National Advocates for Pregnant Women: Welcome to NAPW

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You can order Our Bodies, Our Crimes: The Policing of Women’s Reproduction in America, a new book by Jeanne Flavin, NAPW's Board President, published through New York University Press. Read the "starred review" of Ms. Flavin's book in Publishers Weekly. Please note: Scroll down on linked page to the 7th entry to read the review. Also, please see Ms. Flavin's Op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, "The Real Issue Behind the Abortion Debate."

our mission

National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) works to secure the human and civil rights, health and welfare of all women, focusing particularly on pregnant and parenting women, and those who are most vulnerable - low income women, women of color, and drug-using women.

NAPW ED Lynn Paltrow on GRITtv: Domestic Terrorism and The Death of Dr. Tiller

Dr. George Tiller, one of the few physicians in the United States who performed late term abortions was murdered Sunday in the foyer of his church in Kansas. He is the eighth abortion provider murdered in the US since 1977 and his death is indicative of a larger assault on health clinics and providers who offer reproductive services, including abortion.

Lynn Paltrow Founder and Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Jennifer Pozner Executive Director of Women In Media & News (WIMN), Sunsara Taylor a writer for Revolution Newspaper, and an abortion provider in the south take on the media’s response to Tiller’s death and discuss what pro-choice organizations need to do moving forward.

what's new

Groups to make another try for 'personhood' measure
July 01, 2009

NAPW's Executive Director and Jacy Montoya of COLOR were quoted in response to the latest 'personhood' efforts in Colorado.

Laura Pemberton Talk Now Available on Line
June 23, 2009

Laura Pemberton's description of her state detention and forced cesarean surgery is now available on NAPW's Vimeo Channel

NAPW's Lynn Paltrow quoted in Willamette Week article

NAPW ally Linda Layne speaks at Bluestockings June 19th!

Union Square Vigil Held for Dr. TIller

Tiller Vigil NAPW.jpg
NAPW staff and interns attended the vigil with signs reading "We Honor Dr. Tiller" and "He Defended Women's Dignity".

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blog

Sotomayor Confirmation, Joint Letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee From Over 100 Legal and Health Experts

June 22, 2009

Dismantling Roe v. Wade Would Affect All Pregnant Women
NAPW and More than 100 Signatories Request That Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings Consider Impact on All Pregnant Women

On June 22, 2009 National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) released to the public a letter with more than 100 signatories sent to the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate requesting that the Committee ask Judge Sonia Sotomayor and all future Supreme Court nominees: Is there a point in pregnancy when you believe women lose their civil rights? This letter, discussed in Rachel Roth's RhRealityCheck Commentary, addresses the harm that will result if abortion is outlawed and provides concrete examples of civil rights violations against pregnant women that undermine both maternal and fetal health and that would occur routinely if Roe v. Wade were overturned.

"Review of both civil and criminal cases since Roe v. Wade makes clear that what is at stake in each nomination to the Supreme Court is not only the right to choose abortion," said Lynn M. Paltrow, Founder and Executive Director of NAPW, "but also the fundamental issue of whether or not pregnant women are recognized as full Constitutional persons under the law."

Bail granted for imprisoned HIV-positive pregnant woman in Maine

June 15, 2009

This morning, National Advocates for Pregnant Women and Center for HIV Law and Policy, and Elizabeth Frankel and Valerie Wright of the Maine law firm Verrill Dana, LLP, filed an emergency amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief on behalf of 28 public health experts, advocates, and organizations challenging the imprisonment of an HIV positive pregnant woman in order to protect her “innocent” “unborn child.”

Ms. T, a 28 year-old woman from Cameroon, was arrested in January 2009 for allegedly having false immigration documents. Shortly after her arrest, she learned she was both pregnant and HIV positive. On May 14, 2009, instead of sentencing her to “time served,” which was consistent with the federal sentencing guidelines and the recommendations of her attorney and the United States Attorney’s Office, United States District Court Judge John Woodcock extended Ms. T’s sentence to 238 days, making clear that the sentence was calculated specifically to ensure that she remained incarcerated for the duration of her pregnancy. See Judge Jails Pregnant Woman Until Baby is Born and Behind Bars for Being Pregnant and HIV-Positive.