USA – Abortion Funds Face Slowdown in Giving a Year After Supreme Court Ruling

By Eden Stiffman
JUNE 12, 2023

On the evening of May 2, 2022, a draft opinion of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization leaked, signaling the imminent reversal of Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that established the constitutional right to abortion. That same day, the National Network of Abortion Funds had tapped Oriaku Njoku as its new executive director.

As a co-founder of Access Reproductive Care-Southeast, the South’s largest abortion fund, Njoku was clear-eyed about what would come next.

Continued: https://www.philanthropy.com/article/abortion-funds-face-slowdown-in-giving-a-year-after-supreme-court-ruling

12.06.2023

Interviews/Podcasts

abortion funds

Access Reproductive Care-Southeast

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Hyde Amendment

If/When/How

Lawyering Project

National Network of Abortion Funds

USA – Abortion-rights attorneys help patients and providers navigate legal chaos

BY: SOFIA RESNICK
APRIL 20, 2023

These days Kylee Sunderlin is often the first person people will talk to about needing or wanting to terminate a pregnancy, even though she’s not a nurse or doctor or a loved one. She’s a lawyer.

This is Sunderlin’s third year overseeing a national hotline dedicated to helping people navigate legal questions around abortion in their states. Calls have been at an all-time high, she said, as have callers’ fear and confusion.

Continued; https://georgiarecorder.com/2023/04/20/abortion-rights-attorneys-help-patients-and-providers-navigate-legal-chaos/

Meet Republicans’ New Boogeyman: So-Called ‘Abortion Trafficking’

Restrictions on abortion travel are simply meant to stop people from red states from crossing into blue states to access care safely and legally.

By Kylie Cheung
Apr 3, 2023

For years now, Kiki Council, an attorney in Colorado, has helped minors obtain judicial bypass to get abortion care. Council, who works as legal counsel for pro bono initiatives at the Lawyering Project, has often supported teens traveling out-of-state for the health service without parental consent.

“The minors who can’t tell their parents about their choice are in very precarious, vulnerable positions at home,” Council told Jezebel. “They’re experiencing emotional, verbal, or physical abuse. They’re living with parents or guardians who are extremely religious, or have extreme views that make them feel like they can’t safely share that choice with them.”

Continued: https://jezebel.com/meet-republicans-new-boogeyman-so-called-abortion-tr-1850293302

Abortion Legal Assistance Network Launched: ‘A Strong Defense Against Bullies’

A new alliance of reproductive rights groups aims to “help those involved with abortion care navigate [a] confusing and hostile legal landscape and to provide a strong defense against bullies.”

2/22/2023
by CARRIE N. BAKER, Ms. Magazine

Six leading reproductive rights organizations announced on Feb. 22 the formation of a new Abortion Defense Network to connect people facing legal threats related to abortion with attorneys who can provide legal advice and representation in civil and criminal proceedings.

“The overturning of Roe v. Wade has unleashed nonstop legal chaos and confusion,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “Abortion providers, doctors and even family members of people seeking abortion care are unsure what they might be prosecuted for. Many states have conflicting and overlapping abortion bans that make it nearly impossible to know what is legal and what is not. People are worried they may be prosecuted even for helping someone find abortion services across state lines.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/02/22/abortion-defense-lawyer-courts-assistance/

If You Can’t Get an Abortion on Land, Can You Get One on a Boat?

A doctor explains her long-brewing plan to set up a floating clinic in the Gulf of Mexico.

BY CHRISTINA CAUTERUCCI
JULY 14, 2022

In the weeks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reproductive health clinics in states with abortion bans have been forced to curtail their services. This has been particularly acute in the South, where there will soon be no legal abortion services in a wide swath of the country.

Some patients are now forced to travel hundreds of miles for care. Someday soon, they may not have to. To serve patients on the Gulf Coast who may be closer to the water than an abortion clinic, Amy Autry, an OB-GYN and professor at the University of California San Francisco, is spearheading a project that would provide abortion services on a boat in federal waters a few miles off the coastline. The nonprofit is called PRROWESS, an acronym that stands for Protecting Reproductive Rights Of Women Endangered by State Statutes.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/abortion-care-boat-gulf-of-mexico.html

14.07.2022

Protecting Reproductive Rights of Women Endangered by State Statutes

Texas advocates file new legal challenge to near-total abortion ban

Lawsuit asks court to rule SB 8 unconstitutional, citing public threats and legal action from anti-abortion activists

Mary Tuma
Tue 19 Apr 2022

Reproductive rights advocates in Texas have filed a new legal challenge to halt a near-total abortion ban that has been in effect for more than half a year.

