Another Paltrow takes the spotlight

Attorney Lynn Paltrow, speaking at the National Summit to Ensure the Health and Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Women, held in Atlanta earlier this year

By Judith Stiles

Longtime Chelsea activist Lynn Paltrow chose a different path in life from her cousin, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, when she founded the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a national think tank and watchdog group that monitors laws and social services that affect pregnant women throughout the country. Shunning the Hollywood spotlight, she became a lawyer and has been fully engaged in the real-life plot points that can change the course of history regarding the reproductive rights of all women.

“Did you know that in 2005 alone, 650 bills were introduced that would restrict access to abortion?” asked the petite powerhouse over an early morning breakfast at the Ridgeway Diner with her NAPW colleague, Nancy Goldstein, late last week.

These days, television sound bites pummel Americans with the bad news of suicide bombings in Iraq, while barely a hiccup on the news announced on April 18 that the Supreme Court upheld the federal partial-birth abortion ban. While most Americans have been snoozing through the abortion debate, attorney Paltrow has snapped into action, lambasting the court’s decision as part of her ongoing crusade to ensure the reproductive rights of all women.

“Living in New York City, we sometimes forget that west of the Hudson, pro-choice advocates are considered killers of life and abortion is compared to the Holocaust,” said Paltrow as she grimaced and poked at her eggs. She warily discussed with Goldstein how anti-abortion activists have cleverly shifted the debate off of the health and safety issues of the pregnant woman, to furthering the legal status of the fetus—a campaign that has hit every state.

Goldstein, who has an extraordinary amount of legal facts and figures on the tip of her tongue, gave the lowdown on what is going on in different states, such as South Carolina, where “fetuscide” is not only a new term but potentially a new crime. She describes how the state charged Jennifer Lee Atwood, 38, with “homicide by child abuse” when she delivered a stillborn, allegedly because of drug use, and then sentenced Atwood to prison for 10 years.

Over a second cup of coffee, Paltrow and Goldstein lobbed back-and-forth updates on court cases that have fallen under the news radar, eclipsed by headlines about funding the war and the chatter of presidential hopefuls. Paltrow criticized Texas for prosecuting women according to fetal-rights laws, when the focus should be on providing better health services during pregnancy. Goldstein quipped that New York State definitely gets failing marks for continuing the Neanderthal practice of shackling the feet of pregnant women. They noted that a state-by-state review of pending legislation and court cases can be found on their Website, even translated into Spanish, at www.advocatesforpregnantwomen.com

Paltrow finished her eggs in a hurry, as she rushed back to the office to field an emergency call from an attorney west of the Hudson, who is handling the case of a young woman who shot herself in the belly in an attempt to terminate a pregnancy. According to Goldstein, Paltrow often has to spring into action like this with spur-of-the-moment legal advice, as NAPW is considered the national nerve center for reproductive rights information.

Spread out on a table in NAPW’s warm and welcoming office is all kinds of literature, including comic books about pregnancy and brochures about a conference in Atlanta that Paltrow organized earlier this year, called the National Summit to Ensure the Health and Humanity of Pregnant and Birthing Women, held in Atlanta. More than 60 social service organizations, medical personnel and lawyers convened for workshops to discuss what the U.S. could be doing to “support maternal, fetal and familial health,” and Paltrow made it happen in her so-called spare time.

And as if she were not busy enough, attorney Paltrow is also the mother of twin teenagers, which has given her a broader perspective on how fragile the constitutional rights of pregnant women are these days.

She solemnly remembered the time when abortion was illegal, but before she jumped back on the phone again, she optimistically spoke of the future, where she hopes for her daughter and other young women that “the debate will be focused on better access to health care and education for all pregnant women, mothers and families.”