42 States Have Considered or Passed Anti-Abortion or Anti-Trans Laws This Year

Is your state anti-abortion? It’s probably anti-trans, too.

By Neda Toloui-Semnani
May 24, 2022

“I'm devastated and frustrated and losing sleep. I’m worried out of my mind about it,” said Myriam Reynolds, a Texas resident and mother of a 17-year-old transgender child.

Reynolds and her children live about 30 minutes north of Dallas. A few months ago, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued an executive order that directed the state’s child welfare agency to investigate parents and guardians who’ve helped secure gender-affirming care for their trans children. Since then, Reynolds told VICE News, it’s been “absolutely horrible.” The state’s Supreme Court upheld the order in May, allowing the agency to open new investigations of child abuse into these families.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vamy/states-with-anti-abortion-trans-laws


Black Women Activists Warn Democrats After Abortion Failure: ‘Don’t Count on Our Votes’

Reproductive rights advocates of color wrote a scathing letter to Congress after it failed to end a federal ban on abortion coverage.

By Kylie Cheung
March 10, 2022

For the time being, reproductive rights advocates’ long-time dream of ending the Hyde Amendment, a half-century-old budget rider that prohibits federal funding of most abortions, is dead in Congress, despite President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to get rid of it.

Since Hyde disproportionately affects pregnant people of color, and particularly Black and Indigenous people, Black reproductive justice advocates have responded to the failure with a resounding warning to Democratic members: “Defend Black women’s rights or don’t count on our votes.”

Continued: https://jezebel.com/black-women-activists-warn-democrats-after-abortion-fai-1848635664


USA – Why we might soon see a surge in antiabortion violence

By ROBIN ABCARIAN, COLUMNIST

JAN. 31, 2021

In 2009, four months after Barack Obama, who supported abortion rights, was
sworn in as president and Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, a
religious zealot murdered the late-term abortion doctor George Tiller in the
vestibule of Tiller’s church.

I have always believed those two things were related.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-01-31/column-why-we-might-soon-see-a-spike-in-antiabortion-violence


Roe v. Wade Might Be Overturned Soon — This Is Worse Than You Think

MOLLY LONGMAN
OCTOBER 20, 2020

Angel Kai’s* heart sank when she found out she was pregnant again. The 20-year-old had delivered her second child only three months prior. She was on unpaid maternity leave from her job in Amarillo, TX, and she’d just received a $130 electricity bill in the mail that she didn’t know if she’d be able to pay. “Everything that was happening financially was just bad,” she remembers. “I couldn’t have another kid. I knew getting an abortion would be the best thing, because I couldn’t walk up the street to get a soda if I wanted one at the time. We were that tight on money.”

It turned out, though, that Angel couldn’t even afford the abortion she knew she wanted. Her health plan was offered under state-funded Medicaid, which, in Texas, only covers abortion in cases of life endangerment, rape, and incest. So, Angel Googled “abortion financial help.”

Continued:  https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/2020/10/10112297/what-happens-if-roe-v-wade-overturned-state-abortion-laws


The downfall of Roe v. Wade started in 2010

The downfall of Roe v. Wade started in 2010
Abortion access in America hangs by a thread. The unraveling began a decade ago.

By Anna North
Dec 23, 2019

This year, five states passed laws banning abortion before most people know they’re pregnant. Alabama passed a ban on the procedure at any stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. In Ohio, lawmakers introduced a bill that would create a crime called “abortion murder,” punishable by life in prison.

For many, restrictions like these would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. But as we look ahead to 2020, the anti-abortion movement could be on the brink of its biggest success yet: dismantling the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/2019/12/23/21024312/abortion-laws-2019-ohio-georgia-roe-wade


USA – It’s High Time We End Hyde If We Are Serious About Racial Justice

It's High Time We End Hyde If We Are Serious About Racial Justice [Op-Ed]
The Hyde Amendment blocks women from using federal funds such as Medicaid to end unwanted pregnancies. On this 43rd anniversary of a rule that places undue burden on women of color, we say enough is enough.

Jessica González-Rojas, Marcela Howell, Sung Yeon Choimorrow
Sep 30, 2019

Say her name: Rosie Jimenez. She was a 27-year-old Chicana, the daughter of migrant farm workers, living in McAllen, Texas, in 1977. She had a 5-year-old daughter she loved dearly. She was a student just six months shy of graduating and pursuing her dream of becoming a special education teacher. Yet, those dreams were never realized because Rosie died from an unsafe abortion she was forced to pursue because of the Hyde Amendment.

More than 40 years later, we still lack justice for Rosie’s untimely and unnecessary death. We must still contend with the stark injustice of the Hyde Amendment and similar restrictions, which deny coverage for safe abortion to people with Medicaid insurance, federal employees, military personnel, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives and federal prisoners. And political leaders still shy away from condemning the Hyde Amendment for what it is—a blatantly racist policy that essentially says women of color and women with low incomes are not worthy of making their own decisions over their bodies.

Continued: https://www.colorlines.com/articles/its-high-time-we-end-hyde-if-we-are-serious-about-racial-justice-op-ed


USA – Beyond Brett Kavanaugh’s Past, We Must Consider the Future of Abortion

Beyond Brett Kavanaugh’s Past, We Must Consider the Future of Abortion
A new Planned Parenthood report paints a dark picture of reproductive rights if Kavanaugh is confirmed

By Jamil Smith
Oct 2, 2018

For at least as long as Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated for a Supreme Court seat, he has been justifiably considered to be a potential danger to reproductive freedom. Since he represents a possible fifth and decisive vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, Kavanaugh poses a threat to the future of legal and safe reproductive health care, including abortions. However, the focus around Kavanaugh’s confirmation has been primarily on the multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him dating back to his high school and undergraduate years.

Appalling though the accusations may be, I understand why conservatives may prefer to talk about this scandal and not abortion. A July survey conducted by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal indicated that 71 percent of American voters want Roe upheld. However, a more recent, surprising poll likely has the GOP’s attention: Only a slight majority of Americans polled by Quinnipiac after last Thursday’s hearings believe Christine Blasey Ford over Kavanaugh — 48 percent to 41, respectively.

Continued: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/kavanaugh-roe-v-wade-future-732124/