Leave My Disability Out of Your Anti-Abortion Propaganda

July 31, 2022
By Kendall Ciesemier

Thirty years ago, when my mother was pregnant, an ultrasound revealed troubling abnormalities: the fetus’s organs were misarranged. This condition, she was told by her doctor, correlated with a wide variety of disabilities that could cause the baby to die at birth. The doctor told my mother that she could seek an abortion. She wanted her to know her options.

My parents had good health insurance, a steady income and a strong support system. They chose to proceed with the pregnancy. A few months later, I was born to a crowd of doctors waiting to assess and treat my condition. I had my first of many major surgeries at 8 weeks old. My parents went to sleep every night praying I’d see another birthday.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/31/opinion/disability-rights-anti-abortion.html


The inside story of how John Roberts failed to save abortion rights

Joan Biskupic, CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer
Tue July 26, 2022

Chief Justice John Roberts privately lobbied fellow conservatives to save the constitutional right to abortion down to the bitter end, but May's unprecedented leak of a draft opinion reversing Roe v. Wade made the effort all but impossible.

It appears unlikely that Roberts' best prospect -- Justice Brett Kavanaugh -- was ever close to switching his earlier vote, despite Roberts' attempts that continued through the final weeks of the session.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/politics/supreme-court-john-roberts-abortion-dobbs/index.html


Inside the Powerful Anti-Abortion Campaign to Convince You That Everything Is Just Fine

Be careful of what you read about miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies right now.

KIERA BUTLER AND MADDIE OATMAN
July 21, 2022

Late last month, shortly after the US Supreme Court stripped away federal protection for abortion rights, Dr. Christina Francis, an OB/GYN based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, took to Instagram with an urgent message: She wanted her followers to know that even in states where abortion will soon be illegal, doctors still would be able to terminate pregnancies to save the life of the mother. “Treating ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages or other life-threatening conditions in pregnancy is not the same thing as an abortion,” she said in a video she took of herself from inside a car. “This is very important to clear up because I know that many women are feeling fearful that they might not be able to receive life-saving care if they need it.” Commenters thanked Dr. Francis for her clarification. “The amount of people that don’t know the difference is disturbing,” said one. “So many people spreading false information. Thank you for sharing and educating!”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/07/inside-the-powerful-anti-abortion-campaign-to-convince-you-that-everything-is-just-fine/


Leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in abortion case leaves questions about shape of final ruling

Roberts may be working on an alternative opinion, analyst says

Joan Biskupic, CNN
Thu May 12, 2022

(CNN) Politico's publication last week of Justice Samuel Alito's first draft in a Mississippi abortion dispute opened an exceptional window on the inner workings of the Supreme Court.

Yet, as significant as the disclosure was --
involving such an early draft in a case of such magnitude -- much remains
hidden.

Continued:  https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/politics/supreme-court-draft-opinion/index.html


The Devastating Economic Impacts of an Abortion Ban

The overturning of Roe v. Wade would seriously hinder women’s education, employment, and earning prospects.

By Sheelah Kolhatkar
May 11, 2022

Last December, oral arguments were held before the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case leading to the leaked draft opinion last week that, if finalized, would overturn Roe v. Wade. During one especially illuminating moment, Chief Justice John Roberts attempted to draw Julie Rikelman—the litigation director of the Center for Reproductive Rights, who was arguing to have a ban on abortions after fifteen weeks in the state of Mississippi overturned—into a back-and-forth about the significance of the cutoff for having access to an abortion. Rikelman made a broader argument, that narrowing women’s access to the procedure could disproportionately harm low-income women or those experiencing personal crises. She turned to numbers to bolster her argument. “In fact,” Rikelman said, “the data has been very clear over the last fifty years that abortion has been critical to women’s equal participation in society. It’s been critical to their health, to their lives, their ability to pursue—”

“I’m sorry, what—what kind of data is that?” Roberts interrupted.

Continued: https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-devastating-economic-impacts-of-an-abortion-ban


Why the Republican offensive on abortion is escalating

Ronald Brownstein
Tue April 19, 2022

(CNN) When three red states finalized severe restrictions on abortion over consecutive days last week, they highlighted the GOP's rising militancy on the issue -- and the political and legal calculations underpinning it.

Separate actions last week in Oklahoma, Florida and Kentucky made clear the red state drive to retrench, or eliminate, access to abortion is escalating as the Republican-appointed Supreme Court majority nears a decision, expected in late June, in which it is widely anticipated to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/19/politics/abortion-laws-red-states-republicans/index.html


Republicans won’t be satisfied with overturning Roe

Ketanji Brown Jackson’s hearing offered a glimpse of upcoming culture war fights at the court

By Melissa Murray
March 25, 2022

For more than two decades, confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justices have revolved around a single question: whether the nominee would uphold or overrule Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that recognized nationally a woman’s right to choose an abortion. As far back as the ill-fated confirmation hearings for Robert Bork in 1987, abortion has always been the elephant in the room, prompting thinly veiled questions about fidelity to precedent and “unenumerated rights” — rights not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution.

With this in mind, the hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson were unlike those that came before. Not only is Jackson the first Black woman to be nominated to the high court, but she is also the first nominee to be vetted in a soon-to-be post-Roe landscape.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/25/ketanji-brown-jackson-roe/


Abortion: Will the US Supreme Court overturn Roe v Wade in 2022?

The court’s conservative majority appears ready to roll back abortion rights, setting up a contentious political battle.

By William Roberts
27 Dec 2021

Washington, DC – For decades, the conservative right in the United States has been campaigning to overturn the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v Wade, which affirms a woman’s right to have an abortion.

The movement, embraced by the Republican Party and fuelled by evangelical Christians, has pushed to elect conservative legislators at the state and federal levels, and advanced the placement of conservative justices on the US Supreme Court. Now, the anti-abortion rights forces in the US are on the verge of a significant legal victory.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/27/abortion-will-us-supreme-court-overturn-roe-v-wade-2022


Sarah Weddington through the years: devotion to women’s, abortion rights never faltered

Most of Weddington’s top quotes are about her victory at the Supreme Court in the 1973 landmark Roe vs. Wade decision.

By Emily Caldwell
Dec 27, 2021

When Sarah Weddington, the trailblazing women’s rights activist who argued Roe vs. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court, died on Sunday, reactions poured in from across the country.

Countless celebrated her accomplishments and lauded her as an inspiration, especially now, as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the most serious challenge in decades to the 1973 landmark abortion rights decision.

Continued: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/12/27/sarah-weddington-through-the-years-devotion-to-womens-abortion-rights-never-faltered/


Sarah Weddington, attorney who won Roe v Wade abortion case, dies aged 76

Texan lawyer and Linda Coffee won landmark 1973 case, safeguarding right now under threat from US supreme court

Martin Pengelly in New York
Sun 26 Dec 2021

Sarah Weddington, an attorney who argued and won the Roe v Wade supreme court case which established the right to abortion in the US, has died aged 76.

Susan Hays, a Democratic candidate for Texas agriculture commissioner, announced the news on Twitter on Sunday and the Dallas Morning News confirmed it.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/26/sarah-weddington-attorney-who-won-roe-v-wade-abortion-case-dies-aged-76