Glenna Halvorson-Boyd

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Glenna Halvorson-Boyd is an American abortion counselor and abortion rights advocate. She has worked in abortion clinics in the Southwestern United States since abortion was legalized nationwide in 1973 with now-overruled court decision Roe v. Wade . From 1984 to 1986, she was president of the National Abortion Federation. Halvorson-Boyd and her spouse Curtis Wayne Boyd, an abortion provider, have been the target of violence because of their profession: their Dallas clinic was firebombed in 1988, their New Mexico clinic was destroyed in an arson attack in 2007, and in 2014 they were reported to have been monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as they were considered possible targets of domestic terrorism.

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Career

Halvorson-Boyd has worked in abortion clinics since the legalization of abortion with Roe v. Wade (1973), working alongside her spouse Curtis Wayne Boyd, a physician and abortion provider of national prominence who helped found the National Abortion Federation, a professional association for the profession. [1] [2] In 1974, she became an abortion counselor at Curtis's clinic in Dallas, Texas, the Fairmount Center, which was later known as Southwestern Women's Surgery Center. [2] [3] The center was the first legal abortion facility in Texas to provide abortion care after the Supreme Court of the United States' ruling in Roe v. Wade. [4] She served as the president of the National Abortion Federation from 1984 to 1986. [5] [6] The Fairmount Clinic was the target of a firebombing attack in 1988, and in a later incident, was broken into by protestors who chained themselves to clinic equipment. [7] By 2000, her work entailed counseling at abortion clinics in Texas and New Mexico and conducting training for counselors and doctors. [8]

The Albuquerque, New Mexico, abortion clinic at which the couple practiced was destroyed by arsonists in 2007, and they struggled to find a new landlord willing to rent to them to rebuild their practice. [1] After the assassination of the Kansas abortion provider George Tiller in 2009, their clinic hired two of his staff members and expanded the scope of their work to work with patients in their third trimester. Their decision to begin providing late-term abortions caught the attention of the anti-abortion organizations such as Operation Rescue. [2] [9] The Guardian reported in 2014 that she and her husband had been monitored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation due to the couple's status as possible targets of domestic terrorism. [2] The Southwestern Women's Surgery Center closed in 2023 due to the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , which overruled constitutional protections of the right to have an abortion afforded by Roe v. Wade; the couple now practice at its sister clinic, Southwestern Women's Options (SWO), in New Mexico. [5] [3]

Books and research

Halvorson-Boyd has worked in the field of developmental psychology, and according to the SWO website, she holds a PhD in "Human and Organizational Development". [5] [10] An advocate for abortion rights, [10] Halvorson-Boyd and her spouse are "personally and professionally committed to freedom of choice on a local, state, national, and international level", according to SWO. [5]

With Lisa K. Hunter, Halvorson-Boyd authored the book Dancing in Limbo: Making Sense of Life After Cancer (1995) on their experiences with cancer. A reviewer in the journal Family Relations wrote that the book was one of the first that speaks on one's experiences receiving a cancer diagnosis and living as a cancer survivor. [11] According to Richard Freadman in Society , Halvorson-Boyd and Hunter describe the state of remission they live in as a "limbo". [12] A San Francisco Examiner reviewer found the book to be a valuable resource to readers in a similar situation, despite having reservations about the authors' writing style. [13]

With her spouse, Halvorson-Boyd wrote a memoir, We Choose To, to be published with Disruption Books in 2024. Kirkus Reviews writes that the work is a "well-crafted medical memoir exploring the nuances of abortion in modern American history." [14]

Personal life

Halvorson-Boyd is the daughter of Glenn Halvorson (1913–1995), who was born in South Dakota and lived in Modesto, California, and worked as a television repairman. [15] She completed the licensed practical nurse program at Northern New Mexico Community College in 2004. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States abortion-rights movement</span> Support for womens right to elective abortion

The United States abortion-rights movement is a sociopolitical movement in the United States supporting the view that a woman should have the legal right to an elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy, and is part of a broader global abortion-rights movement. The movement consists of a variety of organizations, with no single centralized decision-making body.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abortion in the United States</span>

In the United States, abortion is a divisive issue in politics and culture wars, though a majority of Americans support access to abortion. Abortion laws vary widely from state to state.

The National Abortion Federation (NAF) is a professional association of abortion providers. NAF members include private and non-profit clinics, Planned Parenthood affiliates, women's health centers, physicians' offices, and hospitals who together perform approximately half of the abortions in the U.S. and Canada each year. NAF members also include public hospitals and both public and private clinics in Mexico City and private clinics in Colombia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abortion law in the United States by state</span>

The legality of abortion in the United States and the various restrictions imposed on the procedure vary significantly, depending on the laws of each state or other jurisdiction, although there is no uniform federal law. Some states prohibit abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with few exceptions; others permit it up to a certain point in a woman's pregnancy, while some allow abortion throughout a woman's pregnancy. In states where abortion is legal, several classes of restrictions on the procedure may exist, such as parental consent or notification laws, requirements that patients be shown an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion, mandatory waiting periods, and counseling requirements.

