USA – Need a Safe, Private Abortion? Ask Charley.

“The goal of Charley is to provide people with easy-to-access information about how to find abortion care in every state—even states with restrictions.”

9/12/2023
by CARRIE N. BAKER, Ms. Magazine

On Tuesday, Sept. 12, reproductive health experts launched a new online chatbot named Charley to help abortion seekers in all 50 states find quick, accurate and confidential abortion information, tailored to their individual needs and circumstances.

Available in English and Spanish, Charley explains different abortion methods (from procedural abortion to abortion with pills) and how to access abortion (from in-clinic to telemedicine to self-sourced pills).

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/09/12/need-an-abortion-charley-chatbot-private-anonymous-secure/

12.09.2023

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Tom Subak

‘We need to read the room’: GOP divided on abortion as Democrats unite for 2024

Democrats center abortion rights in early stages of presidential campaign while Republicans waver over unpopular position

Lauren Gambino in Washington DC
Sun 30 Apr 2023

Hours after Joe Biden announced his re-election campaign on Tuesday, his vice-president and 2024 running mate, Kamala Harris, delivered a fiery call to action for voters alarmed by the loss of constitutional protections for abortion.

“This is a moment for us to stand and fight,” she said to a packed auditorium at Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington and her alma mater. To the “extremist so-called leaders” rolling back access to reproductive rights, Harris warned: “Don’t get in our way because if you do, we’re going to stand up, we’re going to organize and we’re going to speak up.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/30/republicans-divided-abortion-democrats-united-2024-election

What the Supreme Court has done to women: We will not forget

Some of us remember life before legal abortion. Hardly any of us thought we'd ever have to go back there

By ELAYNE CLIFT
JANUARY 25, 2022

My friend and I drew up to a drab brown brick building. An older man, shrunken and slouched, opened the door furtively. We climbed a flight of stairs in a putrid green escape well and emerged into a hallway, then entered a dark apartment. I imagined fleeing down the stairs but then considered the consequences.

"Wait here," the man commanded. After a few minutes he re-emerged from another room and asked me some questions. I tried to stay calm. I felt as if I were sinking into a huge hole from which I might never emerge. "Come with me," he said, leading me into what must have been a kitchen. It had a table in the center of the room, at the foot of which, between stirrups, was a lamp on a stand, and a stool. The table was covered with a sheet of white paper with a thin pillow on it. Next to it was a tray bearing silver instruments and a large jar. The man told me to take off everything from the waist down. There was no privacy screen. I asked him for something to cover myself. "You won't need that," he said. "Just get on the table."

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2022/01/25/elayne-abortion/

25.01.2022

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‘We’re not backing down’: the Texas church fighting for abortion rights

In the face of a draconian abortion ban in effect for more than three months, the mission has only grown stronger for a progressive congregation

Mary Tuma in Austin
Mon 20 Dec 2021

In the late 60s, the burgeoning movement to legalize US abortion state by state found an unlikely yet loyal ally – a contingent of women at the First Unitarian Universalist church in Dallas, Texas.

In lieu of knitting sessions and bake sales, the church’s Women’s Alliance advocated for abortion rights and even had a hand in legally supporting Roe v Wade, the pivotal US supreme court case that protects abortion care in the US as a constitutional right.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/20/texas-church-fighting-abortion-rights

Democrats position themselves as last line of defense for abortion rights

Party sees new urgency – and political opportunity – amid growing threat to Roe v Wade

Lauren Gambino in Washington DC
Sun 26 Sep 2021

Standing on the lawn of the US Capitol, in clear view of the supreme court, a coalition of Democratic women declared Roe v Wade was no longer the law of the land.

