Her pregnancy was non-viable and her life was at risk but Oklahoma Law Prevented an Abortion

by Whitney Bryen
September 19, 2023

When she awoke on the couch in the early morning hours of Nov. 21, Magon Hoffman’s pajama pants were soaked in blood. What began as light bleeding the night before had turned severe. Hoffman assumed she was miscarrying.

But an ultrasound revealed it was Hoffman’s life that was in danger. At 14 weeks, the fetus seemed healthy, but Hoffman, 31, had one of the largest blood clots her doctor had ever seen and was at risk of going into shock or organ failure if it continued to grow.

Continued: https://oklahomawatch.org/2023/09/19/her-pregnancy-was-non-viable-and-her-life-was-at-risk-but-oklahoma-law-prevented-an-abortion/

Idaho physicians must have greater discretion over when abortion exceptions are warranted

I’m speaking out so women who will need to make a difficult decision will have the right to make it, writes guest columnist Jillaine St.Michel.

Jillaine St.Michel
SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

I have always considered myself pro-choice on the issue of abortion for all circumstances, but I never had to think about what that really meant until my husband and I were faced with that choice for me and our family last November.

Up until that point, it was a theoretical right, and one I so mistakenly took for granted — the right to bodily autonomy, the right to make health care and personal family decisions without government intrusion. I no longer take these human rights for granted.

Continued: https://idahocapitalsun.com/2023/09/19/idaho-physicians-must-have-greater-discretion-over-when-abortion-exceptions-are-warranted/

19.09.2023

Commentary

abortion story

Center for Reproductive Rights

Jillaine St.Michel

women's abortion stories

Ohio – An abortion saved my life and made the family I have now possible

"For my own life and my family’s, I did what I never thought I would have to do – I ended the pregnancy," Emily Savors

Emily Savors, Guest Columnist
Aug 31, 2023

As a mother of two beautiful daughters, I can say with confidence that the incredible family I currently have would not be possible without abortion. My pregnancy journey has been incredibly long and difficult — it is the reason why my two daughters are nearly nine years apart.

It was early 1997, and I was newly married with a 4-year-old daughter from a previous marriage. My husband and I wanted more children, and by late spring, I was pregnant. My first pregnancy being uneventful, we settled in for an easy few months with expectations of a baby due in March 1998.

Continued: https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2023/08/31/ohio-mother-how-an-abortion-saved-my-family/70711306007/

31.08.2023

Opinion

abortion is life-saving

abortion story

Emily Savors

women's abortion stories

UK – Mom documents at-home abortion to destigmatise abortion pills

‘Thank you for posting. I’ve never known how these kind of abortions work,’ viewer says

Kaleigh Werner
Aug 22, 2023

An internet-wide debate has resulted from one brave woman’s choice to detail her at-home abortion experience on TikTok.

On 20 July, a 24-year-old woman named Monica showed her TikTok followers how she completed her abortion, from the comfort of her home, for the first time at nine weeks pregnant. She began by showing the items she needed to prepare her body: the required prescription drug typically used for terminating early pregnancy, motion sickness medicine, a bottle of water, maxi pads, and Planned Parenthood’s timely instructions.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/mom-abortion-at-home-stigma-b2397061.html

22.08.2023

Monica abortion story

self-managed abortion

women's abortion stories

Australia – The moment I knew: I woke up from my abortion – and he was waiting with curry and rice

At first Madison Griffiths was reluctant to accept the support of the man with whom she shared her pregnancy. But his ‘abortion antidotes’ helped them imagine a future together

Madison Griffiths
Sat 12 Aug 2023

In August 2021, I sat in the quiet waiting room of a Melbourne abortion clinic, my eyes cast lazily on the television as it screened the morning news. A text message from Domenic*, the man I shared my pregnancy with, sat unanswered on my phone screen. He was checking in, insistent I let him support me through this. He knew I would be taking the first handful of abortion pills today, and the second tomorrow.

