Health Hippo: Reproductive Rights

GAO recently released a study on the matter, Maternity Care: Appropriate Follow-Up Services Critical With Short Hospital Stays (Letter Report, 09/11/96, GAO/HEHS-96-207), focusing on: (1) the risks that are attributable to short hospital stays for maternity care; (2) health plan actions to ensure quality postpartum care for short-stay newborns; and (3) state responses to concerns about patient protection.

• 10 USC Sec. 1093. Restriction on use of funds for abortions
• 18 USC Sec. 1461. Mailing obscene or crime-inciting matter
• 19 USC Sec. 1305. Immoral articles; importation prohibited
• 20 USC Sec. 1688. Neutrality with respect to abortion
• 22 USC Sec. 2151b. Population planning and health programs
• 42 USC Sec. 300a-6. Prohibition against funding programs using abortion as family planning method
• 42 USC Sec. 300z-10. Restrictions
• 42 USC Sec. 1975c. Duties of the Commission
• THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT OF 1993, 29 USC sec. 2601, et. seq.
  • 2601. Findings and purposes.
  • 2611. Definitions.
  • 2612. Leave requirement.
  • 2613. Certification.
  • 2614. Employment and benefits protection.
  • 2615. Prohibited acts.
  • 2616. Investigative authority.
  • 2617. Enforcement.
  • 2618. Special rules concerning employees of local educational agencies.
  • 2619. Notice.
  • 2631. Establishment (Commission on Leave).
  • 2632. Duties.
  • 2633. Membership.
  • 2634. Compensation.
  • 2635. Powers.
  • 2636. Termination.
  • 2651. Effect on other laws.
  • 2652. Effect on existing employment benefits.
  • 2653. Encouragement of more generous leave policies.
  • 2654. Regulations.

