Everydayfeminism.com/2013/01/why-no-government-funding-for-abortions-actually-means-no-choice-for-low-income-women/
Why ‘No Government Funding for Abortion’ Actually Means No Choice For Low-Income Women
Imagine this – you’re poor and pregnant. Maybe you’re unemployed, having been laid off from your previous job and struggling to pay rent.
Maybe you already have three kids to take care of and you cannot afford a fourth.
Or maybe you’re still in high school, know nothing about raising a child and don’t know where to turn for help.
You know that you can’t afford this baby — you’ve weighed all possible options and the money just aren’t there. You’re barely making it as it as.
And so you decide that the only responsible option is to get an abortion. Given how much you make, it seems expensive, but you also know that it will be much cheaper than raising another child.
So you begin the planning process. You do some research to find out much an abortion costs in your state.
You currently receive federal and state Medicaid so you wonder if your health insurance will cover abortions as well. And then you learn that it’s prohibited, due to the Hyde Amendment, a regulation that restricts all federal funding for funding in Medicaid except in cases of rape and incest.
The Hyde Amendment is not a permanent law. It is a “rider” that, in various forms, has been routinely attached to annual appropriations bills since 1976 (just 3 years after Roe versus Wade). That means every year, it can get repealed. But due to the dominant “no public funding for abortions” mantra, every year it gets approved.
Having had no luck with the federal government, you check on your state Medicaid. If you’re fortunate enough to live in one of the fifteen states where abortion services are covered by Medicaid, then you may have just found the help you need — that is, if you meet the federal poverty guidelines and are eligible to receive assistance.
In the meantime, you’re trying to scrounge together funds—skimping on food, asking close friends for a loan, selling things.
And the procedure is not the only cost. You also need to find money to cover travel expenses, especially if you live in a state that has only one abortion provider and you live 200 miles away from it.
And if you don’t want to go alone and want someone there to support you (as many women do), you’ll have to just hope a family member or friend is able to afford the travel costs as well.
To make matters worse, while you’re busy worrying how it’s all going to work out , the timeframe in which you can legally obtain an abortion is closing, the cost of the abortion is rising, and the risk of complications is increasing.
So what now? What do you do if you’ve scrimped, saved and sold all your things but still can’t afford to have an abortion?
This is a question that 200,000 women in America face every year. Today, women who have an abortion are more likely to have incomes below the federal poverty line ($18,530 for a family of three). In 2008, 42% of women seeking an abortion had incomes below the federal poverty line.
If they’re lucky, they get referred to an organization like National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), which “works to make sure that all women and girls can get the abortions they seek.”
If they don’t know about NNAF and can’t find other means to obtain an abortion, these women — forced to raise a child they can’t provide for — too often end up sinking deeper into poverty.
It’s time we repeal the Hyde Amendment so there’s federal funding for Medicaid to cover abortion in order to ensure that low-income women have the ability to control their own lives and plan for their families just like women who have more well-off.
Unfortunately, this reality may not be well understood or known to the pro-choice people who don’t believe the government should intervene to ensure ALL women have access to abortion services if needed.
While they are, of course, free to have their opinion, let’s explore these objections in hopes of persuading them to join us in fighting for public funding for abortion services.

http://www.womenscenter.com/abortion_reasons.html
Unexpected Pregnancy
There are numerous reasons why women find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy and want to have an abortion. There have been several recent surveys done in the US that showed certain characteristics regarding patients who have abortions performed:
20% were age 19 or younger and 57% were in their twenties. 72% had never been married, and 59% had at least one child. A little more than 60% were below the federal poverty line, including 30% who were living in poverty. More than half of the patients had attended college or received a college degree. 31% of respondents were black, and 19% were Hispanic. 61% were less than 9 weeks gestation.
The most common underlying reasons for abortion were 1) they could not afford a child at the time and were unmarried (42%), 2) it would interfere with their education (38%), 3) it would interfere with their employment (38%), and 4) they were students or planning to enroll in studies (34%). Other reasons are having relationship problems, not ready for another child, or don’t want people to know they had sex or got pregnant, the health of the fetus, victim of rape, or became pregnant as result of incest.
88% or more of abortions take place in the first trimester (12 weeks or less from the last menstrual period), when a fetus cannot exist independently of the mother. The fetus is attached to the uterine wall by the placenta and umbilical cord. The fetus is totally dependent on the health and life of the woman. If detached from the uterine wall, the fetus will not live outside the mother’s womb, and therefore cannot be a separate entity.
There is no disputing that human life occurs at conception, but fertilized eggs used for in-vitro fertilization are also human lives and those not implanted are routinely thrown away. A human being is not a citizen or has rights until it achieves personhood. Personhood is achieved only after the fetus is born. When personhood is reached and a life is taken, it is called murder. Is it murder to throw away fertilized eggs? If not, then how could abortion be murder?
