USA – Abortion by Telemedicine: A Growing Option as Access to Clinics Wanes

Abortion by Telemedicine: A Growing Option as Access to Clinics Wanes
The coronavirus has created a surge in demand for telemedicine of all types — including for a quietly expanding program for terminating pregnancies.

By Pam Belluck
April 28, 2020

Ashley Dale was grateful she could end her pregnancy at home.

As her 3-year-old daughter played nearby, she spoke by video from her living room in Hawaii with Dr. Bliss Kaneshiro, an obstetrician-gynecologist, who was a 200-mile plane ride away in Honolulu. The doctor explained that two medicines that would be mailed to Ms. Dale would halt her pregnancy and cause a miscarriage.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/health/telabortion-abortion-telemedicine.html

USA – Abortion providers say they’re experiencing a “post-Roe” world. Others say it’s worse.

Abortion providers say they're experiencing a "post-Roe" world. Others say it's worse.

By Kate Smith, CBS News
April 28, 2020

Sarah got a glimpse earlier this month of what a world without legal abortion might look like.

Out of work and unexpectedly pregnant, Sarah, 20, had her appointment cancelled when Texas halted most abortion services as a way to preserve medical resources to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Desperate, she searched for a doctor who might offer the procedure under the table, or a pharmacist who might illegally fill a prescription for abortion-inducing pills. She had no car or money, so making the 15-hour drive to New Mexico, the site of the closest provider, was out of reach. But for Sarah, keeping the pregnancy wasn't an option.

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abortion-ban-roe-v-wade-providers/

The UK allows home use of the abortion pill — the US should do the same

The UK allows home use of the abortion pill — the US should do the same

By Susan F. Wood and Cynthia Pearson, opinion contributors
04/27/20

In late March, the United Kingdom issued new guidance authorizing physicians to provide medication abortion pills to those wishing to end their pregnancies during the COVID-19 pandemic. The change was immediately embraced by the public and by British abortion providers who know home use is a safe and effective way to experience an early abortion.

British patients who need an early abortion now consult with a provider by telephone or video link and the medication abortion pills are then delivered to the patient’s home. This is a safe, sensible way to protect pregnant women and their doctors during an epidemic. British leaders and medical experts are to be commended for recognizing that abortion is an essential health care service that can be provided safely within the constraints of physical distancing and stay-at-home orders.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/494914-the-uk-allows-home-use-of-the-abortion-pill-the-us-should-do-the-same

Abortion battle rages on in Poland despite coronavirus lockdown

Abortion battle rages on in Poland despite coronavirus lockdown

By Anna Noryskiewicz, CBS News
April 27, 2020

Poland's conservative leaders have come a step closer to their goal of further tightening what are already some of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.

Abortions are only permitted in Poland in cases of certain fetal abnormalities, rape, incest or a threat to the mother's health. The new legislation, which recently passed a preliminary vote in the lower house of Poland's parliament, would prohibit abortions due to any fatal abnormalities or incurable illnesses of the child.

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abortion-poland-coronavirus-lockdown/

USA – “Unconscionable”: Planned Parenthood Pres. Condemns States Using Pandemic to Limit Abortion Access

“Unconscionable”: Planned Parenthood Pres. Condemns States Using Pandemic to Limit Abortion Access

April 27, 2020
(30 min video and transcript)

As much of the U.S. remains on lockdown, abortion rights are under attack nationwide. We get an update on the fight for abortion access with Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “Our bodies have literally been deemed essential,” she says, “and yet the control of our bodies and the right to control our own bodies has not.”

Transcript - This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/27/coronavirus_us_abortion_access_texas_alabama

USA – Make No Mistake: Leaders Are Using COVID-19 to Block Abortion Access

Make No Mistake: Leaders Are Using COVID-19 to Block Abortion Access
‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ star Sidney Flanigan has a message for politicians sneaking in anti-abortion policy under the guise of public safety.

