American Independent News Network

Throughtout its nearly six-year history, the American Independent News Network has set itself apart from other news outlets with its commitment to having an impact on the public debate and influencing positive change.

The public’s understanding of reproductive choice is severely diminished by anti-choice advocates demagoguery and use of abortion as a cultural “wedge issue” to divide Americans. That's why AINN has made exposing their misinformation in exchange for facts a core part of its mission. Here are just two examples of how AINN continues to achieve success in doing this:

1. Citing reporting by AINN's Texas bureau, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas released a report on Texas' Alternatives to Abortions program, which funds crisis pregnancy centers across the state and continues to grow, despite missing its benchmarks set by the Legislature, paying CPC counselors more than trained nurses. As reporter Mary Tuma detailed, CPCs in the Austin area are fighting back in court against an ordinance requiring them to disclose the fact they don't offer birth control or abortion referrals — a commonly misunderstood point.
   
2. In a letter to Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, Planned Parenthood Vice President Judith Selzer warned about a provision in the state's recent Medicaid overhaul that allows Medicaid providers to opt out of providing family planning services for "moral or religious reasons," a measure first reported on by AINN's Ashley Lopez in April 2011. Selzer directly cited Lopez's reporting in praising the state agency for telling AINN that Medicaid recipients should still have access to family planning through "fee-for-service" providers, but pointed out that such rules are not included in the Medicaid legislation, adding that the agency's plan "should be clearly spelled out." She also warned that the "fee-for-service" solution may not in fact make up for the family planning opt-out, arguing that if family planning providers cannot afford to participate in Medicaid because of low reimbursement rates, women in the state could be left stranded, an idea Lopez first explored in June 2011.

This is the defining value of investigative journalism in the 21st century: the recognition that outcomes matter. Simply producing great journalism is no longer enough. After the story is reported, outreach and communications efforts need to ensure that advocacy groups, community leaders, public officials, and others take appropriate action correcting the wrongs our coverage has exposed.

One of the most eggregious attacks currently being waged is on the right to choose. Determined to eliminate this right, not a single election season or legislative session goes by without literally dozens of bills and referendums on this issue being submitted at both the state and federal level. The sheer variety of the attacks on reproductive choice is astonishing: personhood amendments; waiting periods; mandatory sonogram requirements; so-called “heartbeat” laws; attempts to defund Planned Parenthood and other groups, now being falsely accused of the most heinous actions; notification laws.

The reason we are seeing this rash of anti-abortion rights initiatives in the states right now is because those in power who oppose the right to choose know that it takes at least two to three years for those cases to reach the Supreme Court, where their goal is to overturn Roe v. Wade and consign American women forever to the back alley. That Court is one single vote away from doing so, with the two members most likely to retire in the next few years being on the pro-choice side.

That makes the 2012 election a crucial crossroads, as it will determine the president who will almost certainly nominate the next justice for the Court and the makeup of the Senate that will confirm or reject that nomination. It is essential that every single one of these attempts to deny equal rights to women is identified, that the extreme views of those who support them are documented, and that the funding networks that benefit them are revealed to the world.

With 26 states having enacted 69 laws that in some way restricted access to abortions or reduced funding for anti-choice in 2011, we almost broke a record — the record for highest number of anti-choice related legislation passed in a single year (the highest number is 70, and happened in 1999, according to NARAL President Nancy Keenan).

It is clear that the opportunity is greater than ever for AINN to reveal new information through investigative reporting that will impact public debate and create a more just home for all citizens.