Abortion access under renewed threat in Oklahoma and Missouri

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN
Sun April 10, 2022

(CNN)While abortion rights advocates could secure several victories in US states in the coming days, they're sounding the alarm about an Oklahoma bill that would ban nearly all abortions that's likely to be signed into law. Here are some of this week's moves in state legislatures and by state leaders you may have missed.

Oklahoma sends near-total ban on abortion to governor
Oklahoma legislators passed a bill on Tuesday that would make performing an abortion illegal in the state, except to save the life of the pregnant woman in a medical emergency.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/09/politics/state-abortion-legislation-round-up-oklahoma-missouri/index.html

The right to abortion in Colorado is now guaranteed under state law

April 5, 2022
JOE HERNANDEZ

Colorado just enacted a law that enshrines the right to have an abortion in the state, the latest left-leaning state that's taken action to protect reproductive rights as the practice faces renewed efforts by conservatives to restrict its access.

The so-called Reproductive Health Equity Act affirms that pregnant people in Colorado have the right to continue a pregnancy and give birth or have an abortion, and it blocks public entities from denying or restricting that right.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1091041608/colorado-abortion-law

05.04.2022

Featured

News

Colorado abortion law

Jared Polis

pro-choice legislation

Reproductive Health Equity Act

Colorado legislature advances abortion rights bill over GOP filibuster

BY REID WILSON
03/15/22

The Colorado House of Representatives has given final approval to a bill codifying the right to an abortion, overcoming Republican opposition and the longest filibuster in the state's modern history to do so.

The state House on Monday voted along party lines to approve the measure. It would add a provision in state law guaranteeing a pregnant woman the right to have an abortion, even if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns or fundamentally undermines Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/598230-colorado-legislature-advances-abortion-rights-bill-over-gop-filibuster

15.03.2022

When these women needed abortion care, they turned to Colorado

Nearby states have enacted abortion restrictions. But Colorado is still a ‘safe haven.’

BY: JULIA FENNELL
NOVEMBER 5, 2021

With states like Texas imposing abortion restrictions, and concern that more will follow, a greater number of out-of-state women are coming to Colorado to seek abortions.

Historically, women have come from all over the country to Colorado, which is sometimes called a “safe haven“ for abortion, to get abortion care.

Continued: https://coloradonewsline.com/2021/11/05/when-these-women-needed-abortion-care-they-turned-to-colorado/

Bulletproof glass and 24-hour surveillance: The life of an American abortion doctor

ABC News, Australia
By North American correspondent Kathryn Diss and Cameron Schwarz in Colorado
Posted Mon 11 Oct 2021

Warren Hern doesn’t live like any ordinary doctor. He keeps the location of his Colorado home secret. He sleeps with a rifle beside his bed. He wears a bulletproof vest if speaking publicly, and works behind bulletproof glass.

Every square inch of his surgery, which is protected by large security fences, is monitored with surveillance cameras 24 hours a day.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-12/life-of-american-abortion-doctor-bulletproof-glass-surveillance/100524398

Even if Roe is gone, the abortion conflict is far from over

BY MARY ZIEGLER, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
11/06/20

When it comes to abortion, all eyes are currently on the Supreme Court. But in the states, pro-life and pro-choice forces are already shadowboxing about what a post-Roe v. Wade America will look like.

Two states with abortion on the ballot this week just offered a very different perspective on the shape of battles yet to come. By a 62.1 to 39.1 percent margin, Louisiana amended its constitution to declare that there was no state right to abortion or abortion voting. By contrast, in a closely watched Colorado vote, the state rejected a ballot initiative banning abortion at 22 weeks by a 59.1 to 40.9 percent.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/524671-even-if-roe-is-gone-the-abortion-conflict-is-a-far-from-over

Abortion-ban measure is one of Colorado’s two most expensive ballot questions and the outcome is too close to call

The campaigns for and against Proposition 115 are focusing on “misinformation” and undecided voters in the final days before the election

Oct 29, 2020
Jennifer Brown

Opponents of a ballot measure that would ban abortion in Colorado after 22 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases where the mother’s life is at risk, have raised $8.7 million — about 14 times as much as the groups pushing the initiative.

And leading up to Election Day, the limited polling data available suggests Proposition 115 is too close to call.

Continued: https://coloradosun.com/2020/10/29/abortion-ban-measure-2nd-most-expensive/

Texas Abortion Patients Arrive in Colorado Clinics ‘Frustrated and Exhausted’

Texas Abortion Patients Arrive in Colorado Clinics ‘Frustrated and Exhausted’
People are making the grueling drive from Texas to Colorado for abortion care after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) used the COVID-19 pandemic to suspend abortion rights.

Apr 20, 2020
Lauren Young

Dr. Rebecca Cohen now recognizes Texas area codes calling the Comprehensive Women’s Health Center in Denver.

In recent weeks, pregnant people have found their access to legal abortion increasingly compromised by the COVID-19 crisis. And many are looking to Colorado—an abortion care oasis—in desperation.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2020/04/20/texas-abortion-patients-arrive-in-colorado-clinics-frustrated-and-exhausted/

Why a NY woman came to Colorado for a 32-week abortion

Why a NY woman came to Colorado for a 32-week abortion
Forty-three states place some restrictions on abortions after a certain point in pregnancy, but Colorado isn’t one of them

By Anna Staver, The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: October 13, 2019

In the spring of 2016, Erika Christensen and her husband walked past a tall, wooden fence that obscured the Boulder office of Dr. Warren Hern from the street and into his waiting room.

Printed signs taped to bulletproof glass told her all electronic devices — even cellphones — were prohibited and asked her to tell someone on staff if she needed to leave for any reason. The only items she could carry through the door were a printed book, her identification card and a check for $10,000.

Continued: https://www.denverpost.com/2019/10/13/late-abortion-women-2020/

USA – The Strategy Behind Where to Build Abortion Clinics

The Strategy Behind Where to Build Abortion Clinics
The bifurcation of abortion access in the United States means more clinics should be built on the border of states with onerous anti-choice restrictions, advocates say.

Oct 11, 2019
Erin Heger

After 18 months of secret construction, Planned Parenthood will open one of the nation’s largest abortion clinics in southern Illinois this month, expanding access not just in the state but across the midwest.

The new health center in Fairview Heights, Illinois, will replace the city’s smaller Planned Parenthood clinic, which provided family planning and medication abortion services to more than 5,000 patients in 2018. The location of the new facility, just 13 miles from Missouri’s last remaining abortion clinic in St. Louis, was strategically chosen to reach as many patients in the region as possible, said Yamelsie Rodriguez, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/10/11/the-strategy-behind-where-to-build-abortion-clinics/