I was reluctant to respond. I didn’t know what to say. I had known Domenic for only a handful of months. We met via Tinder during a brief two-week reprieve from lockdowns, our budding relationship bookended by social isolation, job insecurity and now the stress of an unwanted pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/13/the-moment-i-knew-i-woke-up-from-my-abortion-and-he-was-waiting-with-curry-and-rice

12.08.2023

women's abortion stories

Australia

Oceania

One Woman’s Story Of Self-Managing Her Abortion In An Anti-Choice State

Managing your own abortion is not a crime in Ohio, but a politically motivated prosecutor might believe Julia should be punished for what she did.

By Alanna Vagianos
Aug 7, 2023

SOMEWHERE IN OHIO — It’s a pretty short drive to the polling site from the cabin where Julia has been self-managing her abortion. Julia took the last of her abortion pills the day before, which she believes have ended her unwanted pregnancy. She still has some minor cramping and is tired from the whole ordeal, but she feels reasonably OK — well enough to go vote on a ballot referendum that could help decide the fate of abortion rights in Ohio.

Issue 1, a ballot initiative to raise the threshold to alter the state constitution from a simple majority — the standard in Ohio for over a century — to 60%, is a preemptive attempt to block a pro-choice constitutional amendment that Ohioans will vote on in November.

Continued: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/one-womans-story-of-self-managing-her-abortion-in-an-anti-choice-state_n_64c03e6be4b053a7009335eb

UK – My illegal abortion

Sixty years on, I still can’t bear to think about it

July 29, 2023
Anne Seymour

I was twenty-one in 1960 and I can remember exactly what my godfather gave me for my coming-of-age present. It was an abortion. He didn’t know this, of course, but he gave me £200 and that is what I used it for.

I have never told this story before and am only doing so now because of the return of abortion to the heart of political debate after last year’s Dobbs decision, which has led to the tightening of abortion laws in many states across America. I know firsthand about the danger and misery of illegal abortions.

Continued: https://thespectator.com/topic/illegal-abortion-london-1960s/

29.07.2023

Opinion

abortion story

Anne Seymour

women's abortion stories

A 45-year-old got pregnant in a state with a ban on abortions. She flew across the country to get one

By Christina Zdanowicz, CNN
Sun July 9, 2023

When 45-year-old Victoria realized she was five weeks late and the lines showed as positive on two pregnancy tests, the New Orleans resident dreamed up a plan to get an abortion.

Traveling out of state was the only abortion option for Victoria, who asked CNN to withhold her last name out of fear of backlash against her and her family. Louisiana is one of several states that have essentially banned all abortions.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/09/health/abortion-cross-state-lines-louisiana-oregon/index.html

09.07.2023

Commentary

abortion bans

abortion story

traveling for abortion

Kentucky couple ‘furious’ state abortion laws meant they couldn’t hold their daughter to say goodbye

By Elizabeth Cohen, Carma Hassan and Amanda Musa, CNN

Fri July 7, 2023

All Heather and Nick Maberry wanted to do was hold their dead baby, but strict Kentucky abortion laws meant they couldn’t.

They were “furious” that the laws meant they never got to kiss or cuddle their daughter, Willow Rose, or tell her goodbye, Heather said. “We’ll never know what her face looked like. We’ll never know what it was like to hold her in her arms,” she said. “We’re grieving someone that we’ve never seen.”

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/07/health/kentucky-abortion-anencephaly/index.html

In post-Roe Texas, 2 mothers with traumatic pregnancies walk very different paths

July 4, 2023
Selena Simmons-Duffin

The funeral did not go as Samantha Casiano had hoped — she did not get an open casket for the baby she named Halo.

"I was super-heartbroken," Casiano tells NPR. "It's the last time I was going to be able to see my daughter. It would have been the first time that a lot of my family members were able to see her."

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/07/04/1185904719/texas-abortion-bans-dobbs-fetal-anomaly