Lilith's Voice

35 Calls Per Night, and Climbing-- July 2011

2011-08-28T13:12:00.004-05:00

I picked up a hotline shift for the first time in a while and I was shocked at the 35 messages left in 1 day! Message after message, usually a calm but plaintive voice beseechingly requested assistance. Places, names, situations all varied but all were in the same predicament-- struggling financially with little or no extra money. I prioritized the clients that were further along or approaching a price change in their abortion price. The one story that really touched me was of a woman that had recently immigrated to the US when her and her husband found via amniocentesis that their baby had genetic defects. Already struggling to support their existing family through her partner's job driving a taxi, they knew having another child with serious medical needs would stress their family and finances beyond what would be capable. Lilith was able to help this family.

And thanks to State Senate Bill 7, an included provision will be cutting off the use of local tax dollars to fund elective abortions (thank you Representative Wayne Christian of Nacogdoches). Of course, the only place in Texas where this funding is occurring is in Travis County, where patients of the county-established indigent healthcare system can obtain an elective termination of a first trimester pregnancy with a $25 copay.

At the last Central Health Board Meeting, this matter was discussed in a closed portion of the meeting.

So 40, 45 calls per night soon? The need is overwhelming...

Brook

2009-10-16T10:43:00.001-05:00

Brook is 25 years old with three children. She recently separated from her husband. After her third children she decided that she didn’t want to have any more children so she had her tubes tied. You can imagine her surprise when she found out that she was pregnant. Upset when she called the Lilith Fund, we were glad that we could help her get control of her life.

Jenny

2009-10-14T13:43:00.001-05:00

Jenny, a 23 year-old single mom with two children, is trying to improve her situation in life by attending college. Her contraceptive method of choice is the birth control pill. When she came down with strep throat she was prescribed an antibiotic. She should have been told to take additional precautions when having intercourse because the pill is less effective when taking an antibiotic. Unfortunately she wasn’t told and she got pregnant. She was devastated when she discovered the cost of having the abortion. The clinic referred her to the Lilith Fund and we were able to help.

Symantha

2009-10-13T22:18:00.001-05:00

Symantha is a victim of domestic violence. She was in a shelter for 2 months, she is finally in an apartment. Beyond her daily challenges she also struggles with depression, and the loss of her job. She has 3 children and is trying very hard to get her life under control. The Lilith Fund was able to help with a $100 voucher.

Health Care Reform for Women

2009-08-09T15:42:00.004-05:00

It has been shown repeatedly that women, especially the working poor, are much more adversely affected by the current health care system that can choose to deny them coverage for spurious reasons or legally charge them twice as much as their male counterparts for the exact same coverage. Abortion is already rarely funded by private insurance companies and women on Medicaid are prevented from having the procedure funded due to the Hyde Amendment. The current debate over healthcare reform (and especially the role of abortion within that debate) has the potential to include help for the women who need it the most, or yet again shut women out of fair and affordable healthcare.

The National Women's Law Center has a great advocacy kit for women's health care reform up on their site; it has specific suggestions for what to during the August congressional recess to further the fight for women's health care reform.

If you are interested in an easy way to make your voice heard for women's health care, join us at the N. Lamar Central Market on Wed. Aug 19th, 6:30pm for a letter writing party! Make sure your representative knows that you support their pro-choice and pro-women efforts, or let them know why the women of Texas need their support now during this critical health care debate.

When The Money Runs Out: Abortion Funds Struggling | RHRealityCheck.org

2009-01-26T14:19:00.001-06:00

When The Money Runs Out: Abortion Funds Struggling | RHRealityCheck.org

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letter from a mother

2009-01-09T09:25:00.001-06:00

This summer, my seventeen year-old daughter was sick more than usual. For three months she was throwing-up, unable to tolerate certain odors, and extremely moody with everyone, be it family or friends. I asked her over and over if she was pregnant, and she answered, "No mama, no mama." But a visit to the doctor revealed that she was seventeen weeks along. This news weakened all of us and left us speechless. My daughter had four weeks left until the start of her senior year. And she had dreams that she wanted to pursue that she knew would be shattered if she had to take on the responsibility of a child. She decided to have an abortion. But then we were then told that her procedure would cost $1350. There was no way I would be able to come up with that amount on my own.

Only by grace was I connected with the Lilith Fund. Our Lilith volunteer not only helped us obtain partial payment for services and assisted with travel arrangements, but she also helped mentally and emotionally with her constant words of kindness. Her care was genuine and sincere. The Lilith Fund has been a blessing in disguise. The volunteers on staff understand the value of the old statement, "It takes a village to raise a child." I am glad to be part of this village.

Thank you for donating to the Lilith Fund and for helping our family more forward and continue on our journey of life.

PATRICIA

2009-01-05T09:24:00.002-06:00

Eighteen-year-old Patricia is married with one child. Although she was using Depo-Provera as her contraceptive method, she didn't have enough money to continue her series and the inevitable happened--she became pregnant. Patricia's husband is now in jail, but fortunately her in-laws are taking care of her and her child. She states that she just couldn't bring another child into this unstable environment. Patricia though she had enough money when she went tot he clinic for an abortion, only to find out that she had to pay an additional fee for a sonogram too. Fortunately, the Lilith Fund was able to help.

SABRINA

2008-10-14T15:39:00.002-05:00

Sabrina is single, diabetic, Rh negative, and 12 weeks pregnant. She is the mother of a 15 month old son who was born with multiple birth defects-an underdeveloped arm with no thumb, a missing kidney, neck deformities requiring surgery, and others. Sabrina cannot work because her son requires so much of her attention. Sabrina's only income is her son's disability check and her son's father refuses to help them financially. Sabrina is afraid to have another child with such a debilitating deformity and her doctor has recommended against it due to the possibility of recurring birth defects. Her procedure will cost $650 and Lilith Fund is assisting her with $100.

Dept. of Health and Hallowed Services | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org

2008-08-27T11:12:00.001-05:00

Dept. of Health and Hallowed Services | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org

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Much Ado About Nothing: Pro-Life Misconceptions About Contraception | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org

2008-08-22T09:55:00.001-05:00

Much Ado About Nothing: Pro-Life Misconceptions About Contraception | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org

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Good Girls and Hot Messes: Abortion Doesn\'t Hurt Women | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org

2008-08-21T10:20:00.001-05:00

Good Girls and Hot Messes: Abortion Doesn't Hurt Women | Reproductive Health | RHRealityCheck.org

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TRISHA

2008-07-29T15:13:00.001-05:00

After realizing their daughter had become sexually active, Trisha’s parents took her to a local clinic to begin birth control. Despite starting birth control, Trisha became pregnant. Her parents now think she was either pregnant at the time she started birth control or she got pregnant shortly thereafter. Trisha is 14 years old and 25 weeks pregnant. Trisha’s father recently became disabled and hasn’t started receiving his disability payments yet. He is unable to work because of his disability. Due to the stage of her pregnancy, there are only a few clinics in the country that can perform the three-day procedure. The estimated cost of her abortion is $10,000. Trisha’s family got loans from every friend, family member, and resource they could find and amazingly raised $8,000. A call for help went out from her home state abortion fund to all National Network Abortion Fund members and the Lilith Fund responded with a promise of $200. We wish Trisha and her family all the best with her procedure.

Mrs. Carter

2008-07-29T15:02:00.001-05:00

Mrs. Carter, a married woman in her thirties, immigrated with her husband to the U.S. a few years ago. She was taking birth control pills to prevent pregnancy, but she forgot her pills while traveling and subsequently became pregnant. Unfortunately, the Carters make very little money and they already have one child to support on their meager salary. They can’t afford to take care of another child right now. The Carters have been working hard to improve their lives in this country; Mrs. Carter is currently studying to take the licensing exam to become a practicing American physician. She doesn't want to sacrifice her career and her family’s future by having another child. The cost of terminating her pregnancy was $400 and because of the help of our generous donors, Lilith was able to offer financial assistance towards her abortion. Mrs. Carter was grateful for our help and she recently called our hotline to express her thanks and to report that her procedure went well.

JUANITA

2008-05-02T17:01:00.001-05:00

Juanita is divorced and has five children - her youngest two are 4-year-old twins. One of the twins suffers from kidney failure and needs dialysis treatment 3 times per week. Juanita can't work because she has to be with her sick child. The family lives on SSI payments. When she
delivered the twins, Juanita asked to have her tubes tied. She has now learned that because the hospital a Catholic hospital, they did not perform the procedure AND they never told her. Juanita is pregnant again.

Speaking Out: Manipulated By a CPC

2008-04-02T10:17:00.002-05:00

by Allyson Kirk

When I called the National Abortion Federation Hotline in January 2005 looking for help finding an abortion clinic in my area, I had never even heard of a Crisis Pregnancy Center. I was 23 years old and in college completing my biology degree when I found out I was pregnant. Although I was in a committed relationship and deeply in love with my partner, I was not ready for a child at that time and chose to seek an abortion. The NAF Hotline operator gave me the location of a women's health clinic in my area, which I promptly called and made an appointment for an exam.

The day of my appointment, I pulled into the parking lot where the women's clinic was located and parked in front of the first building I saw. The sign in the window said "AAA Women for Choice" next to another smaller sign advertising "Free Pregnancy Testing." I was slightly confused by the bumper stickers on the SUV in front of the building with many anti-abortion, religious statements such as "It's a Child, Not a Choice," but didn't think much of it due to the prevalence of these anti-choice ideas in my area.

When I walked in the front door of the clinic, an older man sitting behind the counter welcomed me. I quickly gave my name and said that I had a two o'clock appointment. He acted like they were expecting me and asked me to have a seat in the empty waiting room while they prepared for my appointment. The waiting room looked like any family medical practice: there were magazines and children's books, and a basket filled with toys and stuffed animals for children to play with as they waited. Within minutes, a middle-aged woman, dressed professionally and appearing like a nurse, came out to escort me to my appointment.

She brought me into a different room and gave me a form to fill out. The form asked for basic contact information, but also asked for the personal information of my partner or spouse. The form asked about my medical history, including how many times I had been pregnant, obtained an abortion, and if I had children. As I was filling out the form, the woman began asking me questions, too. She asked why I was seeking an abortion, if I was sure that I was pregnant, and how many weeks I was into the pregnancy. She then began asking questions about my partner, such as did he know I was pregnant, did he want me to terminate the pregnancy, and why he wasn't there with me. I answered her questions, but began to feel guarded.

She then asked me about my religious beliefs. I was immediately defensive at this point. I asked her why this was a relevant question to ask in a medical facility. "Because I can't properly counsel you on the issue of abortion unless I know your moral standing," she said. I decided that this was not the kind of place I felt comfortable seeking medical care so I asked her to complete the free pregnancy test and then I would be on my way. I gave her a urine sample and she agreed to run the test, but only if I watched an educational video while the results were processing.

The video I was forced to watch made false claims including: doctors who provide abortions graduate at the bottom of their classes and can't get real jobs; abortion is dangerous and often results in serious injury, even death, to women, and abortion causes severe psychological and emotional damage to women. The woman on the video said many women who have abortions have nightmares of babies crying and have guilt about their decision so intense that it sends them into depression.

The second portion of the video showed an illustrated enactment of a surgical abortion procedure. A picture of a uterus with a fully formed fetus inside filled the TV screen as illustrated metal instruments appeared. The instruments were shown probing inside the uterus and dismembering the fetus. Then a suction device entered the screen, pulling the fetus out of the illustrated uterus for disposal.

I was appalled and insulted.

I stood up to walk out of the room just as the woman was re-entering. She must have seen the look on my face because she stopped and asked if everything was okay. The older man at the counter was just behind her in the waiting room. I told them that I wasn't sure what kind of an operation this was, but they should be ashamed of themselves. I said they were obviously using fear tactics to manipulate women who come to them looking for guidance in an emotionally unsteady state. I walked out the front door without ever getting the results of my pregnancy test.

After calling the NAF Hotline again, I found out this anti-choice organization was called a Crisis Pregnancy Center. They had strategically picked a name and displayed signs in their windows to fool women like me into coming there, thinking that they were visiting the women's reproductive health clinic just two doors down. The more I read about these places, I couldn't believe that what they were doing was legal: blatantly lying to women about medical procedures, using fear and guilt to force them into completing pregnancies. I have since been speaking out in support of stricter regulation of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, and I hope my story helps prevent women from being misled by these fake clinics.

Targeting the Vulnerable: Crisis Pregnancy Centers Deceive

2008-04-01T16:02:00.002-05:00

Imagine you are a woman facing an unwanted pregnancy. After careful consideration, you decide to obtain an abortion and schedule an appointment at a clinic listed under "abortion services" in your local phone book. When you arrive for your appointment you are forced to listen to a religious lecture, given misinformation about the risks of abortion, and refused referrals to actual abortion providers. Imagine your surprise when you realize you are not at a legitimate reproductive health care clinic, but rather have been fooled into visiting a Crisis Pregnancy Center. This sounds like an April Fool's Day prank, but this scenario happens to real women seeking reproductive health care every day and it's no laughing matter.

Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) have a long history of intentionally misleading women to prevent them from accessing abortion care. The first CPCs were established in the 1960s after state legislatures repealed their laws criminalizing abortion. Today there are as many as 4,000 CPCs in the United States, compared to the less than 2,000 facilities that actually provide abortion care for women.

Many CPCs use deceptive advertising practices to fool women into thinking that they are legitimate medical clinics that provide a variety of reproductive health care services, including family planning and abortion care. In reality, most CPCs do not provide full options counseling and generally will not refer for abortion care or birth control.

These fake clinics use deceptive advertising practices such as intentionally placing advertisements under the "abortion services" heading of phone and Internet directories and choosing names that are similar to abortion clinics to confuse women about what types of services they provide. Many CPCs are connected with religious organizations, but few disclose that fact in their advertising. Additionally, CPCs often locate themselves in close proximity to legitimate reproductive health care facilities. We have heard from many patients who mistakenly visited a CPC because it was on the same street-or even next door-to the actual abortion provider where they had an appointment.

