and “pro choice” do not adequately capture the dimensions and diversity of opinions and experiences that people have with regard to abortion and, as we will make clear, a whole lot more.
We are pleased to let you know that today more than 40 leading United States and international medical and psychological researchers and experts released a letter to media outlets and policy makers countering misleading and alarmist reporting about pregnant women and prescription opiate use.
January 25, 2013
Executive Summary: Download file.
Published Full Article: Download file.
National Advocates for Pregnant Women’s one-of-a-kind study identifies hundreds of criminal and civil cases involving the arrests, detentions and equivalent deprivations of pregnant women’s physical liberty that occurred between 1973 and 2005, after the decision in Roe v. Wade was issued.
January 25, 2013
Lynn Paltrow and Jeanne Flavin
Abstract: In November 2011, the citizens of Mississippi voted down Proposition 26, a “personhood” measure that sought to establish separate constitutional rights for fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses.
On January 15, 2013, the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law published a study, "Arrests of and Forced Interventions on Pregnant Women in the United States, 1973-2005: Implications for Women's Legal Status and Public Health," written by Lynn M. Paltrow, NAPW Executive Director, and Jeanne Flavin, Professor of Sociology at Fordham University and NAPW Board President.
"Roe v. Wade and the New Jane Crow: Reproductive Rights in the Age of Mass Incarceration"
January 14, 2013
Lynn M. Paltrow, American Journal of Public Health, 2013, Vol. 103, No. 1
Abstract: All pregnant women, not just those who seek to end a pregnancy, have benefited from Roe v Wade.
Eleanor Bader discusses how NAPW's legal work broadens the debate beyond pro-life versus pro-choice and challenges both sides to come together to stand-up for the basic human rights of ALL women, a pro-lives movement.
This weekend, National Advocates for Pregnant Women's work and perspectives are featured in the New York Times Magazine. The story, The Criminalization of Bad Mothers, focuses on pregnant drug using women who are being prosecuted under Alabama's Chemical Endangerment Act - a law intended to punish adults who bring children to environments where illegal drugs are being made.
An article in the Globe and Mail, fans the flames of "pill-baby" hysteria. NAPW ally and renowned expert on treating opioid-dependence during pregnancy, Dr. Robert Newman, takes the article to task for its biased portrayal of opioid users and their babies.
A recent post on RH Reality Check highlights what cuts to medicaid funding may look like, particularly for pregnant patients. Lynn Paltrow and Linda Layne, author of Motherhood Lost: A Feminist Account of Pregnancy Loss in America, discuss the broader implications of medicalizing miscarriage.
