Statement of Vicki Saporta, President and CEO of the National Abortion Federation (NAF)
June 6, 2012
Today, I released the following statement:
The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is the professional association of abortion providers in North America. NAF is a voluntary membership organization comprised of 400 clinics, hospitals and physicians’ offices in the United States, Canada and Mexico City. NAF does not own, operate, or staff medical centers. Our mission is to ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care, which promotes health and justice for women.
Abortion care is one of the safest and most commonly provided medical procedures in the United States. Despite this safety record, laws have been passed around the country to criminalize abortion providers and to make it more difficult for women to access abortion care.
Opponents of abortion care use questionable tactics like hoax patient visits with hidden cameras to make false claims about NAF and our members. These tactics are evident in the videos recently posted by Live Action. Live Action is known for targeting abortion providers and selectively editing their videos to put out false information.
Their most recent campaign focuses on the preference for a child of a particular gender. Gender discrimination is a serious issue – and it requires solutions that address the underlying issues that promote bias. Laws that are passed with the intent to reduce access to high quality abortion care do not address this issue. Countries striving to combat the problem of gender inequality have had success by implementing laws which address the root causes of gender inequality—including policies on access to health care, fair pay, education, ending violence against women, and expanding access to reproductive health care.
Since 1977, NAF members have provided safe, high-quality evidence-based medical care that women need and deserve. NAF supports women’s access to full, complete, and non-judgmental information about their reproductive health care.