CPCs target young and low-income women. They lease buildings near colleges and universities, advertise in school newspapers, and lure women into their facilities with the offer of a free pregnancy test and options counseling.

Once they get women inside their doors, CPCs often force women to watch graphic, misleading videos; pressure women with religious sermons; and provide medically inaccurate information about a false link between abortion and an increased risk of breast cancer, the effects of abortion on future fertility, and the mental health effects of abortion. Some CPCs further mislead women by giving them false pregnancy test results so that they will postpone obtaining abortion care. Others have been known to give women ultrasounds depicting gestational ages more advanced than their actual pregnancies in order to make them think that they are too far along to access abortion services. In some cases CPCs even promise to provide financial assistance to women if they carry their pregnancies to term, but this assistance usually doesn't last once a woman's pregnancy has advanced past the legal termination limit in her state. Even after women leave CPCs, they sometimes continue to be mistreated. In a clear violation of patient confidentiality, many CPCs call women and harass them about their decision to obtain abortion care for weeks after they visit the center.

Many CPCs even receive federal funding. Under the Bush Administration, CPCs have received more than $30 million in federal funding, and legislators frequently attempt to fund CPCs at the state level through state-sponsored programs, specific grants, or tax credits. In 2006, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) released a study, which found that 87% of the federally funded CPCs provided inaccurate and misleading information including the false link between abortion and breast cancer, the effects of abortion on future fertility, and the mental health effects of abortion. It is reprehensible that federal taxpayer dollars are being used to support fake clinics that deliberately deceive women with false medical information.

CPCs should not be allowed to threaten women's health through deception and mistreatment. Last year NAF worked with Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) who introduced the "Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act" in the U.S. House of Representatives. Specifically, this legislation authorizes the Federal Trade Commission to regulate the deceptive advertising practices of CPCs, which regularly advertise that they provide abortion care when they in fact do not provide such care. We congratulate Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) for taking the lead in the Senate to introduce companion legislation today on April Fool's Day-to prevent women from being further fooled and harmed by these fake clinics.

Today is a day of action, and we are calling on activists to contact their Senators and ask them to co-sponsor the "Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women's Services Act." Members of Congress need to understand how women are harmed by fake clinics masquerading as reproductive health care facilities. To learn more about ways you can take action against CPCs and to find contact information for your elected officials, visit our website http://www.prochoice.org/.

Women facing an unplanned pregnancy deserve accurate and complete information. For unbiased information about pregnancy options, referrals to providers of quality abortion care, and funding assistance, contact the toll-free NAF Hotline at 1-800-772-9100.

The National Network of Abortion Funds Denounces the Vitter Amendment

2008-03-12T23:47:00.002-05:00

BOSTON - February 29 - The National Network of Abortion Funds condemns passage of the Vitter Amendment (S.Amdt. 3896) as part of the Indian Health Services Act (S.1200). Passed by the Senate earlier this week, the amendment adds language to the Indian Health Services Act prohibiting the use of IHS funds for abortion services except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment. This legislation duplicates existing policy which already unfairly restricts coverage of abortion in the Indian Health Service. IHS is subject to the Hyde Amendment, first passed in 1976, which prohibits federal Medicaid dollars from being used to pay for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest and danger to the life of the woman.

For the more than 12 million women who depend on Medicaid and other federal programs, the impact of the Hyde Amendment and the funding bans enacted in 33 states is staggering. Prior to 1976, when Medicaid funds paid for abortion nationally, one-third of all abortions were fully covered. Since the Hyde Amendment took away abortion coverage, federal Medicaid has paid for less than one percent of abortions.

The restrictions in Vitter and Hyde unfairly discriminate against Native American women for whom the Indian Health Service is their primary healthcare provider. A survey conducted by the Native American Women’s Health Education Resources Center (NAWHERC) in 2002 found widespread non-compliance and confusion about the abortion restrictions. 85% of the service units contacted denied women services even in cases where they were legally entitled to coverage.

Historically, Native American women have faced other governmental policies restricting their reproductive lives. Native American children were removed from their communities and placed by the government in non-Indian boarding schools, foster homes and adoptive families. In the 1970s, involuntary sterilization by Indian Health Services was exposed as a civil rights violation in a lawsuit brought by Norma Jean Serena of the Creek-Shawnee. In the 1980s, although Depo Provera was banned by the FDA because of inadequate health and safety studies, it was administered to Native American women who were said to be “mentally impaired,” without their consent.

We oppose the Vitter and Hyde Amendments and all restrictive legislation that undermines a woman’s ability to make her own decisions about childbearing and her health. “All women must have the power and resources to make healthy decisions about their bodies and their families; it’s a matter of dignity and justice” said Stephanie Poggi, Executive Director of the National Network of Abortion Funds.

The National Network of Abortion Funds is an association of more than 100 community-based groups in 43 states that provide financial assistance to low-income women seeking abortions. Each year, member groups of the Network raise over $2.5 million and help more than 20,000 women and girls nationwide. The Network provides support and training to its member Funds and advocates for a humane future where public funding of abortion – and all reproductive health care – is a reality. The Network coordinates The Hyde – 30 Years is Enough! Campaign, a national coalition of more than 70 social justice organizations, dedicated to repealing the Hyde Amendment.

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JANICE

2008-03-04T08:16:00.002-06:00

Janice became pregnant as the result of a rape, but wanted to keep the baby. However, the ultrasounds showed that the fetus had a large tumor growing behind its neck and it is predicted that the child will most likely be severely brain damaged. Janice is 21 weeks pregnant, and it would be at least 5 weeks before treatment could be attempted for the fetus. She is heartbroken, but she doesn't want to risk not having the choice to terminate if the treatment fails. She has two other children to care for, and she couldn't bring herself to risk bringing a severely disabled child into a family that is just barely making it. Her abortion costs $2400, and she was still $600 short when Lilith was able to contribute another $100.

National Abortion Federation Opposes C-484

2008-02-27T10:49:00.002-06:00

Saporta: Because this bill does nothing to protect women and because its possible consequences include casting doubt over well-established Canadian law, NAF opposes C-484. We believe that the Canadian government should adopt a more reasoned approach that would protect women from violence and offer concrete solutions to the problem of violence against women.

Statement of Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF):

The National Abortion Federation (NAF) opposes C-484. On its face, this bill creates a new crime of causing injury to or the death of a foetus. The dangerous reality of the bill, however, is that it could elevate the legal status of the foetus to that of an adult human being. This is unprecedented in Canadian law. The involuntary loss of a pregnancy is a tragedy, but solutions should be real, not political. Bill C-484 is not the right solution.

This bill elevates the foetus - even an embryo only weeks old - to a status equal with that of the adult woman who suffers the primary injury to her body, along with the additional harm of losing or damaging her pregnancy.

By recognizing a developing foetus as a victim of a crime, this legislation could erode Canadian women's right to a safe and legal abortion by treading closer to the line of recognizing fetal personhood, a concept clearly at odds with existing Canadian law. Such a law could create tension with numerous Supreme Court rulings finding that a person must be born to have legal status in Canada.

The sponsor of this legislation claims that this bill is not about abortion because it exempts legal abortions, some medical treatment, and the conduct of women. But, it is impossible to separate this proposed legislation from its sponsor, a known opponent of legal abortion.

Nowhere in the bill is the harm to the woman resulting from an involuntary termination of her pregnancy mentioned. Violence against women continues to be a significant problem in Canada, and violence often increases when a woman is pregnant. Instead of focusing on real solutions to violence against women, the bill deliberately shifts the focus away from the women who are truly the victims of these heinous crimes.

NAF fully supports a woman's right to choose to carry a pregnancy to term. Because this bill does nothing to protect women and because its possible consequences include casting doubt over well-established Canadian law, NAF opposes C-484. We believe that the Canadian government should adopt a more reasoned approach that would protect women from violence and offer concrete solutions to the problem of violence against women.

Therefore, NAF calls on the Federal Government to increase funding to programs for the prevention of violence against women. We further ask the Government to eliminate the restrictions they have put in place on research and advocacy groups requesting funding for issues relating to violence against women.

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The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is the professional association of abortion providers in Canada and the United States. Our mission is to ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care to promote health and justice for women. Our members include health care professionals at clinics, doctors' offices, and hospitals, who together care for more than half the women in both countries who choose abortion each year. For more information, visit our website at www.prochoice.org.

Countering Anti-Choice 'Black Genocide' Lies

2008-02-21T08:27:00.003-06:00

By Pamela Merritt, RH Reality Check. Posted February 19, 2008

Reproductive justice advocates need to reach out to communities of color in order to fight rumors and battle racisms past and present.

What would you expect to pop up on your computer screen if you Googled the words black genocide? Probably several web sites detailing the atrocities of the Rwandan genocide, right? Not quite. Google black genocide and a multitude of web sites indicting Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health service providers for perpetrating genocide on black people fill the computer screen. Most of these web sites claim that service providers are on a racist crusade to kill off black people through abortion and sterilization.

It's tempting to scoff at such claims as the delusional ranting of the lunatic fringe, but that wouldn't be wise. The black genocide charge has shown a staying power not unlike the rumor that drinking carbonated soda laced with Pop Rocks killed that kid from the Life cereal commercials. Unchallenged, claims of genocide become accepted as fact and achieve their goal of discouraging women from seek counseling or treatment from legitimate healthcare providers.

I first encountered the black genocide charge when I began volunteering at a women's shelter that serves homeless pregnant women. My work includes providing information about family planning and reproductive health resources. Almost from the beginning some of my students expressed distrust towards well-known reproductive health service providers. Eventually these students shared that their concerns revolved around rumors that certain service providers aggressively push patients to have abortions or take medicine that results in permanent sterilization. Through family, friends, church and the word on the street these women had been warned that well-known reproductive health service providers in America are organized to perpetrate black genocide.

Motivated more by my student's response than curiosity over the actual charge of black genocide, I did some research and found information on efforts like the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP). The Genocide Awareness Project, which is sponsored by the anti-choice Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, tours college campuses with photos comparing abortion with recognized images of genocide. GAP attempts to link abortion with genocide through the use of visual images and the manipulation of language, challenging the legitimacy of reproductive choice by comparing it to slavery. In this way, GAP reaches out to black communities through a campaign dressed up to look like a black empowerment movement.

In many ways supporters of GAP and like organizations are attempting to reap what others sowed years ago. The American eugenics movement of the 1930s and 1940s claimed to better society by preventing carriers of defective genetic traits from reproducing. Family planning was often code for the compulsory sterilization of so-called lesser people, many from poor disenfranchised groups. It is estimated that some 64,000 Americans were sterilized between 1900 and 1970. Forced sterilization of black women reached its height in the 1950s and 1960s. A trip to the hospital to give birth often resulted in sterilization without consent or the patient's knowledge.

Groups like The Genocide Awareness Project hope to build upon a pre-existing foundation of mistrust. On their web site and through college tours, GAP promotes a Sanctity of Life Curriculum for black churches and encourages the study of the history of eugenics to further "document" their claims of an organized genocide against black people.

Books and articles exploring the potential benefits of abortion in lowering crime rates also fuels mistrust. While critics laud the intellectual "courage" demonstrated by exploring the potential decrease in crime rates through an increase in black abortions, many cringe at the seemingly callous discussion of what is still not-so-distant black history.

That brings me back to my students and rumors that should not be ignored.

Charges that reproductive health service providers are conspiring to commit black genocide are a kind of intellectual mold that flourishes in the absence of the facts. Either by design or circumstance, legislation seeking to restrict access to clinics and end educational outreach programs often acts in concert with campaigns like The Genocide Awareness Project to cultivate fear of abortion providers and resentment. Constant harassment by anti-choice groups and the very real threat of violence also prevent clinics from being visible within the communities they serve, exacerbating the sense that they are not true partners and perpetuating mistrust.

Reproductive health service providers and pro-choice volunteers must continue our outreach into communities of color to prevent such claims from being accepted as the truth. In keeping with that goal, the history of eugenics and sterilization abuse in America requires that claims like those of black genocide made against reproductive service providers not be met with casual disregard. Such claims must be challenged head on even as we acknowledge a tragic history and work to insure that such acts never happen again.

Pamela Merritt is a staff writer for RH Reality Check, a contributor to the Shakespeare's Sister blog, and a featured contributor on National Public Radio’s (NPR) “Tell Me More” with Michel Martin. Her work has been published in the Chicago Sun-Times, on Salon.com and featured in Salon.com's Broadsheet. Pamela serves as PAC Chair for PROMO (Missouri’s Statewide LGBT Equality Rights Group), is a mentor through Big Sisters and teaches various classes at several shelters in St. Louis, Missouri. She also writes and maintains her personal blog.

CORONA

2008-02-19T12:11:00.002-06:00

Corona was just separated from her husband of seven years. They have one child together, and Corona has not worked since that child was born four years ago. Only days after her husband moved out, leaving her to pay the rent and utilities and single-handedly support their child, she discovered that she was pregnant. Although her husband has a steady income, he is unwilling to support her and has refused her requests for assistance in paying to terminate her pregnancy. Through her local clinic, Corona learned about the Lilith Fund. We were able to assist her with 25% of the cost of her abortion and were also able to refer her to another fund that could provide additional assistance. Because of this funding, Corona was able to pay for her abortion and alleviate at least a small portion of the substantial stress in her life right now.

GINA

2008-01-09T14:58:00.000-06:00

Gina is a single-mother of two who will start classes at her local community college in one week. Today, when she went to her local clinic, she learned that she was six weeks pregnant. The clinic referred her to our hotline, and she called us immediately. She has been saving money so that she can go to college in the evenings while continuing to support her children during the day, but if she uses those funds for an abortion, it will delay her return to school even further. She has found family members willing to lend her money, but that will not cover the entire cost. When I explained to her that we could help, she asked, "How can there be people out there that I don't even know willing to pay for my abortion?" Her question went to the heart of Lilith's purpose and to why I serve as a volunteer. I treasure the reproductive choices that I have been able to make throughout my life and know that I would be in a very different place if I couldn't have made those choices. Women like Gina shouldn't be limited in those choices simply because of the cost. Giving a woman full reproductive choice is giving her the freedom to pursue her goals and dreams - something all women deserve!

