Trump assault on women’s choice continues despite pandemic

Trump assault on women's choice continues despite pandemic

By Bridget Kelly, opinion contributor
05/16/20

The Trump administration and its political allies may be letting up on COVID-19 restrictions, but it’s still full speed ahead when it comes to their attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights. They’re using every means at their disposal — legislative, regulatory, budgetary — to curb access to reproductive health services.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments that could make it easier under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for employers with moral or religious objections to opt out of providing free birth control coverage in their insurance plans.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/498139-trump-assault-on-womens-choice-continues-despite-pandemic

SCOTUS ‘TRAP law’ case and the erosion of abortion rights

SCOTUS 'TRAP law' case and the erosion of abortion rights

BY BRIDGET KELLY, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
01/13/20

Actress Michelle Williams got some traction when she used her Golden Globe acceptance speech to champion abortion rights, saying she was “grateful to have lived at a moment in our society where choice exists.” But the moment she spoke of may be fleeting.

Three days before Willams’s speech, over 200 members of Congress signed onto an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to reconsider, if not overturn, Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision legalizing abortion in the U.S.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/478002-scotus-trap-law-case-and-the-erosion-of-abortion-rights

USA – The erosion of abortion availability

The erosion of abortion availability

By Bridget Kelly, opinion contributor
11/02/19

The U.S. Supreme Court has not overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, but lower courts and statehouses are threatening to turn the clock back nearly 50 years on abortion rights. The fate of Missouri’s only remaining abortion provider, a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis, hangs by a thread, awaiting the outcome of a recent arbitration hearing. If it is forced stop performing abortions, Missouri will become the first state without an abortion provider since Roe recognized the right to abortion in America.

The State of Missouri refused to renew the clinic’s license to perform abortions, citing safety concerns. Planned Parenthood disputes that rationale, testifying that abortion is one of the safest medical procedures. Abortions performed in the U.S. have few complications. Among women in the U.S. who have had them, fewer than 1 death in 100,000 can be attributed to the practice. An injection of penicillin is more likely to cause death than an abortion.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/468678-the-erosion-of-abortion-availability

02.11.2019