Kate Cox case reveals toll of US abortion bans on women in medical emergencies

Lawsuits from women denied the procedure despite health risks shows how bans don’t allow for complexities of pregnancy

Carter Sherman
Sat 16 Dec 2023

When Kate Cox got the news that her baby would probably only live for a few days, she went online to figure out her options. A 31-year-old mother of two living in Texas, Cox could not get an abortion, but she also knew that she did not want to make her baby suffer.

That’s when Cox came across the news that 20 Texas women had come forward to tell a court that they, like her, had been unable to get abortions in medical emergencies. Within days, Cox went public too: she became the first woman since the fall of Roe v Wade to sue for an abortion while actively pregnant.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/abortion-ban-lawsuits-pregnancy-complication-emergency-kate-cox

How Texas Has Made My Job of Helping Women More Dangerous

Sept. 20, 2021
By Ghazaleh Moayedi

It’s not brave for me to be an abortion provider in Texas. This is my home, too. I have a lot of support from my community. I work at several types of clinics here and in Oklahoma — independent ones, mostly. I went to medical school with the express intent to provide abortions in my home state.

We were shut down in Texas before, when Covid first hit the state in March of last year and Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order suspending “all surgeries and procedures that are not immediately medically necessary.” At first, we weren’t sure how it was going to be interpreted. I spent that Monday calling all the patients I could, telling them to come in immediately to get an ultrasound in the event I would be able to at least give them pills the next day.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/opinion/texas-abortion-provider.html

A Texas Doctor Says He Defied The Abortion Law, Risking Lawsuits

September 19, 2021
SHARON PRUITT-YOUNG

Texas outlawed abortions past the six-week mark in a law that went into effect on Sept. 1. Dr. Alan Braid, a Texas physician, says he performed one anyway just a few days later.

In an opinion piece for The Washington Post on Saturday, Braid, who's
been practicing for more than 40 years, explained his decision as a matter of
"duty of care." The new law, known as S.B. 8, not only makes performing
an abortion after about six weeks illegal, but makes it so that anyone who aids
anyone else in getting one — by performing the procedure or even by giving them
a ride to the clinic where they have the procedure done — runs the risk of
being sued for at least $10,000.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/19/1038717122/a-texas-doctor-says-he-defied-the-abortion-law-risking-lawsuits

Texas governor signs extreme six-week abortion ban into law

Senate Bill 8 bars abortion at six weeks with no exception for rape or incest, amounting to a near-total ban

Mary Tuma in Austin
Wed 19 May 2021

The Texas Republican governor Greg Abbott has signed into law one of the most extreme six-week abortion bans in the US, despite strong opposition from the medical and legal communities, who warn the legislation could topple the state’s court system and already fragile reproductive healthcare network.

“This bill ensures that every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion,” said Abbott, flanked by several members of the Texas legislature this morning.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/19/texas-abortion-ban-law-greg-abbott

USA – Coronavirus Is Endangering Abortion Access. Telemedicine Could Solve it.

Coronavirus Is Endangering Abortion Access. Telemedicine Could Solve it.
Almost 40% of abortions take place in the privacy of one's home. Why must pregnant women to go to the clinic at all?

By Melissa Jeltsen, HuffPost US
03/20/20

Imagine you take a cruise in late February. When you get back to the U.S., you start to self-quarantine out of concern that you were exposed to coronavirus on the ship. Then you find out you are pregnant. You do not want to be. What do you do?

If you were in Canada, you could get a doctor to prescribe you what is colloquially known as the “abortion pill,” which you could pick up from your local pharmacy. Using medication abortion, women end their pregnancies by taking a combination of two drugs, usually spaced 24 hours apart, which essentially cause a miscarriage.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/medication-abortion-telemedicine_n_5e74ec23c5b6eab779472982?ri18n=true

USA – Abortion Access Is Under Threat As Coronavirus Spreads

Abortion Access Is Under Threat As Coronavirus Spreads
In many states, abortion clinics are holding on by a thread. The pandemic might put them under.

By Melissa Jeltsen, HuffPost US
03/17/2020

Last week, Joe Nelson, a physician who provides abortions in Texas, felt a tickle in his throat. Then he started coughing. His temperature soared. On Monday, at his doctor’s office, he tested negative for the flu. Unable to obtain a coronavirus test there, he is now self-quarantining for 14 days.

In a phone call with HuffPost as he left the doctor’s office, Nelson said he was mostly worried about how his unplanned absence might affect women’s ability to get abortions in the state.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/abortion-access-coronavirus_n_5e70f423c5b60fb69ddee6e9?ri18n=true