Reclaiming Cunt

2007-08-02T13:34:00.000-05:00

It has come to my attention that some of our dear readers are concerned with my use of the word Cunt. Given that Cunt is considered one of the most offensive words in the English language, I am not surprised by this response. I, however, respectfully disagree.

My first exposure to the loveliness of the word Cunt was during a performance of the Vagina Monologues in 2002. The title of the piece in question was Reclaiming Cunt, which is where my name comes from. The point of the piece was to take back the word Cunt as a positive woman-friendly term. In order to prevent Cunt’s use as an insult, people need to use the word positively and assertively. The more a word is used in positive circumstances, the less negative impact it has on those who hear and read it.

So let’s reclaim Cunt as a positive word we can be proud of. After all it does refer to a very wonderful part of the female anatomy, the vagina!

A more in depth discussion can be found here: http://www.matthewhunt.com/cunt/introduction.html

MACKENZIE

2007-07-31T18:36:00.000-05:00

Mackenzie has a history of mental illness and emotional instability. When she was 25, she had surgery on her esophagus and had to relearn how to eat. She is now 40 and has been suffering from a myriad of problems since. Most recently, her husband left her on Mother's Day and she was taken to a psychiatric hospital because she suffered a nervous breakdown due to the stress of losing her husband. The reason he left is because he is addicted to heroin and chose to live on the streets and continue with his addiction rather than try to get clean and continue their life together. Mackenzie has an 18-year-old daughter who is taking her mother for her appointment. She receives $693 per month from disability, and is also eligible for Medicaid and food stamps. She has very bad anxiety and depression, but has not been taking her meds since they found out she was pregnant. She is under the care of a psychiatrist who has expressed concern that she will become suicidal. I spoke with her daughter and she is confident once her mother gets her abortion and gets back on her medication she will start to recover. Lilith was able to help her with $75.

Louisiana Bans Late-Term Abortions

2007-07-17T11:27:00.000-05:00

(AP) BATON ROUGE, La. Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed legislation Friday that penalizes doctors who perform a late-term abortion procedure, making Louisiana the first to outlaw the surgery since a similar federal ban was upheld this year.

The new law allows the procedure only when the mother's life would be endangered without it. It would be a crime in all other cases, including when the pregnancy is expected to cause health problems for the mother.

The statute mirrors a federal ban that President Bush signed into law in 2003 and upheld in April by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lawmakers in other states are expected to consider similar bans. Louisiana is the first to enact one, according to the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, an abortion-rights group.

Under the Louisiana legislation, doctors face fines of between $1,000 and $10,000, and jail terms of between one and 10 years.

The procedure is the subject of angry debate between anti-abortion groups, who support state bans, and abortion-rights groups, who opposed the federal ban and have fought state bans.

Planned Parenthood officials argued against the Louisiana ban in legislative committee hearings, but received a chilly response from lawmakers. Only a handful of legislators voted against the bill.

Anti-abortion activists call the procedure "partial-birth abortion"; surgeons and abortion rights activists call it "dilation and extraction." It involves partially removing the fetus intact from a woman's uterus, then puncturing or crushing the skull.

The Democratic governor on Monday signed legislation requiring that all women seeking an abortion be notified that fetuses can feel pain by 20 weeks gestation, and doctors who perform the procedure to discuss the availability of painkillers for fetuses.

Supporters said that legislation would provide important information to women seeking abortions — and that it could help stop abortions. Opponents say doctors don't agree on whether fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks.

CARMEN

2007-07-13T15:57:00.000-05:00

Carmen has known she is pregnant for some time now. She has been through a really difficult time in her life recently, especially since she found out she was pregnant and has not had anyone around to help her or talk to her about her situation. The father of the child is nowhere to be found and Carmen feels desperate and totally alone. She had planned to get the procedure when she was 7 weeks, but she couldn't afford to pay the $400 all at one time. So she waited. And saved. And the cost went up. And every single day, Carmen has had to struggle with the emotional challenges of her choice and being forced to wait because she doesn't have enough money and there is no federal funding or financial help for her to have an abortion. Now her procedure is going to cost $1500 because she had to wait so long. With the additional funding from Lilith, she will be able to have the procedure that should have happened many weeks ago. She said that it has made the biggest difference for her.

These dire situations are becoming more and more common; low income and poor women, and even those living paycheck to paycheck in the lower middle class, are being forced to wait to have their procedures later and later because they cannot afford the $350 - $600 to have a first trimester abortion. Most if not all clinics require payment as services are rendered. They rarely offer financing or payment options other than accepting credit cards. There is no federal funding for abortion, although some states and counties do have discounted or free programs for those who qualify. Other than private funds such as ours, there is little to no social assistance for procedures either. That leaves women feeling desperate and scared, forced to wait for something the should never have to wait for. They are made to endure mental anguish and stress and sometimes physical sickness while trying to come up with any way to make the money as fast as possible. It is a vicious cycle for these women, who if unable to afford a few hundred dollars, find themselves in a situation of then having to find the impossible $1500 - $2000 the longer they delay getting the procedure. This often leads to depression and unnecessary pain and anguish for a woman who is simply chosen to exercise her right to control what happens to her own body. This also is the leading cause of late term abortions, because women who can't afford to get the care they need have to wait.

It is because of women like Carmen, and all our clients who are priced out of exercising their right to choose, that we at the Lilith Fund do what we do every day. We don't believe that what happened to Carmen should happen to any woman. Please join us in our mission to provide access to all women by donating to our fund today, where 100% of your donation will go to help women like Carmen.

ALICE

2007-07-10T14:22:00.000-05:00

Alice was in an abusive relationship and left her boyfriend to live in a shelter for battered women in Houston with her 3 kids. There she found out she was pregnant and does not want to ask the abusive father for help for fear he will harm her again. She brought nothing to the shelter with her and has no money. She is terrified and living one day at a time, trying to figure out how to support and feed herself and her children. She does not want to bring another child into her already desperate situation. The procedure costs $395 and Lilith is helping with $75.

DARICE

2007-07-10T14:18:00.000-05:00

Darice is single with 2 children and not working. Her only income is from babysitting and manicures she does for friends out of the house in her spare time. Darice's boyfriend wants nothing to do with the baby and denies being the father. He has refused to help her either by parenting or in supporting her decision to terminate. Her parents don't support abortion so she cannot tell them. Darice and her children live in low income housing, but she has scraped together $200 so far. The procedure is $500 and Lilith is helping with $75.

LOGAN

2007-07-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

Logan is a 26-year-old woman who just got discharged from the military after serving two tours in Iraq. While overseas, Logan suffered from a myriad of health problems, including migraines, unexplained fevers, respiratory infections and is now battling post traumatic stress disorder. She is collecting disability until she finds a job. Logan is married and had a sexual relationship with one of her colleagues while she was overseas, "to forget for awhile where we were and what we were doing," and she cannot tell her husband about the pregnancy. Lilith gave her $50 toward her procedure.

LENA

2007-07-02T10:51:00.000-05:00

Lena is 30 years old and has just been diagnosed with cervical cancer. She was on the Pill and also took Plan B after having sex the time she believes she became pregnant. Lena has a five year old son and is a single mother on disability due to some health issues. Her regular doctor told her there was no way she could be pregnant, but she took 4 home tests that all came out positive. When she went to take a pregnancy test at the doctor's office, they told she she was not pregnant. A week later, Lena ended up in the emergency room with hemorrhaging; she does not have health insurance. The on-call doctor there ran tests and discovered she is indeed pregnant, however he told he it is likely she will not be able to carry the baby to term due to her health conditions, including the newly discovered cervical cancer. Lena is terrified of having a miscarriage and wants to protect her health by terminating the pregnancy as soon as possible. The Lilith Fund gave her $75 toward her procedure.

DERALYNN

2007-07-02T10:42:00.000-05:00

Deralynn is a 22-year-old single mother with four kids. Her insurance will not pay for her to get her tubes tied. After her last child was born, she was prepared to start taking birth control pills, but now believes she got pregnant before she started the birth control. Because she does have so many children, she couldn't afford to pay for day care so she could work. Not only is Deralynn unemployed, but she also has suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her partner. She just moved out of a battered women's shelter with her kids in with her grandmother. Facing another pregnancy, she has asked her parents, and her friends for help and they are against terminating the pregnancy. "They want to keep me in this prison," Deralynn said. The father would not allow her to have an abortion so she hasn't told him. The Lilith Fund was able to give Deralynn $150 towards her procedure. "Thank you so much. You guys are saving my life."

TINA'S STORY

2007-06-17T15:04:00.000-05:00

From NARAL Pro-Choice America

Stop fake clinics from false advertising

Tina has worked at NARAL Pro-Choice America for more than six years. But before she dedicated herself to working on reproductive choice, she encountered firsthand one of the anti-choice movement’s most deceptive and devious strategies: a so-called “crisis pregnancy center.” Tina offered to share her personal story because she doesn’t want other women to face the obstacles she faced when trying to access the full range of reproductive-health care. If you don’t know what crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, are, keep reading. Please share Tina’s story with your friends and take action in support of federal legislation that will protect women like Tina from deceptive advertising practices in the future.

- NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan

Help Tina make sure that more women aren’t deceived by crisis pregnancy centers.

Click here today.

Dear Pro-Choice Friend,

I’m telling my story because I think every woman in America should have the right to choose what she will or will not do with her body.

At age 31, I found myself in a pretty frightening situation. I had just been laid off from my job and I thought I was pregnant - I didn't know what I was going to do.

On my way to buy a pregnancy test, my cousin and I came across a storefront sign for "free pregnancy tests." I went with my cousin to what looked like a medical office, and after being led to the exam room I was immediately asked whether I intended to have the baby or an abortion. I told them that I didn't know, and asked again for the test and to fill out the appropriate paperwork.

As I waited for the results, a man came into the exam room and told me he wanted to show me a film on childbearing. I started feeling a little awkward because something just didn't seem right. The film was awful. It showed how a physician performs an abortion, and it even claimed that women who choose this option are murdering their unborn child.

You can't even imagine how upset and shaken I was. I immediately jumped up and told the "nurse" that I was leaving. On my way out, she reminded me that "killing my baby is a sin and not to have an abortion." I was horrified that a business could advertise itself one way but hide its real purpose.

I thought my experience was over when I walked out that door, but during the next three days the staff I met kept calling me to see if I had made my decision. I told them not to ever call me again and that it was none of their business what I was going to do.

What I didn't realize at the time was that I had been the victim of a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" (CPC). Unfortunately, these centers are popping up in strip malls across the country and thousands of women have been tricked into going to a CPC thinking they'd receive objective medical services. Many CPCs, like the one I visited, use deceptive advertising that leads women to believe they will receive honest, unbiased information.

There is something you can do so other women don't face the intimidation and harassment that I did. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) recently introduced a bill that would protect women from anti-choice CPCs that use deceptive and unethical advertising. Click here to learn more and send an email to your member of Congress in support of this important bill.

Today, I have a beautiful, wonderful 12 year-old daughter who is the joy of my life and whom I love more than anything else. Having her was the choice I made, and because of her, I'm fighting to make sure that she will always have the right to choose. Thank you for reading my story, and please take action today so more women don't have to go through the same traumatic experience I did.

Sincerely,
Tina Briscoe

JORDAN

2007-06-14T10:52:00.000-05:00

Jordan is 7 weeks pregnant. She was forced to have intercourse by the her sister's boyfriend, who is also the father of her nephew. He does not know she is pregnant and Jordan does not want to tell him for fear of causing family turmoil and misunderstanding. To make matters more complicated, Jordan lives with her father who is admantly against abortion. She has no one to turn to in her family because of the delicate situation, but will be able to ask a friend for additional help. She works part-time but has no savings. Lilith is helping with $50.

Abortion Reimbursement Case Goes to Georgia Supreme Court

2007-06-08T11:03:00.000-05:00

Vicky Eckenrode | Tuesday, June 5, 2007 at 12:30 am | Savannah Morning News

The court first must decide whether the doctors can sue on behalf of their patients and whether the women included in the case should have to appeal first to the state agency officials.

ATLANTA - Several abortion clinics are trying to sue the state for not reimbursing Medicaid recipients when the procedure is needed to protect women's health.

The Georgia Supreme Court first must decide whether the doctors can sue on behalf of their patients and whether the single women included in the case should have to appeal to the state agency officials before turning to the courts.

Currently, state Medicaid coverage can be used to pay for abortions if the pregnancies resulted from rape or incest or the procedure is needed to keep the woman from dying.

The clinics, including Feminist Women's Health Center in Atlanta, and a Medicaid recipient, who is named under a pseudonym, filed a legal challenge arguing that it was unconstitutional to exclude from coverage "medically necessary" abortions.

The woman's doctor said that it was possible her kidney condition could get worse with the pregnancy.

A lower court dismissed the case, saying the clinic did not have legal standing to file the claim and that the woman should first seek administrative appeals through the state Department of Community Health to get reimbursed before filing suit.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia argued the appeal Monday before state Supreme Court justices.

Louise Melling, a lawyer with the ACLU, cited other court cases to the justices in which physicians were allowed to sue for their patients.

The group points out there are circumstances where an abortion is necessary because of a woman's health even though her life is not in danger, including cases of sickle cell disease or epilepsy.

The state's ACLU chapter wants to see Georgia added to the list of more than a dozen states where the distinction has been found to violate state constitutions.

Under federal guidelines, reimbursement is only given for abortions when the woman's life is threatened, although the rule used to be broader to cover medical necessary, Melling said.

