USA – Some could use support after abortion. But quality care can be hard to find.

Counseling, care options for patients seeking truly impartial emotional support can be limited across the U.S.

BY: KELCIE MOSELEY-MORRIS
MAY 1, 2023

Alex D. turned 23 on the day the U.S. Supreme Court released the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. She was visiting the Omaha Zoo in Nebraska on vacation, riding the chairlift over the rhino exhibit when she saw the news alert on her phone. She was also eight weeks pregnant and needed an abortion.

“I felt hated. And I was like, ‘Nobody knows that I’m pregnant right now,’” she said. “I remember walking around the zoo and also feeling like everyone knew at the same time, like they were all looking at me and like my life was falling apart.”

Continued: https://idahocapitalsun.com/2023/05/01/some-could-use-support-after-abortion-but-quality-care-can-be-hard-to-find/

Punishable by death—how the US anti-abortion movement ended up proposing the death penalty

These proposals are unlikely to succeed but remind Americans what is at stake, writes Rebecca Kluchin

BMJ 2023; 380 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p711
Published 24 March 2023
Rebecca Kluchin, professor

In January 2023, 24 Republican legislators in the US state of South Carolina sponsored the South Carolina Equal Protection Act of 2023, a bill designed to extend constitutional rights to embryos and fetuses at all stages of development, granting them equality with women already born.1 The bill makes women and pregnant people who undergo abortion subject to the state’s homicide laws and punishments, including the death penalty. It allows exceptions if they face “imminent death or great bodily injury,” as well as to save the life of the mother, but not for rape or incest.

The anti-abortion movement celebrated a huge victory last summer when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. With the ruling for Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court threw abortion policy back to the judgment of individual states, making access to abortion care contingent on where one lives. Since then, 14 states have criminalised abortion.2 South Carolina legislators attempted to ban the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy, but the state supreme court ruled that effort unconstitutional in January. The Equal Protection Act is one of several legislative efforts to ban the procedure again.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p711

USA – ‘Abortion Regret’ Shows the Long History of a Favorite Anti-Choice Talking Point

‘Abortion Regret’ Shows the Long History of a Favorite Anti-Choice Talking Point

Apr 19, 2019
Dr. Cynthia Greenlee

Abortion rights supporters tout relief as the signature emotion that most abortion seekers experience after their procedures. Anti-choicers have their own frequently publicized post-abortion feeling: regret.

As the recent book Abortion Regret: The New Attack on Reproductive Freedom by scholars Shoshanna Erlich and Alesha Doan argues, emotions don’t occur in a vacuum. As individual and in-the-moment as emotions appear, their meanings—and how they are expressed—are socially and politically constructed, sometimes in complex ways and sometimes in simplistic binaries that say “men punch walls when they get angry” and “women cry.”

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/04/19/abortion-regret-shows-the-long-history-of-a-favorite-anti-choice-talking-point/

Queensland doctors accused of ‘deep disrespect’ for women seeking abortion

Queensland doctors accused of 'deep disrespect' for women seeking abortion
Ahead of legalisation debate, pro-choice GP says regional doctors ‘dictate to women’

Ben Smee
Sun 7 Oct 2018

Doctors in regional Queensland routinely treat women seeking an abortion with “deep disrespect” and dictate scripture instead of dispensing medical advice, pro-choice GPs in the state say.

“Abortion is a mortal sin and you’ll go to hell,” one doctor reportedly told a woman in Cairns, who had asked about terminating her unwanted pregnancy.
Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/08/queensland-doctors-accused-of-deep-disrespect-for-women-seeking-abortion

South Africa – The Gospel of Shame: How Christian groups thwart the right to abortion

The Gospel of Shame: How Christian groups thwart the right to abortion

21 Sep 2018
Pontsho Pilane

Are faith-based NGOs breaking the law when they refuse to give women information on where to terminate their pregnancies?

