Penn for Choice wrapped up Choice Week with discussions on abortion law and poor women's access to abortions.
Choice and the Law
On Thursday, former Women's Law Project Director Carol Tracy expressed her belief that women's rights have been slowly chipped away by public dissent and state-court insensitivity. Tracy and David Cohen, who has served as an attorney in abortion cases, said last night that while state courts were forced to accept the legality of abortion, they made the process burdensome and difficult.
Pennsylvania was one of the most ruthless states, they said.
The state court required women to inform their spouses and parents about their decision and to wait for 24 hours after making an appointment for an abortion.
"The idea is that women cannot make a moral decision themselves," Tracy said.
The Supreme Court has since overruled some of the stipulations laid down by various state courts, criticizing them as burdensome.
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who will be stepping down once her successor is confirmed, has ruled firmly against the spousal-notification clause.
"Eighty percent of women have no problem notifying their spouses. Our laws should protect the 20 percent that don't," Tracy said.
The audience seemed deeply affected by the talk.
College senior Jacqueline Rogers expressed the somber mood. "I think it was a really powerful interpretation of what's at stake. Today, the Supreme Court cannot force state courts to ensure the welfare of women," she said.
Choice and the Poor
The final event of Choice Week, held on Friday, showed students what it takes for poor women in Philadelphia get an abortion.
Greater Philadelphia Women's Medical Fund Director Susan Schewel estimated that one-third of Philadelphia-area women on Medicaid seeking abortions are unable to get them.
Her organization provides financial support to women seeking abortions and receives more than 1,000 calls a year from women who need help paying for an abortion, much more than its resources can handle, even though it does no outreach.
Schewel gave the audience a brief history of abortion access for poor women in Pennsylvania since the practice was legalized in 1973.
The Women's Medical Fund was founded in 1985 as a stop-gap measure, when Pennsylvania followed the federal government in adopting the Hyde Amendment, which limited payments made by Medicaid, a medical-insurance program for low-income citizens.
Twenty years later, Schewel believes a normalization in abortion access is now appearing "less and less likely."
Schewel cited one of the now-infamous limitations adopted under the Hyde Amendment that required the husband of a married woman give his consent before she was able to have an abortion, a limitation that was upheld in the Philadelphia appellate courts by current Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito but eventually overturned by the Supreme Court.
Audience questions ranged from general trends in abortion and abortion access to more specific questions about the physical process of getting an abortion and different abortion methods.
Schewel, a former obstetrician/gynecologist, answered the questions in some detail.
Attendees were generally enthusiastic about the event but said the hour-long discussion was less than they expected.
"I came because I really care about this -- I want to be a gynecologist," College senior Sharon Gerber said. "I wish it was a little more informative."