• 18 CFR Sec. 145.52 Literature concerning devices for unlawful abortion.
• 21 CFR PART 884 - OBSTETRICAL AND GYNECOLOGICAL DEVICES SUBPART A - GENERAL PROVISIONS Selected provisions follow.
  • Sec. 884.5070 Vacuum abortion system.
  • Sec. 884.5050 Metreurynter-balloon abortion system.
• 28 CFR Subpart C - Birth Control, Pregnancy, Child Placement, and Abortion Selected provisions follow.
  • Sec. 551.20 Purpose and scope.
  • Sec. 551.23 Abortion.
• 29 CFR Part 825 - THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT OF 1993
  • 825.100 What is the Family and Medical Leave Act?
  • 825.101 What is the purpose of the Act?
  • 825.102 When was the Act effective?
  • 825.103 How did the Act affect leave in progress on, or taken before, the effective date of the Act?
  • 825.104 What employers are covered by the Act?
  • 825.105 In determining whether an employer is covered by FMLA, what does it mean to employ 50 or more employees for each working day during each of 20 or more calendar workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year?
  • 825.106 How is "joint employment" treated under FMLA?
  • 825.107 What is meant by "successor in interest"?
  • 825.108 What is a "public agency"?
  • 825.109 Are Federal agencies covered by these regulations?
  • 825.110 Which employees are "eligible" to take leave under FMLA?
  • 825.111 In determining if an employee is "eligible" under FMLA, how is the determination made whether the employer employs 50 employees within 75 miles of the worksite where the employee needing leave is employed?
  • 825.112 Under what kinds of circumstances are employers required to grant family or medical leave?
  • 825.113 What do "spouse," "parent," and "son or daughter" mean for purposes of an employee qualifying to take FMLA leave?
  • 825.114 What is a "serious health condition" entitling the employee to FMLA leave?
  • 825.115 What does it mean that "the employee is unable to perform the functions of the position of the employee"?
  • 825.116 What does it mean that an employee is "needed to care for" a family member?
  • 825.117 For an employee seeking intermittent FMLA leave or leave on a reduced leave schedule, what is meant by "the medical necessity for" such leave?
  • 825.118 What is a "health care provider"?
  • 825.200 How much leave may an employee take?
  • 825.201 If leave is taken for the birth of a child, or for placement of a child for adoption or foster care, when must the leave be concluded?
  • 825.202 How much leave may a husband and wife take if they are employed by the same employer?
  • 825.203 Does FMLA leave have to be taken all at once, or can it be taken in parts?
  • 825.204 May an employer transfer an employee to an "alternative position" in order to accommodate intermittent leave or a reduced leave schedule?
  • 825.205 How does one determine the amount of leave used where an employee takes leave intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule?
  • 825.206 May an employer deduct hourly amounts from an employee's salary, when providing unpaid leave under FMLA, without affecting the employee's qualifications for exemption as an executive, administrative, or professional employee, or when utilizing the fluctuating workweek method for payment of overtime compensation, under the Fair Labor Standards Act?
  • 825.207 Is FMLA leave paid or unpaid?
  • 825.208 Under what circumstances may an employer designate leave, paid or unpaid, as FMLA leave and, as a result, count it against the employee's total FMLA leave entitlement?
  • 825.209 Is an employee entitled to benefits while using FMLA leave?
  • 825.210 How may employees on FMLA leave pay their share of health benefit premiums?
  • 825.211 What special health benefits maintenance rules apply to multi-employer health plans?
  • 825.212 What are the consequences of an employee's failure to make timely health plan premium payments?
  • 825.213 May an employer recover costs it incurred for maintaining "group health plan" or non-health benefits coverage during FMLA leave?
  • 825.214 What are an employee's rights on returning to work from FMLA leave?
  • 825.215 What is an equivalent position?
  • 825.216 Are there any limitations on an employer's obligation to reinstate an employee?
  • 825.217 What is a "key employee"?
  • 825.218 What does "substantial and grievous economic injury" mean?
  • 825.219 What are the rights of a key employee?
  • 825.220 How are employees protected who request leave or otherwise assert FMLA rights?
  • 825.300 What posting requirements does the Act place on employers?
  • 825.301 What other notices to employees are required of employers under the FMLA?
  • 825.302 What notice does an employee have to give an employer when the need for FMLA leave is foreseeable?
  • 825.303 What are the requirements for an employee to furnish notice to an employer where the need for FMLA leave is not foreseeable?
  • 825.304 What recourse do employers have if employees fail to provide the required notice?
  • 825.305 When must an employee provide medical certification to support FMLA leave?
  • 825.306 How much information may be required in medical certifications of a serious health condition?
  • 825.307 What may an employer do if it questions the adequacy of a medical certification?
  • 825.308 Under what circumstances may an employer request subsequent recertifications of medical conditions?
  • 825.309 What notice may an employer require regarding an employee's intent to return to work?
  • 825.310 Under what circumstances may an employer require that an employee submit a medical certification that the employee is able (or unable) to return to work (e.g., a "fitness-for-duty" report)?
  • 825.311 What happens if an employee fails to satisfy the medical certification requirements?
  • 825.312 Under what circumstances may a covered employer refuse to provide FMLA leave or reinstatement to eligible employees?
  • 825.400 What may employees do who believe that their rights under FMLA have been violated?
  • 825.401 Where may an employee file a complaint of FMLA violations with the Federal government?
  • 825.402 How is an employer notified of a violation of the posting requirement?
  • 825.403 How may an employer appeal the assessment of a penalty for willful violation of the posting requirement?
  • 825.404 What are the consequences of an employer not paying the penalty assessment after a final order is issued?
  • 825.500 What Records must an employer keep to comply with the FMLA?
  • 825.600 To whom do the special rules apply?
  • 825.601 What limitations apply to the taking of intermittent leave or leave on a reduced leave schedule?
  • 825.602 What limitations apply to the taking of leave near the end of an academic term?
  • 825.603 Is all leave taken during "periods of a particular duration" counted against the FMLA leave entitlement?
  • 825.604 What special rules apply to restoration to "an equivalent position?"
  • 825.700 What if an employer provides more generous benefits than required by FMLA?
  • 825.701 Do State laws providing family and medical leave still apply?
  • 825.702 How does FMLA affect Federal and State anti-discrimination laws?
  • 825.800 Definitions.
• 42 CFR PART 50 - POLICIES OF GENERAL APPLICABILITY
  • Sec. 50.210
  • Sec. 50.301
  • Sec. 50.302
  • Sec. 50.303
  • Sec. 50.304
  • Sec. 50.306
  • Sec. 50.307
  • Sec. 50.308
  • Sec. 50.309
  • Sec. 50.310
• 42 CFR PART 441 - SERVICES: REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITS APPLICABLE TO SPECIFIC SERVICES, Subpart E - Abortions Selected provisions follow.
  • Sec. 441.200 Basis and purpose.
  • Sec. 441.202 General rule.
  • Sec. 441.203 Life of the mother would be endangered.
  • Sec. 441.206 Documentation needed by the Medicaid agency.