Adoption is not an alternative to abortion, because it remains the woman's choice whether or not to give her child up for adoption. Only very few women who give birth choose to give their child up for adoption. Less than 3% of white, unmarried women and less than 2% of black unmarried women choose giving their child up for adoption. Women think that it is more of a sin to give their full born child up for adoption than to have an abortion.
Abortion is a frequently occurring and safe medical procedure performed in the United States. 88% of women who have an abortion do so in the first trimester. Abortions performed in the first trimester (medically or surgically) without complication do not affect a woman's health or future ability to become pregnant or give birth.
The violent acts of rape and incest cause women to become pregnant on a daily basis. Not many people, with the exception of a few conservative extremists, would argue that this causes tremendous psychological harm to the victim. Women are often in denial, too afraid to speak up or unaware they are pregnant. They may not know that the morning after pill (Emergency Contraception) is available to reduce the incidence of becoming pregnant by 65 to 85%.
Abortion is not used as a form of contraception. Pregnancy can occur even with responsible contraceptive use. Only 8% of women who have abortions do not use any form of birth control. Non-use is greatest among those who are young, poor, black, Hispanic or less educated.
The ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to equal protection rights. Women have to be able to maintain control of their bodies. It should not be that a foreign body (pregnancy) without personhood should have rights over the woman’s choice. Take away a woman’s reproductive choice you must ask just where the power of the government controlling women’s rights will end? If the government can force a woman to continue a pregnancy, will they then try to force her to use contraception or undergo sterilization?
Taxpayer dollars are used to enable poor women to access the same medical services as women who can afford to pay for their own services or who have medical insurance. Abortion is part of family planning and should be funded by our government. All family planning services should be available to all women. In turn, this will decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country by a minimum of 500,000 pregnancies per year.
Over 750,000 teenagers become pregnant every year. 80% of those end in abortion. Teenage mothers who keep their pregnancy face grim prospects for their future. They are likely to leave school, receive inadequate prenatal care, rely on public assistance to raise a child, develop health problems, or end up divorced.
Facing the decision about how to handle an unwanted or unexpected pregnancy is one of the most difficult situations a woman may ever have to face. There are ethical, moral, social, financial, familial, religious and age issues patients have to consider when considering abortion. There is no doubt that this decision creates stress. The American Psychological Association found that stress was greatest prior to an abortion, and that there was no evidence of post-abortion syndrome. http://www.womenscenter.com/abortion_stats.html ABORTION FACTS AROUND THE WORLD: * 1/3 of all pregnancies worldwide are unplanned * Approximately 25% of the world population lives in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws, mostly in Asia, Africa and Latin America * One woman dies every 7 minutes around the world due to an unsafe illegal abortion. Women who undergo illegal abortions are those who are very poor and do not have access to family planning facilities for education and prevention of unwanted pregnancies * Making abortion illegal or legal has no effect on the total number of abortions performed in the world. Making abortion legal dramatically reduces maternal morbidity and mortality. * Nearly 50% of pregnancies that occur yearly are unwanted with nearly ½ of those pregnant women terminating their pregnancy. In essence; 42 million choose to terminate their pregnancy with close to half of those (20 million) being illegal.
Common complications from unsafe abortions are cervical tears, retained pregnancy tissue, severe heavy bleeding, sepsis, uterine perforation, bladder and bowel damage, which can lead to maternal death if patients are not treated in a timely matter. Death may also result from such complications as gas gangrene of the uterus and acute renal failure. The patient can become permanently disabled due to stroke, or septic clots that form in the upper or lower extremities that lead to the necessity for removal. If a patient develops a severe infection it can lead to tubo-ovarian abscess, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) which may result in a high incidence of infertility and ectopic pregnancy.
Between 10 and 50% of unsafe abortion cases need medical attention but a lot of women delay or decide not to seek medical care. This is because in a lot of countries where it is illegal to have abortions performed, the women who go to the hospital for help will be reported to the local law authorities and are subject to arrest and spending time in jail. The medical staff often refuses to help and will even harass women about their botched abortion. 600,000 maternal deaths occur each year. Seventy thousand (70,000) of those maternal deaths are from the complications of unsafe abortion which represents 12 to 13% percent of maternal deaths. Prior to 1966, Rumania allowed abortions to take place and as a result, maintained a very low maternal death rate. From 1966 to 1989 abortions were made illegal and the maternal mortality rate increased over 10 times compared to the remainder of Europe.
When performed by qualified Physicians and medical personnel appropriately trained about the medical and surgical abortion techniques, it is a relatively safe and necessary procedure. In the United States, for example, the death rate for abortion is currently 0.6 per 100 000 procedures, making it as safe or safer than receiving an injection of penicillin.
