USA – These abortion clinics no longer provide abortions – but are still hanging on

Even in states with bans, a handful of abortion clinics are still open, providing ‘aftercare’ for patients who travel out of state or manage their own abortions

Rebecca Grant
Fri 5 May 2023

The patient on 9 March was a tricky case.

She was pregnant and seeking an abortion, but had previously had a cesarean section, which could create complications if the placenta embedded in her surgical scar. Houston Women’s Reproductive Services couldn’t perform the procedure because Texas had banned abortions, but the clinic could do an ultrasound and communicate with the provider in New Mexico, where the patient was heading for her appointment. Then, once the patient was back in Texas, the Houston clinic would provide any follow-up care and support she needed.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/05/abortion-clinics-open-states-with-bans

USA – The Abortion Battle Over Rising Deaths in Pregnant Women

BY KATHERINE FUNG
ON 3/24/23

A massive spike in U.S. maternal deaths has abortion-rights and anti-abortion groups debating the cause of the nation's most fatal odds for expectant mothers in more than half a century.

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week said that maternal mortality—deaths that take place during pregnancy or within 42 days after delivery—shot up by 40 percent in 2021. The figure reaffirms America's position as the most dangerous wealthy country to live in when pregnant or while giving birth.

Continued: https://www.newsweek.com/abortion-battle-over-rising-deaths-pregnant-women-1789982

New abortion restrictions may push patients to more expensive, complicated care

With longer wait times, patients could be forced into their second trimester.

By Nadine El-Bawab
August 07, 2022

As more states enact near-total bans and restrictions on abortion, providers say many patients are experiencing delayed care which can force them into later stages of pregnancy.

Abortion care options are becoming more limited and complex in some cases, which often means higher costs for patients. For example, medication abortion, which is less costly than other options, is only an option up to 10 weeks into pregnancy.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/abortion-restrictions-push-patients-expensive-complicated-care/story?id=87803769

08.08.2022

Challenges increase for immigrants accessing abortion after Roe reversal

From language to travel barriers, immigrants are left with few options.

By Amanda Su
July 17, 2022

After Texas' Senate Bill 8, which banned any abortions after the detection of embryonic cardiac activity, was allowed to go into effect last year, Dr. Bhavik Kumar, a physician at Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston, said interstate travel was often the only recourse he could suggest for patients seeking to terminate their pregnancy.

But for one patient, that wasn't possible. Due to her pending immigration case, the patient could not travel more than 70 miles or would risk jeopardizing both her ability to remain in the country and the security of her two children, he said.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/challenges-increase-immigrants-accessing-abortion-roe-reversal/story?id=86404717

18.07.2022

abortion for undocumented people

Bolaños Perea

Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights

Dr. Bhavik Kumar

Dr. Kristyn Brandi

immigrants and abortion

Nancy Cárdenas Peña

National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice

Physicians for Reproductive Health

Planned Parenthood Center for Choice

Seri Lee

USA – Abortion Pills, Once a Workaround, Are Now a Target

In advance of a Supreme Court decision, states are proposing new restrictions and heavier criminal penalties on medication abortion.

By Kate Zernike
April 6, 2022

Last year, after Texas passed its strict abortion ban, surgical abortions in the state dropped by half. Many women found a workaround: pills. The week the law took effect, requests for medication abortion shot up to 138 a day from 11 a day at just one service that delivers the pills by mail.

Anti-abortion lawmakers in the state were already on it. That same week, they passed another law making it a felony to provide abortion pills through the mail and requiring doctors to comply with new testing and reporting procedures to prescribe them.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/abortion-pills.html

Americans are divided on abortion. The Supreme Court may not wait for minds to change

January 21, 2022

JULIE ROVNER

When he was running for president in 1999, George W. Bush, then governor of
Texas, famously fended off the strong anti-abortion wing of his party by
suggesting the country ought not consider banning abortion until public opinion
shifted further in that direction. "Laws are changed as minds are
persuaded," he said.

