August 30, 2021
the Conversation
Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole recently found himself at the centre of the abortion debate as he hit the campaign trail in advance of the federal election on Sept. 20.
The controversy arose when he stated he was pro-choice while simultaneously claiming that he supported the rights of physicians to deny abortions on the basis of conscience.
Continued: https://theconversation.com/erin-otooles-abortion-stance-serves-neither-physicians-nor-women-166728
JURIST Staff
AUGUST 30, 2021
After years of advocacy by women’s rights groups, the Government of Nepal has agreed to decriminalize abortion and protect the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls. Nepalese law students Smriti Phuyal and Smriti Pantha from NLU Delhi and Kathmandu University School of Law file this exclusive report for JURIST from Kathmandu.
The move began when the Center for Reproductive Rights and its Nepal-based partners made a compliance report for the Universal Periodic Review (“UPR”) focusing on the barriers to safe abortion services in Nepal and its impact on the sexual and reproductive health rights of women.
Abortion providers are preparing for the law to take effect this week
Caroline Kitchener
August 30, 2021
HOUSTON — Kathy Kleinfeld’s cellphone lit up for the first time on Monday at 3 a.m. By 7 a.m., she had 13 missed calls. When she couldn’t be reached by phone, she said, patients emailed, desperate to schedule their abortion with Houston Women’s Reproductive Services before Wednesday, Sept. 1, when Texas is on track to ban abortions after six weeks gestation, before most people know they’re pregnant.
Calls soared once Kleinfeld got to work. The ringing of the office phones reverberated as Kleinfeld, the clinic director, and three other staff members juggled up to seven calls at once, jumping up every few minutes to buzz in a patient at the door. While S.B. 8 could still be stopped before Wednesday, clinic staff counseled patients as if the law was a certainty.
The law, set to go into effect on Wednesday, bans abortions after about six weeks and deputizes citizens to file suits to enforce it.
By Adam Liptak
Published Aug. 30, 2021
WASHINGTON — Abortion providers in Texas asked the Supreme Court on Monday to block a state law banning abortions in the state as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The law, one of the most restrictive in the nation, is poised to go into effect on Wednesday.
If the Supreme Court does not intervene, lawyers for the providers said, access to abortion in Texas could largely end.
Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/us/supreme-court-texas-abortion.html
Law letting individuals sue those helping women access service will go into effect on 1 September unless federal court intervenes
Jessica Glenza
Mon 30 Aug 2021
Texas could become the first state in decades to ban most abortions, if a federal court allows a law called SB8 to take effect on 1 September.
A hearing was originally scheduled on Monday on whether the court should block the law. But the fifth circuit court of appeals cancelled the hearing late on Friday, and denied reproductive rights group an emergency motion on Sunday.
Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/30/abortion-law-federal-court-decision-texas
8/30/2021
by JULIET SCHULMAN-HALL
The state of Texas is currently a COVID-19 hotspot: The number of Texans under 50 being admitted to hospitals is larger than at any point during the pandemic; the number of available ICU beds has reached a new low; and the state has resorted to bringing 8,100 new health care workers in from other states to alleviate pressure on Texas hospital workers who say they’re “at a breaking point.” But Texas lawmakers seem more focused on a different public health catastrophe: banning abortion.
On August 10, the Texas Senate passed S.B. 4—authored by anti-abortion Democrat Eddie Lucio and supported by Gov. Greg Abbott—which bans medication abortion after seven weeks. While telemedicine abortion has been available for years, its current accessibility is particularly important as a highly contagious pandemic surges through the state—since it’s proven to be a safe, effective and popular way to procure an abortion. S.B. 4 awaits a vote in the Texas House before it becomes law.
Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2021/08/30/texas-abortion-bans-youth-abortion-fund-buckle-bunnies/
By Melissa Cunningham
August 30, 2021
Surgical terminations have dropped in Australia in recent years as an increasing number of women instead choose to take an abortion pill early in their pregnancy.
A new study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, for the first time examines abortion rates nationally since two oral medications – mifepristone and misoprostol – were added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 2013.
By Lily Nothling
Aug 29, 2021
When Zoe Eaton fell pregnant during high school, she knew she wanted an abortion, but getting one didn't come without hurdles.
"I didn't expect that I was going to be pregnant at 17. It was not something I wanted for myself," Ms Eaton said. "To me, my future looked pretty bleak if I had to go through with that pregnancy."
Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-30/access-to-abortion-really-difficult-in-regional-qld/100414012
Kia Guarino, Truthout
August 29, 2021
Roe v. Wade is a lightning rod in the U.S. — but the irony is that it upholds several of our country’s oft-proclaimed core values. While the landmark SCOTUS case is frequently cited as the legalization of abortion, the case actually deliberates the concept of personal autonomy and liberty.
Specifically, Roe v. Wade articulates how states can regulate abortion, upholds the right to privacy in specific personal decisions and reiterates that it is not the state’s job to uphold a specific ideology. As we reckon with the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned in June 2022, every single person should consider the precedent that this could set. By dismantling the landmark case that protects an individual’s right to private decision-making about their body, conservatives are opening the door to the possibility of more state-level regulation of private decisions.
Aug 29, 2021
PRAYAGRAJ: Hearing the petition of a minor rape survivor seeking permission to terminate her 19-week pregnancy, the Allahabad high court has directed constitution of a medical board for carrying out her medical examination and submitting its recommendations on the feasibility of medical termination of pregnancy (MTP).
The petitioner had sought directions to the state government to permit her to terminate her undesirable pregnancy, stating, “The pregnancy has resulted in such extreme anguish to her that it constituted grave injury to her mental health.”
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