• Griswold v. Connecticut (U.S. June 7, 1965) (Together, the First, Third, Fourth, and Ninth Amendments, create a new constitutional right, the right to privacy in marital relations)
• Roe v. Wade (U.S. January 22, 1973) (The Court held that a woman's right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment)
• Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (U.S. July 3, 1989) (Due Process Clause did not require states to enter into the business of abortion; State's interest in protecting potential life could come into existence before the point of viability)
• Planned Parenthood v. Casey (U.S. June 29, 1992) (whether a state abortion regulation has the purpose or effect of imposing an "undue burden," which is defined as a "substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability.")
• N.O.W. v. Scheidler (U.S., January 24, 1994) (health clinics had standing to bring RICO action against abortion protestor group)
• Madsen v. Women's Health Ctr. (U.S., June 30, 1994) (establishment of a 36-foot buffer zone on a public street from which demonstrators are excluded passes muster under the First Amendment, but several other provisions of the injunction do not)
• ELIZABETH BLACKWELL HEALTH CENTER FOR WOMEN v. KNOLL (3d Cir., July 25, 1995) (finding Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act invalid due to lack of waiver provision and physician certification provision)

• Abortion Bills (105th Congress)
• Congressional Record 1997: Abortion

• COMMENTARY: THE PUBLIC HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF RESTRICTED INDUCED ABORTION -LESSONS FROM ROMANIA In the United States during the 1960s, as some states began to change their laws on abortion and hospital abortion policies became less restrictive, gradual decreases in maternal mortality were noted.
• HOUSE PASSES PARTIAL-BIRTH ABORTION BILL The Utah House on Wednesday continued its anti-abortion push, passing with token opposition a bill that would restrict so-called ``partial-birth abortions'' that already are under attack at the national level.
• NewsHour Online: Abortion The legislation being debated in the Senate would impose criminal penalties on doctors who perform a certain type of a late-term abortion.
• Partial Birth Abortion Diagrams The illustrations below show how a partial-birth abortion is performed. These diagrams have been shown in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House.
• RAND: A Review of Abortion Policy: Legality, Medicaid Funding, and Parental Involvement,1967-1994 This paper attempts to document the history of abortion legality and two abortion policies--Medicaid funding of abortion for indigent women, and the requirement for parental involvement in a minor's abortion decision.
• RAND: Restrictions on Medicaid Funding of Abortion: Effects on Birth Weight and Pregnancy Resolutions Previous research suggests that restricting the availability of abortion reduces average birth weight by increasing the number of unhealthy fetuses that are carried to term.
• Women's Health Review The Women's Health Review newsletter strives to help focus readers into the most current issues concerning women's health. Reviews of the medical literature serve as a reference guide for further investigation.
• Defense of Marriage Act: Federal Benefits, Rights, and Privileges Contingent on Marital Status GAO/OGC-97-16, Jan. 31, 1997.

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