Abortion-Rights Backers on Offense After 3-Year Drubbing

By Esmé E. Deprez Feb 24, 2014 4:00 AM ET

Abortion-rights supporters are playing a new position: offense.

The volume of state-level, pro-abortion-rights legislation outstrips that of any year since the early 1990s, when states sought to codify access to the procedure, said Elizabeth Nash, states issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based reproductive health researcher. Some proposals seek to repeal restrictions fresh on the books, enacted during the past three years after Republicans took control of more legislatures and governorships. Others would ease access.

“Women’s legal right to access a safe abortion is being eliminated,” said state Representative Dan Frankel, a Democrat leading the effort in Pennsylvania. “We are sick and tired of losing ground.”

Lawmakers are pushing back after a record number of laws since 2010 forced dozens of clinics to close and made it harder for women to terminate pregnancies or prevent them in the first place. Backers see the movement as a winning election strategy for the Democratic Party as it presents itself as supportive of women.

Fifty-one provisions have been introduced in 14 states, compared with 32 in six states about this time last year, Nash’s data show.
‘Tipping Point’

Amanda Allen, state legislative counsel at the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which fights anti-abortion laws in court, calls this year a “tipping point.”

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-24/abortion-rights-backers-on-offense-after-3-year-drubbing.html