The old expression “the wolf at the door” aptly describes the recent war on women’s health in Georgia.
When it comes to reproductive rights and access to health care, the wolf takes on many forms, like protesters outside health clinics harassing staff and clients while they exercise their constitutional right to privacy, and mean-spirited, anti-woman legislation.
The wolf also can be seen in patronizing legislators who profess to know more about a woman’s health and family than she does and more than physicians about the practice of medicine.
Last month, state legislators passed — in the waning minutes of the session — HB 954, a bill to shorten the period of time in which a woman could seek an abortion.
During the legislative session, women were compared to farm animals like cows and pigs. We are not caged animals to be bred.
And while we are also not sheep, we are certainly being threatened by wolves, largely made up of all-male panels deciding our fate.
It’s time to wake up. We cannot allow access to birth control, cancer screenings and safe, legal abortion to be savaged by wolves who have no respect for women and no heart for some of the most vulnerable in our communities.
In the 1960s and ’70s, we saw laws that were enormously beneficial for women and families. In 1968, Title X funds made health care more affordable at clinics providing family planning services like Planned Parenthood.
In 1970, a law was passed permitting minors to access services. From there, we saw a series of advances in birth control methods and improved access to them.
But following Roe v. Wade, the anti-choice movement took shape and grew quickly, both in numbers and in instances of intimidation and violence — hate mail, clinic bombings, physicians shot in their own homes.
Following a number of national terrorist attacks, there came a shift in tactics. Anti-choice organizations took aim at state and federal legislatures. The ground began to shift.
In Georgia, the downward spiral began in 1987 with a parental notification law for minors seeking abortion. In 1991, proposed defunding of Planned Parenthood in Atlanta was defeated, but it was a harbinger of things to come. The most restrictive legislation to date was passed in 2005, restricting access to abortion services by requiring a 24-hour wait and biased and inaccurate state-scripted information.
The 2007 legislative session wrapped up with an ultrasound bill passed in the last hours of the session.
Recently, we have seen repeated attempts to restrict federal funds to Planned Parenthood.
The federal government nearly came to its knees last year over funds for our vital services. President Barack Obama stood firm and rejected efforts to allow the health and lives of women to be used as a political football.
The Southeast is faced with some of the poorest health outcomes for women and families in the nation.
At Planned Parenthood, we know there is significant work to be done. But the assaults are coming fast and furiously. Beware the wolf at the door.
Leola Reis is a vice president of Planned Parenthood in Atlanta.
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