Michelle Townes, an assistant attorney general for the state, said the woman in the lawsuit did not try to seek an administrative hearing with the Department of Community Health where the policy could have been looked at closer.

"There may not be an obstacle," she said. "It's all speculative."

Without a review from the state agency, which sets the reimbursement rules, it is difficult to outline the difference between what should be considered "medically necessary" and what should be considered "life threatening" for abortion procedures.

"The standard's life threatening," Townes said. "It may well be that someone's at risk for kidney failure. We don't know where the line is."

The justices did not indicate Monday when they would issue a ruling in the case.

I Volunteer for the Lilith Fund

2007-06-07T14:15:00.000-05:00

My name is Sabine and I currently answer the Spanish hotline calls for the Lilith Fund.

As a former counselor at an abortion clinic and a current volunteer for the Lilith Fund, I know that one of the best things we can do as Pro-Choice advocates is lend a voice to the countless stories of the women who choose abortion. The dialogue is so crucial to our movement because it demonstrates the complexity of this issue, as diverse as the women and their loved ones who face it. The bottom line is that there is no right or wrong reason to have an abortion, and it’s patronizing and wrong for anyone to think they should have the power or judgment to make that decision for anyone else.

The obstacles that most women endure when making this decision can be ten-fold for Spanish-speakers. A disturbing trend that I fear is going unnoticed is that of women crossing the border with the aid of coyotes (those who smuggle people across the border for financial gain) only to be raped by them. The trauma of this experience cannot be expressed, and the chance for the victims of this crime to receive justice is virtually nonexistent. On several occasions I have talked to women who have been through this. Many times they are in shock; mostly they feel disenfranchised and helpless, as if they do not deserve assistance, or as if this horrific turn of events was to be expected. Often they are not even sure that abortion is a legal service or that the procedure will be performed by a doctor.

While I feel strongly that access to abortion services is a concern for all women, I fear that women on the fringes of society are the most at risk for losing their rights - and reproductive rights are HUMAN RIGHTS. The Lilith Fund offers women, all women, an opportunity to help themselves through a difficult time when maybe no other person or establishment will offer such help. I am truly proud to be a part of it.

BETTE

2007-05-01T17:25:00.000-05:00

Bette, 33, is a divorced mother of a 12 year old boy. She left New York to escape her abusive ex-husband. It took her two years to get a divorce from a marriage in which there had been extensive family violence. Her husband was a classic abuser in that he did not need even the excuse of alcohol or drugs to belittle or attack her. He once cut her on the neck while threatening to kill her. When her son finally intervened, her husband became violent toward him and it was then that she decided to leave. Bette chose to move to Texas to get as far away from her abuser as she chould. Tragically, her ex-husband found out where she was living through her family, and came to Texas where he attacked and raped her. Bette became pregnant as a result, but cannot bring herself to have a second child by this man. Bette is currently in counseling and is in contact with Family Violence advocates. She hasn't seen her son happier since they came to Texas. Although she is working, bills, rent and caring for her son don't leave much left over. Bette is 9 weeks pregnant and the Lilith Fund contributed $75 to her procedure.

The History of Jane -- A message from our Board President

2007-04-30T16:29:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading the Story of Jane by Laura Kaplan. As I was reading, I was once again reminded that our current Supreme Court could portend to turn the clock back to that pre Roe v. Wade time once again. For those young souls out there who are unfamiliar with the Story of Jane, let me quote a few eye-opening paragraphs. For those of us who volunteer with the Lilith Fund, these quotes are only too familiar.

In 1969 (abortion was not legal until the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision) Jane was organized because “every week desperate women of every class, race and ethnicity telephoned Jane. They were women whose husbands or boyfriends forbade them to use contraceptives; women who had conceived on every method of contraception; women who had not used contraceptives. They were older women who thought they were no longer fertile; young girls who did not understand their reproductive physiology. They were women who could not care for a child, (women who could not care for another child), and women who did not want a child. Some women agonized over the decision, while others had no doubts. Each one was making the best decision about motherhood that she could make at the time.”

Jane counseled women and referred them to the underground for their abortions.

“As members of the women’s liberation movement, the women in Jane viewed reproductive control as fundamental to women’s freedom. The power to act had to be in the hands of each woman. Her decision about an abortion needed to be underscored as an active choice about her life… in taking control of her life, she had to feel in control of her abortion. … Jane tried to create an environment in which women could take back their bodies, and by doing so, take back their lives.”

In the late 1960s, “women’s liberation groups organized speak-outs at which women testified to their own illegal abortions. They marched and demonstrated and disrupted legislative hearings on abortion that excluded women. They demand that women ... be heard and recognized.”

“But the women’s liberation movement did more… It framed the issue, not in terms of privacy in sexual relations, and not in the neutral language of choice, but in terms of a woman’s freedom to determine her own destiny as she defined it, not as others defined it. Abortion was a touchstone. … To force a woman either to carry an unwanted pregnancy or to venture into a dangerous underground was considered morally indefensible. Women were dying because they were denied the ability to act on their own moral decisions.”

Prior to the women’s liberation movement “the message was that women received was that they were less intelligent, less capable, less valuable than men. They weren’t the heroes. They were the ones rescued by heroes. The issues that directly affected women’s lives were rarely framed by them, but rather by institutions and authorities dominated by men, such as legislatures and the church.”

“Women were valued for their ability to attract men, encouraged to be sexy, and then damned for being sexual. They were stuck between two opposites –the Madonna or the whore–neither of them of their own creation. Women had a right to be sexual beings, to sexual pleasure. They had to free themselves from those oppressive definitions. They had to gain control of their lives and they could not control their lives without having control over their bodies. … It was women who got pregnant, bore children and raised them, but men–husbands, fathers, clergymen, legislators and doctors–had the power to judge women and to punish them. Women were oppressed because they did not have the to control their lives.”

“For those of us who came of age in the 1960s (and that includes this blogger), the arguments for our sexual freedom are still fresh. For those born after that time, it may all seem like ancient history. BUT it was not until 1965 that the Supreme Court guaranteed even the right to acquire contraceptives, and then for married people only. Before that some states still had laws, stemming from Anthony Comstock’s nineteenth-century ‘moral purity’ campaign, prohibited the same and distribution of contraceptives. Not until 1972, less than a year before its decision in Roe v. Wade, did the Supreme Court in Einsenstadt v. Baird extend the right to contraception to single people. Before that, access to contraceptives for unmarried people varied from place to place, doctor to doctor.”

“The Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 stated that abortion in the first two trimesters of pregnancy was a medical decision to be made by a woman and her doctors. Four years later Congress passed the Hyde Amendment, which banned the use of federal Medicaid dollars for abortion unless the woman’s life is in danger. Many states, including Texas, banned the use of state Medicaid dollars for abortion.

The National Network of Abortion Funds, of which the Lilith Fund is a member, was established in 1993. In 2001, the Lilith Fund was founded in Texas to assist women in exercising their fundamental right to abortion by removing (financial) barriers to access.

Joanne Richards
Lilith Fund Board President

If you believe in our mission and believe that women should be able to take control of their lives, please support the Lilith Fund by giving a donation.

By Mail:
The Lilith Fund, Inc
PO Box 684949
Austin, Texas 78768-4949

Or follow the "Donate Now" link on your right to donate online.

The Lilith Fund Supports Austin Women's Health Center

2007-04-27T13:55:00.000-05:00

As many of you are now aware, the Austin Police Department has confirmed that the "suspicious package" found outside Austin Women's Health Center on Wednesday afternoon, was indeed a bomb.

"It was configured in such a way as to cause serious bodily injury or death," Austin Police Assistant Chief David Carter told reporters Thursday.

You can find the full report here.

This is an act of terrorism against women and supporters of choice. It is abhorrent and reprehensible that a person or group would seek to harm or even kill those who are providing abortion services or exercising their right to choose. It is unacceptable that this behavior be allowed to continue in our city or anywhere else in the country. The Supreme Court decision handed down earlier this month has obviously given some the idea that it is time to cross the line from merely protesting to committing acts of violence in order to get their point across.

The Lilith Fund would like to extend our best wishes and thoughts to at Austin Women's Health Center, our Austin providers and clinics, and all our sisters and brothers protecting and providing choice to American women. We must unite together at this time to ensure the safety and security for ourselves and our right to choose.

Your Body is A Battleground

2007-04-25T15:32:00.000-05:00

Taking Liberties

by: moiv

Mon Apr 23, 2007 at 21:52:34 PM CDT

from Talk to Action

The deadline for filing new bills in the Texas Legislature passed some weeks ago, but State Senator Dan Patrick is so very special that he's been granted a very special suspension of the rules to file yet another of his very special anti-abortion bills. His Texas Baby Purchasing Act of 2007 drew more snickers than sponsors, and his co-effort with Rep. Warren Chisum to ban abortion entirely remains in committee, but the legislative session's not over yet. And the religious right never gives up.

Women in Texas already are denied abortion care until after a doctor warns them of nonexistent risks of breast cancer and mental illness, after which they must spend at least 24 hours pondering misinformation that no responsible physician would have given them, nor ever did, until forced by law to do so. Patrick's SB 920, to be heard in the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services on April 24, adds yet another moralistic barrier by denying a woman abortion care unless she examines an ultrasound image of her pregnancy, whether she wants to see it or not.

Patrick (left), a Christian conservative talk show host and first-term senator who broadcasts his radio show from the Capitol, had his own vasectomy performed live and on the air. Had a compulsory ultrasound viewing been a part of that procedure, we would all be grateful that the fact-challenged Patrick is one publicity hound who didn't have a television gig.

Women who seek abortion care deserve to have much more medical privacy than that, along with a lot more respect for their constitutional rights.

moiv :: Taking Liberties

Lawmakers on the religious right seem universally enamored of the strange notion that women seeking abortion care - women who already have navigated numerous and intrusive hurdles placed in their path by the ilk of Dan Patrick - are coerced into having abortions that they don't really want. However, in agreement with Justice Kennedy's morality manifesto, such politicians also believe that it is perfectly acceptable to coerce women into compliance with their own religiously motivated desires.

In Texas, groups representing the religious right, along with their money men, control most of the legislative agenda. Legislation restricting reproductive freedom for women is at the top of their "to do" list.

Patrick's SB 920 is a copycat version of a South Carolina measure that legislators were forced to modify when Attorney General Henry McMaster advised them that while doctors could be required to show women seeking an abortion an ultrasound image of their fetus, the bill likely would be unconstitutional if it forced an unwilling patient to view the image. McMaster wrote, "In my opinion, it would be illegal and improper for the state to force a person seeking an abortion to view an ultrasound image against her will." In Georgia, another last-minute mandatory ultrasound bill to "(p)rotect unborn children from a woman's uninformed decision to have an abortion" stops short of legally compelling a woman into compliance.

But anti-choice politicians in Texas are trail-blazers. Anticipating last week's Supreme Court ruling by two years, the Texas Legislature abolished exceptions for a woman's health in 2005 with the bill famously signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry at a Fort Worth church.

Appended to Senate Bill 419 was Rep. Will Hartnett's firm conviction that despite the imminent failure of any other vital organs she might possess, a woman can live without "anything but a brain." Both houses of the legislature voted with Hartnett that "impairment to a woman's health" is no justification for late abortion when "we could be killing off Einstein" just because "a woman might have some organ damage."

(a) A physician or an applicant for a license to practice medicine commits a prohibited practice if that person:
[:::]
(18) performs an abortion on a woman who is pregnant with a viable unborn child during the third trimester of the pregnancy unless:
(A) the abortion is necessary to prevent the death of the woman;
(B) the viable unborn child has a severe, irreversible brain impairment; or
(C) the woman is diagnosed with a significant likelihood of suffering imminent severe, irreversible brain damage or imminent severe, irreversible paralysis.

In the wake of last week's ruling by the Supreme Court, many legal scholars "were startled by the implicit suggestion that women need to be protected from abortion."

Columbia University law Professor Gillian Metzger said this paternalism collided with previous rulings acknowledging women's right to choose for themselves the course of their pregnancies.
Jack M. Balkin, a Yale Law School professor, had a similar reaction to Kennedy's embrace of the Justice Foundation's argument.
"The new rhetoric of pro-life forces is no longer just rhetoric. It's now part of Supreme Court doctrine," the professor wrote on his blog Balkinization. "That is the big news about Gonzales v. Carhart."
Perhaps the most noteworthy reaction came from Kennedy's colleague, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who wrote a stern dissent complete with a footnote that filled an entire page.
The footnote lists eight studies that claim to debunk the assertions that abortions often wound women emotionally.

But never mind. Religious right activists across the country have recognized this decision as a green light for further repression. South Dakota activist Leslee Unruh, architect of her state's 2006 abortion ban, says, "We're brainstorming, and we're having fun."

The Texas Legislature's anti-abortion forces - medical experts such as Warren Chisum, Frank Corte, Geanie Morrison, Florence Shapiro and Dan Patrick - think they know best, too. What they don't know is anything at all about the provision of abortion care. Perhaps they will allow someone who does know about it to enlighten them.

Obstetrical sonography is a diagnostic procedure performed for indicated medical reasons, not as a tool for emotional manipulation. A woman is free to decide that she would like to observe the screen during the ultrasound examination itself, or she may decide to accept our offer to review the image with her later, during a private counseling session. Despite anti-choice delusions, we encourage women to do so, because most women feel relieved to know that a seven-week pregnancy looks like this ...

... instead of this.

If a woman decides that she would like to have a copy of the image to take home, we are more than glad to provide one for her.

But Patrick's very special late-entry bill takes all that arduous decision making off a woman's shoulders, so that she won't have to worry her pretty little head about it anymore.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 171.012(a), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Except in the case of a medical emergency, consent to an abortion is voluntary and informed only if:
[:::]
(3) the physician who is to perform the abortion or the physician's agent performs an obstetric ultrasound on the woman on whom the abortion is to be performed, provides the woman with an obstetric ultrasound image of the unborn child, and reviews the image of the unborn child with the woman;
(4) the woman certifies in writing before the abortion is performed that:
(B) she has been provided with and reviewed the image described by Subdivision (3); and
(5) [(4)] before the abortion is performed, the physician who is to perform the abortion receives a copy of the written certification required ...