Nearly half a century after the court established the constitutional right to abortion, it allowed a near-complete ban to stand in Texas, the second-most populous state. Though the 5-4 decision did not address the substance of the Texas law, Democrats warn that it was a mere taste of things to come from the court – and Republicans who helped expand its conservative majority.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/26/democrats-abortion-rights-texas-roe-v-wade

Cecile Richards marks a year since RBG death with abortion rights battle cry

Former Planned Parenthood president cites Texas law and says Republicans are on brink of ending right to abortion

Martin Pengelly and agencies
Sat 18 Sep 2021

Marking the first anniversary of the death of the supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Cecile Richards warned that after nearly 50 years, Republicans are on the brink of ending the right to abortion.

“We must fight to fully regain it,” said the former president of Planned Parenthood, a leading provider of women’s healthcare.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/18/abortion-rights-campaigner-anniversary-rbg-death

18.09.2021

American Bridge 21st Century

Planned Parenthood president: Saying abortion is a small part of what group does is stigmatizing

By KK Ottesen
Dec. 29, 2020

Alexis McGill Johnson, 48, is a political scientist, social justice advocate, and president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood. She is co-founder and former co-director of the Perception Institute, an anti-bias research group.

You served on the board of Planned Parenthood for nearly a decade [before] actually running the organization. Can you talk about how you first got involved?

I literally was just walking down the street and saw a billboard that I now know was run by [Life Always]. It had a little Black girl’s face on it, and she just was cute. [Laughs.] And so I got closer, and I saw the words underneath that said, “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.” I’m from New Jersey. My family had moved to Georgia. And so I would travel on holidays and see billboards like that and would totally write that off as being, you know, something that happened in really conservative states. And when I saw it in New York City — it was in SoHo — I just was shocked, like, What is going on here?

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/planned-parenthood-president-saying-abortion-is-a-small-part-of-what-group-does-is-stigmatizing/2020/12/18/e85b88f6-2dd1-11eb-860d-f7999599cbc2_story.html

29.12.2020

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Dutch abortion activist lands on Time Magazine’s 100 most influential list

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Rebecca Gomperts is one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people this year. The Dutch activist has dedicated her life to trying to get women safe access to abortions in countries where abortion is illegal.

Gomperts is the founder of Women on Waves, which involves a ship with an on board abortion clinic. Women are taken from countries where abortion is illegal by boat to this ship on international waters, where they can get the treatment they need.

Continued: https://nltimes.nl/2020/09/23/dutch-abortion-activist-lands-time-magazines-100-influential-list

23.09.2020

USA – Activists Are Now Teaching Women How to Have Abortions at Home

Activists Are Now Teaching Women How to Have Abortions at Home
“So long as we have a safe option that can be accomplished outside of a clinical or medical setting, there’s no reason that shouldn’t also be available.”

by Carter Sherman
Jan 22 2020

COLUMBIA, Missouri — In the Columbia Public Library, just past a room where a Bible study was wrapping up, a group of people gathered in a conference room to learn how to have an abortion at home.

What happens when you self-induce an abortion? one woman asked the panelists, who sat at a table in the front of the room.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/xgqywj/activists-are-now-teaching-women-how-to-have-abortions-at-home

USA – The Last Decade Was Disastrous For Abortion Rights. Advocates Are Trying To Figure Out What’s Next.

The Last Decade Was Disastrous For Abortion Rights. Advocates Are Trying To Figure Out What’s Next.
This year, the battle over abortion rights reached a fever pitch. That’s what this entire decade was building toward.

Ema O'Connor BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on December 17, 2019

As the decade draws to a close, the national right to abortion is in the most vulnerable place it’s been in decades.

Since 2010, hundreds of laws restricting abortion access have been enacted all over the country, making the procedure less attainable and forcing abortion clinics to close. The US has gone from having around 1,720 facilities that perform abortions in 2011 to 1,587 in 2017 (the last year reproductive rights group Guttmacher Institute surveyed). As of this year, there are six states with only one abortion clinic left. Twenty-five abortion bans were signed into law in 2019 alone, leading to nationwide protests. Though all, so far, have been blocked by the courts, a major fight over abortion rights at the Supreme Court is yet to come.

Continued: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoconnor/abortion-rights-decade-bans-trump-kavanaugh-planned

17.12.2019