January 24, 2011

The following statement was issued by STEPHANIE POGGI, executive director of the NATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS:

The National Network of Abortion Funds and our 100 member abortion Funds across the U.S. and abroad join the rest of the reproductive rights and justice community in condemning unsafe and illegal practices that reportedly took place at Dr. Kermit Gosnell’s West Philadelphia facility, Women’s Medical Society.

Gosnell, an unlicensed practitioner performing abortions in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Philadelphia, was arrested on January 19th and charged with the murder of seven infants and one woman who died in his custody. According to press reports, none of his employees had medical training—one was a high school student he permitted to administer anesthesia.

For years, Gosnell provided "cheap" abortions in unsanitary conditions, often very late in pregnancy, for women who lacked the money for a safe experience at a legitimate clinic -- often women of color and immigrant women. In fact, the Grand Jury report reveals abhorrent conditions that resulted in countless injuries and overdoses that went unreported by his vulnerable clientele, and adds, "We think the reason no one acted is because the women in question were poor and of color."

These charges lay bare the reality of abortion access for poor women in America.  The Hyde Amendment, which bans federal monies from covering abortion care for women enrolled in Medicaid, forces some of our country’s poorest and most disadvantaged women to take desperate measures in order to obtain an abortion, including risking their health and lives in order to obtain an abortion they can afford.

The National Network of Abortion Funds calls for an end to the Hyde Amendment and for policies that protect access to abortion for every woman, regardless of her financial resources.  As a society, we must ensure that every single woman in the United States has the ability to make important life decisions for the health and wellbeing of herself and her family and can do so without putting her life or her health in jeopardy.

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The National Network of Abortion Funds includes 100 community-based abortion Funds across the U.S. and abroad. Last year, the Network and Funds directly assisted over 21,000 women who needed help to pay for their abortions. We also work to lift economic barriers to abortion at the state and federal level.