‘Necessary to Disobey Harmful Laws’: These ‘Abortion Pirates’ Want Equal Access to Abortion Pills Worldwide

A colorful crowd of doctors, researchers and women’s activists convened in the Latvian capital to explore ways to use pills to circumvent anti-abortion laws.

By EMILY SCHULTHEIS
11/26/2022

RIGA, Latvia — For two sunny, crisp autumn days in mid-September, Riga’s Stradiņš University felt like the epicenter of a self-styled global civil rights movement: to give every person, in every culture or country, regardless of laws, access to abortion pills.

In the hallways, women pored over posters showing the latest research on the effectiveness of abortion pills and other developments in abortion and contraception care. Representatives from pharmaceutical companies enthusiastically pitched their medications and products to doctors sipping coffee and tea during a break between panels. There were graphic novels about an at-home medical abortion and T-shirts printed with women’s self-stated reasons for ending a pregnancy; there were slogans printed on T-shirts like “Make Abortion Legal Again” and a video promoting abortion rights to the tune of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.”

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/11/26/global-abortion-rights-movement-latvia-00069224

26.11.2022

abortion pills at home

abortion pirates

Abortion Support Network

Abortion Without Borders

Family Planning Advisory Service

National Network of Abortion Funds

Plan C

Rebecca Gomperts

self-induced abortion

self-managed abortion

Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project

After Roe, abortion’s underground railroad gains steam

A network of activists is helping women terminate pregnancies in countries where the procedure is banned.

BY CARLO MARTUSCELLI, EMILY SCHULTHEIS, MANDOLINE RUTKOWSKI AND JAKUB KORUS
OCTOBER 29, 2022

RIGA — If you want to get an abortion in Poland, Kinga Jelinska is happy to help. Legally terminating your pregnancy is almost impossible in the Eastern European country. Abortion is only allowed in the case of rape or incest, or when it threatens the life of the woman.

That’s where Jelinska comes in. She’s the co-founder and executive director of Women Help Women, an Amsterdam-based nonprofit that helps provide women with the pills needed for an at-home medical abortion. The service Jelinska’s group provides falls into a legal grey zone; self-induced abortion is illegal in a number of countries, but in Poland, it’s not explicitly banned.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/roe-v-wade-europe-abortion-pill-illegal-underground-network/

“Chaos” for patients and providers after US abortion ruling

Susan Jaffe
July 09, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)01268-5
The Lancet - WORLD REPORT| VOLUME 400, ISSUE 10346, P85-86, JULY 09, 2022

The US Supreme Court's bombshell decision overturning Roe v Wade on June 24, 2022, assures Americans that each state can choose whether and under what conditions its residents have a right to a safe and legal abortion. So far, the result is an incoherent and volatile jumble: 16 states have severely restricted or banned the procedure and bans in ten more states are likely to take effect in a matter of weeks. Providers who violate the laws can face as much as 10 years in prison. However, in 22 Democrat-led states and the District of Columbia, abortion access is protected. Several claim to be abortion sanctuaries as they prepare for an influx of health-care refugees who can afford to travel for an abortion no longer available at home.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01268-5/fulltext

USA – Abortion funds feel frustration, gratitude at ‘rage giving’

When a leaked draft decision signaled the likely withdrawal of the legal right to an abortion in the U.S., donors clicked on donations buttons and mailed checks in a spasm of fury

By Thalia Beaty Associated Press
June 10, 2022

Casie Pierce doesn't usually work Fridays. But on the Friday after the draft Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked, Pierce, the development director for a Dallas-based abortion fund, which helps people pay for the procedure and associated logistics, had to be at her computer.

She was monitoring the “rage giving.”

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/abortion-funds-feel-frustration-gratitude-rage-giving-85311358

For Decades, We’ve Helped Open Abortion Access. Here’s Where We’ll Go Post-‘Roe.’

We don’t need to reinvent the wheel of abortion care—we need to build on it.

Jun 2, 2022
National Network of Abortion Funds & Abortion Care Network

Abortion funds and independent abortion clinics are grateful for the outpouring of support in the wake of the devastating Supreme Court draft decision leak in early May. In a moment when discriminatory, racist, patriarchal systems are working hard to isolate us from each other and our collective power, so many of you know that turning to the people on the forefront of abortion access in each of our communities is an important way to fight back together.

Thank you for plugging in with your communities and each other, spreading the word that abortion is still legal no matter where you live in the United States, and comforting your loved ones with the knowledge that there are still avenues of support (including you).

