How Texas’ abortion laws turned a heartbreaking fetal diagnosis into a cross-country journey

By Eleanor Klibanoff | The Texas Tribune
October 25, 2022

“It was just a matter of time before the baby died, or maybe I’d have to go through the trauma of carrying to term knowing I wasn’t bringing a baby home,” said 27-year-old Lauren Hall. “I couldn’t do that.”

The protesters outside a Seattle-area abortion clinic waved pictures of bloody fetuses, shouting that she was a “baby killer” and begging her to choose life. Lauren Hall, 27, fought the urge to scream back and tell them just how badly she wished life was a choice she could have made.

Continued: https://www.keranews.org/texas-news/2022-10-25/how-texas-abortion-laws-turned-a-heartbreaking-fetal-diagnosis-into-a-cross-country-journey

Washington doctor on leading edge of abortion rights turns to next frontier after Roe: Pills

May 8, 2022
By Nina Shapiro, Seattle Times staff reporter

Several years ago, an abortion rights activist got in touch with Dr. Suzanne Poppema, a reproductive rights leader retired from her Seattle-area practice. As states were passing abortion restrictions, plans were in the works for an offshore internet service that would supply abortion pills to women who couldn’t get them at home.

Would Poppema get involved?

Continued: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/washington-doctor-on-leading-edge-of-abortion-rights-turns-to-next-frontier-after-roe-pills/

Pregnancy and Childbirth Endanger Women’s Lives and Health: “Pregnancy Is Not a Benign Condition”

Why are we warned in lurid detail about the minimal risks of abortion, but not told a word about the tremendous risks of continuing a pregnancy?

2/13/2022
by CARRIE N. BAKER, Ms. Magazine

During oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested that now that all 50 states have “safe haven” laws that allow mothers to relinquish parental rights after birth, the burdens of parenthood discussed in Roe and Casey are irrelevant, and the decisions are obsolete. Putting aside the surprisingly callous assumption that giving up a baby is not burdensome, Barrett’s argument ignores the physical and psychological effects of pregnancy, labor and childbirth.

“Pregnancy is not a benign condition,” said Dr. Warren M. Hern, director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic. “Women die from pregnancy.”

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/02/13/pregnancy-childbirth-women-death-maternal-health-adoption/

Texas Is What the End of Legal Abortion Looks Like

After Texas used the pandemic as a reason to block the procedure, the number of people who fled the state to undergo abortions skyrocketed, as did second-trimester abortions.

By Carter Sherman
6.1.21

With Amy Coney Barrett now on the Supreme Court, the ruling that legalized abortion nationwide decades ago may be on its last legs. But during the coronavirus pandemic, Texas already gave a sneak peek at what could happen if Roe v. Wade collapses.

In late March 2020, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order postponing all abortions that weren’t “immediately, medically necessary”—which his attorney general defined as including nearly all abortions. Supporters of abortion rights promptly sued, but the order—and the legal tussling over it—intermittently cut off access to abortion until the end of April, when it finally expired.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpwwp/texas-covid-abortions-end-of-roe-v-wade

06.01.2021

abortion access during pandemic

Aid Access

Amy Coney Barrett

Cedar River Clinics

Covid-19 and abortion

Texas Policy Evaluation Project

trigger laws

Whole Women's Health

USA – ‘Constantly Preparing for the Next Crisis’: How Independent Abortion Clinics Are Faring With COVID-19

‘Constantly Preparing for the Next Crisis’: How Independent Abortion Clinics Are Faring With COVID-19
“Patients think clinics are closed; there is increased panic due to patient’s fear of being turned away.”

Apr 3, 2020
Sarah Anne Lloyd

Independent reproductive health-care clinics are still largely allowed to operate, even in cities and states with COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders, but the outbreak is straining an already precarious situation.

“What we’re seeing is the barriers that already exist for access to abortion being compounded by the current crisis in a way that it is limiting people’s resources significantly,” said Roxanne Sutocky, director of community engagement at the Women’s Centers, which operates independent clinics in four states. And people most at risk of losing health-care services, including people of color, will be the among the most vulnerable during this pandemic.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2020/04/03/constantly-preparing-for-the-next-crisis-how-independent-abortion-clinics-are-faring-with-covid-19/

USA – “I Am Honestly Scared to Death”: Small Abortion Clinics Are Fighting for Survival Over Trump’s New Abortion Rules

“I Am Honestly Scared to Death”: Small Abortion Clinics Are Fighting for Survival Over Trump’s New Abortion Rules
Independent abortion clinics' budgets were slashed after being driven from the only federal program dedicated to family planning.

by Carter Sherman
Sep 10 2019

After the Trump administration announced that providers who receive money from the nation’s only dedicated family planning program can’t refer people for abortions, Planned Parenthood made national headlines by leaving the program.

But while Planned Parenthood is anti-abortion activists’ biggest bogeyman, the bulk of American abortions are actually performed by small, independent abortion clinics. Those providers are also quietly leaving the Title X program — and without the name-brand recognition, political sway, or fundraising firepower of a national network, they’re fighting to keep their services cheap and available.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k37d/i-am-honestly-scared-to-death-small-abortion-clinics-are-fighting-for-survival-over-trumps-new-abortion-rules