On Jan. 22, NARAL Pro-Choice America held its annual legislative briefing on Capitol Hill.  The event was designed to give congressional staff an overview of upcoming priorities in 2010 regarding reproductive-health policy.  Melanie Zurek, Executive Director of AAP, was featured as the special guest speaker, providing detailed information about women's on-the-ground access to abortion care and connecting everyday access to the reproductive-health policies that Congress can advance.  

Zurek highlighted for Congressional staff three realities that stand out from AAP's work on the ground:

• Women and providers encounter systemic barriers that impede access at multiple points.  These barriers have a combined impact far greater than any individual policy could, or is even intended, to have.

• There have been significant and positive medical advances in the field of abortion, that are being prevented from reaching their full potential benefit.

• The barriers women and providers face act in a way that is self reinforcing; access will continue to worsen even if no new barriers are put into place.

"From working in these states, where women are misinformed, without support, and where there is only 1 or 2 providers, I can imagine no way that women aren't being denied their rights because of their inability to access abortion."

"For many clinicians providing abortion, doing so is an act of great compassion and conscience, and is received as such by women.  A magnificent contribution to them and to women could be made if you were to put in place these policies that recognize and protect this."

To read Melanie's full remarks, continue reading ...

I am pleased to share with you Abortion Access and Opportunity in Rural Communities: A survey of clinicians, a 2009 report from the Abortion Access Project.

Rural communities present somewhat of an unknown for the reproductive health community. This is especially true in the case of rural abortion care, where the needs of both healthcare providers and women are still couched in question marks. When AAP first moved forward to catalyze the integration of early abortion services into rural healthcare on behalf of women in these communities, we did so in the face of many questions. This report reflects the information we have gathered in beginning this work. While it is only the beginning of the knowledge I hope will be gained through the work of our research colleagues and AAP's on-the-ground rural project team, it deepens our understanding of the disparities in access rural women face and how these disparities persist.

This survey was a catalyst for AAP's work - I hope that it will likewise motivate you as colleagues and supporters to expand access to abortion for rural women.

Best wishes,

Melanie Zurek