The History Behind Arizona’s 160-Year-Old Abortion Ban

The state’s Supreme Court ruled that the 1864 law is enforceable today. Here is what led to its enactment.

By Pam Belluck
April 10, 2024

The 160-year-old Arizona abortion ban that was upheld on Tuesday by the state’s highest court was among a wave of anti-abortion laws propelled by some historical twists and turns that might seem surprising.

For decades after the United States became a nation, abortion was legal until fetal movement could be felt, usually well into the second trimester. Movement, known as quickening, was the threshold because, in a time before pregnancy tests or ultrasounds, it was the clearest sign that a woman was pregnant.

Unlocked: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/health/arizona-abortion-ban-history.html

What Are ‘Missed Period Pills,’ and How Do They Work?

Menstrual regulation—sometimes referred to as “missed period pills"—is a new front in women's battle for bodily autonomy. Here's how it works and what you need to know.

Dec 30, 2023

Cari Siestra first learned about menstrual regulation when they were working on the Myanmar-Thailand border. At the time, abortion was broadly criminalized in both countries. But if a person’s period was late, it was relatively easy to get access to pills that would induce menstruation in just a few days. In Bangladesh, where abortion is largely illegal, menstrual regulation is available up to 10 weeks after a missed period, and public health advocates routinely talk about it as a promising way to reduce maternal mortality and rates of unsafe abortion.

Menstrual regulation isn’t completely unknown in the United States. Melissa Grant, chief operations officer and cofounder of Carafem, recalls friends who would have their periods brought back through manual vacuum aspiration in the 1980s, when early pregnancy tests weren’t as common. But in recent years, it hasn’t been a widespread option, and for a while, Siestra wasn’t sure if there was a place for menstrual regulation in the US.

Continued: https://www.wired.com/story/missed-period-pills-menstrual-regulation-how-it-works/

‘A gamechanger’: this simple device could help fight the war on abortion rights in the US

Only a tiny fraction of primary care physicians provide abortion care. Dr Joan Fleischman believes that training them in a simple and easy abortion method might be the best way to offset the war on access

by Poppy Noor
Tue 18 Apr 2023

Joan Fleischman has always had people flying in from across the world to her private abortion practice in Manhattan. In the two decades her clinic has been open, she has seen clients from places such as Ireland, the Bahamas and Mexico, who couldn’t get abortions in their home countries. In the past year, that has changed. Since the US federal right to abortion was overturned in June last year, she is now more likely to see patients flying in from her own country.

Often they are from Texas, sometimes Ohio, or Florida. Some with links to the city, others with none.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/18/abortion-reproductive-rights-manual-uterine-aspiration

Period Pills: Another Option for Fertility Control

10/20/2022
by CARRIE N. BAKER

Period pills—also known as “missed period pills” or “late period pills”—are medications that you can take if your period is late and you suspect you’re pregnant, but don’t want to be. The pills end a pregnancy if present, but either way they will bring on menstruation.

“If people want their periods to return and do not want to be pregnant, these medicines provide a benefit for them, regardless of their pregnancy status,” said Dr. Teresa DePiñeres, a physician who advocates for missed period pills. “Offering more options for fertility control is a good thing.”

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/10/20/missed-period-pills-fertility-control/

20.10.2022

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Right to abortion: Indian court legalizes, Bangladesh still restricts

Abortion in Bangladesh is punishable by different jail terms and fines

Nawaz Farhin Antara
September 29, 2022

The right to abortion for women of all ages has emerged as a bold demand around the world at various times. In this situation, it became a matter of awakening when unmarried women also got the right to abortion in India.

India's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a woman's right to abortion cannot be taken away considering her marital status. Unmarried women who become pregnant unintentionally will have the right to an abortion within 24 weeks.

Continued: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/09/29/right-to-abortion-indian-court-legalizes-bangladesh-still-restricts

Abortion in Colonial America: A Time of Herbal Remedies and Accepted Actions

UConn historians discuss abortion in Colonial America

August 22, 2022
Kimberly Phillips

Two hundred eighty years ago, nine generations in the past, more than four decades before the signing of the U.S. Constitution – and Sarah Grosvenor had the ability to choose.

