Lawmakers are racing to mimic the Texas abortion law in their own states. They say the bills will fly through.

‘Copycat bills’ are a tradition that has been a hallmark of the antiabortion movement for decades

Caroline Kitchener
October 19, 2021

Less than 48 hours after Texas’s abortion law went into effect, banning almost all abortions, West Virginia state delegate Josh Holstein was reminded of the promise that got him elected in 2020.

Holstein ran as a “100 percent pro-life” Republican alternative to the two-term Democratic incumbent. He would pursue a “heartbeat bill” that would ban abortion once cardiac activity is detected, around six weeks of pregnancy. On Sept. 2, the day after Texas became the first state to successfully implement a six-week ban without court interference, a West Virginia resident called Holstein and other state delegates to task in a private post on his Facebook page. He wanted to know: Can we do the same thing in West Virginia?

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/lawmakers-are-racing-to-mimic-the-texas-abortion-law-in-their-own-states-they-say-the-bills-will-fly-through/

How the Texas Anti-Abortion Movement Helped Enact a Near-Complete Ban

Texans are almost evenly divided on abortion, but a combination of Republican control, conservative judicial appointments and cultural shifts helped the state’s anti-abortion movement find success.

By Ruth Graham
Published Sept. 5, 2021

RICHARDSON, Texas — A steady stream of women trickled into Prestonwood Pregnancy Center late last week, alone and with partners, with appointments and without. One couple held hands and whispered cheerfully; a young woman scrolled through her phone until her name was called. A wall-mounted screen in a corner cycled through a carousel of inspirational messages. “You are strong.” “Hope is stronger than fear.” “There are options.”

Abortion clinics emptied out last week after a Texas law enacting a near-complete ban on abortion went into effect. But Prestonwood is not one of those clinics. It is instead among the state’s more than 200 “crisis pregnancy centers,” facilities aligned with anti-abortion organizations that offer free medical tests and counseling in hopes of dissuading women from terminating their pregnancies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/05/us/anti-abortion-movement-texas-law.html

Conservatives are hell-bent on reasserting control over women’s bodies—and a fresh hell starts today with what women in the Lone Star State are waking up to.

Molly Jong-Fast, Contributing Editor
Updated Sep. 01, 2021

The Supreme Court declined to act and let Texas’ insane new abortion law stand, for now, in what looks to be the day Roe v. Wade began to die.

As of today, SB8, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law, bans abortions at six weeks, with no exception for rape or incest, while targeting anyone who “aids or abets” another person’s abortion. The idea is to make anyone who helps a woman get an abortion a legal target, even her Uber driver, with any citizen able to collect a bounty on abortion providers.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-law-begins-the-end-of-abortion-as-weve-known-it

The Mississippi clinic at the center of the fight to end abortion in America

The state’s last abortion clinic, known as the 'Pink House,’ is at the heart of a Supreme Court case that could severely restrict
abortion access for millions of largely poor women.

By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux and Ariana Eunjung Cha
Aug. 24, 2021

JACKSON, Miss. — The battle plays out in dueling soundtracks.

On one part of the sidewalk, longtime antiabortion demonstrator Coleman Boyd
belts out a steady stream of Christian music, with lyrics about Jesus’s love
for the unborn. “Your precious baby is going to be murdered in this place,”
Boyd, a physician, preaches between songs.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/interactive/2021/mississippi-abortion-law/?itid=mr_4

‘Fetal heartbeat’ in abortion laws taps emotion, not science

Ohio maternal fetal medicine specialist Dr. Michael Cackovic says Republican-backed laws banning abortions at what they term the “first detectable fetal heartbeat" defy science

By JULIE CARR SMYTH and KIMBERLEE KRUESI, Associated Press
14 May 2021

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Dr. Michael Cackovic has treated his share of pregnant women. So when Republican lawmakers across the U.S. began passing bans on abortion at what they term “the first detectable fetal heartbeat,” he was exasperated.

