A grave warning’: six months of Texas abortion ban sow fear and anguish

The state’s near-total ban has had ‘devastating’ effects, providers say, and offers a glimpse of the future if Roe v Wade is overturned

Mary Tuma
Thu 3 Mar 2022

The most restrictive abortion law in the US has inflicted “devastating” consequences in Texas since it was introduced six months ago, according to healthcare providers and pro-choice groups.

Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) bars the procedure once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, typically at six weeks of pregnancy or earlier, with no exception for rape or incest. As most people are not aware they are pregnant this early on, the unprecedented law amounts to a near-total ban.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/03/texas-abortion-ban-six-months-grave-warning

‘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

Telemedicine Could Help Fill the Gaps in America’s Abortion Care

Telemedicine Could Help Fill the Gaps in America's Abortion Care

Author: Garnet Henderson
Aug 7, 2018

Imagine a woman in Lubbock, Texas, who just found out that she's pregnant. She wants an abortion, but Lubbock is one of 27 abortion deserts in the US: The nearest clinic is 308 miles away in Fort Worth, forcing her to take time off from work, pay for travel, and likely arrange childcare to get there. She’s less than 10 weeks along, so she’s a candidate for medication abortion—which could, theoretically, be completed in the privacy of her home. But Texas requires that the FDA protocol for medication abortion be followed to the letter. She’ll have to return to the clinic within one to two weeks for a follow-up visit, despite evidence that an in-person follow-up is unnecessary.

What if, instead, she could video chat with a doctor, pick up a prescription from her regular pharmacy, and manage her own abortion with on-call medical support—a telemedicine abortion?

Continued: https://www.wired.com/story/telemedicine-could-help-fill-the-gaps-in-americas-abortion-care/