And oh yes, as is usual with anti-choice TRAP laws, the physician is guilty of a criminal offense if he or she doesn't coerce a woman on Dan Patrick's behalf.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act to Section 172.012(a), Health and Safety Code, applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs before this date. An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

NARAL Pro-Choice Texas properly says, "Patients are not forced to view x-rays, cat scans, or video of surgeries against their will - they may if they choose, but do not have to if they are not comfortable doing so. Singling out abortion in this way is purely political. This bill does nothing to protect the health of women in Texas; it presents an unconscionable intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship."

Most women are receptive to viewing ultrasound images, but it is understandable that others - women pregnant as a result of sexual assaults, or those ending wanted pregnancies after being diagnosed with severe fetal anomalies - might prefer not to see them. Dan Patrick and his allies on the Christian right shouldn't be empowered to force women to comply with their desires before being allowed to have an abortion, and they shouldn't be empowered to force doctors, or patient advocates like me, to do their strong-arming for them.

Little has changed, and nothing has improved, since Ampersand wrote these words on the "Partial Birth Abortion" Ban in October 2003.

Pro-lifers will never escape their reputation as woman-hating fanatics as long as they'd rather see a woman crippled and infertile than permit her to get the medical help she needs for health reasons. And that's as it should be - opposing the health exemption for women who need it, on the grounds of speculative abuses, is barbaric.

Abuses by the religious right are fast making barbarism toward women the law of the land. And if you are a woman, your body is their battleground.

[Title image: Cyborg Democracy

Protest photo: Lifesite.net]

Tags: Abortion, reproductive rights, Religious Right, Dan Patrick, texas legislature, (All Tags)

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My Life is Non-Negotiable To Me

2007-04-24T15:08:00.000-05:00

This is an amazing post from Natasha at Daily Kos that I wanted to share.

My Life is Non-Negotiable To Me

by natasha

Fri Apr 20, 2007 at 04:28:44 PM PDT

In response to irishwitch's excellent diary about how OB-GYNs say that the Supreme Court was in the wrong, and in which she castigated anti-choice Democrats, someone predictably accused her of what's apparently the worst political heresy possible: Being a single issue voter.

To preface my revised and extended response to that, let me just set a proper tone for the discussion ...

Don't stand back while my life is threatened and expect me to give a damn about anything you say or want.

natasha's diary

Feminists are often singled out as a type of single-issue voter particularly deserving of demonization at this site. Our adamance, our insistence, it just gets right up some people's noses. Right up there. We are accused often, just as the anti-choicers and the Supreme Court have conspired to have us declared in the law, of not knowing what's really in our best interests. Accused, in the most loaded and demeaning of ways, of being crying hysterics who blow things out of proportion.

Screw that. Let me tell you just a little bit of why we're such demanding, whiny nags, such angry, raging bitches. And let me tell you why a refusal to join with us in our petition for justice and equality hurts everything this site claims to stand for.

This society spends an enormous amount of time working hard to make women afraid. It works. We are.

We can be forced to have c-sections against our will, invasive medical procedures with not insignificant risks to our future health. If we should become pregnant due to contraception failure, we may be given the run-around by medical professionals until it's too late to avoid pregnancy, and then if we talk publically about wanting an abortion we can get death threats and worse. A woman can be dragged to her death like James Byrd without creating any more public controversy than how best to cover up the blood stains on the road. As insult on top of all this injury, and more infuriating things than anyone has room for in a single post, Congress and the Supreme Court got together to declare us less valuable than female farm animals.

Than farm animals? Yes. Because not only is an unborn fetus apparently worth more than I am, an unborn fetus that can't live outside my body and a dead, decaying fetus that's been strangled by its own umbilical cord is worth more than I am. Worth more than my health and future ability to bear children. And a life exception?

If something that might only threaten my health turns out to be fatal to me, well it's too bloody late to grant me an exemption.

Worse, the Democrats have managed to turn the advantage of popular support for the pro-choice position into a politically iffy proposition by joining with our enemies in decrying the ickyness of allowing me to decide whether or I want to host and sustain an entire other developing body inside my own.

I can't be made to donate so much as a square inch of skin against my will if I'm lying on a slab in a morgue and didn't sign up as an organ donor. And these milquetoast 'friends' of mine have equivocated to the point that a dead, anencephalic, spina bifida-having or hydrocephalic fetus could put me in jeopardy of my life or health, because it now has the legal right to commandeer my uterus. Do you get that! I have more rights over the disposition of my body if I'm dead. Dead! You bet I'm pissed at the Democrats over this. And when anyone tells me I shouldn't be pissed off over it, just try, if you will, as an exercise in hypothetical abstraction, to imagine how much more volcanically pissed off that sodding well makes me.

Neural tube defects and late-term miscarriages that don't trigger labor, among other causes, aren't predictable. They don't happen to many women, they aren't genetic, and given proper care, a woman can often go on to have children afterwards. It's just that it's always a chance. And it hits me, a woman of childbearing age who might want to plan a pregnancy in the next few years or might face contraception failure and decide to continue the pregnancy if I had a supportive partner, right where I live. Because I might very much want a child and have my life and health put in danger thereby, even though the means to treat these potential problems are well-known.

This law, this Supreme Court ruling, literally threatens my very life.

Since the ruling was handed down, it's practically been all I've been able to post about at my own blog. I've looked at interesting and important stories about alternative energy, global warming, the Gonzales hearing, the situation in Iraq, and about a topic that I abandoned a lucrative career to study and work in at entry level for the moment, sustainable agriculture. I care deeply and passionately about these issues. They mean a great deal to me and I fully understand their importance to the civic culture of the United States and the world at large. I just can't bring myself to focus on them very much right now.

All I can think about is that these miserable, frakking bastards have taken something that in the back of my mind I had always so looked forward to planning and made me fear it. And I hate them for it. I hate them with every fiber of my being. I have refused to live in fear before, and I refuse to stand by and let other people carry all the water to ensure that I can stop living in fear now.

So I can't give the attention I want to those other issues. I can't fully be present for them right now. Until this ruling is overturned, or until my right to make my own medical decisions is safely enshrined into federal law, I don't know that I will be able to give them the passionate intensity that they so deserve. Especially, I can't do so when I feel that the people working on them and drumming up support for the 'elect Democrats and all will be well' bandwagon don't give a damn about helping me and other feminists fight this.

Simply put: You can stand with me as a brother in arms to support my right to protect my own life, as part of a mutual defense pact, or you can lose some measure my support for your own fights.

I suspect that I'm far from alone in this sentiment.

Tags: abortion, Gonzales v. Carhart, Supreme Court, reproductive rights, women's health, Rescued (all tags)

LYDIA

2007-04-24T11:38:00.000-05:00

Lydia went to a well known clinic in Houston today for an abortion. She is 23 weeks along. At first she was undecided about what she wanted to do, but ultimately chose to terminate the pregnancy. Once the decision was made, she found out how much it was going to cost ($2,849) and it look a long time to get the money together. Lydia arrived at the clinic for her procedure as scheduled, but was told that she didn't dilate enough and would have to come back the next day. The clinic also informed her that the cost would increase by another $250. The Lilith Fund was able to commit $125 and Lydia came up with the $75. We hoped the clinic would waive the additional $50... We did not get another call from Lydia, so we believe she was able to have her procedure.

It is not uncommon, especially after 15 weeks, for the cost of a procedure to rise dramatically literally overnight. This can be due to a number of factors, including health and physical condition of the patient, anesthesia, complications with the procedure and so forth. It is important to us as a fund to make sure these costs are legitimate, as our clients are vulnerable and often scared and unsure if they are being taken advantage of. Many of them have sacrificed so much to raise the money, trying to find a couple hundred more just seems impossible. We are so glad we are able to help these women who have struggled to raise money come up with that extra little bit if the need arises.

Supreme Court Upholds Partial Birth Abortion Ban

2007-04-18T17:05:00.000-05:00

This is a really sad day for us in reproductive rights. Now more than ever we must show our solidarity and let it be known that we will not stand by and let this right be taken from us.

From Ms. Felker at NARAL Pro Choice Texas:

"For the first time since Roe , the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception protecting a woman's health … the Court's defense of it, cannot be understood as anything other than an eff ort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this Court -- and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women's lives. A decision so at odds with our jurisprudence should not have staying power."

- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissent in the Federal Abortion Ban cases (Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood)

Today's Supreme Court decision marks a major step backward for women's health throughout the United States, and especially in Texas where anti-choice politicians routinely play politics with women's health. The decision erodes previous protections for women's health therefore endangering women throughout the United States when they and their families are faced with personal and private decisions regarding whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.

Please join supporters of women's health, freedom and privacy on Thursday, April 19^th from 5-6pm on the south side of the capitol (11^th & Congress) to raise awareness about this historic and regressive decision which endangers women's health and, to urge Texas lawmakers to abandon similar dangerous and divisive anti-choice measures, such as Rep. Chisum's near-total abortion ban (HB 175).

What: Demonstration of Support for Women's Health in Texas

When: Thursday, April 19^th, 5-6pm

Where: South side of the capitol on 11^th at Congress

Why: To show our lawmakers Texans want women's health, freedom and privacy to be upheld.

For more information on the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Federal Abortion Ban or information about Thursday's action, please feel free to contact me. Also, please feel free to forward this information to interested parties.

Laurie Felker Jones
Deputy Political Director
NARAL Pro-Choice Texas (formerly TARAL)
www.prochoicetexas.org

2007 Lilith Fund REA Benefit Celebration

2007-04-03T13:11:00.000-05:00

This year marks The Lilith Fund's 5^th Anniversary helping Texas women, and we are pleased to invite you to join us in celebrating our successes.

BUY TICKETS OR SPONSOR NOW!

TAYLOR

2007-03-22T10:33:00.000-05:00

Taylor just had a child in September of 2006. The father of the child left her in January. She took a pregnancy test in February and it was positive, but then she thought she had a miscarriage because she started bleeding heavily. Then last week she started having nausea and severe pains in her stomach, so she went to the hospital. The doctor told her she was still pregnant but would likely have a miscarriage and risked a severe infection if she didn't have an abortion soon. She's already 15 weeks along, and the cost of her abortion continues to get more expensive with each week.

She's contacted the father, but he refuses to help her. She has $270 saved and is pawning her wedding ring to come up with as much as she can. We were able to fund her $100, and her clinic was able to obtain additional funding from NNAF for an additional $200.

New Website Helps Women Find Plan B ("The Morning After Pill")

2007-02-19T19:00:00.000-06:00

This week, The Bush Relief Fund, in conjunction with Whole Woman's Health and The National Network of Abortion Funds, launched a new website that allows Central Texas residents to quickly find the closest and cheapest Plan B retailers near them. This groundbreaking website, found at www.morningafterpillaustin.com, provides Plan B pricing for over 200 retailers in the Central Texas area. Users simply need to type in their zip-code to find an extensive list of local Plan B retailers.

Plan B, also known as Emergency Contraception or The Morning After Pill, prevents pregnancy up to five days after unprotected, compromised, or forced intercourse. The FDA approved Plan B for over-the-counter sale to adults late last year. Since the release of Plan B's "dual" status, family planning organizations have been working diligently to inform the public about how to access Plan B without a prescription. Currently, anyone 18 or over with proof of age can purchase Plan B without a prescription at most local pharmacies and women's health clinics. However, women under 18 must still have a prescription to purchase Plan B.

Although Plan B can be used up to five days after unprotected, compromised, or forced intercourse, it is most effective at preventing pregnancy when taken as soon as possible following intercourse. Therefore, www.morningafterpillaustin.com is especially important to Central Texas women because it reduces the extra time and hassle spent on locating a Plan B retailer. Furthermore, women's health experts recommend that women buy Plan B before they need it, so it can be taken immediately after a sexual encounter. Women who do not need emergency contraception right now can also use www.morningafterpillaustin.com to find a retailer and purchase Plan B "before the fact."

Thanks to Ghazaleh for the info on this awesome new resource!

Some End of Year Thoughts from your Hotline Coordinator...

2006-12-21T14:35:00.000-06:00

I have been volunteering with Lilith for over two years now and it has honestly changed my life profoundly. Before I started I had no idea the kind of hardships that many women face everyday just to obtain access to their constitutional rights to reproductive health care, birth control and abortion. Just read through our blog and you will find only a few stories of the hundreds of women we have helped this year alone.

After the 2004 election, I was so angry and frustrated, I felt like I needed an outlet to channel my energies, rather than sitting around and complaining and doing nothing. I started out helping with the annual spring fundraiser, stuffing envelopes here and there and tabling at various events. I met more and more powerful feminist icons and fellow activists and people who I admired and respected and my fervor for Lilith grew. Then I began answering the hotline and really felt myself making a difference. Since then, my dedication and involvement has grown to include organizing the silent auction in the spring, putting on our first rock show as well as becoming Hotline Coordinator and Lilith blogger this summer.

The more involved I became, the more I felt we were capable of. November was a big month for The Lilith Fund and for women's reproductive rights advocates across the country. As we prepared to host our first annual Rock for Choice benefit November 9th, voters across the nation were soundly rejecting anti-choice legislation and politicians from South Dakota to Washington State. "And Access for All! Thirty Years is Enough!" was the Lilith Fund mantra that evening, as we gathered at Flamingo Cantina on Sixth Street in downtown Austin with old and new friends to rock out for choice and commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment. Passed by Congress in 1976, the Hyde Amendment excludes abortion from the comprehensive health care services provided to low-income people by the federal government through Medicaid.

