Eve Gartner to discuss current abortion politics

Juliana Kiyan Senior Editor

On Tuesday, May 8, Deputy Director of Public Policy Litigation and Law for Planned Parenthood Federation of American (PPFA) Eve Gartner will give a briefing about the abortion ban entitled “How did the Supreme Court restrict the right to choose?” followed by a question-and-answer session.

Gartner is currently lead counsel in the Supreme Court case Gonzales v. PPFA, which challenges a federal law that would ban abortions 12 to 15 weeks into pregnancy. Congress passed the law and President Bush signed it in 2003.

“This abortion ban would forbid doctors from providing their patients with the care they believe is safest and best, and would give Congress and states a green light to endanger women’s health when they restrict women’s access to abortion,” said Gartner in a June 2006 Planned Parenthood press release.

Coleman said that Gartner is the first Planned Parenthood attorney to argue before the Supreme Court. In previous cases, outside legal counsel has represented PPFA.

In light of the recent Gonzales v. Carhart Supreme Court decision regarding partial-birth abortion, Gartner will address in her briefing how the Supreme Court and abortion legislation are impacting choice. On April 18, the Supreme Court upheld the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-to-4 decision, the first case in which a specific method of abortion has been criminalized.

While the ruling only prohibits that the “intact dilation and extraction” procedure be used during the third trimester, the decision holds far-reaching implications on abortion regulations in general. Vice President of Campus Health Organization for Information, Counseling, and Education (CHOICE) and Chairperson for Voices for Planned Parenthood Jiná Ashline ’08 said, “A lot of people don’t think it’s a big deal, since it doesn’t prohibit all third trimester abortions…but it represents a way to start chipping away at abortion rights.”

Coleman, a longtime friend and colleague of Gartner’s, helped organize the talk. “I expect [Gartner] is going to talk about the surprising depth of this decision, how far reaching it is, and how it is damaging to women’s health,” she said. “It was worse than we had anticipated.”

Coleman said that her organization asked Gartner several months ago to talk about ongoing federal abortion ban cases, and it was by chance that the decision came out weeks before her scheduled briefing..

Coleman said that it is a first for her organization to sponsor an event at Vassar with other student organizations. “I think this is a wonderful opportunity to have a conversation between pro-choice workers in the community and activists on campus,” she said.

Women’s Center intern Marina Hitosugi-Levesque ’09 said, “I’m hoping that this talk will spark something in students to get organized and proactive about the right to choose...Plus, it’s not everyday that you get to hear a woman who has argued in the Supreme Court.”

PPMV co-sponsors the talk with the Women’s Studies program, CHOICE, College Democrats, Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, and Voices for Planned Parenthood .
Gartner’s talk will take place in the Villard Room from 4:30 to 6 p.m.