Before he stormed the Capitol, ex-W.Va. lawmaker harassed women at an abortion clinic

By Samantha Schmidt and Caroline Kitchener
Jan. 16, 2021

Derrick Evans walked with his phone out in front of him, camera facing forward, as he advanced on the patient in the abortion clinic parking lot. Surrounding the car, clinic volunteers tried to shield the patient with umbrellas and their own bodies. It was no use: On this February morning in 2019, Evans captured the patient on Facebook live, streaming to tens of thousands of followers.

“You will not do this in secret in West Virginia,” Evans said. He wore a “Make America Great Again” hat, as he did every week when he protested outside the Women’s Health Center, the only abortion clinic left in the state.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/01/16/derrick-evans-abortion-clinic/

Argentine president signs abortion bill into law

Argentina becomes largest Latin American nation to allow legal abortions alongside Cuba, Uruguay, Guyana, parts of Mexico

Bala Chambers
15.01.2021

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez signed an abortion bill into law Thursday, allowing terminations in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The event was held at the Museo del Bicentenario de la Casa Rosada in the nation's capital, Buenos Aires, and attended by government officials and activists, some of whom waved green handkerchiefs which have become synonymous with the feminist pro-choice movement.

Continued: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/argentine-president-signs-abortion-bill-into-law/2110580

15.01.2021

Amy Coney Barrett’s First Abortion Ruling Is No Surprise

The Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday puts abortion patients’ health at risk.

Jan 14, 2021
Rewire News Group Staff

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration Tuesday in a ruling that puts abortion patients’ health at risk—the first abortion-related ruling with Amy Coney Barrett on the bench.

The decision in FDA v. ACOG reinstates a federal policy that requires medication abortion patients to pick up their abortion medications in person. Providers had challenged the policy because of the pandemic and a federal court had blocked it. The ruling puts that policy back in place.

Continued: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2021/01/14/amy-coney-barretts-first-abortion-ruling-is-no-surprise/

The Supreme Court Won’t Explain Why It Just Greenlit New Abortion Restrictions

The court issued its first abortion decision since Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed.

By LEAH LITMAN
JAN 14, 2021

On Tuesday evening, the Supreme Court released its first abortion decision since Senate Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor. The court’s unexplained, unsigned order allows the government to restrict access to the abortion pill. It also provides a strong signal that the new court is willing to indulge restrictions on abortion, even though it did not bother to explain why. Some may be inclined to write off the court’s decision since the incoming Biden administration could change the specific regulation at issue in the case, which required women to pick up mifepristone in person from a medical facility. But the decision serves as a standing invitation to states to impose yet more draconian restrictions on abortion.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/the-supreme-court-abortion-pill-order.html

Long Before the Capitol Riot, Anti-Abortion Extremists Showed Us the Dangers of Inflammatory Propaganda

It’s no coincidence several “pro-life” activists were in DC last week.

BECCA ANDREWS, Mother Jones
Jan 14, 2021

A week after the violent insurrection at the Capitol, we’re learning more and more about the people who charged the building. And recent reporting from Vice, Jezebel, and others reveal there were quite a few anti-abortion extremists at the pro-Trump rally, if not in the Capitol afterward as well. You’re probably thinking, hmm, ok, that makes sense—and it does! But the overlap of these universes cannot simply be boiled down to the fact that Trump supporters are more likely to strongly oppose abortion.

The violence we saw at the Capitol—and the inflammatory rhetoric and disinformation that led up to it—in fact mirrors what’s been plaguing the debate around abortion for several years.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/01/anti-abortion-extremists-capitol-riot-trump-propaganda-abby-johnson/

USA – This week’s SCOTUS ruling sends a ‘chilling signal’ on the future of abortion rights

Abortions have been available by mail during coronavirus. Not anymore.

Caroline Kitchener
Jan. 13, 2021

Julie Amaon wanted to make the process as easy as possible. Her organization — Just the Pill — began facilitating abortions by mail in October. After they scheduled a call with a doctor, patients in Minnesota would typically receive their pill in the mail within 72 hours. Amaon, a family medicine doctor and medical director for Just the Pill, always followed up with a care package: Oreos, sanitary pads and a bag of peach mango herbal tea.

The entire operation screeched to a halt Tuesday night, when the Supreme Court lifted a national injunction that allowed women to access the abortion pill remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. Since July, patients had been able to request an abortion pill without ever setting foot in a clinic or a doctor’s office, an accommodation instituted to protect patients from the virus.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/this-weeks-scotus-ruling-sends-a-chilling-signal-on-the-future-of-abortion-rights/

New Manitoba health minister not responsible for reproductive health, despite holding purse strings

Past PC health ministers deferred all questions about abortion to minister for status of women

Marina von Stackelberg · CBC News
Posted: Jan 13, 2021

Manitoba's Department of Health may be in charge of the funding, but the Progressive Conservative government has decided talking about reproductive health — including abortion — remains a women's issue.

The office for newly appointed Health Minister Heather Stefanson confirmed she'll continue the PC government's practice of sending questions about reproductive health care to the minister for the status of women.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/reproductive-health-minister-1.5870793

Anti-Abortion Activists Were All Over the Capitol Riots

“A young woman was just shot in the neck beside me in the Capitol Building,” tweeted one anti-abortion activist known for creating "Baby Lives Matter" murals.

By Carter Sherman
12.1.21

When a single shot rang out during the Capitol riot and struck Ashli Babbitt, anti-abortion activist Tayler Hansen was filming.

“A young woman was just shot in the neck beside me in the Capitol Building,” he wrote on Twitter, where he appeared to be filming just steps away from the shooting inside the Capitol Building. Then he shared a second video showing Babbitt on the floor with blood streaming down her face, as panicked people attempted to save her.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ad73w/anti-abortion-activists-were-all-over-the-capitol-riots

Supreme Court Grants Trump Administration Request to Endanger Abortion Patients During the Pandemic

In its First Abortion Decision Since Justice Barrett’s Confirmation, the Court Allowed the Trump Administration to Subject Abortion Patients to Needless Covid-19 Risk

JANUARY 12, 2021
American Civil Liberties Union

WASHINGTON — In its first ruling on abortion with Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the bench, the Supreme Court today reinstated a federal policy that requires patients seeking a medication used for early abortion care to incur unnecessary COVID-19 risks by traveling to a health center for the sole purpose of picking up a pill and signing a form.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) policy requires patients seeking mifepristone to pick up the pill in person at a hospital, clinic, or medical office, even when the patient has already been evaluated by a clinician using telehealth or at a prior in-person visit and will be receiving no medical services at the time. During the pandemic, this travel exposes patients to needless COVID-19 risks relating to transportation, childcare, and other interpersonal contact. With today’s decision from the Supreme Court, the in-person pill pick-up requirement will go back into effect immediately.

Continued: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/supreme-court-grants-trump-administration-request-endanger-abortion-patients-during

Supreme Court Revives Abortion-Pill Restriction

In their first abortion case since Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court, the justices reinstated a requirement that women seeking medication abortions pick up a pill in person.

By Adam Liptak, New York Times
Jan. 12, 2021

WASHINGTON — In the Supreme Court’s first ruling on abortion since the arrival of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court on Tuesday reinstated a federal requirement that women seeking to end their pregnancies using medications pick up a pill in person from a hospital or medical office.

The court’s brief order was unsigned, and the three more liberal justices dissented. The only member of the majority to offer an explanation was Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who said the ruling was a limited one that deferred to the views of experts.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/supreme-court-abortion-pill.html