PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND RECOGNIZES 42ND ANNIVERSARY OF ROE V. WADE: WE MUST HAVE HONEST CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ABORTION IN AMERICA TODAY

For Immediate Release: Feb. 13, 2015

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PPSNE works to ensure abortion remains safe and legal for future generations by replacing misinformation with facts.

(New Haven, Conn.) – This month, as Americans celebrate and reflect on the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling 42 years ago, Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) urges Congress and state legislators to listen to doctors and medical experts who know that legal abortion is safe and that politicians should not interfere in personal medical decisions.

 

“Despite the fact that abortion is one of the safest medical procedures in the United States and is supported by the majority of Americans, we are seeing more and more legislation moving forward designed to restrict access,” said Judy Tabar President & CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. “As the nation’s leading women’s health care provider and advocate, Planned Parenthood knows how dangerous these restrictions are for women. We urge Congress and state legislators to listen to health care providers when it comes to policy that affects women’s health.”

 

Half of all pregnancies in the U.S. each year are unintended, and four in 10 of these are ended by medically safe, legal abortions. The abortion rate in 2011 (the latest year for which national data is available) was the lowest rate since 1973, and much of this decrease is attributable to improved contraception, including the use of Long-acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) methods. In Connecticut, the abortion rate dropped 13 percent between 2008 and 2011. During the same time frame, nationally, abortion rates also dropped 13 percent.

 

Data, including from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shows that abortion has over a 99 percent safety record. Studies show women experience major complications less than one percent of the time. In the rare cases when complications do occur, they are similar to those that may occur from miscarriage, which OB/GYNS and other health care providers treat every day. Abortion has no impact on a woman’s future pregnancies.

 

Forty years after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Roe v. Wade, significantly more Americans want the landmark abortion decision kept in place rather than overturned, 53 percent to 29 percent. Six in 10 young Americans believe abortion should be available in all or most cases, and 68 percent believe it should be available in their own community. Rather than approaching access to reproductive health care as a divisive “social issue,” many voters recognize that abortion access is connected to women’s financial stability.

 

“In order to ensure abortion remains safe and legal for future generations, we must replace misinformation with the facts and start having honest conversations about abortion in America today. At Planned Parenthood, we ensure that women have accurate information about all of their options,” Tabar said. “Ultimately, decisions about whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy, or raise a child must be left to a woman with the counsel of her health care provider, her family and her faith.”

 

Planned Parenthood health centers provide a broad range of services, more than 90 percent of which are lifesaving cancer screenings, birth control, prevention and treatment of STDs, sexual health education, information and health counseling. One in five women has turned to Planned Parenthood at some time in her life for professional, non-judgmental and confidential care. No one else does more than Planned Parenthood to reduce unintended pregnancies and keep women healthy.

 

To learn more about PPSNE health care services, visit ppsne.org.

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Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE) is one of the region’s largest providers of family planning and reproductive health care services. Since 1923, PPSNE has evolved into an organization with 18 health centers in Connecticut and Rhode Island, delivering care to nearly 70,000 patients annually, and 90 percent of the services provided are preventive.