OB-GYN struggles to navigate care under Texas abortion law

October 31, 2021

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, an OB-GYN in Texas, about the state of reproductive rights two months after the passage of Senate Bill 8, a restrictive abortion law.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Tomorrow the Supreme Court begins oral arguments in what could be one of the most consequential abortion rights cases in decades, United States v. Texas. That's a federal challenge to that state's restrictive abortion law, known as Senate Bill 8, that went into effect in early September. That bill bans abortion after six weeks and, as you've probably heard, also sets up a bounty program for individuals to get paid for reporting people who violate it. It's been in effect for nearly two months. A study from the University of Texas at Austin found that the number of abortions performed last month dropped 50% compared to last year.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/31/1050980382/ob-gyn-struggles-to-navigate-care-under-texas-abortion-law

In Texas Abortion Law Case, a Spotlight on Brett Kavanaugh

If the Supreme Court is to reverse course after refusing to block the law in September, at least one conservative justice must change positions. Justice Kavanaugh is the most likely candidate.

By Adam Liptak
Published Oct. 31, 2021

WASHINGTON — Exactly two months after the Supreme Court let Texas effectively outlaw most abortions in the state, it will hear a pair of arguments on Monday that could allow it to reverse course. Much of the attention will be on Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

The court’s call for what amounts to a do-over suggests that something is afoot among the justices, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University. “Someone who was not on the fence is probably back on the fence,” she said.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/31/us/politics/kavanaugh-texas-abortion-law.html

How extremist Christian theology is driving the right-wing assault on democracy

The Texas abortion law is one step toward the true goal of Christian dominionism: Destroying democratic government

By PAUL ROSENBERG
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 31, 2021

Progressive policies and positions are supposed to be rooted in reality and hard evidence. But that's not always the case when it comes to the culture wars that have such an enormous impact on our politics — especially not since the unexpected evangelical embrace of Donald Trump in 2016, culminating in the "pro-life" death cult of anti-vaccine, COVID-denying religious leaders. If this development perplexed many on the left, it was less surprising to a small group of researchers who have been studying the hardcore anti-democratic theology known as dominionism that lies behind the contemporary Christian right, and its far-reaching influence over the last several decades.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2021/10/31/how-extremist-christian-theology-is-driving-the-right-wing-on-democracy/

USA – We can’t count on the Supreme Court to save abortion rights. We’ll have to do it ourselves

BY ROBIN ABCARIAN, COLUMNIST
OCT. 31, 2021

We have to face a disheartening fact: This country’s Supreme Court is no longer committed to protecting our constitutional rights.

The justices are believed to be on the verge of overturning Roe vs. Wade, or at least whittling it down to a meaningless stub by allowing brutally restrictive state abortion laws to stand.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-10-31/abortion-rights-supreme-court

India – New abortion rules recognise minors as vulnerable, seek to make services more accessible to them

Jagriti Chandra, NEW DELHI
OCTOBER 30, 2021

The new abortion rules notified by the Government recently recognise minors as a vulnerable category and seek to make services more accessible to them. But social stigma and conflict with POCSO Act, 2012, or the law against child sexual abuse, pose hurdles.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Rules, 2021, define new categories of vulnerable women who are allowed termination up to 24 weeks upon meeting certain conditions and with the permission of two doctors. These include minors, survivors of sexual assault and those with foetal malformation among others. Others may seek abortion up to 20 weeks with the permission of one doctor upon meeting certain criteria…

Continued: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/new-abortion-rules-recognise-minors-as-vulnerable-seek-to-make-services-more-accessible-to-them/article37253176.ece

Bolivia: Protests erupt and church criticised for interfering with 11-year-old girl’s abortion

Church authorities reportedly promised to help the family, who then decided not to allow the abortion to go ahead.

Saturday 30 October 2021

The Bolivian government has criticised the Catholic Church for interfering in an 11-year-old girl's abortion.

The girl became pregnant after allegedly being raped by her step-grandfather and, after her pregnancy was discovered at 21 weeks, her family requested permission for her to have an abortion.

Continued: https://news.sky.com/story/bolivia-protests-erupt-and-church-criticised-for-interfering-with-11-year-old-girls-abortion-12454863

30.10.2021

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Bolivian Episcopal Conference

‘Saving millions of lives’: Abortion could be decriminalised in Colombia in next month

‘Many women in Colombia are forced to have their rapist’s baby,’ says lawyer

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
Oct 30, 2021

Abortion could be decriminalised in Colombia in the next month as landmark decisions to legalise pregnancy terminations in Latin America have a “ripple effect” across the region, campaigners said.

Colombia decriminalised pregnancy terminations for women whose life or health is at risk, or in cases where there are fatal foetal abnormalities, or if the pregnancy is the by-product of rape or incest, back in 2006.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/abortion-colombia-constitutional-court-decriminalised-b1947814.html?r=2891

Bolivia: fate of 11-year-old girl raped by family member sparks abortion debate

Religious groups seek to force girl to give birth as intervention of the Catholic church questioned

Dan Collyns in Lima
Fri 29 Oct 2021

The fate of an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped by a family member has unleashed a fierce debate between human rights activists and the Catholic church in Bolivia, as religious groups seek to force her to complete the pregnancy and give birth.

The girl was impregnated after being repeatedly raped and suffering other sexual abuse by the father of her stepfather in the town of Yapacaní, in Bolivia’s eastern Santa Cruz region.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/29/bolivia-11-year-old-girl-rape-catholic-church

Texas Has Turned Citizen Against Citizen Over Abortion. How Did We Get Here?

Oct. 29, 2021
By Joshua Prager

Before the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that abortion was legal in all 50 states, the case did nothing for the women of Texas, where it began. A federal panel in Dallas ruled that Texas’ anti-abortion laws were unconstitutional. But the panel was concerned about interfering in state affairs. And so although it granted doctors and women the legal right to perform and have abortions, they could still be prosecuted.

“Apparently, we’re free to try them,” Dallas County’s District Attorney Henry Wade told the press, “so we’ll still do that.” Fearing the consequences, a hospital refused to abort the pregnancy of a 15-year-old girl who said she had been raped by her father.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/opinion/roe-v-wade-texas-abortion-law.html

Biden says pope said to keep receiving communion amid abortion row

President coy when asked if abortion came up in Vatican meeting, as US Catholic bishops weigh whether to deny him the sacrament

Joanna Walters in New York and agencies

Fri 29 Oct 2021

Joe Biden said on Friday that Pope Francis told him he should keep receiving
communion, after holding an unusually long meeting with him at the Vatican.

Asked if abortion came up in the talks, Biden said cryptically the pope told
him he was happy he was a good Catholic.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/29/biden-meets-pope-francis-urges-radical-decisions-cop26

29.10.2021