Continued: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2022/06/02/for-decades-weve-helped-open-abortion-access-heres-where-well-go-post-roe/

Women who are denied abortions risk falling deeper into poverty. So do their kids

May 26, 2022
Jennifer Ludden

Like most women seeking an abortion, Brittany Mostiller already had children when she unexpectedly got pregnant again. "I had two young daughters both under the age of 5, sharing a two-bedroom apartment with my sister," she says. She'd also just been laid off from her overnight job as a greeter for Greyhound buses. Her unemployment benefits were less than her wages there, and nearly all of them went toward rent and utilities. "I'm not even sure I had a cellphone at that time," she says. "If I did, it was certainly on and off," to save money.

Continued:https://www.npr.org/2022/05/26/1100587366/banning-abortion-roe-economic-consequences

What the U.S. Could Learn from Abortion Without Borders

A coalition across Europe is resisting Poland’s abortion ban. Its strategy could foreshadow activism in a post-Roe America.

Anna Louie Sussman, The New Yorker
May 17, 2022

Last month, an abortion-rights activist named Justyna Wydrzyńska stood in a courtroom in Warsaw, Poland, and described her abortion. Her lips were painted a defiant red; her voice cracked at times, but she was unapologetic. When she was thirty-three, she said, she was in an abusive marriage and learned that she was pregnant. She struggled to find accurate information online and had to order three packs of abortion pills—the first two, from the black market, were duds. She was terrified that she would bleed out or fall unconscious in front of her three children, who were too young to call an ambulance. Wydrzyńska, who is forty-seven, is now part of a coalition of activists called Abortion Without Borders. She was on trial for helping another Polish woman get an abortion.

Abortion was legal when Poland was under Communist control, but, in 1993, the predominantly Catholic country outlawed most abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal conditions, and risk to the life of the patient. As the U.S. Supreme Court considers Roe v. Wade and giving states the ability to ban abortion, the diverse, international coalition of Abortion Without Borders may model an effective approach to abortion-rights activism in a post-Roe America—and also its risks.

Continued: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/what-the-us-could-learn-from-abortion-without-borders

USA – Abortion rights funds brace for impact ahead of court ruling

Wed, February 16, 2022
Haleluya Hadero, The Associated Press

In the past few months, the number of women who call Fund Texas Choice has doubled to more than 100 per week. The demand, driven by a state law banning abortions at roughly six weeks of pregnancy, has forced the abortion rights fund to hire more people. But it’s still been difficult to keep up with the avalanche of requests.

Texas has tightened abortion restrictions over the past two decades, leading women there to increasingly seek out-of-state abortions. Even before the new law took effect last September, at least half of the women who sought help from the fund got abortions in neighboring states. Today, nearly all of them do.

Continued: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/abortion-rights-funds-brace-impact-230059128.html

USA – A Reproductive-Rights Activist Explains the Realities of Abortion for Latina Women

“When you have to flee a country . . . it’s women who are being raped, sexually harassed, sexually assaulted,” Elizabeth Estrada, of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, said.

By Lizzie Widdicombe
January 26, 2022

With the Supreme Court seemingly inching closer to overturning Roe v. Wade, many Americans are trying to imagine a future in which abortion is a crime in roughly half the country. How will women cope with unwanted pregnancies? What will the public-health consequences be? All signs point to a fractured nation, in which barriers to abortion exacerbate existing inequities. But, if you talk to reproductive-rights advocates, they’ll tell you that, to some extent, that America already exists. While abortion is technically constitutionally protected, in practical terms, many women have a hard time accessing the procedure, owing to restrictive local laws, prohibitive costs, and social stigma. That’s especially true for immigrants, the poor, and those living in marginalized communities.

Continued: https://www.newyorker.com/news/as-told-to/a-reproductive-rights-activist-explains-the-realities-of-abortion-for-latina-women

Mark Ruffalo, Jane Fonda, Cyndi Lauper, and More Back Abortion Within Reach Campaign

Among the Abortion Within Reach campaign’s demands is access to “compassionate, affirming abortion care for people of all identities”

By TOMÁS MIER
January 19, 2022

A coalition of nearly 100 celebrities from Mark Ruffalo and Mac DeMarco to Cyndi Lauper and Portugal. the Man is coming together to support the Abortion Within Reach campaign, launched by a group of abortion rights organizations to fight for access to safe pregnancy and abortion care.

Jane Fonda, Bon Iver, Busy Philipps, Chelsea Handler, Fleet Foxes, K. Flay, Megan Rapinoe, Margo Price, Soccer Mommy, Sylvan Esso, and Yung Bae are among the stars supporting the healthcare initiative in time for the 49-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/mark-ruffalo-jane-fonda-cyndi-laiper-support-abortion-campaign-1287388/