How the US Christian Right Funds Anti-Abortion Activities Abroad

Right-wing US groups have spotted an opportunity to ramp up their activities since Roe v. Wade’s repeal.

by KATY FALLON, pictures by JNO.SKINNER
MARCH 13, 2024

In April 2023, Janet K. Museveni, Uganda’s first lady, published a photo on social media that rang serious alarm bells for advocates of reproductive and LGBTQ rights. The photo sparked concern because of a specific person in it: Sharon Slater, who heads the US nonprofit Family Watch International. The organization describes its work as “strengthening the family,” but the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has designated it as a hate group for its efforts to “further anti-LBGT and anti-choice stances.”

The SPLC is one of several rights groups and monitors that have called attention to the work of Slater and Family Watch International. More worrisome still, the photo of Museveni and Slater came shortly after Uganda’s parliament passed harsh anti-gay legislation that allows for a life-sentence for adults convicted of engaging in consensual, same-sex intercourse. Family Watch International did not reply to a request for comment, but the group has previously denied claims it had lobbied or advocated for the bill.

Continued: https://inkstickmedia.com/how-the-us-christian-right-funds-anti-abortion-activities-abroad/


What Republicans get wrong about abortion

Their anti-abortion crusade threatens liberty, privacy and the family – values they claim to care about.

ANN FUREDI
8th February 2024

Who would have thought that in 2024, more than half a century after abortion became safe and legal throughout most of the Western world, it would become one of the key issues of the US presidential election? And who would have thought that Democratic politicians would feel the need to embark on a ‘Fight for Reproductive Freedoms Tour’ across the country? Last month, vice-president Kamala Harris launched the tour at an event in Wisconsin, promising to ‘embrace [the issue of abortion] to the full’.

To most outside observers, it’s astonishing that this fight for reproductive rights is still ongoing in the US. Pro-choice optimists might reasonably have expected this issue to have been resolved during Barack Obama’s presidency, when the pro-choice Democrats last had a majority in both houses of congress. But his administration failed to pass any federal legislation to protect abortion. Instead, he chose to rely on the limited protections granted by the 1973 Supreme Court ruling on Roe v Wade, which was overturned by conservative justices in 2022.

Continued: https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/02/08/what-republicans-get-wrong-about-abortion/


France on-track to constitutionalize abortion rights

By Claudia Colliva and Maya Szaniecki, CNN
Tue January 30, 2024

The French National Assembly has passed a historic bill that moves the country one step closer to enshrining the right to abortion in its constitution.

In a vote in the lower house of the French parliament on Tuesday, 493 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill, 30 against. The bill will now move to the Senate for debate and a vote and, if approved, a special body composed of both chambers of the parliament will meet again for its adoption.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/europe/france-abortion-rights-vote-intl/index.html


3 key things Biden and Harris are missing in their election campaign on abortion

Can abortion alone secure Biden’s second term? The president is making it a centerpiece of his reelection bid, but activists want more.

By Annabel Rocha
January 26, 2024

The Biden-Harris Administration is making it clear that the backs of their bid for reelection is built on restoring Roe v. Wade, attempting to appeal to the 18% of voters who told NBC News that abortion was their top issue in the upcoming election in a Nov. 2023 survey.

Yesterday Biden issued an invitation to Texas mom Kate Cox to attend the State of Union Address in March. Cox made headlines after being forced to flee the state to seek abortion to terminate her life-threatening pregnancy, and is the first pregnant adult to sue for the right to have an abortion since Roe was enacted, according to the Texas Tribune.

Continued: https://www.reckon.news/news/2024/01/3-key-things-biden-and-harris-are-missing-in-their-election-campaign-on-abortion.html


Clinicians to Lawmakers: Abortion Bans in the United States are Causing a Health and Human Rights Crisis

On the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, abortion bans continue to harm patients and put clinicians in impossible situations. Physicians for Human Rights joins the renewed call for protection of fundamental rights to health and reproductive justice.

January 18, 2024
By William Jaffe, Advocacy Coordinator

January 22 will mark the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which established federal protection of the right to abortion in the United States. Since June 2022, when the Supreme Court reversed Roe, at least 14 states have adopted abortion bans imposing severe civil and criminal penalties on clinicians for providing abortion except in very narrow circumstances. 

Health and human rights advocates across the United States – including Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) – oppose these bans and the profound harm they cause, to patients and clinicians alike. Read on for a recap of PHR’s work on reproductive justice at the national and international arenas, and a look at how we’re gearing up for the year ahead.

