| |
New Texas 'Janes' Mark Roe v. Wade Anniversary
by Nancy Schaadt
Before
there was Jane Roe winning a landmark Supreme Court case, there
was Jane, a Chicago-based feminist group that provided abortions
for an estimated 12,000 women in the Midwest. The Jane spirit is
alive today and well in Texas.
DALLAS
(WOMENSENEWS January 21, 2001)--Today, only two days after anti-choice
President George W. Bush took the oath of office, pro-choice activists
in his home state of Texas launched a website, hotline and nonprofit
organization to help young women navigate tough, anti-choice parental
notification laws.
Jane's
Due Process, as the group is called, comes to life 28 years to the
day after the anonymous Jane Roe won the historic U.S. Supreme Court
ruling, Roe v. Wade, on Jan. 22, 1973, that confirmed women have a
constitutional right to abortion, based on their right to privacy.
Jane's
Due Process was launched in Dallas to help women cope with anti-choice
laws. Texas has at least 13 such laws, including parental notification,
signed by then governor George W. Bush.
In Texas
and other states with parental notification laws, to obtain notification
waivers, young women use the name of Jane Doe to protect their identity.
Thus, the name Jane's Due Process invokes the name of all who need
the group's assistance. In addition, the group's name harkens back
to the legendary Chicago organization Jane. The members of Jane worked
in the 1960s and early 1970s to provide then-illegal abortions to
thousands of women who needed them.
Co-founder
of the National Women's History Project, Mary Ruthsdotter of Sebastopol,
Calif., said she and many other women became involved in the women's
movement through the abortion rights issues and became aware of a
woman's right to choose because of Jane.
Today,
all but 11 states and the District of Columbia prevent minor women
from having abortions without parental consent. Under the current
Texas law, similar to laws in other states, a woman under 18 must
inform her parent or guardian of her intention to have an abortion.
If she feels she cannot do so, she can go to court and plea for a
notification bypass waiver. She needs a lawyer to go through the process
and a judge appoints a guardian to protect her interests. Anti-choice
judges may appoint anti-choice guardians. A judge must agree that
she is sufficiently mature and well informed before issuing the waiver
and permitting her to obtain an abortion.
Vast
Distances, With Few Abortion Providers,
Pose Major Problems
However,
the Texas law, which went into effect on Jan. 1, presents a unique
set of problems for minor women.
"Only
17 Texas counties out of 254 have abortion providers," says Jane's
Due Process director Diana Philips, "and in some areas, minors
were routinely denied waivers." While Texas law resembles notification
laws in other states, Philips says the physical size of the state
and the lack of local rules make the bypass waiver process more cumbersome
and onerous.
"These
kids are expected to do things that many adults can't even do,"
Philips adds.
Using
both legal and medical terminology, the teen must prove to a judge
that she is not only mature enough to make the decision on her own
but has a clear medical understanding of the abortion procedure and
her options. Philips says difficulties include confusion about the
law by courthouse clerks and judges themselves, judicial reluctance
to grant waivers despite cases that meet legal requirements and a
lack of volunteer attorneys to take on bypass cases.
Susan Hayes, a Dallas lawyer and board member of Jane's Due Process,
says that the teen Janes she has assisted are smart and savvy young
women. Nevertheless, the law often raises insurmountable barriers.
"This law picks on kids who aren't able to handle it," she
explains. "This process is too much for sexually abused girls
who don't have the courage to find a lawyer."
About
95 percent of all minors tell their parents, says project director
Philips. "The ones who don't, don't tell for a reason. They're
not just afraid of getting grounded."
In the '60s and '70s, Janes Trained
Janes to Perform Abortions
The
Janes of Texas have much in common with the Janes of Chicago. However,
in the pre-Roe v. Wade era, the Chicago Janes were forced to defy the
law. Ruth Rosen writes in "The World Split Open: How the Modern
Women's Movement Changed America," published by Viking Press, 2000:
"In
1965, Heather Booth, a veteran activist of the civil rights and New
Left movements, discovered a doctor in Chicago who would perform abortions
for pregnant young women. In 1967, a group of women took over the work
and called it first ''The Service" and then "Jane." In
addition to providing names of abortion providers, they also arranged
for "scholarships" and counseling. In some cases, members
of Jane did the abortions themselves. Between 1969 and 1973, Jane had
arranged for eleven thousand illegal abortions. Eventually, seven Janes
were arrested in 1972 and were saved from possible trials only by the
Supreme Court decision."
Because
of Texas' strict confidentiality requirements, no one knows how many
Texas teen-age Janes have sought a waiver, obtained one and gone through
with the abortion procedure.
Jane's Due
Process hopes to combat misinformation with a web site, a hotline for
young women and training programs for attorneys and abortion providers.
Kelly Hart, public affairs coordinator of Planned Parenthood of North
Texas, had been coordinating dialogue between minors and attorneys.
She is delighted that Jane's Due Process will streamline the flow of
information.
"We are very supportive; it's a wonderful thing for us. I am pleased
to see the young women of Texas obtain their legal rights," she
says.
Jane's Due
Process also hopes to bridge the gap between medical and legal professions
by training volunteers such as Med Students for Choice who can relate
to teenagers and explain the abortion procedure with the clinical precision
necessary for the court hearing. The young women will be expected to
demonstrate to a judge that they are knowledgeable about the procedure.
Educating and Training Volunteer
Lawyers An Important Task
Hayes,
the lawyer and Jane's board member, says it's difficult to recruit attorneys
because the bypass waiver process must take place within 48 hours of
court filing. Because of the urgency, attorneys have to drop other work
in order to take these cases, and educating attorneys about the importance
of the work is a major component of the Jane's mission.
"Lawyers
represent what the Jane wants, the guardian ad litem is to represent
what's best for the Jane, but some guardians ad litem seem to want what's
best for the fetus," Hayes adds.
In Dallas
and Houston, guardians ad litem do not come from a pool but are attached
to a specific family court judge. Anti-choice judges may appoint a guardian
ad litem who reflects their own views.
"Some
feel that they have to represent the parents' rights in regard to what
is happening to their daughter," director Philips says. Judges
can order a girl to see a priest or a psychologist. "Girls have
been told that since they don't understand that 'life begins at conception,'
they aren't well-informed," she explains. And if they are not considered
well-informed, they may be denied a parental notification waiver and
denied an abortion.
The Texas
Janes are criticized for coaching the minors. "We have to make
sure these girls are ready to explain their reasons to a judge,"
Philips says, "but we are not putting words into their mouths."
According
to Philips, Iowa and Massachusetts have similar hotlines but there is
no national model for disseminating information on bypassing parental
notification. "I would hate for this to be a national organization,
but, if it has to be, it will," Philips adds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read the update of Caryl Rivers' Jan. 11 commentary in light of President
Bush's statements today, Jan. 22, 2001, the 28th anniversary of the
Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, indicating that he intends
to reinstate the global gag rule: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm?aid=413&context=archive
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information, visit:
Jane's Due Process
1-866-WWW-JANE (1-866-999-5263)
National
Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL)
American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU):
A
notification debate
Planned Parenthood Teen
Wire:
The
Janes of Chicago Documents
Nancy Schaadt
is a correspondent for Women's
ENews where this article originally appeared. We urge to visit
this excellent news site sponsored by the NOW
Legal Defense and Education Fund.
|
|
