How Many Abortions Did the Post-Roe Bans Prevent?

The first estimate of births since Dobbs found that almost a quarter of women who would have gotten abortions carried their pregnancies to term.

By Margot Sanger-Katz and Claire Cain Miller
Nov. 22, 2023

The first data on births since Roe v. Wade was overturned shows how much abortion bans have had their intended effect: Births increased in every state with a ban, an analysis of the data shows.

By comparing birth statistics in states before and after the bans passed, researchers estimated that the laws caused around 32,000 annual births, based on the first six months of 2023, a relatively small increase that was in line with overall expectations.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/upshot/abortion-births-bans-states.html


USA – We Are Not Prepared for the Coming Surge of Babies

The post-Roe rise in births in the U.S. will be concentrated in some of the worst states for infant and maternal health. Plans to improve these outcomes are staggeringly thin.

By Melissa Jeltsen
DECEMBER 16, 2022

A typical pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that created a constitutional right to abortion, was reversed less than six months ago. This means the U.S. is currently at a unique inflection point in the history of reproductive rights: early enough to see the immediate effects of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—closed clinics, a rapidly shifting map of abortion access—but too soon to measure the rise in babies born to mothers who did not wish to have them. Many of these babies will be born in states that already have the worst maternal- and child-health outcomes in the nation. Although the existence of these children is the goal of the anti-abortion movement, America is unprepared to adequately care for them and the people who give birth to them.

Continued: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/12/abortion-post-roe-rise-in-births-baby-care/672479/


Antiabortion laws are forced-birth laws. Here’s what that looks like.

By Kate Manning
May 31, 2022

Embarrassing, but I am going to talk about my bladder.

I’d prefer not to. But it seems important to mention how it’s been leaking since my first child was born (common after childbearing) now that Roe v. Wade appears poised to fall. Should the Supreme Court overturn that decision, more than half of U.S. states plan to severely restrict abortion care and will thus mandate pregnant women to give birth and suffer such physical consequences.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/31/antiabortion-laws-are-forced-birth-laws/


Democrats Must Become As Brave and Righteous as Abortion-Clinic Escorts

To win back abortion rights, Democrats need to learn how to fight the moral battle being waged by anti-abortion theocrats—something clinic escorts do every day.

By Elie Mystal, The Nation
May 16, 2022

We now live in a country where the government cannot force you to wear a mask on a plane during a pandemic but can force you to carry a pregnancy to term against your will. It is a country where the government won’t ban certain kinds of assault rifles but will ban certain kinds of medical care. We live in this country because five justices in thrall to a fundamentalist Christian orthodoxy have taken control of the Supreme Court—and because the majority of Americans who reject that orthodoxy have too often ceded the moral ground to the monsters who claim to have legitimate, enforceable interests over women’s bodies.

Women’s rights organizations and advocates have been in the trenches, fighting this fundamentalist sect, at literal physical risk to their lives, for decades. They’ve been fighting in the streets and fighting in the courtroom, but their alleged allies in Congress, in the media, and in the boardroom have rarely had their back.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/abortion-moral-fight/


USA – Abortion is Not Elective Surgery, and Abortions Must Continue During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abortion is Not Elective Surgery, and Abortions Must Continue During COVID-19 Pandemic

ZawnVillines
Thursday March 26, 2020

Texas this week seized the opportunity to ban abortions and blame it on COVID-19. The state banned “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother,” with no exceptions for severely ill fetuses, babies who will suffer and die at birth, rape victims, or similar groups. Ohio and Mississippi have enacted similar bans, and other states might soon follow suit.

