NEW YORK -- It was only a single billboard, raised high above the streets of Manhattan, with a photograph of a black little girl and the kind of message the city's residents don't often see:
The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.
The ad was sponsored by a Texas-based anti-abortion group, which said there is a particularly high abortion rate among black women and that it wanted to show them there are other options. The billboard sparked outrage and allegations of racism in liberal New York City. It was removed by the advertising company less than a week after it was erected.
That, however, was a small victory for abortion-rights groups, which say they are facing an increasingly hostile political environment and fighting a sudden surge of legislation across the country aimed at restricting women's access to abortion.
Hundreds of such bills are introduced in state legislatures every year, and it's unclear how many will actually be enacted into law. But abortion-rights advocates say this year is different.
Janet Crepps, deputy director of the U.S. legal program for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the group has already tracked 300 anti-abortion bills so far this year nationwide, up from 150 for the entire year of 2010.
I think they feel emboldened by the results of the midterm election, she told AOL News in a phone interview.
Some of the most controversial legislation focuses on abortion providers. Under a bill proposed inn Nebraska, the use of deadly force to protect a fetus would be considered justifiable homicide. Critics say they fear the measure would put a bull's-eye on the heads of abortion providers in the state.
But the sponsor of the Nebraska bill, state Sen. Mark Christensen, said he wrote LB 232 to provide legal protection to mothers trying to defend their unborn children from abusive husbands and partners, and had no intention of legalizing violence against abortion providers.
The Republican said he planned to propose an amendment to the bill to make it clear that only a mother or father can use deadly force to protect the fetus, not a third party, such as an anti-abortion extremist.
We'll adapt the language to make it clear that my intent is clear, he told AOL News by phone Friday.
Christensen said he is against abortion but denied that the bill was aimed at chipping away at abortion rights.
Full story: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/26/from-new-york-to-midwest-to-south-abortion-battle-heats-up/
The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.
The ad was sponsored by a Texas-based anti-abortion group, which said there is a particularly high abortion rate among black women and that it wanted to show them there are other options. The billboard sparked outrage and allegations of racism in liberal New York City. It was removed by the advertising company less than a week after it was erected.
That, however, was a small victory for abortion-rights groups, which say they are facing an increasingly hostile political environment and fighting a sudden surge of legislation across the country aimed at restricting women's access to abortion.
Hundreds of such bills are introduced in state legislatures every year, and it's unclear how many will actually be enacted into law. But abortion-rights advocates say this year is different.
Janet Crepps, deputy director of the U.S. legal program for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the group has already tracked 300 anti-abortion bills so far this year nationwide, up from 150 for the entire year of 2010.
I think they feel emboldened by the results of the midterm election, she told AOL News in a phone interview.
Some of the most controversial legislation focuses on abortion providers. Under a bill proposed inn Nebraska, the use of deadly force to protect a fetus would be considered justifiable homicide. Critics say they fear the measure would put a bull's-eye on the heads of abortion providers in the state.
But the sponsor of the Nebraska bill, state Sen. Mark Christensen, said he wrote LB 232 to provide legal protection to mothers trying to defend their unborn children from abusive husbands and partners, and had no intention of legalizing violence against abortion providers.
The Republican said he planned to propose an amendment to the bill to make it clear that only a mother or father can use deadly force to protect the fetus, not a third party, such as an anti-abortion extremist.
We'll adapt the language to make it clear that my intent is clear, he told AOL News by phone Friday.
Christensen said he is against abortion but denied that the bill was aimed at chipping away at abortion rights.
Full story: http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/26/from-new-york-to-midwest-to-south-abortion-battle-heats-up/