Abortion in Oklahoma is illegal unless the abortion is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman.

Abortion in Texas is illegal in most cases. There are nominally exceptions to save the mother's life, or prevent "substantial impairment of major bodily function", but the law on abortion in Texas is written in such an ambiguous way that life-threatening or harmful pregnancies do not explicitly constitute an exception.

Abortion in Alaska is legal on demand at all stages of pregnancy, as long as a licensed physician performs the procedure. As of 2016, Alaska does not require a minor to notify a parent or guardian in order to obtain an abortion. 63% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Alaska was one of only four states to make abortion legal between 1967 and 1970, a few years before the US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling. Alaska had consent requirements for women seeking abortions by 2007 that required abortion providers to warn patients of a link between abortion and breast cancer, despite it being scientifically unsupported.

Abortion in Connecticut is legal up to the point of fetal viability, or after that if necessary to preserve the life or health of the pregnant woman. A poll by the Pew Research Center found that 67 percent of adults in the state believed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Abortions took place early in the state's history. People at that time talked about abortions using euphemisms. The death of Sarah Grosvenor following unsuccessful abortion resulted in a prosecution in colonial Connecticut. Connecticut became the first state to criminalize abortion after codifying its common law in 1821. Later, such laws were justified as trying to protect the life of the women from bad actors providing unsafe abortion services. The state was one of ten states in 2007 to have a customary informed consent provision for abortions. In 1965, the US Supreme Court heard the case of Griswold v. Connecticut, striking down laws that banned the sale, use of and prescription of contraceptives, even for married couples. The Court's later decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester. In 1990, state law was amended to read, "the decision to terminate a pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus shall be solely that of the pregnant woman in consultation with her physician", the first such law in state codifying the Court's holding in Roe, as it would be later modified by Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The number of abortion clinics in the state has been declining in recent years, going from 46 in 1982 to 43 in 1992 to 21 in 2014. There were 10,625 legal abortions performed in Connecticut in 2014, and 9,888 in 2015. In 1964, Gerri Santoro of Connecticut died trying to obtain an illegal abortion and her photo became the symbol of the pro-choice movement. Abortion rights activists in the state participated in the #StoptheBans movement in May 2019. Anti-abortion rights organizations were created in the state in the late 1960s.

Abortion in Kansas is legal. Kansas law allows for an abortion up to 20 weeks post-fertilization. After that point, only in cases of life or severely compromised physical health may an abortion be performed, with this limit set on the belief that a fetus can feel pain after that point in the pregnancy. In July 2024, the Kansas Supreme Court struck down two abortion restrictions.

Abortion is illegal in Kentucky. There were laws in Kentucky about abortion by 1900, including ones with therapeutic exceptions. In 1998, the state passed legislation that required clinics to have an abortion clinic license if they wanted to operate. By the early 2010s, members of the Kentucky Legislature attempted to ban abortion in almost all cases and had also introduced the early abortion bans. Prior to 2019, Kentucky law prohibited abortions after week 22. This changed when the state legislature passed a law that moved the prohibition to week 6 in the early part of the year. A bill passed and made effective in April 2022 lowered the threshold to 15 weeks, the second most restrictive limit in effect in the United States behind Texas, and introduced regulations that made abortion illegal until it was blocked in federal court.

Abortion in Mississippi is illegal. The new law took effect on July 7, 2022, after Mississippi State Attorney General Lynn Fitch certified on June 27, the Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization on June 24 of that year. State Attorney General Lynn Fitch's certification made Mississippi's 2007 'trigger law' go into effect and ban all abortions in the state, “except in the case where necessary for the preservation of the mother's life or where the pregnancy was caused by rape".

Abortion in New York is legal, although abortions after the 24th week of pregnancy require a physician's approval. Abortion was legalized up to the 24th week of pregnancy in New York in 1970, three years before it was legalized for the entire United States with the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Roe v. Wade was later overturned in 2022 by the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The Reproductive Health Act, passed in 2019 in New York, further allows abortions past the 24th week of pregnancy if a woman's life or health is at risk, or if the fetus is not viable. However, since these exceptions are not defined by the law, and the law carries no criminal penalties for the woman herself, abortion is effectively legal throughout pregnancy.

As of July 1, 2023, abortion in North Carolina is currently illegal after 12 weeks of pregnancy. In the case of rape or incest, abortion is legal through the 20th week of pregnancy. In the case of a "life-limiting" fetal abnormality, abortion is legal through the 24th week of pregnancy. If the woman's life is determined by a qualified physician to be at risk, abortion is legal at any stage of pregnancy. North Carolina is destination for many out-of-state women seeking abortions, as most US Southern states have implemented laws banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy or near-total prohibitions on abortion.

Abortion in North Dakota is technically legal, but with no current providers. The state's sole abortion clinic relocated to Minnesota.