FACTS ABOUT ABORTION IN THE UNITED STATES
Incidence of Abortion
Nearly half of all pregnancies among American women are unintended, and 4 in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. 22% of all pregnancies end in abortion.
40% of pregnancies among white women, 69% among blacks and 54% among Hispanics are unintended.
In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down from 1.31 million in 2000. More than 45 million legal abortions were performed from 1973 through 2005.
Each year, about 2% of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; 47% of them have had at least one previous abortion.
At least half of all American women will face an unintended pregnancy by age 45 and, at current rates; about one-third will have had an abortion.
Over 88% of abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Over half of all abortions in the U.S. occur within the first 8 weeks of pregnancy. 6.7% occur between 13 and 15 weeks, 3.5% occur between 16 and 20 weeks, and 1.1% of abortions occur at 21 weeks or greater.
Today, the number of abortions has declined from a peak of 29.3 per 1000 women aged 15-44 in 1979 to 19.4 per thousand. It has only slowly dropped over the last several years because poor women have not had access to Family Planning Facilities for education and prevention of pregnancy through effective birth control measures.
Who Has Abortions?
Fifty percent of U.S. women obtaining abortion are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 17%.
37% of abortions occur with black women, 34% with non-Hispanic white women, 22% to Hispanic women and 8% to women of other races.
Women who obtain abortion represent every religious affiliation. 43% of women obtaining abortion identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% as Catholic; and 13% of abortion patients describe themselves as born-again or Evangelical Christians.
Most women receiving abortion (83%) are unmarried. Women who have never married obtain two-thirds of all abortions. 16% are separated, divorced, or widowed. Married women are significantly less likely than unmarried women to resolve unintended pregnancies through abortion. About 60% of abortions are obtained by women who have one or more child.
The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,570.) is per women (below 100% of poverty) is nearly four times that of women above 200% of poverty (112 vs. 29 per 1000 women).
The decision to have an abortion is never simple. The reasons women provide for having an abortion underscores their understanding of the responsibilities of parenthood and family life. Three-fourths of women cite concerns for or responsibility to other individuals; three-fourths say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents; and half say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner. Lack of money ranks very high. Many feel the responsible course of action is to wait until their situation is more suited to child rearing; 66% plan to have children when they are older and financially able to provide for a child and/or in a supportive relationship with a partner so their children can have two parents. Others wanted to get pregnant and developed serious medical problems, learned that the fetus had severe abnormalities, or experienced some other personal crisis. Each year, about 13,000 women have abortions because they became pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
Only 1% of women say they have been forced or pressured into having an abortion. There are some women who do not want to continue their pregnancy but are pressured to do so by family members, friends, or fear of social stigma. Pre-abortion counseling is designed to determine whether a woman is fully comfortable with her abortion decision, and if she is not, she is encouraged to wait until she has had a chance to consider her options more fully.
Most women do not later regret their decision to terminate their pregnancy. Relief is the most common emotional response following abortion, and psychological distress appears to be felt the greatest before, rather than after, an abortion.
There are undoubtedly some women who, in hindsight, wish that they had made a different choice and the majority would prefer never to have become pregnant when the circumstances were not right for them. When a wanted pregnancy is ended (for medical reasons) women may experience a sense of loss and grief. As with any major change or decision involving loss, a crisis later in life sometimes leads to a temporary resurfacing of sad feelings surrounding the abortion. Women at risk for post-abortion adjustment are those who do not get the support they need, or whose abortion decisions are actively opposed by people who are close to them.
Contraceptive Use
54% of women having abortions had used a contraceptive method (usually the condom or the pill) during the month they became pregnant. Among those women, 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users report having used their method inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users report correct use. There is no contraceptive method that can prevent pregnancy 100% of the time.
46% percent of women who have abortion had not used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. Of these women, 33% had perceived themselves to be at low risk for pregnancy, 32% had concerns about contraceptive methods, 26% had unexpected sex and 1% had been forced to have sex.
8% of women who have abortion have never used a method of birth control; non-use is greatest among those who are young, poor, black, Hispanic or less educated.
About half of unintended pregnancies occur among the 11% of women who are at risk for unintended pregnancy but are not using contraceptives. Most of these women have practiced contraception in the past.
Most women who have an abortion have not had one previously (52%) or only one previous abortion (26%). If women used abortion as their primary method of birth control, they would be getting pregnant 2 or 3 times a year. With nearly 30 years of possibly becoming pregnant abortion can’t be used as any woman’s primary source of birth control. There is also a very high likelihood of having one or two unintended pregnancies over a thirty year period of time.