USA – Telemedicine options for abortion are here to stay

Through pandemic necessity, an ad-hoc, telehealth model for reproductive healthcare is sticking around.

By KYLIE CHEUNG
PUBLISHED JUNE 20, 2021

As much of the country prepares to return to some form of post-pandemic normalcy, reproductive health care providers and advocates hope we continue one vital pandemic tradition: telemedicine options for receiving and providing reproductive care from home.

Some researchers and providers have found offering medication abortion care via telehealth is crucial to bridging gaps in abortion access. Abortion medication care is safe and effective up to 10 weeks into one's pregnancy, and providers say that having a telehealth component to abortion care may even help establish greater medical trust and comfort for patients from marginalized communities seeking care.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2021/06/20/telehealth-abortion-access-pandemic/

USA – These Start-Ups Could Make Abortion One Click Away

During the pandemic, women have been able to get abortion pills to take at home through an email or phone call. Will it stay that way?

Emily Shugerman, Gender Reporter
Updated May. 16, 2021

In California right now, you can get an abortion without speaking to a single other human being. You log onto a website—mychoix.co—put in your health information, answer some questions, and wait for an email from a clinician letting you know if you’ve been approved. If you are, an online pharmacy will ship you a package of mifepristone and misoprostol—a two-pill regime that is safer than many prescription drugs and 98 percent effective at terminating early-stage pregnancies. You will take it, you will bleed, your pregnancy will—in all likelihood—end.

This particular configuration is available in only one state, for a limited time, due to an emergency declaration issued by the Food and Drug Administration during the pandemic. But make no mistake: This is the future abortion advocates want.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/these-start-ups-could-make-abortion-one-click-away

16.05.2021

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Abortions Can Happen Safely—and Entirely—at Home

LEAH COPLON AND CLAIRE BRINDIS , Newsweek
ON 2/22/21

Last year, over concerns of exposure to COVID-19, a federal judge ended the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's requirement that mifepristone, a medication necessary to terminate an early pregnancy, must be obtained directly from a hospital or provider's office.

On January 12, the Supreme Court reinstated that requirement, over the objection of medical organizations. The ruling put us right back where we were: Among the 20,000 medications regulated by the FDA, mifepristone is the only one that requires an in-person pickup.

Continued: https://www.newsweek.com/abortions-can-happen-safely-entirely-home-opinion-1570687

USA – This week’s SCOTUS ruling sends a ‘chilling signal’ on the future of abortion rights

Abortions have been available by mail during coronavirus. Not anymore.

Caroline Kitchener
Jan. 13, 2021

Julie Amaon wanted to make the process as easy as possible. Her organization — Just the Pill — began facilitating abortions by mail in October. After they scheduled a call with a doctor, patients in Minnesota would typically receive their pill in the mail within 72 hours. Amaon, a family medicine doctor and medical director for Just the Pill, always followed up with a care package: Oreos, sanitary pads and a bag of peach mango herbal tea.

The entire operation screeched to a halt Tuesday night, when the Supreme Court lifted a national injunction that allowed women to access the abortion pill remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. Since July, patients had been able to request an abortion pill without ever setting foot in a clinic or a doctor’s office, an accommodation instituted to protect patients from the virus.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/this-weeks-scotus-ruling-sends-a-chilling-signal-on-the-future-of-abortion-rights/

Could Coronavirus Make Telemedicine Abortion the New Normal?

Could Coronavirus Make Telemedicine Abortion the New Normal?
Clinics are expanding access with virtual visits and sending pills by mail.

By Anna Louie Sussman
May 19, 2020

Terri first realized she was pregnant in late March. She was isolating at home with her boyfriend in rural upstate New York, where she runs a housecleaning business. At 46, she was sure she didn’t want to become a 60-year-old parent to a teenager. “I was like, ‘No, that’s not going to happen,’” says Terri, who asked to be identified by her first name only. She called the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic, a 40-minute drive away, and took the first appointment available, which was a week-and-a-half later. Uninsured, Terri says she planned to show up at the clinic and “throw [herself] at their mercy.”