By Sidney Flanigan
Apr 27, 2020

As I sit home in lockdown in Buffalo, New York, I’m following the news like everybody else. I’m watching with alarm and anger as a number of conservative leaders in states like Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Oklahoma are using the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to halt access to safe, legal abortions. Under the pretense of public health, politicians are issuing executive orders that classify abortion as an elective procedure that isn’t time sensitive. What they’re really doing is preventing access to reproductive care.

Planned Parenthood and other partner groups, including the ACLU and Center for Reproductive Rights, have filed lawsuits in seven states challenging the bans, but it’s impossible to know how this will all play out. For now, at least some access remains available in every state, but a divided three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has taken that access away twice.

Continued: https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a32242919/abortion-access-covid-19-sidney-flanigan/

‘It Wears on Your Soul’: COVID Has Created an Abortion Nightmare in Texas

'It Wears on Your Soul': COVID Has Created an Abortion Nightmare in Texas
In recent weeks, providers have been forced to cancel hundreds of abortion appointments, then call patients back in, only to send them home once more. Abortion funds are helping manage the fallout.

by Mary Tuma
Apr 27 2020

When Texas officials effectively banned abortion in the state in late March, Kamyon Conner and her staff rushed to figure out how to compassionately tell clients that they could no longer access care. Conner doesn’t run an abortion clinic, she’s the executive director of the Texas Equal Access Fund, an abortion fund that provides financial assistance to women in north, east, and west Texas. Their hotline was already busier than normal even before Texas used the coronavirus pandemic to restrict access to abortion.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/g5x4n3/texas-abortion-funds-workers-are-managing-the-fallout-of-state-abortion-ban-during-coronavirus-covid19-pandemic

FDA Should Lift Abortion Pill Restrictions, Says Former Agency Head

FDA Should Lift Abortion Pill Restrictions, Says Former Agency Head
Jane Henney says the restrictions are dangerous during a pandemic because they require unnecessary travel and contact between patients and providers.

by Marie Solis
Apr 27 2020

For two decades, the Food and Drug Administration has maintained restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone that require patients to receive it from a licensed provider at a hospital or clinic, despite overwhelming evidence that shows the drug is safe and effective to take outside of immediate medical supervision. For patients, that has meant that instead of filling a prescription at the pharmacy—as we do with countless other medications—they must face all the obstacles to accessing abortion clinics, which dwindle in number every year, just to be handed a pill.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/jgew4b/fda-should-lift-abortion-pill-restrictions-because-of-coronavirus-says-former-fda-head-jane-henney

27.04.2020

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Opinion: During COVID-19 crisis, lift barriers to reproductive health care — including abortion

Opinion: During COVID-19 crisis, lift barriers to reproductive health care — including abortion

By Anu Kumar
27 April 2020

As COVID-19 spreads worldwide, upending life as we know it, governments around the globe are facing massive challenges in containing the new coronavirus and protecting lives. But even in this time of crisis — in fact, especially in this time of crisis — pregnancy care, including abortion care, remains an essential health service.

Abortion is time-sensitive and cannot be significantly deferred without profound consequences for women and their families. While conservatives in the U.S. have pounced on the political “opportunity” that the coronavirus pandemic presents to advance their ideology, countries in the global south are struggling to meet all the needs of their citizens, including the need for safe abortion care.

Continued: https://www.devex.com/news/opinion-during-covid-19-crisis-lift-barriers-to-reproductive-health-care-including-abortion-97047

Stormont: Brandon Lewis exceeded powers in introducing abortion regulations

Stormont: Brandon Lewis exceeded powers in introducing abortion regulations
Legal adviser says it is doubtful legislation gives adequate protection to those opposed

April 26, 2020

The Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis exceeded his powers in introducing abortion regulations, Stormont’s chief legal adviser has said.

It is doubtful whether the legislation gives adequate European Convention on Human Rights-based protection to the rights of those opposed on religious or philosophical grounds, attorney general John Larkin QC added.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/stormont-brandon-lewis-exceeded-powers-in-introducing-abortion-regulations-1.4238324

26.04.2020