With an eclectic line-up of bands, there was something different for everyone, from the percussion heavy danceable indie rock of AM Syndicate, to the alt-country melodies of Belhome, the experimental My Fascist Pussy as well as some kinetic instrumental rock from our friends Motion Turns It On out of Houston, this was a night of music with a message. Our lovely hostesses Texas Rollergirls Belle Starr and Melicious peppered the evening with Lilith client stories, reproductive health statistics and raffle drawings, as well as comic relief. We also featured a Raffle of Oddities which included hand decorated art speculums made by Lilith Board Members, Hand crafted vagina stationary, Texas Rollergirls merchandise, art and other prizes.

Our goals for this for this event were to increase awareness about the Lilith Fund and women's reproductive health, promote volunteerism with young adults and raise money for our struggling fund, as well as to rock out for choice. We raised over $800 that went directly back into funding our clients. We hope to make this event bigger and better in the future and to continue to reach out and spread the Lilith Fund message to the Austin community for all the Texas women who need our help.

For fiscal year July 1, 2005 - June 30 2006 The Lilith Fund:

Took calls from 3,268 women
Approved grants to 819 women
Paid 514 vouchers
Spent $34,000 in direct services

Thank you on behalf of the women of Texas for your continued support. We want to make 2007 even better! We can only get stronger.

Sinclair Fleetwood
The Lilith Fund
Hotline Coordinator

PLAN B Update - Austin

2006-12-21T14:16:00.000-06:00

Here is some additional information on Lilith Fund clinic partners who are offering Plan B. Get yours today!

Reproductive Services will be selling Plan B by January 2007 for $30-$35
Austin Women's Health Center is considering offering Plan B
Planned Parenthood South Austin is selling Plan B for $35
Whole Woman's Health is selling Plan B for $35.

To find a Plan B provider near you go to www.not-2-late.com or call 1(888) NOT-2-LATE.

House to vote on Fetal Pain Bill today -- NARAL Pro-Choice America is NEUTRAL?

2006-12-06T11:39:00.001-06:00

According to many news sources, NARAL, the National Abortion Rights Action League, America's foremost pro-choice political arm, has taken a neutral stance on the proposed Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, being voted on in the House today.

NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued a statement saying it would not oppose the measure: "Pro-choice Americans have always believed that women deserve access to all the information relevant to their reproductive health decisions. For some women, that includes information related to fetal anesthesia options."

The bill requires abortion providers to tell a woman whose pregnacy is 20 weeks past fertilization "there is substantial evidence" that the fetus will feel pain during the procedure -- a point hotly debated among physicians and pain specialists. If the woman refuses anesthesia, she would have to sign a waiver. Doctors who fail to follow the rules could face fines up to $250,000.

Wrapped in a neat woman's right to know/informed consent package, this is nothing more than another attempt to further block a woman's access to abortion by adding another needless restriction based on inconclusive science. While any compassionate person would support a bill that decreases pain and suffering, the scientific basis of the claim that fetuses under 29 weeks can feel pain is hotly debated. This is a measure which could induce unnecessary guilt and emotional suffering for women who are too poor to afford the fetal anesthesia, as well as increasing the cost of the procedure for a group of women who are already struggling to afford even the most basic health care for themselves and their families, not to mention the reproductive care they so desperately need.

My question is, especially after the overwhelming Republican defeats in the elections last month, WHERE ARE THE PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS? How can NARAL possibly be neutral on this issue? Nancy Pelosi isn't speaking on the bill?!? Perhaps the voters didn't get more liberal, perhaps the democrats have gone moderate. Now more than ever this is not the time for NARAL or any organization or individual that considers her or himself to be pro-choice to play nice with the politicians. Just because South Dakota voters had the sense to stand up to the conservative measures in their state doesn't mean we have won the war and choice is safe. It is a woman's Right to Know that these restrictions and laws are each designed to slowly but surely take our freedom over our bodies away until nothing is left. This battle is far from over, and it is very disappointing to see NARAL take this position when they should be getting more vocal and radical about what women want and need in this country.

The mainstream pro-choice movement needs to spend less time in the safe areas in the middle and venture a bit more into the deep end. Meaning that there needs to be a focus on politics and actions that are more radical. Silence is complicity.
Abortion is a crucial reproductive health need that is the epitome of controversial -- and downplaying, ignoring or mediating this issue and the reality of the reproductive health crisis in this country is abhorrent.

The Lilith Fund raises money to to pay for low-income women's abortions BECAUSE there is no support systems or health care funding for these women, mainly due to passage of bills such as the one being heard today. There is really no way to be politically correct and inoffensive and silent about the fact that abortion is a necessary and real part of reproductive health care for women and not acknowledging it doesn't make it go away. It is a cold hard fact that legislators are trying to do everything they can to ensure that the right to choose becomes illegal. I think in the future it will become more and more important for us as a movement to gain support from people and organizations who are vocal about their belief in choice and in women. Abortion is not something to be ashamed of!

PLAN B is HERE

2006-11-13T16:55:00.000-06:00

Plan B has hit Austin pharmacies as of today. According to Whole Woman's Health CVS, Walgreens, Target, Randalls, and Albertsons all have Plan B in stock. Prices range from $35-$46---Whole Woman's Health and Target are selling Plan B OTC at the cheapest rates: $35.

HEB does plan on carrying it, but no word on when they will get it in stock.

Walmart is only carrying it by Rx and they are not sure when/if they will get it OTC. (Which is another reason to never ever go there. ever.)

Happy Monday Boys and Girls!

LILITH ROCKS FOR CHOICE

2006-11-03T12:41:00.000-06:00

And Access for All - 1st Annual
Lilith Fund Rock for Choice Benefit

Where: The Flamingo Cantina
Date: Thursday, Nov. 9th
Time: 9:00 PM - 2:00 AM
Cost: $5, $7 Under 21

Featuring:

AM Syndicate
Belhome
My Fascist Pussy

Motion Turns It On (Houston)

NIKITA

2006-10-18T21:38:00.000-05:00

Nikita is 14 years old and in 7th grade. She had been having sex with her boyfriend, also a 7th grader, without using contraception and became pregnant. She was terrified of what was happening to her and was scared to tell anyone and so she hid the pregnancy until last week when she was finally able to tell her mother by sending her an email. She is 22 weeks pregnant. Nikita's mother Linda immediately notified the boy's parents and they have refused to help pay for the termination. Linda made sure the relationship between the two was ended and set out to raise the funds to keep her child from having to raise a baby when she is just a child herself. Linda was told the procedure would cost $2748.00. Linda was able to raise $2400 over the course of a week through selling items, borrowing from friends and sacrificing to come up with the money. The Lilith Fund gave Nikita $150, so she was still about $200 short, however was able to find the money at the last minute. This morning when Nikita went in for her procedure, she was told she was "too small" and they would have to do an additional surgical procedure in order to complete the termination. The price has now gone up another $1098.00. We immediately referred this case to the National Network for Abortion Funds in the hope that they will be able to help this struggling family with additional funding.

LALAINA

2006-10-04T22:09:00.000-05:00

Lalaina, 36, is almost 15 weeks pregnant and has been receiving regular prenatal care at the People's Community Clinic in Austin. This morning she began to have severe cramping and decided to go to the Emergency Room. Upon completion of an ultrasound, the doctor told her that her baby has a condition called Cystic Hygroma. Fetal cystic hygroma is a rare congenital birth defect resulting in a lymphatic vessel malformation or fluid filled mass in the head or neck that results from an abnormal formation of lymphatic vessels. Lalaina's prognosis was that she would probably not make it to 6 months and definitely not to term, with the chance of spontaneously aborting increasing after 24 weeks. In addition to this diagnosis, the doctor also found that there was a hole in the aorta. Her husband works supporting her and their small son, and the family was overjoyed at the prospect of having the child, but have now been told it has no chance for survival. She has no health insurance and is really scared of carrying the baby and having a miscarriage. She just wants to terminate the pregnancy as soon as possible and try to rebuild her life with her family. Lilith was able to give her $75 toward her procedure.

BRIDGET

2006-09-23T12:41:00.000-05:00

Bridget has a 4 year old daughter and a 3 month old infant. She is a stay at home mother who dotes on her children, sacrificing to care for their needs. Her husband recently lost his job because their car broke down and he was unable to get to work. The family has applied for food stamps and welfare but can barely afford to put food on the table, let alone raise another child. Her husband is actively looking for work, but without a car he is having trouble getting around. Bridget and her family have no income right now, as her welfare is pending. She is less than 6 weeks along, so her procedure will be in the $300 - $450 range I imagine. Her mother in Germany has sent her $60 and Lilith committed $75.

Bridget's story reminded me of a discussion I had with a friend recently about how when a woman becomes pregnant, everything changes and the priority becomes the welfare of the child. He said something that struck a chord with me, which was "people just make it work because they have to." I think that's how a lot of people probably feel. That the mother will get by and be able to raise the child because she has to.

I disagree.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau the following statistics were reported in 2005:

37 million Americans now live below the poverty line
17.6% of children under 18 (12.9 million) live in poverty
46.6 million Americans do not have health insurance
Women on average are paid 77% as much as men. This equals out to about $10,000 less per year.
Texas has the higest rate of uninsured citizens in the nation at 24.6%

Many of our clients have chosen to terminate their pregnancies because they cannot provide for themselves and their current family and they choose not to bring another child into this world that will be neglected, abused, underfed, unloved, abandoned or worse. Our government offers no support systems for these women, and thus continues the welfare, poverty and public assistance cycle. Many low income and minority women are forced to have more children they cannot afford because they have no financial access to obtain an abortion. This is happening because of the lack of sex education and birth control access to low income women. Because of mentalities such as those held by the Christian abstinence-only preaching American Life League which believes "that contraception is the new terrorism." When will people understand that simultaneously attacking a woman's right to contraception and removing access to sexual education in favor of the completely irrational and unrealistic expectation of abstinence is what is causing more women to be forced to seek abortions?

If you want to stop abortion, start teaching women and men about their bodies and what they can do to prevent pregnancy in the first place. Allow low income women and girls unfettered, federally funded access to birth control and reproductive health care. Realize that the US Constitution guarantees that:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It is not the job of the religious right to legislate their personal morality on the citizens of this country and the attack on women is doing just that. Education, understanding, compassion, personal responsibility, choice and tolerance are the answers, not faith based political inititaves.

One small step for Woman, One giant leap for Womankind...

2006-08-24T11:29:00.000-05:00

Many of us have been there. In the heat of the moment, a mistake happens and things don't go as planned. You missed a pill or two and the condom breaks. Fear sets in. For most of us this results in the hassle and inconvenience of having to make an appointment at your local clinic, taking off work and getting the "Morning After" pill as soon as you can and hoping for the best. But for many low income women who don't have access to community clinics like Planned Parenthood or money for their reproductive care, or who are unable to miss work because they have families to feed, this situation is a little like playing Russian Roulette with their life.

Today we won a small battle in the ongoing war for women's reproductive rights. The FDA has finally apprroved Plan B for over-the-counter use for women over the age of 18. Plan B is a high dose of birth control pills that has shown to be highly effective, reducing the risk of pregnancy by up to 89%, when used within 72 hours of having unprotected sex.

Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor's note to buy the pills, but the compromise decision is a partial victory for women's advocacy and medical groups that say eliminating sales restrictions could cut in half the nation's 3 million annual unplanned pregnancies.

Although Plan B is not a substitute for routine birth control, it's ready and convenient availablity is a huge step in the fight for reproductive equality. It’s important to remember that Plan B does not protect you from HIV infection (the virus that causes AIDS) or any other sexually transmitted disease (STDs). Plan B is expected to be available over-the-counter from your local Pharmacist by the end of the year.

RILEY

2006-08-01T13:03:00.000-05:00

One of the first calls I received on my first Lilith shift was from Riley. This woman was really distressed, explaining that she had been drugged and gang raped by a large group of men. She is 4 weeks pregnant and has 3 boys already and says she cannot have another child. She sounded quite incoherent in parts as though she was just breaking down completely. Riley found a clinic in Houston that will cost $385. She only has around $25 towards the procedure and cannot borrow money from her family as it is a very difficult situation, as they track everything she does and everywhere she goes and are very controlling. She isn’t working but is receiving child support. We talked about lots of ways of coming up with the money but it was proving almost impossible, having pawned everything she owns a while ago to pay off other debts. We committed $50 toward her procedure, and we only hope she was able to come up with the rest.

MARISSA

2006-07-28T11:26:00.000-05:00

The father of Marissa's first child helps her out because their son has asthma. He is an older man whom she has more of a business arrangement with than a relationship and she doesn't see herself with him for the long term. He has a business and she cleans the property for him to pay him back for his financial support. Marissa lives with her parents and her son in an apartment complex. She met a young man there and they began a sexual relationship. She learned recently that he has a history of domestic violence with his previous wife and she is afraid for herself and her son. He doesn't know she is pregnant and she doesn't want him to know. The abortion will cost $330. Marissa was $50 short and had nowhere else to turn. Lilith came to the rescue.

NICHOLE

2006-07-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

Nichole is a full-time student at a local university. She is sexually active. She took Plan B after having unprotected sex, but it was unsuccessful. Neither her parents nor her boyfriend approve of abortion so she can't go to them for money. Only a few friends know that she is pregnant. The abortion will cost $565. She can put $400 on her credit card and she can pawn some jewelry. She is willing to ask a few friends for a $30 each. She was still $75 short. Fortunately Lilith was able to help.

CLAUDIA

2006-07-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

Claudia is in her late 20s and has two young children. She had been living with her common law husband when the relationship turned violent, ending with her being taken away in an ambulance. When she first found out she was pregnant, she wanted to get an abortion right away, but her abusive, controlling partner was forcing her to go through with the pregnancy. With the help of her mother and the local women's crisis center, she was able to escape her batterer and start to rebuild her life. The first step was to get the abortion she had originally wanted, a necessary action to break off the ties to her abusive ex-spouse. However, a sonogram revealed that she was already at 20 weeks gestation and she had just days to get the money together before she would no longer be legally able to obtain an abortion in Texas. She managed to raise a significant percentage of the $1700 needed for her procedure and the National Abortion Federation and National Network of Abortion Funds came up with $450 more for her. The Lilith Fund helped her with $150 and she was able to get her abortion & start a new life in a safe place.

