Anti-Choice Laws (Letter to the Editor, The New York Times, November 10, 2010)
By Nancy Northup – President, Center for Reproductive Rights
The New York Times, January 29, 2011 Nancy Northup, President, Center for Reproductive Rights
To the Editor:
Re “Across Country, Lawmakers Push Abortion Curbs” (front page, Jan. 22): Anti-choice lawmakers across the country may be heralding a new era in which they plan to mount aggressive campaigns to limit abortion. But they won’t necessarily have the last word on what abortion restrictions ultimately end up on state books.
With the rush of anti-choice legislation will come vigorous court challenges to these infringements on constitutional rights.
In the last two years — since the 2008 election — anti-choice state legislators have pushed especially ambitious agendas, enacting some of the most extreme anti-choice legislation in recent memory.
But time and again, judges have declared these laws unconstitutional, and for good reason.
They violate women’s rights by profoundly intruding on their private medical decisions and by imposing trumped-up regulations on abortion providers so they can no longer realistically provide women services.
Nancy Northup President Center for Reproductive Rights New York, Jan. 26, 2011