Lerato Molefe stares blankly at the sign erected in the yard in front of her. Her eyes are fixed on the blue silhouette drawing of two women with bulging bellies.

“FREE pregnancy test” ... “Information on OPTIONS”, the sign reads.

Continued: https://bhekisisa.org/article/2018-09-21-00-the-gospel-of-shame-how-christian-groups-thwart-the-right-to-abortion-south-africa

21.09.2018

Commentary

Featured

News

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

Africa Cares for Life

Amato Pregnancy Counselling Centre

anti-choice lies

anti-choice manipulation

anti-choice misinformation

anti-choice scare-mongering

Cheryllyn Dudley

Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act

crisis pregnancy centres

Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction

Health Professions Council of South Africa

post-abortion syndrome

post-traumatic stress disorder

Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition

Some women feel grief after an abortion, but there’s no evidence of serious mental health issues

Some women feel grief after an abortion, but there’s no evidence of serious mental health issues

Kirsten Black
April 25, 2018

This week, the website Mamamia published, and then quickly removed, an article about the existence of “post-abortion syndrome” – a disorder apparently experienced by many women who have had an abortion. The article claimed this disorder has been concealed from the public and that the trauma of an induced abortion can be comparable to the experience of child sexual abuse or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suffered by war veterans.

Neither the term “post-abortion syndrome”, nor the claims about its characteristics, are supported by any national or international psychological societies. Of course, many women experience emotional responses to an abortion, which are normal reactions to a significant event. The range of normal psychological and emotional responses can include feelings of grief, regret, sadness and relief. These reactions are generally transient.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/some-women-feel-grief-after-an-abortion-but-theres-no-evidence-of-serious-mental-health-issues-95519

Australia – Here’s Why Mamamia Just Deleted An Article About Abortion

Here's Why Mamamia Just Deleted An Article About Abortion
The article does not quote a single medical professional or psychologist.

April 22, 2018
Gina Rushton, BuzzFeed News Reporter, Australia

Australian opinion and lifestyle website Mamamia this morning deleted an article about post-abortion syndrome (PAS), a condition that is oft-cited by anti-choice groups and church-backed "crisis pregnancy centres", but one which is widely discredited by scientific research and medical professionals.

"Mamamia has always been well known for its pro-choice stance and we have an 11-year history of content and advocacy in this area," managing editor Leigh Campbell told BuzzFeed News on Monday morning. "We have made the decision to remove this story while we further investigate its provenance."

Continued: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ginarushton/mamamia-just-deleted-this-article?utm_term=.xwzY5jRyV#.bnlYXZgbG

Ireland- Myths and lies about abortion must be debunked

Myths and lies about abortion must be debunked
We are all entitled to our own opinions and beliefs – but not our own facts

Apr 2, 2018
David Robert Grimes

Abortion has long been a contentious issue in Ireland, replete with emotive and frequently dubious rhetoric. This was recently exemplified by Save the Eighth billboard campaign featuring an abortion nurse detailing the horrors he had witnessed.

This testimony was somewhat undermined by the revelation it had been fabricated, leading to the unedifying sight of campaign manager John McGuirk rapidly pivoting from legal threats to grudging acceptance, a volte-face hard to distinguish from surrealist performance art. As the referendum looms ever closer, it is inevitable campaigning will become more charged, both online and off.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/myths-and-lies-about-abortion-must-be-debunked-1.3448176

Canada: Should anti-abortion groups be allowed to register as charities?

Should anti-abortion groups be allowed to register as charities?

By Amanda Connolly National Online Journalist Global News
January 16, 2018

Of the close to 300 branches of anti-abortion groups listed in a new accounting of such organizations in Canada, 77 per cent appear to hold charitable status.

But should they be?

For years, the answer from reproductive rights advocates has been a resounding “No,” but those calls have gained little traction politically among successive governments, either Conservative or Liberal.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/3961321/anti-abortion-groups-registered-charity/