Wyoming Banned Abortion. She Opened an Abortion Clinic Anyway.

The only abortion clinic left in the state has been protested and set on fire, rebuilt and opened as Wyoming grapples with what it means to be conservative in a post-Roe nation.

By Kate Zernike, NYT
March 10, 2024

It was not such an implausible idea, back in 2020, when a philanthropist emailed Julie Burkhart to ask if she would consider opening an abortion clinic in Wyoming, one of the nation’s most conservative states and the one that had twice given Donald Trump his biggest margin of victory.

In fact, Ms. Burkhart had the same idea more than a decade earlier, after an anti-abortion extremist killed her boss and mentor, George Tiller, in Wichita, Kan., where he ran one of the nation’s few clinics that provided abortion late in pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/10/us/wyoming-abortion-clinic-julie-burkhart.html


A crucial abortion access lifeline is hanging by a thread

Independent clinics across the US exist precariously in a post-Roe world. Bronx Abortion's sudden closure left a borough of 1.4 million in the lurch.

Trisha Mukherjee
Mar 3, 2024

Around dawn on any given Saturday morning in 2022, the sidewalk in front of the squat building that housed Bronx Abortion transformed into a tense ecosystem of people with signs, masks, rosaries, and colorful vests.

Anti-abortion protestors gathered outside the small, independent clinic in Morris Park to disrupt the women who sought its services. Chelsea, the clinic escort coordinator, would wake up at 4:15 to get to the clinic before it opened. By the time she arrived, the protestors usually had, too.

Continued: https://www.businessinsider.com/independent-abortion-clinic-crucial-endangered-bronx-abortion-2024-3


UK – Female students ‘fear for their safety’ as anti-abortion society set up by three men

Over 15,000 people have signed a petition voicing concerns about the new society, which has been allowed to exist due to freedom of speech laws

Athena Stavrou
Feb 19, 2024

Female students at the University of Manchester say they are “fearing for their safety” after an all-male committee set up a pro-life society.

Over 15,000 people have signed a petition voicing concerns about the group, which has been allowed to form due to freedom of speech laws.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/anti-abortion-university-manchester-society-b2498465.html


Scotland – Abortion clinic buffer zone law needed ‘quickly’ – Gray

BBC
Feb 14, 2024

A law to ensure buffer zones around abortion clinics is needed "quickly", the health secretary has said.

Neil Gray described protests from anti abortion groups outside medical facilities as "unacceptable". Mr Gray was speaking at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow, one of several sites targeted by the 40 Days for Life pro-life group.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-68296988


Creasy accuses anti-abortion activists of ‘persistent’ personal harassment

Exclusive: ‘Some of the commentary is all about me being held to account by a god, and having my day in hell,’ MP says

Maya Oppenheim
Feb 11, 2024

US-funded anti-abortion activists have begun a crusade of harassment against high-profile Labour campaigner Stella Creasy, targeting her in a “persistent and sustained” pattern, accusing her of “killing babies”.

Speaking to The Independent in an exclusive interview, Stella Creasy said she is facing “a bonfire of abuse” from anti-abortion ideologues on social media in punishment for campaigning on abortion rights.

The Labour MP for Walthamstow said protesters have harassed nearby residents and leafletted her constituency with graphic imagery.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/stella-creasy-anti-abortion-activists-b2493669.html


Canada – Mysterious robocall survey polling Albertans on parental consent for abortions

Mark Villani and Brendan Ellis, CTV News
Feb. 2, 2024

A mysterious phone survey is making the rounds in Alberta, asking residents if minors should need parental consent to get an abortion -- but it's not clear who initiated the campaign. Many Albertans started receiving the call on Thursday night.

"Minors do not, however, require the consent of their parents to get an abortion in Alberta, nor is it required for parents to even be notified about their minor child's abortion," part of the pre-recorded message said.

Continued: https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/mysterious-robocall-survey-polling-albertans-on-parental-consent-for-abortions-1.6754063


UK – MPs fear watering down of buffer zone rules at abortion clinics

A Labour and Tory MP will later appeal to the home secretary to rethink guidance that will still allow "silent prayer" and protesters to approach vulnerable women.

Serena Barker-Singh
Thursday 1 February 2024

Cross-party MPs will meet with the home secretary today to query the government's plans allowing protesters to engage in "silent prayer" and approach women with leaflets inside buffer zones around abortion clinics.

Despite MPs voting over a year ago to ban these activities, draft guidance released by the Home Office now appears to water down the laws, campaigners have said.

Continued: https://news.sky.com/story/mps-fear-watering-down-of-buffer-zone-rules-at-abortion-clinics-13060906


Germany tries to stop pro-life demonstrators harassing women seeking abortions

Protestors at a demonstration against the US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in front of the Brandenburg Gate near the US embassy in Berlin in July 2022.

By Giulia Carbonaro
30/01/2024

As the number of pro-life vigils in front of Germany’s family planning centres and clinics grows, the country is trying to prevent these places from becoming the stage of a US-style war for abortion rights.

It was March 2017 when Claudia Hohmann, director of the Pro Familia family planning centre in Frankfurt, saw anti-abortion demonstrators show up with signs and flyers outside the door of her workplace for the very first time.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/2024/01/30/germany-tries-to-stop-pro-life-demonstrators-harassing-women-seeking-abortions


Religious exemptions to abortion buffer zones law could ‘overturn will of Parliament’

18 January, 2024
Humanists UK

The UK Government has proposed draft guidance for Abortion Safe Access Zones that would effectively overturn the will of Parliament through expansive religious loopholes which would render the legislation incapable of protecting women from abuse and harassment.

In 2022 and 2023, in a resolute response to escalating harassment of women at the hands of evangelical protesters outside abortion clinics, the UK Parliament voted overwhelmingly to establish Safe Access Zones around abortion clinics in England and Wales. These zones were expressly intended to protect women from a barrage of bullying and psychological abuse as they sought access to clinics, ensuring their right to medical care in a safe and dignified environment.

Continued: https://humanists.uk/2024/01/18/religious-exemptions-to-abortion-buffer-zones-law-could-overturn-will-of-parliament/


18 Months After “Dobbs,” Here’s How Abortion Providers and Activists See Things

Abortion funds and logistical support groups are enabling people to travel out of state to obtain abortion care.

By Eleanor J. Bader , TRUTHOUT
December 28, 2023

After the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs decision eviscerated the already limited federal right to abortion, 14 states — Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia — banned the procedure.

In some of these states, clinics closed. According to The Guardian, 42 U.S. clinics shuttered in 2022, plus 23 more in 2023. But as disturbing as this is, it is not the full story. Despite financial, legal and political obstacles, many clinics in states that have banned abortion have pivoted, continuing to provide essential reproductive health services such as contraceptives, STI testing and treatment, and routine gynecological exams, with some expanding to deliver prenatal and gender-affirming care. In addition, new clinics have opened in states like Wyoming and Maryland where abortion remains legal.

Continued: https://truthout.org/articles/18-months-after-dobbs-heres-how-abortion-providers-and-activists-see-things/