Womens Health Advocate: Sybil Shainwald

Unmasking the Misunderstanding of Abortion History[1] by Sybil Shainwald Until 1968, scholars had neglected to produce or analyze the history of abortion in Anglo-American law. Professor Cyril Means was a member of the Governor’s Commission appointed to review New York State’s Abortion Law and his exhaustive research was incorporated into that Report, which was the first history of abortion. The Report noted that abortion was not illegal in either England or America before the nineteenth century, and that even when abortion was banned in the 1800’s, the purpose was solely to protect the life of the mother. Professor Means’ history, [...]

At the time of his confirmation hearing, now Justice Kavanaugh assured senators that Roe v. Wade[1]was “settled law,” as a precedent entitled to respect.[2]This was a self-evident “dodge.”[3]In fact, in 2003, he authored an email containing a draft opinion piece that supporters of one of President Bush’s conservative appeals court nominees hoped he could persuade anti-abortion women to submit under their names, in which he stated “I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since the Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current [...]

A Look Back and a Peek Forward Sybil Shainwald, Esq. The Supreme Court’s decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, 136 S. Ct. 2292 (2016), decided in June of last year, was a significant victory for reproductive rights. That decision was also the death knell for the so-called “TRAP” laws (short for “targeted regulation of abortion providers”). For example, Texas had passed sweeping legislation which required, among other things: (1) doctors who provide abortion services to obtain admitting privileges at local hospitals no farther than 30 miles away from the clinic1; and (2) every health care facility offering abortion care [...]

Introduction and History The Supreme Court’s decision last June in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, 136 S. Ct. 2292 (2016), was a significant victory for reproductive rights. That decision was also the death knell for the so-called “TRAP” laws (short for “targeted regulation of abortion providers”). For example, Texas had passed sweeping legislation which required, among other things: (1) doctors who provide abortion services to obtain admitting privileges at local hospitals no farther than 30 miles away from the clinic; and (2) every health care facility offering abortion care to meet building specifications to essentially become mini-hospitals (also known as [...]

Justice Sandra Day O’Conner tells this joke: Two men on a balloon expedition became lost in a storm. When the storm cleared, they found themselves floating above a one-land road with nothing in site but wheat fields. There was no one, absolutely no one around. Finally, they spotted a woman walking down the road. “Hey!” they called down. “Where are we?” To which the woman relied, “You’re up in a balloon about 25 feet off the ground.” “She’s a lawyer,” one man commented to the other. “How do you know?” his companion asked. “Well,” he responded, “her answer was clear, [...]

Why Can’t Women Control Their Own Destinies? CLE Discussion by NYCLA’s Women in Law Committee & Young Lawyers Section Sybil Shainwald, Esq. on May 1, 2015 Introduction and History Since the 2010 mid-term elections the states have adopted 231 new abortion restrictions. Additionally, twenty-six new abortion restrictions were passed by fifteen states in 2014 and seven states have passed additional restrictions in 2015. [click here for 2015 State Abortion Laws] It is depressing to think about the barriers to reproductive justice, the backlash against the gains of the women’s movement, the failure of governmental authorities to enforce laws that guarantee [...]

Bans on “dilation & evacuation” (or D&E) abortions are the latest front in the states’ war against a woman’s right to have an abortion, which has been waged ever since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed that right in 1973. D&E abortion involves dilating the woman’s cervix and removing the fetus, often in parts.  It is the safest and most widely used method of second-trimester abortion. Last month, Kansas and Oklahoma became the first states to ban D&E abortions. The nearly identical laws, which are both referred to as the Unborn Child Protection From Dismemberment Abortion Act, outlaw the [...]

A recent article in the New York Times exposed the horrific extent that states have gone to in an attempt to ban abortion by passing laws that criminalize pregnant women. The article tells the stories of women who are forced to undergo cesarean sections, or arrested for “attempted fetal homicide” after falling down a flight of stairs, or jailed for over a year second-degree murder because of unexplained vaginal bleeding that turned out to be a miscarriage. Please read the text of the article below, or follow the link to the article itself. We welcome your questions and comments. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/08/opinion/pregnant-and-no-civil-rights.html [...]

There will be a public hearing to receive testimony concerning the New York Health bill to create single payer health coverage.  The New York Health bill would provide comprehensive, universal health coverage for every New Yorker, with a benefit package more comprehensive than commercial or other health plans, with full choices of doctors and other providers.  The program would be funded by broad-based taxes based on the ability to pay, and it would eliminate the local share of Medicaid (which would become part of New York Health). The New York City hearing will be held on Tuesday, December 16, 10AM, [...]