Bush was no moderate on the abortion issue. As
president he signed several pieces of anti-abortion legislation, including the
first federal ban on a specific abortion procedure, and used his authority to
severely limit federally funded research on embryonic stem cells.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/01/21/1074605184/abortion-roe-v-wade-supreme-court

Texas abortion clinics brace for near shutdown as new law is enacted: ‘We have to comply’

Jeremy Blackman, Austin Bureau
Aug. 12, 2021

The National Abortion Federation has told doctors in Texas it will stop referring patients and sending money to clinics that offer abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

In North Texas, the Texas Equal Action Fund will likely “pause” its ride share program that helps women reach abortion appointments.

Continued: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texas-abortion-clinics-brace-for-near-shutdown-as-16382541.php

An Abortion Provider Discusses His Biggest Fears Over Texas’ Abortion ‘Bounty’ Law

Will other states follow Texas’ lead? Will clinics be able to withstand the potential onslaught of lawsuits? “We have no idea what this is going to look like,” says Dr. Bhavik Kumar.

JULY 16, 2021
By TESSA STUART

Dr. Bhavik Kumar has been a Texas abortion provider for six years, with the last two at the Planned Parenthood Center for Choice in Houston, Texas. He started practicing shortly after House Bill 2 — the last Texas abortion law to go all the way to the Supreme Court before it was struck down as unconstitutional — went into effect. In the three years between the law’s passage and the Supreme Court’s decision, HB2 forced roughly half of Texas’ abortion providers to shut their doors.

A new bill, passed by the Texas State Legislature in May and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, has the potential to be even more disruptive. Instead of outlawing abortion outright, the new law empowers private citizens to sue doctors like Kumar, nurses, members of his staff, as well as anyone else who “aids and abets” an abortion — family members who drive patients to the clinic, faith leaders who provide counseling, abortion funds — for $10,000 each. The ban applies to abortions that take place after heart activity can be detected in the embryo — six weeks gestation, or roughly two weeks after a woman’s missed period, when many women don’t even know they are pregnant yet.

continued: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/sb-8-texas-abortion-law-10000-dollar-bounty-1194953/

Lawsuit Filed to Stop Texas’ Radical New Abortion Ban

For Immediate Release: July 13, 2021

Broad coalition of Texas abortion providers, doctors, clergy, abortion funds and practical support networks sues to block the state’s radical new abortion ban set to take effect Sept. 1

The ban encourages anyone – including anti-abortion activists – to essentially act as bounty hunters by awarding $10,000 or more to those who successfully sue another person for providing or assisting someone who gets an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy

WASHINGTON — Today, Texas abortion providers—led by Whole Woman’s Health—along with several abortion funds, practical support networks, doctors, health center staff, and clergy members filed a lawsuit to block a radical new Texas law (S.B. 8) set to take effect Sept. 1. The law bans abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy and includes an unprecedented provision that asks private individuals — including anti-abortion protestors with no connection to the patient — to file lawsuits seeking “enforcement” of the ban. The law creates monetary rewards for any member of the public who successfully sues an abortion provider or those who “aid and abet” someone getting an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/lawsuit-filed-to-stop-texas-radical-new-abortion-ban

Early In The Pandemic, Texas Banned Most Abortions. After The Ban Lifted, 2nd-Trimester Abortions Jumped, A New Study Shows

Texas officials cited a need to preserve medical supplies as a reason to crack down on abortions. A new study finds that many Texans left the state during this time seeking the procedure.

SHANNON NAJMABADI, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
POSTED ON JANUARY 4, 2021

After Gov. Greg Abbott's order that postponed all non "immediately, medically necessary" surgeries expired in May, second-trimester abortions increased 61%.

The number of Texas residents who went out of state to receive abortions leapt from 157 in February to 947 in April, after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered that all procedures not "immediately, medically necessary" be postponed to contend with the nascent coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Continued: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/2021/01/04/388664/early-in-the-pandemic-texas-banned-most-abortions-after-the-ban-lifted-2nd-trimester-abortions-jumped-a-new-study-shows/