PLI legislation in Handbook for a Post-Roe America

Posted on February 6, 2019

Handbook for a Post-Roe America by Robin Marty (2019, Seven Stories Press)

Page 44

In 2016, the Public Leadership Institute released a number of proactive model reproductive rights and health bills for state use, all of which can be found at http://publicleadershipinstitute.org/model-bills/reproductive-rights/29-model-bills-playbook-abortion-rights/.

A sample of a strong bill to champion is the “Women’s Equality Dignity and Fairness Act,” which legislates for abortion coverage in insurance, repeals all state abortion restrictions, rejects any legislative bill that puts medically unnecessary requirements on abortion clinics in an effort to close them down, expands which medical providers are allowed to offer abortions, and more. The sample bill can be found in the Resource Guide at the back of the book.

Page 52

If there is just one bill to be championed in states where abortion is greatly or completely restricted, it would be the Public Leadership Institute’s “Pregnant Women’s Dignity Act.” The model, which would be highly beneficial in both blue and red states alike, demands that law enforcement not be called in to investigate when a person miscarries or delivers a stillbirth. Even with abortion technically legal, numerous people have been arrested and prosecuted, either for allegedly inducing their own abortions, for miscarrying fetuses on the cusp of viability and not seeking medical attention in time, for miscarrying and disposing of fetal remains without alerting medical practitioners or authorities, for unfavorable birth outcomes after illicit drug use, and even for premature labor after a suicide attempt.

Once abortion is illegal ALL miscarriages will potentially be subject to questioning by the authorities, with doctors, police, and district attorneys able to decide at their own discretion what constitutes a “suspicious” circumstance that might lead to a more in-depth investigation. The Pregnant Women’s Dignity Act protects all people from having their unsuccessful pregnancies scrutinized, allowing every pregnant person the same freedom in their birth outcomes.

The model bill can be found at http://publicleadershipinstitute.org/abortion-rights/pregnant-womens-dignity-act/. It is also included in the Resource Guide at the end of the book.”

Pages 278-298

The two PLI bills discussed above are here reprinted in full.

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