Stuart Kyle Duncan: the Trump-appointed judge working to ban Louisiana abortions

Stuart Kyle Duncan: the Trump-appointed judge working to ban Louisiana abortions
The ultra-conservative fifth circuit court judge repeatedly upheld the ban in Texas and could result in clinic closures across Louisiana

Rosemary Westwood in New Orleans
Sun 14 Jun 2020

A landmark US Supreme Court ruling expected before the end of June could shutter most of Louisiana’s abortion clinics and precipitate clinic closures in more than a dozen other states.

The case, June Medical Services v Russo, is one of the most high-profile supreme court cases of the year, after Donald Trump appointed two justices who tipped the balance of the court to a conservative majority. And it might never have reached the supreme court without the aid of another Trump-appointed judge, Stuart Kyle Duncan.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/jun/14/stuart-kyle-duncan-the-trump-appointed-judge-working-to-ban-louisiana-abortions


USA – The Next Big Abortion Case Comes Down to John Roberts

The Next Big Abortion Case Comes Down to John Roberts

By Irin Carmon, The Intelligencer
Feb. 28, 2020

Almost four years ago, I sat on a cable-news set waiting for the Supreme Court to hand down a ruling on a Texas abortion law that, reputable medical organizations agreed, amounted to a bogus justification for shutting down abortion clinics. The live feed was trained on candidate Hillary Clinton’s Cincinnati rally, featuring Elizabeth Warren, who had just endorsed her.

Alike in blonde bobs and jewel tones, if not much else, the two raised their clasped hands to the sky in a show of party unity and the hint of an all-female ticket, or at least a future in which reproductive autonomy, along with everything else, didn’t depend on the whims of a tiny number of white men. The particular man we were waiting on that day was Justice Anthony Kennedy. Minutes later, the networks cut away to announce that his vote in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt would keep the clinics open, ruling that the Texas law placed an unconstitutional burden on women.

Continued: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/john-roberts-choice.html


Raped, miscarried, arrested: Inside El Salvador’s ‘outrageous’ state-sponsored persecution of vulnerable women

Raped, miscarried, arrested: Inside El Salvador’s ‘outrageous’ state-sponsored persecution of vulnerable women

Dozens of women are serving decades-long sentences in the country for miscarriages and stillbirths, often as a result of rape, with some handcuffed to a bed while they are still haemorrhaging. Lucy Anna Gray speaks to the activists and lawyers fighting to free them and change the law once and for all

The Independent, Tom Ford
Sep 1, 2019

After 33-months in prison for having a stillbirth as a result of rape, Evelyn Hernandez was released. Less than two years later she was dragged back to trial with prosecutors demanding she be sentenced to 40 years for aggravated homicide. The now 21-year-old spent three years going through trials, jail and scrutiny, all while she was still recovering. In her first trial, Hernandez didn’t use the sexual assault as defence out of fear of violent repercussion. It wasn’t until she later received therapy that she would share this information.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/el-salvador-abortion-rape-laws-miscarriage-evelyn-hernandez-birth-a9083021.html