Jen R's blog

Pfizer has announced a recall of 1 million birth control pill packets, saying that there was a packaging error that led some of the packets to have too many active pills and some to have too few. This press release from Pfizer contains information on how to tell whether your pills are subject to the recall. If you are using birth control pills, check your packet to make sure that you are not accidentally put at risk for unintended pregnancy.

(Reposting because we have had interest in the presentation from an organization in Pakistan, so Urdu translation is now a priority.)

Are you good with languages? Would you like to help us spread the word about our Family Planning Freedom is Prolife project?

We've had interest in the presentation from around the world, and we'd like to make it available in languages other than English. We're looking for at least the official UN languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Russian, and Spanish. Hindi, Polish, Portuguese, Swahili, Tagalog, and Urdu would also be good. Please contact [email protected] if you can help. Thanks!

It's appropriate that October is both Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Respect Life Month, as domestic violence (also known as intimate partner violence) and abortion are closely linked.

1 in 3 women worldwide are subjected to gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence (IPV), which may involve:

• Sexual assault and contraceptive sabotage--thus heightened risk for/ incidence of unintended pregnancies.
• Inhospitable circumstances for women to continue pregnancies and raise their children, leading more women to see abortion as their only choice.
• Directly forced abortions.
• Homicide of mother and/or child.

This fact sheet from Know More, Say More summarizes the research into the connection between domestic violence and unintended pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, and homicide in the United States. The link between IPV and induced abortion has identified by studies from many other countries as well (including Australia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, and Italy). Some of these also link IPV and miscarriage.

Any strategy to reduce the incidence of abortion must address intimate partner violence and reproductive coercion. If you work with a pro-life group or crisis pregnancy center and would like to learn more about how your organization can serve abused women, please contact us.

We'd love to be able to work with other pro-life organizations who share our conviction that every person has a right to access the family planning method that is best for their life and health, and who see family planning as one important tool for ending abortion. Are you familiar with such a group? Please contact us!

California governor Jerry Brown has vetoed Assembly Bill 568, which would have limited the use of shackles on incarcerated pregnant women to the least restrictive restraints possible. In a statement, Brown claimed that at first he was inclined to sign the bill, but claimed that it “will only serve to sow confusion and invite lawsuits.”

As Lisa Russ of Strong Families points out at the Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice blog, Brown signed a number of laws the previous week that will benefit (non-incarcerated) mothers in California:

In the middle of last week, I lost faith.  The Governor's office put out a press release celebrating four important bills for California moms!  Hoping against hope, I scanned the list.  AB568 was not there.  It was important stuff that I support and you probably do too, like protecting health insurance for pregnant women, and something to encourage breast feeding in maternity wards.  Good stuff.

And yet, for me, what was left off was loudest of all.  We weren't even vetoed on the same day the Governor signed those Mom Bills.  Pregnant women who are incarcerated do not count as California moms!  Their rights are considered favors that we are doing for them.  The fact that they struggle with drugs, with money, with violence, is enough for us to put them away, both behind bars and into another category: prisoners.

Women's rights advocates in California will continue to work for a ban on shackling women in labor.