USA – Don’t Report Your Abortion Patients to Law Enforcement

— Self-managed abortion does not legally need to be reported

by Jamila Perritt, MD, MPH, and Jill E. Adams, JD
November 5, 2022

State-based abortion bans throughout the country have been choking off access to abortion care, including clinic-based and telehealth care. While these laws are designed to directly target abortion providers with civil and criminal penalties, they also indirectly increase the likelihood that other people may fall prey to the criminal legal system, particularly those who self-manage their abortion and those who support them. Although only two states have laws prohibiting self-managed abortion, politically and ideologically motivated police and prosecutors in other states are more than willing to warp existing laws and misapply them in order to punish people seeking to manage their own care. As a result, more people will be unjustly interrogated, arrested, and prosecuted for allegedly ending their own pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/101581

05.11.2022

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

American Public Health Association

criminalization of abortion seekers

If/When/How

Jamila Perritt

Jill E. Adams

law enforcement and doctors

National Advocates for Pregnant Women

reporting patients to law enforcement

reporting patients to police

self-managed abortion

Abortion rights: history offers a blueprint for how pro-choice campaigners might usefully respond

BMJ 2022; 378
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1846
Published 26 July 2022
Agnes Arnold Forster, research fellow

In October 1971, the New York Times reported a decline in maternal death rate.1 Just 15 months earlier, the state had liberalised its abortion law. David Harris, New York’s deputy commissioner of health, speaking to the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, attributed the decline—by more than half—to the replacement of criminal abortions with safe, legal ones. Previously, abortion had been the single leading cause of maternity related deaths, accounting for around a third. A doctor in the audience who said he was from a state “where the abortion law is still archaic,” thanked New York for its “remarkable job” and expressed his gratitude that there was a place he could send his patients and know they would receive “safe, excellent care.” Harris urged other states to follow the example set by New York and liberalise their abortion laws.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1846

USA – The next phase of anti-abortion cruelty: Jail for ending your own pregnancy

Even safe, at-home abortion medication is now under threat

By CHRIS AHLBACH, Salon
MARCH 12, 2022

Abortion access is under unprecedented threat around the country. Texas's vigilante abortion ban represents the most recent and most extreme marker of a decades-long campaign to diminish access to reproductive health care for pregnant people in the United States. Its impact has been devastating, leaving millions of people without access to abortion. The Supreme Court is set to release their decision on Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban by the end of June, likely overturning or gutting Roe v. Wade. The demise of Roe would revoke abortion access for millions of pregnant people the US.

I plan to provide abortion care after I finish medical school because I believe this care is essential to people's health and ability to shape their own lives. But I know that with in-clinic abortions unavailable for many people, some will choose to end their pregnancy without the help of a medical provider. Some people are worried about a second coming of illegal "back alley" abortions, which had devastating impacts on public health before Roe v Wade legalized abortion in 1973. But ending your own pregnancy can be safe and effective when done with medication abortion pills.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2022/03/12/the-next-phase-of-anti-abortion-cruelty-jail-for-ending-your-own-pregnancy/

12.03.2022

abortion pills

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

American Public Health Association

Chris Ahlbach

fetal protection laws

prosecuting women for self-managed abortion

self-managed abortion

Texas abortion ban

Why hundreds of scientists are weighing in on a high-stakes US abortion case

Studies suggest that a reversal of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision would be detrimental for many.

26 October 2021
Amy Maxmen

An upcoming case in the US Supreme Court might hasten the end of abortion across roughly half of the United States — a right that the country has defended for nearly 50 years. More than 800 scientists and several scientific organizations have provided evidence to the court showing that abortion access is an important component of reproductive healthcare.

The researchers, some of whom have studied the impact of abortion for many years, are rebutting arguments made to the court that abortion has no beneficial effect on women’s lives and careers — and might even cause them harm. “The scientific community is eager to weigh in on such an important issue, especially given five decades of evidence concerning the importance of abortion access,” says Stephanie Toti, a director at the New York City-based Lawyering Project, a group that advocates for abortion access in the United States. She adds, “This case is a big deal.”

Continued : https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02834-7

USA – These Start-Ups Could Make Abortion One Click Away

During the pandemic, women have been able to get abortion pills to take at home through an email or phone call. Will it stay that way?

Emily Shugerman, Gender Reporter
Updated May. 16, 2021

In California right now, you can get an abortion without speaking to a single other human being. You log onto a website—mychoix.co—put in your health information, answer some questions, and wait for an email from a clinician letting you know if you’ve been approved. If you are, an online pharmacy will ship you a package of mifepristone and misoprostol—a two-pill regime that is safer than many prescription drugs and 98 percent effective at terminating early-stage pregnancies. You will take it, you will bleed, your pregnancy will—in all likelihood—end.

This particular configuration is available in only one state, for a limited time, due to an emergency declaration issued by the Food and Drug Administration during the pandemic. But make no mistake: This is the future abortion advocates want.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/these-start-ups-could-make-abortion-one-click-away

16.05.2021

Commentary

Featured

Abortion Care Network

abortion on demand

abortion pills

abortion pills at home

abortion pills by mail

abortion reversal

ACLU

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

American Public Health Association

Covid-19 and abortion

Dr. Colleen McNicholas

Dr. Jamie Phifer

Erin Grant

Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project

Food and Drug Administration

in-person requirement

Judge Theodore Chuang

Maine Family Planning

merican Medical Association

Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region

REMS

telemedicine abortion

USA – “Parental Involvement” Mandates for Abortion Harm Young People, But Policymakers Can Fight Back

“Parental Involvement” Mandates for Abortion Harm Young People, But Policymakers Can Fight Back

Sophia Naide, Guttmacher Institute
First published online: February 19, 2020

Young people deserve access to the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion care. Yet, states have long imposed special barriers by forcing minors to involve their parents in their decision to have an abortion. These parental involvement mandates are unnecessary, deny young people’s bodily autonomy, and can add logistical and financial burdens to abortion care.

States are increasingly looking to young people’s access as they move in diverging directions on abortion rights. In 2020 so far, new parental involvement mandates have been introduced in three states, while bills to repeal existing requirements have been introduced in four states. States should repeal these requirements as one step toward a commitment to reproductive rights that centers the needs of marginalized groups.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2020/02/parental-involvement-mandates-abortion-harm-young-people-policymakers-can-fight-back