‘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

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

Julie Carr Smyth and Kimberlee Kruesi, The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, April 28, 2021

NASHVILLE -- 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.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/fetal-heartbeat-in-u-s-abortion-laws-taps-emotion-not-science-1.5405170

The G.O.P.’s War on Women’s Health Gets Results

The G.O.P.’s War on Women’s Health Gets Results

Clinics providing essential services to women are struggling — and closing their doors — after years of political attacks.

By The Editorial Board
Sept. 9, 2019

The Trump administration’s recent efforts to undermine the nation’s Title X family planning program are already having their intended effect, making it harder for women’s health clinics to stay afloat and for patients to afford birth control and other services.

Three weeks after Planned Parenthood was effectively forced out of the Title X program, the group has announced that two of its clinics in the Cincinnati area will close this month — a fate that Planned Parenthood officials say was accelerated by the administration’s changes to Title X. Those changes include barring clinics that perform or even refer patients for abortions from receiving federal family planning dollars unless they jump through a near-impossible series of hoops.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/09/opinion/planned-parenthood-ohio-title-x.html

USA – How Health Officials in Pro-Life States Are Quietly Dismantling Abortion Access

How Health Officials in Pro-Life States Are Quietly Dismantling Abortion Access
Without the fanfare of a bill signing or a Supreme Court decision, the first state without an abortion clinic is in sight.

Rosemary Westwood
July 31, 2019

One spring day in 2017, Dr. Ernest Marshall received an inauspicious letter from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the state's health agency. Marshall, a Louisville native with a round face and a trimmed mustache, has been an OB-GYN and teacher with the University of Louisville School of Medicine for nearly four decades. For just as long, he's owned what is now the state's last abortion clinic. EMW Women's Surgical Center sits on a stretch of sprawling, sparsely populated real estate in downtown Louisville, across from a cinema-sized money lender and down the block from a Subway restaurant.

Continued: https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-health-officials-in-pro-life-states-are-quietly-dismantling-abortion-access

31.07.2019

Commentary

Featured

American Civil Liberties Union

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

anti-choice restrictions

Brigitte Amiri

Capital Care Network

Center for Reproductive Rights

Dr. Ernest Marshall

EMW Women’s Surgical Center

Guttmacher Institute

Hope Medical Group for Women

Jennifer Branch

John Kasich

Kathaleen Pittman

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services

KentuckyOne

Kim Greene

licensing of abortion clinics

Martin Haskell

Matt Bevin

Mike Parson

Operation Save America

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky

Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers

transfer agreements with hospitals

TRAP laws

Vickie Yates Brown Glisson

Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt

USA – ‘Not Dead Enough’: Public Hospitals Deny Life-Saving Abortion Care to People in Need

‘Not Dead Enough’: Public Hospitals Deny Life-Saving Abortion Care to People in Need
Many of the poorest and sickest patients end up at public hospitals when their pregnancies go wrong. But little-known laws leave people in need with nowhere to turn.

Mar 7, 2019
Amy Littlefield

When she arrived at the public hospital in Texas, the woman was so sick she couldn’t walk. About four months pregnant, she needed an abortion to save her life. A previous pregnancy had led to heart failure. This time she faced a higher risk of death from cardiac arrest that increased as the pregnancy advanced.

But the hospital’s leadership denied her the abortion she needed.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/03/07/not-dead-enough-public-hospitals-deny-life-saving-abortion-care-to-people-in-need/

USA – I Got An Abortion In One Of The Most Restrictive States — This Is What I Went Through

I Got An Abortion In One Of The Most Restrictive States — This Is What I Went Through

ByBridjet Mendyuk
Jan 30, 2019

In this op-ed, writer Bridjet Mendyuk explains the process she went through to get an abortion in Ohio, where laws restrict people's access to the procedure.

I felt the first moment of panic as the word “pregnant” popped up on the ominous stick. I had no health insurance, had just lost my job, and was living at home. It was late November, and I felt better than I had in months: I was sleeping eight hours a night, and I had lost weight. It wasn’t until I told my mom my cycle was later than normal that she bought me a pregnancy test. At 27 years old, I found out I had been pregnant for two months and had no idea.

Continued: https://www.bustle.com/p/i-got-abortion-in-one-of-the-most-restrictive-states-this-is-what-i-went-through-15870247

USA – Battles expected in many states over abortion-related bills

Battles expected in many states over abortion-related bills

By David Crary | AP
January 16, 2019

NEW YORK — On each side of the abortion debate, legislators and activists emboldened by recent political developments plan to push aggressively in many states this year for bills high on their wish lists: either seeking to impose near-total bans on abortion or guaranteeing women’s access to the procedure.

For abortion opponents, many of whom will rally Friday at the annual March for Life in Washington, there’s a surge of optimism that sweeping abortion bans might have a chance of prevailing in the reconfigured U.S. Supreme Court that includes Donald Trump’s appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Legislators in at least five states — Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Florida and South Carolina — are expected to consider bills that would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, possibly just six weeks into a pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whitehouse/battles-expected-in-many-states-over-abortion-related-bills/2019/01/16/431b76e8-19a7-11e9-b8e6-567190c2fd08_story.html

USA – 4 Devious Ways States Chipped Away At Abortion Rights In 2018

4 Devious Ways States Chipped Away At Abortion Rights In 2018
The past year's restrictions were particularly extreme.

By Catherine Pearson, HuffPost US
12/29/2018

Every year, anti-abortion legislators and legislatures chip away at reproductive rights, and 2018 brought a wave of extreme restrictions from lawmakers determined to topple Roe v. Wade. This year, as of Dec. 11, 22 abortion restrictions were passed nationwide — a number that will likely edge up to 24 by the time 2019 begins.

On the surface, that number looks pretty good. It’s the fewest abortion restrictions passed in a single year in more than a decade, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies and promotes reproductive health policy. And for the first time in recent years, the number of proactive reproductive health policies — measures that make it easier for women to access abortion services and birth control, for example — outpaced the number of restrictions.

Continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/states-abortion-rights-erosion-2018_us_5c1be156e4b0407e907886b8?ec_carp=5444351490008681624

USA – It’s not even 2019, and Republicans have written at least 17 abortion restrictions for next year

It’s not even 2019, and Republicans have written at least 17 abortion restrictions for next year

By Carter Sherman
Dec 27, 2018

Over the last several weeks, Ohio lawmakers tried to pass one of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country, one that would ban the procedure after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, about six weeks into a pregnancy. That's before most women even know they're pregnant.

Now, other state legislatures are trying to do the same.

Continued: https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/pa549k/its-not-even-2019-and-republicans-have-written-at-least-17-abortion-restrictions-for-next-year

With new law, Ohio bans common abortion procedure

With new law, Ohio bans common abortion procedure

By Jessica Ravitz, CNN
Sat December 22, 2018

(CNN) A bill that would ban the most common abortion method used in the second trimester of pregnancy was signed into law Friday by Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Senate Bill 145 prohibits the dilation and evacuation (D&E) procedure, in which the cervix is dilated and the contents of the uterus extracted. Though there is no exception in the law in cases of rape or incest, there is one if the mother's life is at risk.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/21/health/ohio-de-ban-bn/index.html