That's because at the point where advanced technology can detect that first flutter, as early as six weeks, the embryo isn’t yet a fetus and it doesn’t have a heart. An embryo is termed a fetus beginning in the 11th week of pregnancy, medical experts say.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/fetal-heartbeat-abortion-laws-taps-emotion-science-77698556

COVID-19 Should Not Be Used as an Excuse to Implement Abortion Bans

COVID-19 Should Not Be Used as an Excuse to Implement Abortion Bans

April 30, 2020
by Surya Swaroop

As the United States is struggling to adapt to the unprecedented influx of patients with symptoms of COVID-19, there is a strong concern that the number of medical supplies available will not be able to keep up with the demand. While this is a pressing matter that the federal government needs to address, some Republican politicians are using this issue to further their political agendas. They have deemed abortions a nonessential medical service, citing the need to conserve medical supplies as the reason abortions should be banned during this time.

The logic of this argument is flawed on every level and indicates how little these politicians regard women’s reproductive health issues.

Continued: http://dailynexus.com/2020-04-30/covid-19-should-not-be-used-as-an-excuse-to-implement-abortion-bans/

Abortion is a human right. A pandemic doesn’t change that

Abortion is a human right. A pandemic doesn't change that

Opinion by Serra Sippel and Akila Radhakrishnan
Sat March 28, 2020

(CNN) Access to abortion is an essential service and a fundamental human right. Period. The denial of it, including in times of global crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

In the United States, the Trump administration's colossal failure to help keep people healthy and to slow the pandemic-driven implosion of the economy shouldn't come as a surprise to much of the public. He has delayed acknowledging the severity of Covid-19, prematurely hinted at an end to social distancing and over the course of his term in office, attempted to slash funding for the WHO, the CDC, and other preparedness agencies that are tasked with the monitoring of such epidemics. The list goes on and on.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/28/opinions/covid-19-abortion-access-human-right-sippel-radhakrishnan/index.html

USA – ‘Game on’: Republicans ramp up efforts to restrict abortion in 2020

'Game on': Republicans ramp up efforts to restrict abortion in 2020

By Caroline Kelly, CNN
Sat January 4, 2020

Abortion laws around the globe (2018) 01:33

(CNN)Abortion has resurfaced as a major issue in American politics with a flurry of measures making their way through state legislatures around the country -- just as the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in the first reproductive rights case since Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed.

In addition to passing bans on abortion earlier in pregnancy, Republican lawmakers and activists in states from Alabama to Utah have looked to further regulate the procedure, sometimes beyond what is medically possible, according to medical experts.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/04/politics/abortion-policy-changes-2020/index.html

USA – Here’s How Conservatives Are Using Civil Rights Law to Restrict Abortion

Here's How Conservatives Are Using Civil Rights Law to Restrict Abortion
Here Are the Details of the Abortion Legislation in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Elsewhere

By Abigail Abrams
January 1, 2020

Six states passed laws in 2019 banning abortions once a “fetal heartbeat” is detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy. While most of these new laws were challenged in court and are temporarily blocked, the trend has continued: another 10 states introduced similar bills in 2019 and more are expected this year.

The sudden success of these measures is not an accident. They are the result of a concerted new strategy by abortion opponents, researchers have found.

Continued: https://time.com/5753300/heartbeat-bill-civil-rights-law/

USA – Abortion. Transgender rights. Voting access. Polarizing issues could dominate statehouse agendas in 2020.

Abortion. Transgender rights. Voting access. Polarizing issues could dominate statehouse agendas in 2020.

By Tim Craig and Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
Dec. 22, 2019

Republican-controlled state legislatures are gearing up to try to tighten abortion laws across the country, while some states controlled by Democrats are looking to enshrine the right to choose into law.

It’s one of a handful of deeply polarizing issues that could dominate state legislatures in 2020, a potential sign of the partisan gridlock that’s to come — and the efforts to rally supporters during a hyperpartisan presidential election year.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/abortion-transgender-rights-voting-access-polarizing-issues-could-dominate-statehouse-agendas-in-2020/2019/12/22/57ae576c-2043-11ea-bed5-880264cc91a9_story.html