USA – Anti-abortion activists are collecting the data they’ll need for prosecutions post-Roe

Body cams and license plates are already being used to track people arriving at abortion clinics.

By Abby Ohlheiser
May 31, 2022

The Supreme Court is shortly expected to issue its decision on a challenge to Roe v. Wade that will—if a leaked draft version of the opinion holds—end federal protection for abortion access across the US. If that happens, it will have far-reaching consequences for millions of people. One of those is that it could significantly increase the risk that anti-abortion activists will use surveillance and data collection to track and identify people seeking abortions, sending authorities information that could lead to criminal proceedings.

Opponents of abortion have been using methods like license plate tracking for decades. In front of many clinics around the US, it remains a daily reality. 

Continued: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/05/31/1052901/anti-abortion-activists-are-collecting-the-data-theyll-need-for-prosecutions-post-roe/


USA – Abortion Doesn’t Fuck Up Our Mental Health. Losing the Right to It Will.

"Forced parenthood only leads to continued cycles of trauma, as well as intergenerational trauma."

BY ROSEMARY DONAHUE
May 31, 2022

On Monday, May 2, a draft of a Supreme Court majority opinion vote written by Justice Samuel Alito to strike down Roe v. Wade was leaked. It hit the internet like a lightning bolt; though the law that preserves federal legal abortion hasn't officially been overturned yet, many have spent the last three weeks poring over the document's language, and its potential implications have brought the nation to yet another emotional boiling point.

In the draft, which aims to kick the issue of abortion back down to the state level, Alito writes, "​Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences." But what, exactly, are these supposed consequences, and who has been suffering them? Anti-choice supporters often point to the supposed emotional harm caused by abortion, citing regret, depression, or even suicide as possible outcomes in its aftermath. While it's true abortion can be both an emotional topic and decision, this short-sighted argument isn't a valid cause to remove the choice from those who seek out this life-saving care.

Continued: https://www.allure.com/story/abortion-suicide-mental-health-link


Victorian doctors call for better abortion access, with US set to overturn Roe v Wade

ABC Goulburn Murray / By Anna Chisholm
May 31, 2022

"My heart sank," Amanda Kelly said.

The chief executive of Women's Health Goulburn North East was aimlessly scrolling on her phone when she read the news.

Roe versus Wade, the landmark ruling which in 1973 granted Americans the constitutional right to an abortion, was set to be overturned by the US Supreme court, a leaked document had revealed.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-31/abortion-rights-victoria-in-focus-america-roe-v-wade/101110872


U.S. Supreme Court leak stirs abortion passions in Africa

By Andrew Cawthorne

May 31 (Reuters) - When a desperate and bleeding 17-year-old girl walked into his rural health centre, Kenyan medic Ismail Mohammed Salim thought he was doing the right thing by helping her conclude an unwanted and dangerous pregnancy.

Days later, both were in jail.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-supreme-court-leak-stirs-abortion-passions-africa-2022-05-31/


Japan to approve abortion pill – but partner’s consent will be required

Delay in approving pill, and the possible $780 cost, reflect priorities of male-dominated parliament, say critics

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Tue 31 May 2022

Women in Japan could be forced to seek their partner’s consent before being prescribed the abortion pill, which will reportedly be approved late this year – three decades after it was made available to women in the UK.

Under Japan’s 1948 Maternal Protection Law, consent is already required for surgical abortions – with very few exceptions – a policy that campaigners say tramples over women’s reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/31/japan-to-approve-abortion-pill-but-partners-consent-will-be-required


Hundreds March in Puerto Rico in Defense of Abortion Rights

By: Carlos Edill Berríos Polanco
MAY 31, 2022

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A green wave of pro-choice demonstrators washed over Old San Juan on Saturday, May 28 —the International Day of Action for Women’s Health— to demand abortion rights be protected in the face of legislative attacks.

Following a leaked draft ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that signaled it was moving to overturn Roe v. Wade, and a push to limit abortion at 22 weeks by the Puerto Rico Life and Family Commission with Senate Project 693 (PS 693), pro-choice activists gathered in front of the Jose V. Toledo Courthouse in Old San Juan for a “Marea Verde por el Derecho a Decidir” (Green Wave for the Right to Decide) to protest against the assault on reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/05/31/prabortionmarch/


Protecting the lives of our women and girls

Tuesday May 31 2022
Rida Tahir

There has recently been a significant debate on unsafe abortions and their consequences throughout the world since a document of the draft judgement by the Supreme Court of the United States overturning Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) was leaked. Roe v Wade is a landmark US case. The verdict, which came out on January 22, 1973, said that states can't put too many restrictions on abortion.

Due to restrictive laws and policies, many women and girls (survivors/victims of child marriage, etc.) are forced to seek unsafe abortions, unavailability of safe abortion services, the high financial cost of accessing safe abortion services, and societal attitudes towards abortion and gender inequality. The WHO has revealed that: "Unsafe abortion is a leading cause of maternal deaths and morbidities. It can lead to physical and mental health complications and social and financial burdens for women, communities, and health systems."

Continued: https://www.geo.tv/latest/419958-headline-protecting-the-lives-of-our-women-and-girls


Australia – Roe vs Wade: The extraterritorial dimension of abortion politics

Anti-choice views have shaped US – and Australian – bids to block support for family planning in developing countries.

TANIA PENOVIC

Published 31 May 2022

The leaked draft majority opinion of the US Supreme Court in Dobbs vs Jackson
Women’s Health Organisation has signalled the likely overturning of Roe vs Wade
and intensified the politicisation of abortion in the United States in the
lead-up to November’s mid-term elections.

Much has been written about the politicisation of abortion in the United States
and its consequences for access to reproductive healthcare. The entrenchment of
the anti-choice standpoint in the Republican party has undermined access to
healthcare in the United States. Such attitudes have also shaped US foreign
policy, with impacts on abortion access in developing countries.

Continued: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/roe-vs-wade-extraterritorial-dimension-abortion-politics


Antiabortion laws are forced-birth laws. Here’s what that looks like.

By Kate Manning
May 31, 2022

Embarrassing, but I am going to talk about my bladder.

I’d prefer not to. But it seems important to mention how it’s been leaking since my first child was born (common after childbearing) now that Roe v. Wade appears poised to fall. Should the Supreme Court overturn that decision, more than half of U.S. states plan to severely restrict abortion care and will thus mandate pregnant women to give birth and suffer such physical consequences.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/31/antiabortion-laws-are-forced-birth-laws/


Inside the Effort to Promote Abortion Pills For a Post-Roe America

BY ABIGAIL ABRAMS AND JAMIE DUCHARME
MAY 31, 2022

If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade this summer, as a leaked draft opinion suggests it may, abortion will likely be banned or severely restricted in about half of the United States. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the country will return to a world before 1973, when the landmark Supreme Court case enshrined a constitutional right to abortion.

Abortion pills, which can be ordered online and delivered by mail, have already fundamentally changed reproductive rights in America. The regimen of two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, can in theory be safely taken anywhere, including in the privacy of people’s homes, eliminating the need to undergo a procedure, travel out of state, take time off work, or confront protestors outside of a clinic. In part because of this convenience, abortion pills—also known as medication abortion—are now the most common method of ending a pregnancy in the U.S.

https://time.com/6181162/abortion-pill-access-roe-v-wade/