New Report Concludes Abortion is Safe, Quality Care
A new, rigorous report by the nonpartisan National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) is conclusive: Abortion is safe, quality care.
The NASEM report authors write that: “The quality of abortion care depends to a great extent on where women live. In many parts of the country, state regulations have created barriers to optimizing each dimension of quality care. The quality of care is optimal when the care is based on current evidence and when trained clinicians are available to provide abortion services.” - NASEM Report, page S-8
The NASEM report also lays out the biggest threat to quality abortion care: Medically unnecessary regulations that target abortion providers, limited training opportunities and a lack of public funding that push abortion care out of reach.
Yet Wisconsin politicians continue to support harmful restrictions – trying to prevent women from getting abortion care by misleading them, delaying care, requiring unnecessary tests, making care more expensive and attempting to shut down reproductive health clinics.
The Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health believes that every Wisconsin woman should be able to access quality abortion care without barriers.
That’s why we are joining with the National Partnership for Women & Families to launch a new campaign to call out the biggest threat to quality abortion care: Wisconsin politicians!
Yet Wisconsin politicians continue to support harmful restrictions – trying to prevent women from getting abortion care by misleading them, delaying care, requiring unnecessary tests, making care more expensive and attempting to shut down reproductive health clinics.
The Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health believes that every Wisconsin woman should be able to access quality abortion care without barriers.
That’s why we are joining with the National Partnership for Women & Families to launch a new campaign to call out the biggest threat to quality abortion care: Wisconsin politicians!
Get the Facts
Wisconsin Politicians:
Force women to wait 24 hours after receiving biased information before being able to obtain abortion care. As a result of the mandatory delay, a woman seeking abortion care must make a medically unnecessary second trip to the clinic.
The NASEM Report:
States clearly that “requirements, such as multiple visits and waiting periods, delay abortion services, and by doing so may increase the clinical risks and cost of care. They may also limit women’s options for care and impact providers’ ability to provide patient-centered care.” (NASEM report, page 2-26)
Wisconsin Politicians:
Prevent qualified providers from offering abortion care by falsely claiming that quality care can only be provided by a physician.
The NASEM Report:
Affirms that unnecessary clinician requirements are harmful to abortion access, stating that “[b]y establishing higher-level credentials than are necessary…these policies can reduce the availability of providers, resulting in inequitable access to abortion care….Both physicians…and [advanced practice clinicians like nurse-midwives, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners] can provide medication and aspiration abortions safely and effectively.” (NASEM report, pages 3-19 to 3-20)
Wisconsin Politicians:
Prevent health care providers from administering medication abortion via telemedicine – a safe and effective means of making health care more accessible, especially to people in underserved areas – despite allowing the use of telemedicine for other health care services.
The NASEM Report:
Clearly states that “[t]here is no evidence that the dispensing or taking of mifepristone tablets requires the physical presence of a clinician. . . .” (NASEM report, page 2-27) Medication abortion is safe, highly effective, and can safely be dispensed via telemedicine.
To learn more about the ways Wisconsin politicians are undermining quality abortion care, check out this new report from the National Partnership for Women & Families:
2018 ISSUE BRIEF
Bad Medicine: How a Political Agenda is Undermining Abortion Care and Access in Wisconsin
Across the country, politicians are enacting anti-abortion laws that ignore evidence and science and mandate how health care providers must practice medicine, regardless of the provider’s professional judgment, ethical obligations or the needs of his or her patients. Bad Medicine: How a Political Agenda is Undermining Abortion Care and Access, a 2018 report by the National Partnership for Women & Families, documents this trend. The report finds that a large majority of states have one or more of these “bad medicine” laws.
Wisconsin is a key offender, with multiple abortion restrictions that bear no relationship to medical standards; undermine health care providers’ efforts to provide high-quality, patient-centered care; and take decision-making away from women. These restrictions punish women – particularly women of color and low-income women – who face multiple disparities and structural barriers that increase their likelihood of experiencing the harm caused by obstacles to abortion care.
Wisconsin is a key offender, with multiple abortion restrictions that bear no relationship to medical standards; undermine health care providers’ efforts to provide high-quality, patient-centered care; and take decision-making away from women. These restrictions punish women – particularly women of color and low-income women – who face multiple disparities and structural barriers that increase their likelihood of experiencing the harm caused by obstacles to abortion care.