In towns like Pomfret, that eventually would comprise the new country, women had a name for what the teen did. Sometime in May 1742 she started “taking the trade,” or an abortifacient to induce a miscarriage. The herbs, berries, and plants in the recipe were plentiful in New England, oftentimes cultivated by women for women.

Continued: https://today.uconn.edu/2022/08/abortion-in-colonial-america-a-time-of-herbal-remedies-and-accepted-actions/

What Alito Gets Wrong About the History of Abortion in America

Abortion in early pregnancy was not only commonplace but widely regarded as morally acceptable.

Opinion by LESLIE J. REAGAN
06/02/2022

If it were possible to eavesdrop on conversations among women and some doctors in early America, you might overhear the phrase “bringing on the menses.” If a woman didn’t menstruate when expected, she was considered to be sick and action was required to bring her back to health. Women who had “a common cold” — a euphemism for “obstructed” menses — used a variety of methods, teas and concoctions to bring “their menses back.”

In other words, returning menstruation to its normal cycle was within the purview of a woman’s own self-health care and was not regulated by the state until after “quickening” — the moment during a pregnancy when a woman could feel a fetus kick and recognized a life “stirring” within her. Quickening occurred between the fourth and sixth month of pregnancy. Only after quickening was an induced miscarriage, an abortion, considered immoral and banned by law.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/06/02/alitos-anti-roe-argument-wrong-00036174

USA – The Coming Legal Battles Over Abortion Pills

How will the abortion pill be regulated in a post-Roe country? Four big questions about the looming legal battles.

By RACHEL REBOUCHÉ, DAVID S. COHEN and GREER DONLEY
05/24/2022

After the disclosure of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion in the Supreme Court’s abortion case, there has been a flurry of commentary about the return to pre-Roe times. Much of that coverage has focused on the expenses and legal intricacies of abortion travel, bottlenecks at clinics in abortion-supportive states and the likelihood of criminal prosecution in anti-abortion states.

These are valid concerns if Roe is overturned, after which about half the states would make abortion illegal. But in one major respect, abortion has changed dramatically since 1973 when Roe was decided: the uptake of medication abortion, the two-drug regimen (mifepristone followed by misoprostol) that ends a pregnancy through ten weeks with pills. In 2020, medication abortion accounted for 54 percent of all abortions.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/24/coming-legal-battles-abortion-pills-00034558

Bangladesh – RHSTEP attains massive progress towards keeping promise of improving SRHR situation

By Tithi R.Sarker
28 Dec 2021

The Reproductive Health Services Training and Education Program (RHSTEP) was evolved through a gradual government process for providing services to the womenfolk in their menstruation related health needs. The main objectives of foundation of RHSTEP also include addressing the sexual and reproductive health needs of both women and men, girls and boys.

In 1983 MRTSP (Menstrual Regulation Training and Services Program) was formed as a special project of the Government of Bangladesh to improve skills of service providers through training; establishing service points in public hospitals for Menstrual Regulation (MR) and its complications management.

Continued: https://bangladeshpost.net/posts/rhstep-attains-massive-progress-towards-keeping-promise-of-improving-srhr-situation-76121

28.12.2021

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Bangladesh – Abortion – offence or a right?

Abortion – offence or a right?

Dr. Syeda Nasrin
May 30, 2020

Bangladesh does not recognise 'abortion' as a right rather considers the same as an offence under the garb of the term 'miscarriage'. Abortion indicates the intentional termination of pregnancy whereas miscarriage is the spontaneous or unplanned expulsion of a fetus from the womb. Keeping the distinction between 'abortion' and 'miscarriage' aside, this article discusses the legal landscape of Bangladesh regarding 'abortion' with a comparative analysis of USA, UK and India.

Section 312 of the Penal Code, 1860 provides that whoever voluntarily causes a pregnant woman to miscarry, shall, if such miscarriage be not caused in good faith for the purpose of saving the life of the woman, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or both.

Continued: https://www.thedailystar.net/law-our-rights/news/abortion-offence-or-right-1906414

30.05.2020