Women who underwent abortions face “trauma” as protests continue in Scotland

Women who went through abortions have told how "inescapable" and "damaging" anti-abortion protests are as Scotland sees an increase in protests outside clinics and hospitals.

By Hannah Brown
Sunday, 1st May 2022

Megan Braithwaite, 39, had an abortion for medical reasons in Edinburgh eight years ago. It was her first pregnancy and both her and her husband were trying for a baby.

"It was at the 20-week screening when we found out that the baby had a fetal anomaly and it was truly awful”, she said.

Continued: https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/women-who-underwent-abortions-face-trauma-as-protests-continue-in-scotland-3676260

Colorado Abortion Ban Could Be Felt Nationwide

October 31, 2020

Sarah McCammon

Last year around this time, Tammy, her husband, and their young son were
getting ready for a big expansion of their family: she was expecting twins –
one boy and one girl.

The family celebrated around Christmastime with a gender reveal party, complete
with matching onesies reading, "Little Brother" and "Little
Sister."

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/31/929637426/colorado-abortion-ban-could-be-felt-nationwide

The Abortion Conundrum: How Far Israelis Go to Make Sure Their Babies Are Born Perfect

The Abortion Conundrum: How Far Israelis Go to Make Sure Their Babies Are Born Perfect
What do parents do if they discover the baby could be born deaf? Or sterile? Or suffer from a disease? Israelis choose to terminate such pregnancies much more frequently than in other Western countries

By Shany Littman
Jun 13, 2019

It was Yael’s second pregnancy. She had received a sperm donation and gave birth to her first child, a daughter, four years earlier, and went through the same procedure this time, too. All the tests were good but now, because she was 44, the single mother also underwent amniocentesis and paid 2,000 shekels ($550) for a CMA (“DNA chip”) test. The result indicated a problem in the fetus’ genetic sequence.

“The doctor talked about possible intellectual disability and autism, about delayed development and attention deficit problems,” recalls Yael, who lives in the center of the country. (Some of the names in this article have been changed to protect the interviewees’ privacy.) “He showed me a list of all kinds of disabilities, which had a 30-percent probability of happening. That sounded very high. I cried but we reached the conclusion that it would be out of the question for me to give birth to a baby with disabilities. I am a single parent with limited resources. There was no way I could cope with that.”

Continued: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-the-abortion-conundrum-how-far-israelis-go-to-ensure-their-babies-are-born-perfect-1.7362524

This Ballot Measure Could End Later Abortion Care in Colorado

This Ballot Measure Could End Later Abortion Care in Colorado
Anti-choice activists have targeted Dr. Warren Hern, a later abortion provider in Colorado, with protests and gunshots through his window.

Jun 12, 2019
Jason Salzman

Abortion rights foes in Colorado hope to force an initiative on next year’s ballot that would shut down the state’s only clinic specializing in later abortion care.

The initiative, which has to clear a series of hurdles before it can appear on the 2020 ballot, would make it “unlawful for any person to intentionally or recklessly perform or attempt to perform an abortion if the probable gestational age of the fetus is at least 22 weeks,” but pro-choice activists say the ballot measure could ban abortion completely.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/06/12/this-ballot-measure-could-end-later-abortion-care-in-colorado/

What’s missing from the conversation about late abortions, explained by a doctor

What’s missing from the conversation about late abortions, explained by a doctor
Abortion opponents are accusing doctors of infanticide. Here’s the reality of abortion late in pregnancy, according to a doctor.

By Anna North
Mar 12, 2019

The Senate voted last week on a bill to put in place requirements for the care of babies born after attempted abortions.

It failed, but debate around the issue continues. At an especially contentious time in the abortion debate, opponents of the procedure have focused their attention on abortions that happen late in pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/2019/3/11/18246702/born-alive-abortion-survivors-bill-virginia-2019

India – Bombay high court denies abortion plea for fetus with gene defects

Bombay high court denies abortion plea for fetus with gene defects
Dec 24, 2018

MUMBAI: Taking note of a woman’s abortion plea on the grounds that giving birth to a baby with chromosomal abnormalities would affect her mental health, the Bombay high court recently directed the setting up of three consecutive medical boards to examine the matter.

This was for the first time in such a case that the court directed the setting up of a panel (the second one) made exclusively of mental health experts (from JJ Hospital).

Continued: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/hc-denies-abortion-plea-for-fetus-with-gene-defects/articleshow/67222931.cms?

24.12.2018

severe fetal anomalies

New Zealand: Down’s syndrome advocacy group condemn Jacinda Arden

Down’s syndrome advocacy group condemn Jacinda Arden
Wednesday, 6 September 2017
Press Release: Saving Downs

[Scoop note: Jacinda Ardern has responded to this, saying abortions up to 40 weeks would not be made legal under Labour]

Down’s syndrome advocacy group condemn Jacinda Arden’s pledge to introduce abortion up to birth for disabilities

Down’s syndrome advocacy group Saving Downs have condemned a pledge from Labour leader Jacinda Arden to decriminalise abortion, introducing abortion right through to birth for disabilities.

Under the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act there is currently a gestational time limit of 20-weeks for abortion for disability.

Continued at source: Scoop.co: ttp://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1709/S00089/downs-syndrome-advocacy-group-condemn-jacinda-arden.htm

Ending a Pregnancy Because of Down Syndrome Is Not a Precursor to Eugenics

Ending a Pregnancy Because of Down Syndrome Is Not a Precursor to Eugenics

By Jen Gann
Aug 21, 2017

Over the weekend, Quartz published a post about the prevalence of Down syndrome in Iceland. Drawing statistics from a recent CBS report, Bonnie Rochman, author of The Gene Machine, writes, “In Iceland, nearly every woman who undergoes prenatal testing and whose fetus receives a diagnosis of Down syndrome decides to end her pregnancy.”

Note the word “decides.” No one is forcing women in Iceland to choose abortions — individual women are making those decisions. From this statement of fact, Rochman makes a shaky leap: “In essence, pregnant women in Iceland — and presumably their partners — are saying that life with disability is not worth living.”

Continued at source: The Cut: https://www.thecut.com/2017/08/down-syndrome-and-abortion-pregnancy.html

21.08.2017

Featured

Opinion

Bonnie Rochman

disability and abortion

India: Moms on abortion deadline fight for ailing fetuses

by Malathy Iyer
Dec 19, 2016, Times of India

MUMBAI: When 34-year-old Kusum Rao, a Mumbai-based lawyer, was told that the brain of her 19-week-old unborn child didn't have a membranous partition called the 'cavum septum pellicidum', she panicked.

Some websites linked its absence to mental retardation, blindness, learning disabilities as well as an increased risk of schizophrenia. Moreover, she had days before the 20-week deadline for abortion under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act expired.

[continued at link]
Source: Times of India

19.12.2016