Local Efforts Around Abortion: Keeping Services Safe & Affordable
This panel highlighted how local policy makers and advocates are protecting access to safe, legal and affordable abortion services for city residents. Although many laws regulate abortion at the state and national level, there are ways that local policy makers can protect access to services. For example, depending on local legislative authority, cities and counties may be positioned to offer funding to cover abortions for low-income women when the state has restricted those funds to cases of rape, incest and life endangerment. Advocates working in states that provide funding for women on Medicaid can also work to ensure that women and providers are adequately covered and provided with accurate information. City councils in many jurisdictions have the power to protect clinic access by passing buffer or bubble zone legislation. The panelists discussed all of these strategies, as well as the groundbreaking commitment by the New York City public hospital system to provide quality abortion services and training opportunities.
Moderator:
- Stephanie Poggi, Executive Director, National Network of Abortion Funds
Speakers:
- Gaylon Alcaraz, Executive Director, Chicago Abortion Fund
- Deborah Cates, Chief of Staff, Board Affairs, NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation (View Summit presentation)
- Destiny Lopez, Executive Director, ACCESS/Women's Rights Coalition, Oakland, CA (View Summit presentation)
- Conan Smith, County Commissioner, Washtenaw County, MI