While an abortion rights coalition that includes Texas abortion clinics has already sued to halt the Texas ban, it’s unclear how courts might rule. Moreover, federal courts are moving more slowly than ever, so even if choice advocates win, many women will be denied abortions before they do

Continued: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/26/1931445/-Abortion-is-Not-Elective-Surgery-and-Abortions-Must-Continue-During-COVID-19-Pandemic


Argentina – How Doctors And The Church Conspired To Stop An 11-Year-Old Girl From Having An Abortion After Rape

How Doctors And The Church Conspired To Stop An 11-Year-Old Girl From Having An Abortion After Rape
Lucía was raped at 11. Her family’s demands for a legal abortion became the center of a global firestorm — and she still doesn’t know the whole story.

Karla Zabludovsky, BuzzFeed News Reporter
San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina
Posted on April 13, 2019

SAN MIGUEL DE TUCUMÁN, Argentina — Lucía sat up in her hospital bed as the priest made the sign of the cross on her forehead, the 11-year-old’s bulging belly visible underneath her pajama shirt.

“Think long and hard about what you’re considering doing,” Lucía’s mother remembered the priest telling them. “Save both lives,” he said.

Lucía wasn’t sure what the priest was talking about. She only knew her grandmother’s partner had done something bad to her and now she had a terrible stomachache.

Continued: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/karlazabludovsky/argentina-lucia-catholic-church-abortion


‘Thousands’ of young girls denied abortion after rape in Argentina

'Thousands' of young girls denied abortion after rape in Argentina
Anti-choice doctors and health officials accused of obstructing legal terminations after 11-year-old girl gave birth to rapist’s child

Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Tue 5 Mar 2019

The lives of thousands of girls in Argentina are being put at risk as legal abortions are delayed and obstructed by doctors trying to force pregnancies to full term.

The issue of anti-choice doctors, medical institutions and government officials deliberately trying to hold up legally sanctioned terminations was brought into sharp focus last week when it emerged that an 11-year-old girl’s baby was born alive because health officials delayed her request for an abortion. The girl had fallen pregnant after being raped by her grandmother’s boyfriend.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/mar/05/thousands-young-girls-denied-abortion-argentina


Abortion debate rages in Argentina after 11-year-old forced to give birth

Abortion debate rages in Argentina after 11-year-old forced to give birth

By Rebecca Joseph, National Online Journalist, Breaking News Global News
Feb 28, 2019

An 11-year-old Argentinian girl who was raped while in her grandmother’s care had a C-section earlier this week after doctors refused to give her an abortion, sparking a debate about choice in the South American country.

The girl became pregnant after her grandmother’s 65-year-old partner sexually abused her, according to local media reports. She had been in her grandmother’s care because her two older sisters had been abused by their mother’s partner, the Guardian reports.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/5009075/abortion-argentina-11-year-old-gives-birth/


C-section for 11 year-old rape victim in Argentina sparks outcry

C-section for 11 year-old rape victim in Argentina sparks outcry

Anastasia Moloney
Feb 28, 2019

BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An 11-year-old rape victim in Argentina was forced to deliver her baby prematurely by caesarian section despite requesting an abortion, sparking an outcry by women’s rights campaigners.

The girl became pregnant after being raped by her grandmother’s 65-year-old boyfriend, according to local media reports.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-abortion-youth/c-section-for-11-year-old-rape-victim-in-argentina-sparks-outcry-idUSKCN1QH2N2


Girl, 11, gives birth to rapist’s child after Argentina refuses abortion

Girl, 11, gives birth to rapist's child after Argentina refuses abortion
Campaigners condemn authorities who ignored girl’s plea ‘to remove what the old man put inside me’

Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Thu 28 Feb 2019

An 11-year old girl who became pregnant after being raped was forced to give birth after Argentine authorities refused to allow her the abortion to which she was entitled.

The authorities ignored repeated requests for an abortion from the child, called “Lucía” to protect her identity, as well as her mother and a number of Argentine women’s right activists. After 23 weeks of pregnancy, she had to undergo a caesarean section on Tuesday. The baby is unlikely to survive.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/feb/28/girl-11-gives-birth-to-rapists-child-after-argentina-refuses-abortion