Senate Bill 8 bars abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected – typically as early as six week of pregnancy, which is before most people are aware they are pregnant – and offers no exception for rape or incest. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asks a federal court to rule the extreme law unconstitutional. It cites public threats and legal action from anti-abortion activists against Texas abortion funds, groups that have been instrumental in helping patients travel out of state for care, arguing that this conduct has chilled their first amendment rights.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/19/texas-abortion-ban-senate-bill8-legal-challenge

Why hundreds of scientists are weighing in on a high-stakes US abortion case

Studies suggest that a reversal of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision would be detrimental for many.

26 October 2021
Amy Maxmen

An upcoming case in the US Supreme Court might hasten the end of abortion across roughly half of the United States — a right that the country has defended for nearly 50 years. More than 800 scientists and several scientific organizations have provided evidence to the court showing that abortion access is an important component of reproductive healthcare.

The researchers, some of whom have studied the impact of abortion for many years, are rebutting arguments made to the court that abortion has no beneficial effect on women’s lives and careers — and might even cause them harm. “The scientific community is eager to weigh in on such an important issue, especially given five decades of evidence concerning the importance of abortion access,” says Stephanie Toti, a director at the New York City-based Lawyering Project, a group that advocates for abortion access in the United States. She adds, “This case is a big deal.”

Continued : https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02834-7

Lawsuit Filed to Stop Texas’ Radical New Abortion Ban

For Immediate Release: July 13, 2021

Broad coalition of Texas abortion providers, doctors, clergy, abortion funds and practical support networks sues to block the state’s radical new abortion ban set to take effect Sept. 1

The ban encourages anyone – including anti-abortion activists – to essentially act as bounty hunters by awarding $10,000 or more to those who successfully sue another person for providing or assisting someone who gets an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy

WASHINGTON — Today, Texas abortion providers—led by Whole Woman’s Health—along with several abortion funds, practical support networks, doctors, health center staff, and clergy members filed a lawsuit to block a radical new Texas law (S.B. 8) set to take effect Sept. 1. The law bans abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy and includes an unprecedented provision that asks private individuals — including anti-abortion protestors with no connection to the patient — to file lawsuits seeking “enforcement” of the ban. The law creates monetary rewards for any member of the public who successfully sues an abortion provider or those who “aid and abet” someone getting an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/lawsuit-filed-to-stop-texas-radical-new-abortion-ban

USA – States That Use COVID-19 To Ban Abortion Increase Our Risks, Hardships And Fear Nationwide

States That Use COVID-19 To Ban Abortion Increase Our Risks, Hardships And Fear Nationwide

Janet Burns, Senior Contributor
April 12, 2020

For the past few weeks, lawmakers in a growing number of US states have taken it upon themselves to restrict abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic by deeming that care “nonessential,” despite medical experts’ explicit warnings not to.

As US states have rushed to define and maintain their own responses to the global viral disease outbreak, numerous state lawmakers have chosen the extra step of declaring virtually all abortion care or procedures “nonessential,” rather than letting doctors decide (along with patients) what’s essential and safe right now.

Continued: https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2020/04/11/states-using-covid-19-to-ban-abortion-increase-everyones-risks-and-hardships-in-a-crisis/#35d56106aa8c

New York AG Calls For Nationwide Abortion Access During The Coronavirus

New York AG Calls For Nationwide Abortion Access During The Coronavirus

April 4, 2020
5-Minute Listen / Transcript

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Letitia James, attorney general of New York, about her call for nationwide access to abortion during the coronavirus pandemic.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to turn now to a subject that has perplexed many people as the country deals with a coronavirus pandemic by closing down most activities. What is an essential business or service and what is not? The answer can vary from place to place. In a handful of states, officials have banned access to abortion clinics during the pandemic in an effort, they say, to preserve needed medical supplies, such as gowns and masks. Texas issued one such ban, triggering a legal challenge that has drawn in officials from other states. New York's attorney general, Letitia James, is organizing other like-minded attorneys general to support the challenge against the Texas measure.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/04/04/827436003/new-york-ag-calls-for-nationwide-abortion-access-during-the-coronavirus