Continued: https://phr.org/our-work/resources/clinicians-to-lawmakers-abortion-bans-in-the-united-states-are-causing-a-health-and-human-rights-crisis/


Democrats condemn ‘cruel’ abortion bans ahead of 51st anniversary of Roe

‘Extreme’ Republican-backed bans have caused untold ‘suffering’ for women, senators say, and vow to restore federal abortion rights

Jessica Glenza
Wed 17 Jan 2024

Senate Democrats underscored their commitment to abortion rights in a press conference on Wednesday, ahead of the 51st anniversary of Roe v Wade. The now-overturned supreme court case provided American women with a constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years.

Experts at the briefing described Republican-backed abortion bans across the country as “cruel”, “extreme” and causing untold “suffering” for American women, thousands of whom are forced to travel across state lines for abortions or be forced to remain pregnant.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/17/democrats-restore-abortion-rights-roe-v-wade-2024-election


Applying global lessons to protect abortion access in the United States

Strategies used in other countries, such as state referendums and strategic litigation, can help restore and protect abortion access in the United States, argue Terry McGovern and colleagues.

BMJ 2024; 384
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2022-073833
Published 03 January 2024

Terry McGovern, Mary Favier, Laura Gil, Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio, Clarisa Bencomo, Ira Memaj, Samantha Garbers, Malia Maier

Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, eliminating the federal constitutional right to an abortion, the introduction of state laws and policies has made the legal and healthcare landscape more challenging. Twenty states have banned or severely restricted abortion care,1 and recent legislation is restricting access to abortion medication as well as abortion services, with Wyoming becoming the first state explicitly to ban the use of abortion medication.2

In response, US abortion rights advocates have pushed to extend federal protections and the federal government has taken important steps to expand and protect access to medication abortion. These efforts have focused on strengthening executive branch rules and guidance because the lack of a pro-abortion majority in Congress prevents legislation being passed to protect abortion. In January 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration eliminated a requirement that mifepristone, the most common form of medication abortion, be dispensed in person.3 In December 2022, the Department of Justice ruled that it was legal to post mifepristone or misoprostol, another drug often used in medication abortion, to anyone seeking an abortion.4 While these efforts are critical, federal level mitigation strategies alone are insufficient to preserve and expand abortion access and are vulnerable to legal challenges, especially if an anti-abortion administration is elected in 2024.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2022-073833


USA – The Impact Of Restrictive Abortion Laws In 2023

JANUARY 1, 2024
15-Minute Listen

From NPR's daily news podcast, Consider This: Nearly two years into Roe v. Wade being overturned, pregnant people continue to have a hard time accessing abortion and miscarriage care. This year saw the addition of new restrictive abortion laws in some states and protection of existing abortion laws in others.

What does this mean for abortion care in 2024, and how might all of this affect the 2024 elections?

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/1197958788/restrictive-abortion-laws-2023


Canada – ‘They will be refused care’: Inside an American ally’s decision to warn citizens about the US

Abortion rulings and anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the States moved Ottawa to alert Canadians about travel risks.

By ZI-ANN LUM
Dec 24, 2023

OTTAWA — It was a polite Canadian warning from a close friend and neighbor. But Canada’s updated travel advisory to its citizens, counseling them to be careful about traveling to the United States, set off an international furor last summer.

The message renewed attention over the rightward shift in state-level policies governing abortion and the rights of LGBTQ+ people — a trend that has stirred deep concern in Canada, especially after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/24/canada-us-travel-advisory-00132936


State Policy Trends 2023: In the First Full Year Since Roe Fell, a Tumultuous Year for Abortion and Other Reproductive Health Care

Kimya Forouzan and Isabel Guarnieri, Guttmacher Institute
December 19, 2023

In 2023, the first full year since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, state legislatures took key action on sexual and reproductive health. While many states increased access and piloted new policy solutions to expand and protect abortion and other sexual and reproductive health care, others sought to further curtail access.

The landscape of abortion access in the United States is fractured: Fourteen states enforce total bans, and seven more restrict access under limits that also would have been unconstitutional under Roe. As of December 13, 2023, another 22 states and the District of Columbia had enacted 129 measures to protect abortion access this year—the highest number of protections ever enacted in a single year.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/2023/12/state-policy-trends-2023-first-full-year-roe-fell-tumultuous-year-abortion-and-other