USA – The Abortion Battle Over Rising Deaths in Pregnant Women

BY KATHERINE FUNG
ON 3/24/23

A massive spike in U.S. maternal deaths has abortion-rights and anti-abortion groups debating the cause of the nation's most fatal odds for expectant mothers in more than half a century.

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week said that maternal mortality—deaths that take place during pregnancy or within 42 days after delivery—shot up by 40 percent in 2021. The figure reaffirms America's position as the most dangerous wealthy country to live in when pregnant or while giving birth.

Continued: https://www.newsweek.com/abortion-battle-over-rising-deaths-pregnant-women-1789982

‘We’re seeing shock.’ Texas abortion clinics are now operating as trauma centers

Senate Bill 8 has eroded abortion access in Texas. But desperate patients are still showing up to clinics seeking emotional support — and sometimes, out-of-state options.

Jennifer Gerson
September 20, 2021

Marva Sadler is not used to telling patients “no.” Since Senate Bill 8, Texas’ six-week abortion ban, took effect, she now feels like she’s saying it all day.

Sadler is the director of clinical services at Whole Woman’s Health in Fort Worth. When patients arrive at the clinic, she said, they are aware of the realities of the new law: Abortion past six weeks is now illegal, with no exceptions for rape and incest. Still, they can hardly process that there’s little the clinic can do to help them.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2021/09/texas-abortion-clinics-are-now-trauma-centers/|

In seeking emergency halt on Texas ban, Justice Dept. describes women, girls desperately seeking abortions out of state

by Ann E. Marimow and Caroline Kitchener
September 15, 2021

One woman piled her children into the car and drove more than 15 hours overnight from Texas to Oklahoma to obtain an abortion using medication. A minor from Galveston, who was raped by a family member, traveled eight hours across state lines to terminate her pregnancy. Another patient made the six-hour trek for an out-of-state abortion alone, fearing that anyone who joined her in the car could face legal liability under Texas’s stringent new abortion ban.

The testimonials from providers about the impact of the nation’s most restrictive abortion law are included in the Biden administration’s emergency request to a federal judge in Austin filed late Tuesday night. It seeks to immediately block enforcement of the law, which bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy and makes no exceptions for rape, sexual abuse or incest.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/15/texas-abortion-justice-department-block/

Texas abortion clinics brace for near shutdown as new law is enacted: ‘We have to comply’

Jeremy Blackman, Austin Bureau
Aug. 12, 2021

The National Abortion Federation has told doctors in Texas it will stop referring patients and sending money to clinics that offer abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

In North Texas, the Texas Equal Action Fund will likely “pause” its ride share program that helps women reach abortion appointments.

Continued: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texas-abortion-clinics-brace-for-near-shutdown-as-16382541.php

Texas clinics say later abortions rose after state’s temporary ban

“It’s infuriating because you can't just turn on and off health care,” a Dallas clinic's co-medical director said.

Aug. 12, 2020
By Chloe Atkins

Several Texas clinics say they saw an uptick in women seeking abortions later in their pregnancies this spring, after the state temporarily halted most abortions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hundreds of abortions were canceled after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed an executive order on March 22 banning all nonessential medical procedures, and the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, said in a statement that the ban included abortions, unless a woman’s health was at risk.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-clinics-say-later-abortions-rose-after-state-s-temporary-n1236442

USA – ‘I see a danger in returning to a pre-Roe world:’ Abortion advocates view coronavirus-era restrictions as a dark sign of what could come

'I see a danger in returning to a pre-Roe world:' Abortion advocates view coronavirus-era restrictions as a dark sign of what could come

Kayla Epstein
May 15, 2020

In non-pandemic times, obtaining an abortion already presented serious legal and logistical challenges for millions of women. For patients who live in certain states, getting care means enduring state-imposed waiting periods, submitting to unnecessary ultrasounds, or rushing to receive care before an arbitrary legal deadline. For patients who already have children, care must be arranged. Those without a car need a ride, especially if the nearest clinic is hours away. Some need flights to more accommodating states. And many, many need funds.

