‘Cruel’: the supreme court could send one-time abortion deserts like Hawaii back in time

States in which abortion is legal but was long inaccessible have benefitted from the FDA’s expansion of a key abortion drug

Carter Sherman
Sun 24 Mar 2024

They treated a patient who had wanted to get pregnant, but decided to get an abortion rather than have a child with her abusive partner. They treated patients who had lost their houses in the 2023 Maui fires, found themselves homeless and pregnant, and wanted abortions. They treated patients who got pregnant after someone tampered with their birth control and patients who could not afford to take time off work to have an abortion.

Colleen Bass and Sharon Offley, two certified nurse midwives from Hawaii, were able to do all of that because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided, over the last decade, to expand the availability of a common abortion pill.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/24/hawaii-mifepristone-abortion-pill

UK – Senior Labour figures seeking to water down plans to decriminalise abortion

MPs due to have free vote on proposal but some in party have privately expressed concerns it goes too far

Eleni Courea Political correspondent
Sat 23 Mar 2024

Senior Labour figures want to water down proposed legislation to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales ahead of a historic Commons debate on the issue.

Later this spring, MPs are due to have a free vote on a proposal by the Labour MP Diana Johnson to abolish the criminal offence associated with a woman ending her own pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/23/senior-labour-figures-seeking-water-down-plans-decriminalise-abortion

Many people now rely on telehealth to access abortion pills — but the Supreme Court could change that

Next week, the court will hear arguments in a case that could restrict the use of mifepristone, which a growing number of Americans get without an in-person appointment.

Shefali Luthra, Health Reporter
March 20, 2024

A Supreme Court battle that will play out next week over how patients access mifepristone — one of the two drugs used in a medication abortion — could have sweeping consequences for Americans, regardless of their state’s abortion laws.

In recent years, Americans seeking to terminate their pregnancies have come to increasingly rely on the pills, with medication now making up a majority of all abortions.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2024/03/telehealth-abortion-pill-access-supreme-court/

Malawi – Media asked to question Govt why Termination of Pregnancy Bill is not being tabled in Parliament

March 21, 2024
Watipaso Mzungu JNR

A consortium of civil society organizations (CSOs) implementing Breaking the Barriers Project has made an impassionate appeal to the media in the country to question why, up to now, government is reluctant to table the Termination of Pregnancy Bill in Parliament.

Continued: https://www.nyasatimes.com/media-asked-to-question-govt-why-termination-of-pregnancy-bill-is-not-being-tabled-in-parliament/

UK – Rishi Sunak declines to back MP’s Down’s syndrome abortion law change

March 20, 2024
By Chas Geiger

A call for the government to back a move to outlaw the abortion after 24 weeks of foetuses diagnosed with Down's syndrome has been rejected. Currently, pregnancies involving foetuses with Down's syndrome can be terminated up to the point of birth.

Conservative MP Sir Liam Fox is leading a cross-party campaign to bring the time limit into line with foetuses without serious disabilities. Rishi Sunak said votes on abortion had always been a "matter of conscience".

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68617513

20.03.2024

News

1967 Abortion Act

Down Syndrome

Down's Syndrome Association

Heidi Crowter

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act -

USA – Why the rift between anti-abortion activists and Republican lawmakers is growing

Alabama supreme court’s decision causing a temporary halt in IVF care shines spotlight on problem between two groups

Ava Sasani
Sun 17 Mar 2024

There is a growing rift in the decades-old marriage between anti-abortion activists and Republican lawmakers.

The problem came into view last month, after a bombshell decision from the Alabama supreme court temporarily halted in vitro fertilization (IVF). The ruling, which described frozen embryos as “extrauterine children”, unraveled when the Republican-controlled legislature passed short-term protections for IVF providers.

Continued; https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/17/anti-abortion-activists-republican-lawmakers-ivf-alabama

18.03.2024

News

fetal personhood

Heritage Foundation

in vitro fertilization

IVF

Kay Ivey

Life at Conception Act

Abortion rights at issue in European elections

Abortion rights are featuring in this year’s European election campaign in a way we have not seen before.

MAGDALENA FRENNHOFF LARSÉN
15th March 2024

The recent landmark decision in France to inscribe the right to abortion in the constitution serves to protect the law that first legalised abortion in the country in 1975. This law—the so-called Veil law—was championed by Simone Veil, one of France’s most admired and respected political figures, and an icon of the women’s-rights movement.

In 1974, Veil, a magistrate who had been asked by the French president, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, to serve as health minister in his government, delivered a momentous speech. She presented the public-health case for the decriminalisation of abortion to the National Assembly, which at the time was composed almost entirely of men.

Continued: https://www.socialeurope.eu/abortion-rights-at-issue-in-european-elections

15.03.2024

Commentary

Alternative for Germany

Emmanuel Macron

European parliamentEuropean parliament

European People’s Party

European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights

In France, abortion rights and hijab bans highlight a double standard on women’s rights

March 14, 2024
Roshan Arah Jahangeer

The French parliament recently voted in favour of enshrining the right to abortion into the country’s constitution. While crowds celebrated outside, the slogan “my body my choice” was projected onto the Eiffel Tower in giant letters.

Although concerns about barriers and access still remain, women in France are now guaranteed the right to an abortion up to 14 weeks into their pregnancy, mirroring Spain but still well behind Sweden’s 18 weeks and the 24 weeks allowed in The Netherlands.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/in-france-abortion-rights-and-hijab-bans-highlight-a-double-standard-on-womens-rights-225418

14.03.2024

Commentary

Amnesty International

anti-veiling laws

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

Gabriel Attal

hijab bans

Open Society Justice Initiative

Labour MEP makes plea for abortion to become fundamental right in EU Charter

Cyrus Engerer calls for the introduction of abortion to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in Brussels debate that follows French constitutional enshrinement

14 March 2024
by Matthew Vella

Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer billed himself the first Maltese in Brussels to have spoken in favour of women’s full bodily autonomy, in an impassioned intervention to a debate calling for abortion to become a fundamental right in the European Charter of fundamental rights.

Engerer, who has not yet committed himself to a re-election campaign for the 2024 elections, quoted various experiences of anonymous women who had to carry out illegal abortions in Malta due to domestic violence, rape, or illness.

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/news/ewropej/128109/labour_mep_makes_plea_for_abortion_to_become_fundamental_right_in_eu_charter

14.03.2024

News

Cyrus Engerer

Elisa Ferreira

EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

European Charter of Fundamental Rights

Kamala Harris puts abortion front and center with visit to Minnesota clinic

Vice-president toured Planned Parenthood facility signaling issue will be key in election

Carter Sherman
Thu 14 Mar 2024

Kamala Harris visited a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic on Thursday, becoming what is believed to be the first vice-president ever to do so.

Harris stopped by a clinic in Minnesota, a state where abortion remains legal following the overturning of Roe v Wade, as part of her nationwide tour to highlight the impact of Roe’s downfall. Harris also toured the clinic, which remained open to patients as the nation’s first female vice-president made her historic visit.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/kamala-harris-visits-abortion-clinic-minnesota

14.03.2024