GENEVIVE

2006-06-22T22:06:00.000-05:00

Genevive is 16 years old and 9 weeks pregnant. Her mother is single with 4 children and does not work because she feels that it is important to be home for Genevive who is bipolar with major depression. She spent one year at the Texas Youth Commission for burglary and is now on parole. They have Medicaid thrrough Williamson County and are not eligible for assistance with abortion fees. Lilith will be helping her with the funding.

LIZZIE

2006-06-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

Lizzie is 14 years old and 11 weeks pregnant. Both of her parents are in jail and she lives with her great grandmother and uncle. Because no one has custody of her, she needs a judicial bypass for the abortion. Her uncle has come up with $150, but the procedure will cost $390. Lilith, among other funding orgs, will help fund her abortion.

ADRIENNE

2006-06-21T17:30:00.000-05:00

Adrienne is 7 weeks pregnant. Her boyfriend intentionally impregnated her without her permission or knowledge by taking the condom off during sex. When confronted, he claimed he wants a child with her and he thought she would be happy. Adrienne already has an infant son and was outraged at his violation of her trust. In the beginning, her boyfriend offered to pay for the procedure, but over the past week has refused to speak to her. Their most recent communication ended in a screaming match where he threatened that if she went through with an abortion he would go to her job to tell her boss and co-workers that she is a "baby killer." Adrienne has already made the choice to remove this toxic person from her life and she has chosen not to have his child. Lilith pledged $50 towrd the cost of her procedure.

MARIA

2006-06-21T17:19:00.000-05:00

Eighteen-year-old Maria is a single parent with one child. Maria’s contraceptive method of choice is the Depo-Provera shot, a long-acting progestin injection. She had three shots over the past nine months but she couldn’t afford the $50 for her next shot. Her doctor told her that because she had been on Depo-Provera so long, the contraception should continue working for an additional 9-12 months so she could delay receiving her next shot. Although this may be the case for some women, it is not for all. Maria got pregnant one month later. As a single teenage parent, she can barely afford taking care of one child. She can’t have another. The Lilith Fund gave Maria $50 toward her procedure cost of $425.

LAUREN

2006-06-21T17:16:00.000-05:00

Lauren is a 33-year-old woman who doesn't want to have kids because she is taking care of her schizophrenic mother who has diabetes. This overwhelming responsibility makes her feel like she already has a child. She has tried to find a doctor to perform an elective tubal ligation prior to her pregnancy to no avail. She was using birth control and found out she is pregnant. She is a student an unable to fully fund her abortion and cannot emotionally or financially take on this responsibility. Lilith contributed $50 to the $400 cost.

LILY

2006-06-17T05:12:00.000-05:00

Lily is 12 years old. She was raped by a stranger but was too traumatized and ashamed to tell anyone. Her mother noticed her belly swelling and took her to the doctor, only to find out that she was 19 weeks pregnant. They filed charges against the perpetrator who is now incarcerated for aggravated assault.

Lily's mother is single and unemployed, with 4 children to support. The
abortion will cost $2000 and she only has $300 saved. Lilith committed $100. We can only hope that Lily was able to get the rest of the funding for her procedure.

ISABEL

2006-06-17T05:05:00.000-05:00

Isabel is 35 years old and has been married for 10 years. Her husband is currrently incarcerated. The father of her 2 sons, who is not her husband, came to her house one evening and sexually assaulted her. She just found out she is 16 weeks pregnant.

Isabel is on disability due to a gastric bypass which she had done 1 1/2 years ago but that never healed. She has no savings and no income, other than her disability. Her procedure will cost $800. The clinic is collecting $400 and Lilith is contributing $75.

STEFANIE

2006-06-17T04:47:00.000-05:00

Stefanie is a senior in high school who fell a few credits short of graduating and is currently in summer school. She shares car with mother and is planning to get a job after her procedure. Her periods didn't stop and she did not know she was pregnant until she was about 15 weeks along prior to a sonogram. After going to her regular doctor and then to a women's health clinic, she found out the original gestation diagnosis was off by 3 weeks, making her 18 weeks along and necessitating a trip to Planned Parenthood South Austin Surgical for a procedure costing $1050. Her mother, who she lives with, is single mother and supports both her and her 24 year old sister. Stefanie's mother was having trouble affording the procedure plus gas plus hotel fees for the multiple day procedure. The family was incredibly grateful for Lilith's help and we wish them well.

ALICIA

2006-06-17T04:15:00.000-05:00

Alicia is doing everything she can to raise the money for her procedure. The father is helping, but Alicia already has a 1-year-old child. She was on birth control pills, and the pregnancy was unplanned. Alicia was living in Beaumont, where she attends college classes, but she could not afford to go to school full time and pay for daycare for her son. She drives from Houston to Beaumont 2 days a week for her Studio Art classes. She is just trying to graduate and raise her child and is not ready for another child. Alicia went to a local "Crisis Pregnancy Center" for a free pregnancy test and left in tears for considering a termination. The Lilith Fund pledged $50 toward the cost of her procedure.

AUTUMN

2006-06-17T04:12:00.000-05:00

Autumn was being treated by MHMR for insomnia and bipolar disorder with Seroquel, a psychotropic medication shown to be effective in the treatment of many symptoms of schizophrenia, as well as in the treatment of acute mania associated with Bipolar I disorder. Autumn had been prescribed this medication for depression and insomnia and was date raped by an friend while sedated. She didn't know she was pregnant until she was at 12 weeks. The rape was unprovable without an invasive DNA test because she had inadvertently washed away the evidence, having been unconscious during the sex act. Autumn has been dealing with her assault not only emotionally, but is also dealing with the legal system to prosecute her attacker. The Lilith Fund pledged $150 toward the cost of her procedure.

SARAH BETH

2006-06-17T04:11:00.000-05:00

Sarah Beth is a 34-year-old single mother with 3 children. She is on welfare and can't mentally, emotionally or financially support another child at this time. She went to a crisis pregnancy center in her city to take a pregnancy test where she was shamed and forced to look at images of aborted fetuses and made to feel awful for wanting to terminate her pregnancy. Sarah Beth just wants to be able to continue to care for the children she has and felt that termination was the responsible option. The Lilith Fund pledged $75 towards the cost of her procedure.

JACY

2006-06-17T04:10:00.000-05:00

Jacy is a college student on scholarships for room and board. She is a student at Texas A&M studying International Business and Journalism and had just started summer school when she found out she was pregnant. There are three siblings in college in her family, and she was definitley not able to ask parents for financial help. Her sister lent her most of the money, but Lilith gave her the last $50 she needed to have her procedure.

BRANDY

2006-05-31T23:22:00.000-05:00

Brandy is 23, married, and has four children. Recently, she was raped and found herself pregnant as a result. Her parents are strict Catholics, and although they know about the rape they do not want to contribute to an abortion. Her husband has informed her that he has "bills of his own" and is unwilling to help in any way. Her procedure will cost around $500, and she has almost $200. She is almost 13 weeks and desperately needs our help before the cost (and weeks) go up.

TINA

2006-05-23T17:26:00.000-05:00

Tina is a 31-year-old single mother of 4 children and is 22 weeks pregnant. She
was going to keep the baby but just found out that the father of her children was accused of raping his former wife and Tina did not even know he was married. Tina had a job, but her car broke down and she lost her job because she could not get to work. Then she was evicted from her apartment because she did not pay the rent. She is currently homeless staying in a hotel that her friend paid for. She is going to Houston for the abortion, then heading to Lousiana to start a new life.

PATTY

2006-05-23T17:24:00.000-05:00

Patty is a 17 year old high school student who lives with her boyfriend and
works part-time. She is single and already has 1 child. Her mother died last March and her father is in prison so she is required to get a judicial bypass because she is under age and has no parent available to her. She is struggling financially because her boyfriend is a student at a local Community College with no job. She is 14 weeks pregnant and does not want another child.

KALEIGH

2006-04-23T15:54:00.000-05:00

Kaleigh is a college student and is currently in a relationship. She does not have any children. She was not using contraception and is about 5 weeks along. She and her boyfriend know that they can't take care of a child at this time. They have been borrowing small amounts of money from friends and pawning items to raise the $480 that her procedure will cost. She told me that the money from Lilith means more than she could say. She also assured me that she would go to Planned Parenthood after her abortion to obtain birth control.

BETH

2006-04-17T21:56:00.000-05:00

Beth found out that before she and her boyfriend have intercourse he pokes holes in the condom he is going to use. He says that he does this because he wants her to stay with him. She is afraid to go home because her boyfriend has also hit her several times. Last week he hit her with a stick and she had to go to the hospital. She called the police and I referred her to the rape crisis center closest to her for help. I referred her to TEA for matching funds. She has no parents to call for help - she was a ward of the state. She is a full-time student at a university here in Texas majoring in biology trying desperately to break the cycle of poverty. We at the Lilith Fund wish her, as everyone, the best...

PAULINE

2006-04-17T21:52:00.000-05:00

Pauline is 15 years old and is home bound. She has an IQ of 69. She was raped when she was younger; they pressed charges and he is serving time. This time, a 16 year old boy that she knew took advantage of her. His family can't help with the abortion because they don't have any money. According to Pauline, they are "pot heads". Her mother has no family that she can rely on for financial help because there was a feud some years ago over the death of her son involving other family members while living in Houston. The Lilith Fund has promised her partial funding.

MISTY

2006-04-10T09:07:00.000-05:00

I just got off the phone with Misty, she is turning twenty on Thursday and has a two year old son. Misty has sickle cell anemia and is partially blind and deaf. If she goes through with this pregnancy her life is most likely in jeopardy. She raised the three hundred dollars needed for her procedure, but was denied treatment because she is a high risk case. She now has a new appointment with a different clinic but the cost has risen to the point that she needs help with funds. We have just started to feel safer about giving more than $50 so were happy to be able to give her a little bit more towards her total procedure cost.

MICHELLE

2006-03-27T22:22:00.000-06:00

Michelle just moved to Texas to get out of a abusive relationship and is staying with a friend in town. Her partner would not let her use the phone, much less contraceptive. She already has 3 children by him, including one that's just a year old, and feels unable to have another. He has warrants for his arrest in more than one state, has violated restraining orders before, and Michelle is worried about her and her children's saftey.

She is receiving help from Safe Place to get back on her feet. As far as her abortion goes, Michelle has collected $100 towards the procedure, but she has few people or resources to turn to. TEA committed $100, and as of Monday, there were a couple of other funds pending, including WRRAP.

ERIN

2006-03-27T15:03:00.000-06:00

Erin didn’t call the hotline. I actually got the message from her boyfriend’s grandmother. Erin doesn’t even have an appointment for her abortion yet. She is a homeless high school student. Erin doesn’t know her mom and is not in contact with her dad. She has no money and no form of ID; obviously making an appointment for an abortion in Texas has been difficult for her. Because the Texas Department of Health requires that abortion clinics prove that a patient is over 18, clinics must obtain a copy of the patient’s ID for her chart. This way, when the clinic is inspected they can prove that all their patients are above 18. This law poses a problem for the most vulnerable members of our community, like Erin.

Erin has no money and no support; she lives on the kindness of her boyfriend’s grandmother. She certainly does not have the money to even pay for a copy of birth certificate. Furthermore, the advanced state of her pregnancy does not allow time to wait for these documents. I don’t know if Erin will be able to have an abortion. I wish Lilith could pay for her whole abortion; she is certainly an example of a person who needs extensive social services. Unfortunately, the massive need in Texas for abortion assistance has spread Lilith’s resources thin. We just don’t have enough money to give her all the help she needs. Erin’s going to call me back after she makes her appointment; I hope I hear from her soon.

DENISE

2006-03-27T14:58:00.000-06:00

Denise is a 21-year-old mother of three. She had been using protection with her partner, so she was shocked to find out she was pregnant.

After telling her boyfriend that she had become pregnant, he began to laugh. She became concerned and asked what was so funny. “I guess it worked,” he replied. She discovered that he had been putting holes in the condoms they were using to “see what the odds were” that he could get a girl pregnant. “He was playing a game,” she explained to me, “he was playing a game with my life.” Denise explained that she promptly dumped him and began seeking out resources to get an abortion.

Despite being a young mother of three, Denise has a life plan. She has just started technical college and hopes to build a career that can support her kids. This pregnancy was certainly not in her plan. With our help, Denise will be able to have an abortion and get back to taking care of her kids and attending technical school. Good luck Denise!

SUE

2006-03-24T11:55:00.000-06:00

A complication of pregnancy is hyperemesis gravidarum - excessive
vomiting. The first time Sue was pregnant she suffered to such an extent from
this that she had to abort. Her doctor told her it was rare for this to reoccur in subsequent pregnancies. Although this second pregnancy wasn't planned, they were not disappointed until once again she started vomiting. Her parents can help some with this second abortion but not enough to pay for the procedure. She and her boyfriend are unemployed because they relocated from New Orleans and are having difficulty finding a job. Lilith is happy to be helping her get back up on her feet again.

PETRA

2006-03-14T23:04:00.000-06:00

Petra has a medical condition. Her heart was severely damaged after her last delivery, and her life would be in danger if she carried another pregnancy to term. She has been having regular echocardiograms for the past three years. Her heart is still monitored very closely and she uses Medicaid for all her medical needs.

“Medicaid,” I thought, “but Texas Medicaid has a stipulation that it will cover an abortion ONLY in cases of rape, incest, and maternal health.” “This is clearly an example of maternal health,” I thought, as I began asking Petra more questions. I told her that Medicaid would pay for her abortion if her doctor signed a form that explained the abortion was necessary to preserve her life. She didn’t even need our help!