But women seeking abortions since the coronavirus outbreak began faced a new challenge — states' attempts to temporarily limit or ban abortion outright by deeming them "non-essential" procedures, under the pretext of preserving medical supplies for COVID-19 treatment. These restrictions collided with the travel and social distancing restrictions put in place to limit the spread of the virus, leading to an even more precarious situation for abortion care than the one already in place.

Continued: https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-arkansas-abortion-bans-coronavirus-advocates-fear-lack-of-access-2020-5

15.05.2020

Commentary

Featured

abortion access during pandemic

abortion funds

abortion is essential healthcare

American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology

American Civil Liberties Union

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

anti-choice restrictions

Bridget Schilling

Brigid Alliance

Clinical Access Support Network

coronavirus

Covid-19 and abortion

National Abortion Federation

New Orleans Abortion Fund

Odile Schalit

personal protective equipment

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains

pre-Roe laws

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Very Rev. Katherine Ragsdale

For many women, abortion access was already limited. Then COVID-19 hit

For many women, abortion access was already limited. Then COVID-19 hit
Coronavirus—and restrictions on “elective procedures” in states like Texas—have made accessing reproductive healthcare harder than ever. But providers are getting creative.

04-28-20
By Pavithra Mohanlong Read

On a Thursday in early April, Shanthi Ramesh saw three patients back to back. They were all healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Two of them worked in a local emergency room, while the other was driving up to New York the next day to volunteer at a hospital.

They had another thing in common: All three women had gone to Ramesh’s clinic to get an abortion.

Continued: https://www.fastcompany.com/90496986/for-many-women-abortion-access-was-already-limited-then-covid-19-hit

USA – Red States Are Exploiting Coronavirus to Ban Abortion

Red States Are Exploiting Coronavirus to Ban Abortion
For autocrats everywhere, the crisis is a chance to restrict rights.

By Michelle Goldberg, Opinion Columnist
April 6, 2020

Last week, a 24-year-old woman living in Arlington, Texas, filed a court declaration describing what she’s gone through since the governor, Greg Abbott, used the coronavirus crisis as a pretext to essentially ban abortions.

A college student studying to be a teacher, she’d lost her part-time waitressing job at around the same time she found out she was pregnant. She knew without question that she wanted an abortion, but even before Abbott signed the executive order that temporarily outlawed the procedure in the state, she had a hard time finding a clinic that could see her.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/opinion/abortion-covid.html

The Abortion Law Heading To The Supreme Court Is Based On A Lie

The Abortion Law Heading To The Supreme Court Is Based On A Lie
A Louisiana law rests on the claim that abortion is unsafe. In reality, the common procedure is less dangerous than getting your wisdom teeth removed.

By Lydia O'Connor, HuffPost US
11/12/2019

In the coming months, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear its first abortion case since the court became dominated by conservative justices, giving Americans their clearest look yet at how powerful the anti-abortion movement’s narrative is in the face of medical facts.

The case, June Medical Services v. Gee, concerns a Louisiana law passed in 2014 that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. The law’s supporters say it’s intended to protect those who have emergency complications from abortion procedures ― a talking point that, on its surface, people on both sides of the issue could get behind.

continued: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/louisiana-abortion-lie-supreme-court_n_5dc45e06e4b0055138850d98?ri18n=true

USA – How Health Officials in Pro-Life States Are Quietly Dismantling Abortion Access

How Health Officials in Pro-Life States Are Quietly Dismantling Abortion Access
Without the fanfare of a bill signing or a Supreme Court decision, the first state without an abortion clinic is in sight.

Rosemary Westwood
July 31, 2019

One spring day in 2017, Dr. Ernest Marshall received an inauspicious letter from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the state's health agency. Marshall, a Louisville native with a round face and a trimmed mustache, has been an OB-GYN and teacher with the University of Louisville School of Medicine for nearly four decades. For just as long, he's owned what is now the state's last abortion clinic. EMW Women's Surgical Center sits on a stretch of sprawling, sparsely populated real estate in downtown Louisville, across from a cinema-sized money lender and down the block from a Subway restaurant.

Continued: https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-health-officials-in-pro-life-states-are-quietly-dismantling-abortion-access

31.07.2019