But before her appointment, she read about telemedicine abortion. All that was required was a phone consultation with a doctor to establish whether she was less than 10 weeks pregnant (the limit for medication abortion’s approved use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration). Once proven, the clinic would deliver abortion pills by mail, allowing for a quiet, non-surgical procedure at home. For Terri, this was a far better option than potentially exposing herself to COVID-19 at a clinic.

Continued: https://www.elle.com/life-love/a32335002/telemedicine-abortion-coronavirus/

USA – These States Have More Abortion Clinics Today Than They Did a Decade Ago

These States Have More Abortion Clinics Today Than They Did a Decade Ago
Even as Republican-dominated legislatures passed laws designed to shut down clinics from coast to coast, some states saw an uptick in abortion clinics.

Dec 23, 2019
Alys Brooks

In a decade in which dozens of abortion clinics were shut down by medically unnecessary state laws, around 14 states—mostly in the Northeast and West—have seen an increase in clinics, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.

While the latest Guttmacher data is from 2017, other research, including a recent Abortion Care Network report focusing on independent clinics, indicates that clinics continue to close at an alarming rate. These closures include abortion clinics in states with Democratic-majority legislatures, like Whole Woman’s Health in Illinois, which closed in June, the same month Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed a landmark pro-choice law.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/12/23/these-states-have-more-abortion-clinics-today-than-they-did-a-decade-ago/

USA – This state could become a ‘contraceptive desert’: Trump’s new ‘gag rule’ goes far beyond Planned Parenthood

This state could become a ‘contraceptive desert’: Trump’s new ‘gag rule’ goes far beyond Planned Parenthood
Why 15 of the 20 abortion clinics here are at high risk of shutting down

Caroline Kitchener
August 30, 2019

Abortion providers in northern Maine spend a lot of time in the car.

Every other weekday, nurse practitioner Christina Theriault and clinic administrator Cassidy Jarvis drive an hour and 15 minutes from Fort Kent to Presque Isle, toggling between the two farthest-flung abortion clinics in Maine, the most rural state in the country. They travel on Route 161, a two-lane highway, closed in on both sides by dense forest. To pass the time, they count the number of moose they see on the side of the road.

Their current record is 14.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/this-state-could-become-a-contraceptive-desert-trumps-new-gag-rule-goes-far-beyond-planned-parenthood/

Planned Parenthood abandons Title X funds over Trump ‘gag rule’

Planned Parenthood abandons Title X funds over Trump 'gag rule'
The organisation says it won't be 'bullied into withholding abortion information from patients'.

Aug 19, 2019

Planned Parenthood said on Monday it is pulling out of the United States federal family planning programme rather than abide by a new Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions.

Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood's acting president and CEO, said the organisation's nationwide network of health centres would remain open and strive to make up for the loss of federal money. But she predicted that many low-income women who rely on Planned Parenthood services would "delay or go without" care.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/planned-parenthood-abandons-title-funds-trump-gag-rule-190819201706770.html

A New Ruling Could Leave Thousands Of Low-Income Americans Without Family Planning Services

A New Ruling Could Leave Thousands Of Low-Income Americans Without Family Planning Services
"It's really dire and is going to cause harm to a lot of people," an attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights said.

Brianna Sacks, BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on June 20, 2019

The Trump administration can deny critical federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other family planning organizations that also provide abortions or referrals for them, a federal court ruled Thursday.

Abortion rights advocates fear that could mean thousands of low-income Americans will lose access to reproductive health care, and already, Planned Parenthood has said it plans to fight the ruling. Abortion rights groups can also still challenge the ruling in other circuit courts.

Continued: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/briannasacks/title-x-gag-rule-abortion

USA – Reproductive Rights Groups Ready to Sue Trump Over Abortion Rule

Reproductive Rights Groups Ready to Sue Trump Over Abortion Rule
The administration’s measure would effectively ban Planned Parenthood and other providers from getting Title X federal family planning fund.

Emily Shugerman
02.25.19

Reproductive rights groups were outraged when the Trump administration announced plans to cut off family planning funds for healthcare providers that offer abortions. Now they’re headed to court to battle the new rule.

At least three groups have announced plans to sue over the measure, which would effectively ban providers like Planned Parenthood from receiving funds through Title X—a federal program to help low-income Americans access family planning services.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/reproductive-rights-groups-ready-to-sue-trump-over-abortion-rule