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August 16, 2006
National Advocates for Pregnant Women National Summit January 2007 in Atlanta
National Summit To Ensure the Health and Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Women
Save the Date: January 18- 21 2007
Atlanta, Georgia, Hilton, Atlanta Airport
While much attention is paid to efforts to control women who are seeking to end unwanted pregnancies, women with wanted pregnancies face increased interference by the state and by some professionals preventing them from making health care decisions regarding birthing options and the childbirth process.
Women who want home births, who want to have doulas present at their births, or who prefer midwives to ob gyn's often find that their providers are under attack --arrested for practicing without the right kind of license and prohibited from being present at the birth.
Some pregnant women have been shamed, coerced, or forced into having unnecessary cesarean sections and others have been threatened with criminal or civil child welfare sanctions for seeking to control the circumstances of their pregnancies, labors and births. Increasingly, women who wish to try vaginal births after c-sections are being told that they cannot, with entire states in some cases effectively banning VBAC's.
Women who have suffered miscarriages and stillbirths find that existing clinics, practices, and programs fail to provide effective support for their experiences. Some find themselves accused of child abuse or homicide based on the claim that something they did or did not do during pregnancy is responsible for the miscarriage or stillbirth.
While some pharmacies are refusing to give women emergency contraception, other pharmacies are refusing to fill pregnant women's prescriptions for anti-depressants. Conversely, some pregnant women are given drugs or subjected to surgical procedures without their consent.
Meanwhile, restrictions on access to contraceptive and abortion services are growing and there are increasing efforts in some states to ban all abortions - without any exceptions including for the life and health of the pregnant woman.
Regardless of their views on the abortion controversy pregnant women are increasingly confronting employment discrimination, as well as environmental, health insurance and drug policies that threaten their health and wellbeing and that of their children. Pregnant women across party lines and of diverse faiths continue to face domestic violence and discrimination based on race, class and disability. Once parents, they face a host of policies that undermine their ability to provide for their loved ones.
While politics and media like to divide the world into neat bundles of opposites -- pro abortion vs. pro-life, pro-choice vs. anti-choice -- the reality of women's lives often do not fit these simplistic and divisive labels. We can disagree on many things, but we believe it is time to recognize common threats and CELEBRATE common threads that will ensure the humanity, dignity, and well being of pregnant and birthing women and their families.
We invite people across disciplines, faiths, ideologies, and states to come together for the first time to share knowledge, experiences and strategies to support, honor, and celebrate pregnant women and families. Please save the date, January 18-21, and join us for a unique gathering that will share information, build strength, identify new strategies and effective action and celebrate common commitments and concerns. For more information go to NAPW's website: www.advocatesforpregnantwomen.org or contact: Angela Moreno at AM@advocatesforpregnantwomen.org.
Lynn M. Paltrow
Executive Director
National Advocates for Pregnant Women
39 West 19th Street Suite 602
New York, New York 10011
212-255-9252
212-255-9253 (fax)
917-921-7421 (cell)
www.advocatesforpregnantwomen.org
Posted by lois at August 16, 2006 09:10 PM