She knew, but the clinic she was working with still won’t accept the Medicaid. “We are stuck between a rock and a hard place,” they told her. This particular clinic had NEVER been paid back from the state for the abortions they had performed, so they did not want to accept Medicaid anymore.

Tomorrow I’m going to call her clinic. I’m going to get her the legally sanctioned funds she deserves. More to come on Petra…….

JASMINE

2006-03-14T23:02:00.000-06:00

Jasmine’s story really touched my heart. She attends college away from home and majors in biology—which was also my college major. Jasmine is only 18, she is in her second year of college, and she plans on going to dental school. She attends a religious school and comes from a religious family, so she is not able to ask anyone in her family for help.

Luckily, Jasmine’s best friend is giving her the money to pay for most of her procedure. Jasmine called Lilith hoping to receive a little extra help and I was so happy to be able to offer her the funding she needed. With Lilith’s help, Jasmine will be able to go back to being a student, and hopefully become an amazing dentist.

NINA

2006-03-04T17:29:00.000-06:00

This was an unusual case. We didn't get a call from Nina herself, we got a call from a caseworker at NAF.

Nina was living with her abusive husband's family. They are very strict Catholics and for them, abortion is not an option. As for her husband...if he knew what she was going to do, her life would most likely be in danger. All she really wanted was to get through this and get home to South Africa. In order to do this, she will have to make it look like she has had a miscarriage. In order to do that she needed money...of which she had none. She is not her legally so is unable to work, and since she couldn't tell anyone, she would be unable to get money from her husband or his family. That is where Lilith and NAF were able to step in.

Thanks as well to her clinic assisting with funding, Nina will be able to do the pill option and pass her abortion off as a miscarriage. She will soon be free to leave her current situation and return to her home where she can start her life over.

ANDREA

2006-02-27T21:18:00.000-06:00

Andrea is 20 years old and in college. The boy she was dating was mad because he had to drop out of school a couple of years ago to get a job to be able to take care of his child by another girl. He said he "hates people in school".

Andrea is certain he got her pregnant on purpose so she would have to drop out of school.

Andrea used her financial aid check and $50 from Lilith to pay for her procedure...guess he will have to hate her because there is no way she is dropping out of school.

ELLA

2006-02-26T10:41:00.000-06:00

Ella is only 18 years old. She is a high school senior who also has a full time job working to support herself AND her unemployed mother. She has found herself in this predicament and does not feel like she can tell her mom. I asked her what funds she already had and the answer was dismal. I asked when her tax return was going to come in and she thought not until the end of March. Another dismal answer. She will be so much further along by then that the procedure will not only be more complicated but also much more expensive. In a perfect world we would have enough funds to be able to pay for at least half of all procedures...for now it is $50 each.

ANNIE

2006-02-21T20:08:00.000-06:00

Annie is 24 and has been married for four years. Together they have a 4 year old daughter. She and her husband wanted to try to have another child before their daughter got too old, so when she got pregnant they were happy.

That was when she started finding out all this bad news that made them change their minds. Annie has Hepatitis C. Apparently she got from her mother at birth but never knew it until now. She had never been tested for it but knew her mother had it (though she was raised by her grandparents). She also found out that she obtained a hyperactive thyroid with her first child after she was born. Basically, after weighing the pros and cons, she and her husband both decided it best not risking having a sick child or harming the baby in any way. They have decided to go ahead and abort "the second child we have always wanted".

CAROLYN

2006-02-10T18:47:00.000-06:00

Carolyn is a 24 year old single mother of one. She was living with her sister and is now living with her mother. She says her family is totally against abortion so she is trying to keep it on the "down-low". She has Medicaid but can't use it for this. She also stated that father of the baby threatened to "beat the shit out of her if she got pregnant". She did not tell him she was pregnant and has stopped seeing him. Apparently he had hurt her before.

We committed $50 and referred her to Safeplace.

KATHY

2006-02-08T22:41:00.000-06:00

Kathy is 27 years old, has Multiple Sclerosis and just found out that she is pregnant. She did not know she was pregnant because her periods had been irregular and she had not gained much weight. Her doctor suggested (in so many words because he could not just come right out and tell her she needs
to have an abortion) that she should not have the baby because it would be a strain on her fragile body. Kathy is on disability and cannot work. Also, she just got out of her wheelchair and cannot run the risk of having a baby with her illness.

She had to travel 3 hours from home for the abortion due to the number of weeks she is. She had the money she needed for the procedure but got caught in traffic and missed her appointment. Because of the type of procedure and her health concerns, she now has to wait until next week with an additional charge of $550 which she needs to find before Monday.

Lilith committed $50 and referred her to other funding sources.

JEN

2006-02-03T19:43:00.000-06:00

I spoke with a woman today in her thirties. She had recenty gotten back together with her husband whom she had been separated from for several years and had just found out she was pregnant.

Five years ago she had major surgery for severe endometriosis. It was so severe that they couldn't see it in an ultrasound because it covered EVERYTHING. They had to scrape everything to remove the tissue and it was very traumatic for her. She was told she could not get pregnant.

When I spoke to Jen, her voice was barely audible. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to get the funds to have an abortion. She would rather die, she said, than have this baby and assured me that if she could not get the funds that she would "take care of it" herself. Her husband had refused to give her any money and she doesn't have a job. In addition, she was in a great deal of pain, cramps so bad she said she could not even tie the drawstrings of her pyjama bottoms. She also said she was weak and dizzy. I felt she was at risk of an ectopic pregnancy...in this case I really hope that I am right...I shudder to think of what could happen if she tries to self abort. If it is ectopic, she would have no other option than to abort and her husband would have to accept that.

I sent her to the emergency room but have still not heard back from her...I really hope she calls...

**Jen finally called back. She was able to get a ride to another city where the procedure was affordable...

DAWN

2006-02-01T22:31:00.000-06:00

I got a call from a mom who said her daughter was pregnant and they needed help with the $1800 bill. She had some form of insurance which would not pay for the procedure. She truly believed that her daughter had a lot of potential to do great things and didn't want a child to interfere with her goals. As a young mother, she knew the uphill battle her daughter would face if she had the baby.

We see this in a lot of our younger clients. Unfortunately they think if they hide or ignore the fact that they are pregnant that it might go away on its own. Worse still in really young girls is not knowing what is going on in the first place. Dawn was one of these cases. She didn't go to her mother; her mother had to do some investigative work. She started by counting Dawn's sanitary napkins each month. She soon noticed they were being used but not regularly. Upon further investigation she found out that her daughter, who knew her mother counted the pads each month, was just opening them up and throwing them away. The mother actually inspected what she assumed were used sanitary napkins and found out that it was all a cover up. Dawn now knows she never has to hide another thing from her mom, not because she will dig it up, but because she knows that they can handle it TOGETHER.

Many of our clients are not so fortunate. It was refreshing to speak with such a supportive parent. She stands as a testament to the nature of motherhood and especially to those moms who realize the difficulty they encountered and step up to the plate to support their daughters in making a difficult decision. It's also just one more story to add to the banks of why abortion should be safe and legal. The majority of women who bore children early in life would attest to its difficulty and not wish it on anyone.

MARSHA

2006-01-31T22:09:00.000-06:00

Marsha is a single mother of 11 children (one set of twins and a set of triplets!) She is only 27 years old which means she has had one child every year since she was 16. It is amazing to think what her life must be like. Her periods are very messed up, she assumes since she has so many children, so even more amazing is that she did not realize she was pregnant. Now she is quite pregnant and needs to have this procedure as soon as possible. She is lucky in that she has the support of the children's father but she does not want to have any more kids...by him or anyone.

We were able to commit a small amount towards her procdure.

BECKY

2006-01-28T10:05:00.001-06:00

Becky is 36 years old, single, with one child. Her boyfriend decided to
move in with her one day and a few weeks later she found out that he was
dealing drugs out of her home. The same boyfriend used to force himself on her while he was drugged up. Becky felt she could not get away from him and was trying hard to protect her child. In an act of survival, she called the police to have him arrested and he is now in jail. Thinking her ordeal was over, she was shocked to find she was 14 weeks pregnant. She has been living with her sister, but has to move out next month. Although she is on Medicaid, it will not cover an abortion after 12 weeks. We usually ask if a client can get an advance on their paycheck if they are working, but Becky just started a new job yesterday. On top of it all she has no savings so she really needs our help. This abortion is very important to her as it symbolizes closure on an awful chapter in her life.

MARIELLA

2006-01-27T16:14:00.000-06:00

ANOTHER case of human trafficking...

Mariella is from Honduras where she has 2 children. She has been held in debt bondage (in a combination of labor and sex slavery) in the United States
for about a year. She recently escaped and has been certified as a victim
of human trafficking by the Department of Health. Her case is being
coordinated by a case manager with the YMCA.

She is 17 weeks along, and the procedure will cost approximately $1,000.
Mariella has $100 in her own funds and has received a $225 loan and $350 in
grants from other funds/organizations. In addition, we have committed $100
(our maximum available grant right now), but she is still over $200 short
and has no other resources. Her appointment was originally scheduled for
next week at a clinic in Houston, but they have now declined to see her
because of the legal issues (samples will need to be taken and testimony
may eventually be required). We are just waiting for her case manager to
contact back with a new clinic and date...

Thank you Texas Legislature

2006-01-26T16:48:00.000-06:00

We don't normally post things like this but thought this would be good food for thought, especially if you live outside (or even inside) Texas and are at all curious about how difficult our job is.

A new policy just went into effect on January 1st that reduces the number of dollars available to provide free birth control and annual exams to poor women in Texas. Instead, these funds will go to so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" that offer no medical services at all and federally qualified health centers that don't want to deliver family planning and are already overloaded with more patients than they can handle. The Austin Chronicle details the many reasons why this is a terrible decision...

The Lilith Fund already receives approximately 10-20 calls per day each weekday. If our hotline volunteers only give financial support to 50% of these clients at $50.00 per client then we should budget $5,000 per/month to cover these expenses. But our current finances allow us a monthly hotline budget of $2,800/month. This is why the women of Texas need your help.

CASSIE

2006-01-23T09:38:00.000-06:00

Cassie is in the throws of a divorce from her drug dependent, emotionally unstable husband.

Two years ago she was diagnosed with cervical cancer which was successfully treated. Afterwards she was told that she could no longer have children, this was easier to accept because she already had a young child at home. She unexpectedly got pregnant last February and was told that, because of the cancer treatments, it was unlikely that she could carry the baby to term. She told her doctor that she wanted to have her tubes tied but he said that Texas law says that you cannot have your tubes tied unless you have two living children and that it wasn’t certain that this second child would live.

The baby was born three months early but he didn’t have a heartbeat. He was successfully resuscitated but continues to have medical problems. After his birth, she started on the pill but was not told to use an alternate contraceptive method for the first 30 days. She started spotting and a home pregnancy test indicated that she was not pregnant. She started having severe cramping. Her physician told her that she had ovarian cysts and that she should consult an ob/gyn. When she did, she was told it was not cysts at all but that she was 18 weeks pregnant. She is absolute in her conviction that she cannot have this child.

The procedure will cost approximately $1,450. Through her own ingenuity she has been able to raise $600. She and all of her relatives have started change jars in their homes figuring that every little bit helps. The Lilith Fund can only provide this woman with $150 toward the cost of the procedure. Although TEA matched this amount, we still wish that we could do more.

LINDA

2006-01-21T14:33:00.000-06:00

Linda was a single mom with four kids. She had been taking the birth control pills her doctor prescribed, not realizing they were not compatible with her high blood pressure.

The man who got her pregnant mysteriously disappeared once she asked him for financial assistance to pay for her procedure, this same man had refused to accept his obligation to make support payments for a previous child even though they had a positive DNA match.

Linda had managed to reach his mother who, although she claimed not to know where he was (Linda was sure she did), offered to pay for half of the procedure. At the time of the call she had not come through, even though Linda had her half together.

As if all of this was not enough she was mourning the anniversary of her son's death and had just lost her job.

We were able to commit funding to her, I expressed my hope that this would inspire his mom to step up.

SAMANTHA

2006-01-18T18:19:00.000-06:00

For the first time since I have been volunteering for the Lilith Fund Hotline, I got a call from a woman who does not want financial help. She called to ask if there was someone who would accompany her to the clinic for her procedure. She was scared and had no one to talk to or ask for help with her situation.

Samantha is 37 years old and married with no children. She and her husband have been unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant for awhile, but have not had sex in the past 2 months. Samantha was recently in Chicago where she was accosted by someone she knew. She did not want to reveal the details, but she said she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anyway, she is now pregnant but not with her husband's child and she does not want her husband to know what happened. She has had one previous abortion several years ago but is afraid to do it again, especially under these circumstances. I told her I would be happy to pick her up at her home and take her to the clinic for her procedure here in Austin. She was relieved and grateful and I was thankful that she called Lilith for our help!

MARIA

2006-01-18T10:44:00.000-06:00

This is an example of someone we never heard back from. This occasionally happens, for whatever reason, and we are just left wondering...

Maria was evidently a victim of human traffiking. She had a volunteer advocate working with her and the FBI were also involved. Obviously there were a variety of issues Maria was dealing with. They had spoken to Austin Reproductive Services and found out that Maria was 16 weeks pregnant (they thought she was less and that MAP would take care of it) but because she was more, the procedure was going to cost $750. From funds that Maria was receiving as a victim they had $500 on hand. The clinic had said that the last day for the appointment was January 10th or 11th. To top it all off, Maria also had a 10 month old child who was in the hospital in Houston (the baby had disabilities and needed special care).

The actual call was from a woman named Jenny on behalf of Maria. I asked Jenny to have Maria call us herself as she was Spanish speaking only and because I got a weird feeling that she might not really want an abortion. I know it is only intuition and I could have been absolutely wrong but I wanted to have it checked out before we got going...

Maria never called back.