Gains on Abortion Access

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/18/opinion/letters/abortion-access.html

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To the Editor:

“Renewed Legal Attack on Abortion Reveals a Rift Among Conservatives” (news article, Dec. 5) highlights the rift among abortion opponents, who are nonetheless aligned and hellbent on curtailing reproductive freedom. Amid the focus on the anti-abortion strategy, it’s important to recognize that 2019 has been a watershed year for legislation to protect and expand abortion access at the state and local levels.

In 2019, states including New York, Illinois, Vermont and Rhode Island passed laws that will guarantee the right to abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Nevada decriminalized self-managed abortion, while Maine expanded Medicaid coverage for abortion care. The National Institute for Reproductive Health found that in just the first six months of 2019, states enacted 94 bills intended to expand access to reproductive health care.

In 2020 we will surely see more attacks on abortion access, but also more progress, even in states traditionally hostile to abortion access. Atlanta just created the city’s first Reproductive Justice Commission, and Virginia, with its newly Democratic State Legislature, is poised to pass its own laws protecting the right to an abortion. The incoming governor of Kentucky pledged to protect abortion rights.

The reproductive freedom movement must be prepared for inevitable challenges in the year ahead, both internal and external. But we must also acknowledge the extremely encouraging successes, specifically in cities and states where the movement is broadening and people are working together and making clear gains.

Andrea MillerNew YorkThe writer is president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health.

To the Editor:

Re “Apprenticeship a Growing Alternative to College (and Debt)” (news article, Dec. 11):

There are reasons to applaud these new programs: a sure path to employment, financial security, a valued social role. But I fear that these programs can widen an already huge inequality gap, so that rich people will continue to go to college, and everyone else will move from high school straight into the labor force.

At the City College of New York, where I teach English, students who work also get chances to explore important questions. Studying the humanities and arts provides them with time to think about the world and what it values, and perhaps have a hand in reshaping those values.

Making college affordable offers more to students than apprenticeships can because a college education gives students a chance to change the world rather than consign them merely to a safe place inside it.

Elizabeth MazzolaMetuchen, N.J.