Abortion in South Dakota is illegal. Anyone who induces an abortion is guilty of a Class 6 felony. An exception is included to "preserve the life of the pregnant female," given appropriate and reasonable medical judgment.

Abortion in West Virginia is illegal except in cases of rape or incest, fatal fetal abnormalities, and when the mother’s life is at risk from a pregnancy.

Abortion in New Mexico is legal at all stages of pregnancy. The number of abortion clinics in New Mexico has declined over the years, with 26 in 1982, 20 in 1992 and 11 in 2014. There were 4,500 legal abortions in 2014. There were 7 facilities providing abortion in New Mexico in 2017, and 6 of those were clinics. In 2017, 91% of New Mexico counties had no clinics that provided abortions, and 48% of New Mexico women lived in those counties.

Abortion in Florida is generally illegal after six weeks from the woman's last menstrual period, when many women do not yet know they are pregnant. This law came into effect in May 2024, being approved by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis following its passage in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate, with only Republican state legislators supporting and only Democratic state legislators opposing. Additionally, pregnant women are generally required to make two visits to a medical facility 24 hours apart to be able to obtain an abortion, in a law approved by Republican Governor Rick Scott in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Heartbeat Act</span> 2021 Act of the Texas Legislature on abortion

The Texas Heartbeat Act, Senate Bill 8, is an act of the Texas Legislature that bans abortion after the detection of embryonic or fetal cardiac activity, which normally occurs after about six weeks of pregnancy. The law took effect on September 1, 2021, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request for emergency relief from Texas abortion providers. It was the first time a state has successfully imposed a six-week abortion ban since Roe v. Wade, and the first abortion restriction to rely solely on enforcement by private individuals through civil lawsuits, rather than having state officials enforce the law with criminal or civil penalties. The act authorizes members of the public to sue anyone who performs or facilitates an illegal abortion for a minimum of $10,000 in statutory damages per abortion, plus court costs and attorneys' fees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States abortion protests (2022–present)</span> 2022 protests following the ruling of Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization

A series of ongoing protests supporting abortion rights and anti-abortion counter-protests began in the United States on May 2, 2022, following the leak of a draft majority opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which stated that the Constitution of the United States does not confer any Reproductive rights, thus overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe and Casey in Dobbs, resulting in further protests outside of the U.S. Supreme Court building and across the country, eventually to major cities across the world both in favor of and against the decision.

References

  1. 1 2 Frosch, Dan (December 28, 2007). "Albuquerque Has Renewal of Attacks on Abortion". The New York Times . Archived from the original on March 24, 2024. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 McVeigh, Karen (November 21, 2014). "'I can't think of a time when it was worse': US abortion doctors speak out". The Guardian . Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Gimbel, Annie (March 2, 2023). "Dallas women's clinic closing after providing abortions, health care for 50 years". CBS Texas. Archived from the original on March 24, 2024. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  4. ↑ Gimbel, Annie (March 2, 2023). "Dallas women's clinic closing after providing abortions, health care for 50 years - CBS Texas". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved August 19, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "About Southwestern Women's Options - Our Legacy and Team". Southwestern Women's Options. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  6. ↑ "An arsonist was responsible for a fire that destroyed..." Dallas: United Press International. February 24, 1985. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  7. ↑ Bader, Eleanor J. (February 19, 2013). "Abortion Providers Risk Their Lives, Property to Protect Choice". Truthout. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  8. ↑ Rubin, Alissa J. (April 25, 2000). "Denial a Powerful Factor in 2nd-Trimester Abortion". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on March 24, 2024. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  9. ↑ Peters, Joey (July 18, 2017). "A Moral Choice". Santa Fe Reporter . Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  10. 1 2 Blakely, Rhys (July 13, 2013). "America's abortion front line". The Times . Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
  11. ↑ South, Nancy A. (January 1999). "Dancing in Limbo: Making Sense of Life after Cancer". Family Relations . 48 (1): 100. doi:10.2307/585688. JSTOR   585688.
  12. ↑ Freadman, Richard (October 2015). "Spanning Cancer: Cancer as an Episode in an Individual Life Story". Society . 52 (5): 490–497. doi:10.1007/s12115-015-9934-y.
  13. ↑ Heilig, Steve (October 29, 1995). "Life After Cancer: the Facts and the Emotions". San Francisco Examiner . pp.  5, 6. Archived from the original on April 2, 2024. Retrieved April 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "We Choose To". Kirkus Reviews . March 12, 2024. Archived from the original on March 29, 2024. Retrieved March 29, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Obituary for Glenn A Halvorson". The Modesto Bee. Modesto, California. March 15, 1995. p. 44. Archived from the original on April 2, 2024. Retrieved April 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Class of 2004". Rio Grande Sun . Espanola, New Mexico. June 10, 2004. p. 25. Archived from the original on April 2, 2024. Retrieved April 2, 2024– via Newspapers.com.

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