USA – Her baby was going to die. Abortion laws forced her to give birth anyway

Photographs by Danielle Villasana
Story by Rebecca Wright, CNN
Published March 31, 2024

Samantha Casiano spent this month planning her daughter’s first birthday party. The 30-year-old east Texas mother of four knows how to throw a good party for her kids.

But this family get-together on Friday was not a traditional party, despite Casiano purchasing a cake and balloons for the event.

Instead, Casiano’s family spent the day at the gravesite of Halo Hope Villasana, Casiano’s daughter who was born with anencephaly, a fatal condition that prevents a child’s brain and skull from forming properly.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/03/health/texas-abortion-law-mother-cnnphotos/

31.03.2024

fatal fetal abnormality

forced childbirth

Luis Fernando Villasana

An ectopic pregnancy put her life at risk. A Texas hospital refused to treat her.

The 25-year-old woman and her mother blame the state’s abortion ban for a delay in care that doctors say put her “in extreme danger of losing her life”

By Caroline Kitchener
February 23, 2024

ARLINGTON, Tex. — Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz tried not to cry as the doctor in the emergency room delivered one of the most frightening diagnoses a pregnant woman can receive.

The 25-year-old college senior was told she likely had an ectopic pregnancy, a highly dangerous condition where the embryo implants outside of the uterus. Without immediate treatment, the fallopian tube can rupture — and the patient can die.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/23/texas-woman-ectopic-pregnancy-abortion/

Do pregnant women have a right to urgent medical care? No, according to a US court

Federal judges sided with a Texas law that allows the state to push pregnant patients to the brink of death before allowing medically necessary abortion

Moira Donegan
Wed 10 Jan 2024

Do doctors have an obligation under federal law to keep their patients alive, even if their patients happen to be pregnant women? Do doctors have an obligation to prevent maiming – or irreversible organ damage, or other kinds of serious bodily harm – and if so, does that obligation extend even to women? Do women have a right to access medically necessary care even if they are pregnant? No, according to the US fifth circuit court.

That’s the conclusion reached by a three-judge panel recently in Texas v Becerra, a case in which Texas sued the Biden administration over guidance that directed all hospitals receiving federal funds to perform “necessary stabilizing treatment” on patients – including abortions on pregnant patients undergoing medical emergencies.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/10/pregnant-women-urgent-medical-care-us-court-texas

Part 1 – Fighting for their lives: Women and the impact of abortion restrictions in post-Roe America

Women had to wait until they were sick enough to get care in their home states.

By Nadine El-Bawab, Tess Scott, Christina Ng, and Acacia Nunes
December 14, 2023

Anya Cook had reason to celebrate. After 17 miscarriages, she was pregnant again, in her second trimester, and she and her husband, Derick, were ready to share the good news with family and friends.

After the joyous announcement in December 2022, Anya and Derick attended the Coral Springs holiday parade in their Florida neighborhood, then went to dinner at a local restaurant. It was a good end to a good day.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/fighting-lives-women-impact-abortion-restrictions-post-roe/story?id=105563174

A Texas judge ruled a pregnant woman who sued the state seeking an abortion can legally terminate her pregnancy

By Ashley Killough, Ed Lavandera and Andy Rose, CNN
Thu December 7, 2023

…After the ruling, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton warned Cox’s physician she could still face civil and criminal penalties at some point should she perform the court-ordered procedure.

… Molly Duane, Cox’s attorney, … said the fight is far from over, as the ruling only applies to Cox and does not “restore access” to abortion to thousands of other women. She called the state’s argument “callous in the extreme,” and said “they don’t care whether people live or die as long as they’re forced to give birth.”

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/07/us/texas-abortion-ruling/index.html

Texas Woman Granted Emergency Abortion Against State’s Wishes

Ryan Autullo
Dec 7, 2023

A Texas woman can immediately terminate her pregnancy for health reasons, before the state’s Supreme Court rules on a larger challenge to the state’s abortion ban, a state district court judge ruled Thursday.

The emergency hearing in Travis County came two days after Cox sued the state, saying that her doctors told said her fetus won’t survive and the pregnancy is threatening her life and future health. Cox, 20 weeks pregnant, asked the court to approve the termination “now” as a medical exception to the abortion ban because her physicians are refusing to conduct the procedure so long as the baby has a heartbeat.

Continued: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/texas-woman-granted-emergency-abortion-against-states-wishes

Idaho asks supreme court to decide on law penalizing abortion providers

At issue is a court ruling that the state’s abortion ban conflicts with government rules mandating the provision of emergency care

Carter Sherman
Thu 30 Nov 2023

The US supreme court is on the verge of being dragged back into the abortion wars.

Eighteen months after the court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v Wade and abolished the national right to abortion, the state of Idaho, represented by the conservative legal powerhouse the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), has asked the nation’s highest court to allow a law that penalizes abortion providers. The state is requesting that the court halt a federal court decision finding that Idaho’s ban conflicts with government rules governing the provision of emergency care.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/30/idaho-punish-abortion-provider-supreme-court

30.11.2023

Commentary

Alliance Defending Freedom

emergency abortion

Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act

Oklahoma Supreme Court rules 2 abortion bans unconstitutional, but abortion is still illegal in most cases

MAY 31, 2023

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional, but the procedure remains illegal in the state in most cases.

In a 6-3 ruling, the high court said the two bans are unconstitutional because they require a "medical emergency" before a doctor can perform an abortion. The court said this language conflicts with a previous ruling it issued in March. That ruling found the Oklahoma Constitution provides an "inherent right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy when necessary to preserve her life."

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahoma-abortion-bans-supreme-court-rules-unconstitutional-still-illegal-most-cases/

31.05.2023

News

emergency abortion

Gentner Drummond

medical emergency exception

Oklahoma Supreme Court

Ireland – ‘Increased abortion reality’ may follow its introduction – Ronán Mullen

‘Increased abortion reality’ may follow its introduction - Ronán Mullen
Harris happy with level of preparedness to treat women ‘with care and compassion’

Mon, Dec 10, 2018
Marie O'Halloran

There were sharp exchanges in the Seanad debate on abortion legislation when Independent Senator Ronan Mullen questioned the truthfulness of the Minister for Health Simon Harris in turn accused the Senator of being “offensive”.

There was some heckling against Mr Mullen during the debate on terminations in emergency situations, as the Upper House considered committee stage amendments to the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/increased-abortion-reality-may-follow-its-introduction-ron%C3%A1n-mullen-1.3726655

10.12.2018