A year after Tennessee’s abortion ban, 14,000 people have faced limited choices, devastating consequences

Organizations nationwide pull together to offer options for unwanted pregnancies

by Sono Motoyama
August 24, 2023

In the year since Tennessee’s abortion ban went into effect on Aug. 25, 2022, about 14,000 pregnant people in the state have been forced to find other solutions for their unwanted pregnancies.

Some have driven hours to out-of-state clinics for abortions. Others have ordered and taken FDA-approved pills, with possible risk of prosecution. Still others, unable to obtain an abortion in Tennessee, have carried their pregnancies to term. Some have even turned to unsafe and ineffective methods, such as taking herbs, large amounts of alcohol or medications unintended for pregnancy termination.

Continued: https://mlk50.com/2023/08/24/a-year-after-tennessees-abortion-ban-14000-people-have-faced-limited-choices-devastating-consequences/

USA – Most states received a D or F grade on maternal mental health. It could get worse.

By Carlotta Dotto and Alex Leeds Matthews, CNN
Sat July 29, 2023

Nearly every state in the United States is neglecting access to maternal mental health care, according to a recent report, and experts fear the situation could get worse as more states severely restrict or ban abortion.

All but 10 US states received either a D or F grade on a number of key measures of maternal mental health risk policies and access to care — including access to therapists, psychiatrists or mental health treatment programs, according to a May report released by the nonprofit Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, in partnership with researchers from George Washington University. This is the group’s first report grading states on maternal mental health resources and policies.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/29/health/most-states-received-a-d-or-f-grade-on-maternal-mental-health-it-could-get-worse/index.html

USA – Domestic Abusers Are Using Abortion Bans to Control Their Victims

After Roe v. Wade fell, the National Domestic Violence Hotline saw a 99-percent increase in callers reporting that people were trying to control their reproductive choices.

By Carter Sherman
July 13, 2023

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, people warned abortion bans would become another tool for people to abuse their partners. A year later, early data indicates those warnings were right.

In the year before Roe fell, roughly 1,230 people told the National Domestic Violence Hotline that they had endured some kind of what anti-domestic abuse activists call “reproductive coercion,” including being denied an abortion or being forced into one. In the year since it was overturned, 2,442 people said the same. That’s a 99-percent increase.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy3yny/abortion-bans-domestic-abusers

Abortion access could continue to change in year 2 after the overturn of Roe v. Wade

July 3, 2023
Selena Simmons-Duffin

From the moment the Supreme Court decision overturning the right to an abortion was leaked last spring, researchers and pundits began to predict the consequences.

A year later, data is beginning to bring the real-life effects into focus. Over a dozen states have near total abortion bans, with several more state bans in the works. At least 26 clinics have closed. In Texas, nearly 10,000 more babies were born in the state since its 2021 "heartbeat bill" took effect.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/07/03/1185849391/abortion-access-could-continue-to-change-in-year-2-after-the-overturn-of-roe-v-w

Republicans’ abortion bans are nothing like those in Europe

Yes, even the 12-week ones.

By Rachel M. Cohen
Jun 6, 2023

Republicans scrambling to address mounting backlash to abortion bans have landed on what they hope they can market as a moderate political compromise: limiting abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Over the last month, Republicans in North Carolina and Nebraska have passed 12-week abortion bans, a dramatic reduction in access for states that previously allowed abortion up until 20 weeks and 22 weeks, respectively.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/23741997/republicans-12-week-abortion-bans-europe-roe-dobbs

06.06.2023

Commentary

12-week limit

abortion on request up to 12 weeks

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

coverage for abortion

Colorado becomes the first state to ban controversial abortion pill reversals

As pills emerge as the latest front in the war over abortion, the practice of administering progesterone after mifepristone may soon be labeled as ‘medical misconduct’ in the state.

Claire Cleveland, KFF Health News
May 3, 2023

In Glenwood Springs, Colorado, registered nurse Katie Laven answers calls from people who’ve started the two-pill medication abortion regimen and want to stop the process.

“They are just in turmoil,” said Laven, who works at the Abortion Pill Rescue Network and answers some of the roughly 150 calls it says come in each month. “They feel like, ‘Well, maybe an abortion would make it better.’ And then they take the abortion pill and they’re like, ‘I don’t feel better. In fact, I feel much worse that I did that.’”

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2023/05/colorado-bans-abortion-pill-reversals/

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/

USA – The Underground Abortion Pill Network Is Booming

At least 20,000 abortion pills are estimated to have been shipped across the U.S. in the six months since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

By Carter Sherman
February 23, 2023

At least 20,000 packets of abortion pills were shipped to people in the United States in the six months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, two sources with knowledge of the situation told VICE News.

The suppliers of these estimated 20,000 packets are neither abortion clinics nor abortion telehealth organizations, but instead operate outside of the U.S. legal health care system. The demand for their pills, as well as their success at shipping them out undetected, are evidence of the thriving underground abortion network that has sprung up since Roe’s demise devastated access to abortion clinics.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k85wg/underground-abortion-pill-network

USA – Abortion Is Not a “Choice” Without Racial Justice

After Roe v. Wade, Angela Davis wrote about how the reproductive rights movement was failing women of color. As Roe is dismantled, her diagnosis is more crucial than ever.

Sara Matthiesen
January 25, 2022

In 2016 researchers at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, a public health project focused on reproductive well-being, made headlines with their “Turnaway Study.” The groundbreaking longitudinal study was comprised of nearly 8,000 interviews with 1,000 women who had either been “turned away” from abortion because they were past a clinic’s gestational limits or had successfully received abortions. Through interviews conducted every six months over a period of five years, the study compared the life circumstances of study participants following these two reproductive outcomes. The study, the first of its kind, sought to quantify the effects of being denied a wanted abortion.

Contrary to anti-abortion claims about the supposed psychological harm of ending a pregnancy, researchers found that obtaining an abortion did not increase women’s risk of developing PTSD, depression, or anxiety. Those denied abortions, on the other hand, did not fare as well.

Continued: https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/abortion-is-not-a-choice-without-racial-justice/

25.01.2023

Commentary

Featured

Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health

USA – Abortion restrictions may have increased suicide risk among women ages 20 to 34, new research suggests

A first-of-its-kind study found an association between laws that restrict abortions and suicide rates in younger women.

Dec. 28, 2022
By Aria Bendix

Restricted access to abortions may have increased the risk of suicide among women of reproductive age for more than four decades, new research from the University of Pennsylvania suggests.

Though suicide deaths are rare, they are the second leading cause of death among women ages 20-24 in the U.S. and the third leading cause among women ages 25-34.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/abortion-restrictions-may-increased-suicide-risk-younger-women-rcna63358

28.12.2022