There is a lot of talk about whether or not blogs matter in politics. The efforts of Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher, among others, to use the net to mobilize calls and letters to media outlets and elected representatives is one way that blogs can matter.
Blogs can matter in a different way. It's not something I talk about a lot here, but I do a fair amount of writing to my elected representatives. I don't do the crazy nutter inundation, and tinfoil hat writing, but a few times a year, on important issues, I write. And you know what? Blogging has made me a better citizen. When I hear about issues from blogs, I check our legislature to see if we have something happening here. And the letters I write are often informed and improved by the writing I do here.
So, the research and writing I did for a recent post about the deceptive callers ended up affecting this letter, which I sent to my state representatives:
As a citizen of West Virginia I am deeply concerned about and strongly opposed to the changes to the parental notification law that have been proposed in this legislative session (HB 2112 and SB 519). The changes proposed are unneeded and are an unnecessary intrusion into the lives of West Virginia's families.
The vast majority of young women in West Virginia who become pregnant and seek abortion already involve their parents in this decision. Of the 122 abortions obtained by teens in WV last year, only 19 received the kind of waiver that is the target of this bill. All of this legislative activity is over a medical procedure that affects 19 young women (and 1 other received a judicial waiver), who are among the most vulnerable, yet are still able to seek out and pursue their own health care.
The current law works. The vast majority of young women in WV already seek reproductive health care in consultation with their families. These proposed changes to the bills would not affect this. What this bill would do is endanger the lives of the most vulnerable young women, those most fearful of their parents. Those young women would now be forced to not only notify, but get the consent of those parents. We would all like to think that WV families are the kind that most of those 122 young women have, but the in reality this is not the case. For those women from fractured homes or abusive homes, they may be desperate to avoid violence or further abuse. The pregnancy may even be a result of the abuse suffered in the family. And this law could force abused young women to receive the permission of their abusers for reproductive care.
In regions of the south of the US that have restricted access to abortion, the number of illegal abortions is already on rise, and those who are affected are in the same group would would be endangers by HB2112 and SB 519. From an article by Carole Joffe, professor sociology at UC-Davis describing this upsurge: “Our local hospital tells me they see 12-20 patients per year, who have already self-induced or had illegal abortions. Some make it, some don’t. They are underage or poor women mostly, and a few daughters of pro-life families...“Most commonly, they ingest a whole bottle of quinine pills, with castor oil...we try to get them to the ER before their cardiac rhythm is interrupted...Sometimes they douche with very caustic products like bleach. We had a patient, a teen, who burned herself so badly with bleach that we couldn’t even examine her, her vaginal tissue was so painful....” Is this what we want for WV? The proposed changes to WV law may bring statistics like this to our state, if desperate young women no longer have the ability to seek waivers.
This proposed legislation will hurt young women in WV, and is an unnecessary use of the legislature's time that will only intrude on the private decisions of WV families. There are many urgent problems in our state that the legislature could address instead of making changes to existing law that works, and I am deeply concerned about the legislative priorities that these bills reveal. As your constituent, I urge you all to consider the dangerous impact this legislation will have on the very small number of young women it is designed to control. They are not well-served by these proposed changes, nor are the rest of the citizens of this great state.
Maybe now I can get back to blogging about international affairs.
Posted by binky at March 3, 2006 10:12 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Reproductive AutonomyGo Binky!
I've got to say I really wish more people gave the time to do these sorts of things, and to meet with their reps when they have a public forum. The thing is - turnout at those things is close to nonexistent. The leaders will usually listen, and all it often takes on local matters is showing that maybe 20 or so people really are willing to commit to making an issue of an issue (at least on things that don't involve lots of money). I'm part of a local political group, and since I've been involved in that I've really become astounded at the level of apathy. I mean I knew about it of course. But to actually see it is really remarkable - and in some ways depressing. But it also shows that only a few people can make a difference. So take up a cause and fight for it!
Posted by: Armand at March 3, 2006 10:42 AM | PERMALINK