Pressure and Stress Intensify for Abortion Providers Post-Roe

NOVEMBER 29, 2022
Susan Buttenwieser

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in late June, providers of abortion care have been dealing with emotional devastation, managing severe staff burnout, the possibility of facing criminal charges, and increased harassment from protestors.

Some providers also contended with the prospect of losing their jobs when abortion became illegal in their state, at times within hours of the decision, forcing their clinics to close down. By October, 66 clinics across 15 states had been forced to stop offering abortion care or had closed down entirely. Before the June 24 Dobbs decision, those 15 states had 79 clinics that provided abortion care; by October 2, that number had dropped to 13, all located in one state, Georgia.

Continued: https://womensmediacenter.com/news-features/pressure-and-stress-intensify-for-abortion-providers-post-roe

USA – Googling abortion? Your details aren’t as private as you think

Johana Bhuiyan in New York
Tue 29 Nov 2022

In the wake of the US supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, Google pledged fresh policies to protect people’s abortion-related data. But new research has shown the way our location and other personal data is stored remains largely unchanged, raising fears that intimate details of a person’s abortion search could be used to penalize them.

Google responds to tens of thousands of requests each year from law enforcement agencies seeking access to the vast troves of data collected on its users. In one six-month period in 2021, the most recent data publicly available, Google received nearly 47,000 law enforcement requests, affecting more than 100,000 accounts, and responded with some amount of data to 80% of them. The Dobbs decision sparked concerns that such data could be used to prosecute people seeking abortions in states where it is banned – for instance, if they searched for or traveled to an abortion clinic.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/29/abortion-rights-us-google-roe-dobbs

29.11.2022

Commentary

Featured

abortion surveillance

Accountable Tech

Aditi Ramesh

digital surveillance and abortion

Giliann Karon

Google Maps and abortion

Google searches for abortion

Jackie Singh

Surveillance Technology Oversight Project

Tom Kemp

Winnie King

United States

Abortion in Uzbekistan: Legal, Accessible, Declining

Abortion in Uzbekistan has never been politicized as it has been in the West, but terminating a pregnancy is still becoming less common.

By Niginakhon Saida
November 29, 2022

In Uzbekistan, women have always had access to safe abortion. Current legislation allows the termination of a pregnancy within the first 12 weeks and at any stage if the pregnancy threatens the mother’s health or life. The law lists 86 types of various life and health threatening medical indications, including severe types of diabetes, hereditary and degenerative mental disorders, mood disorders, epilepsy, and more. Age is also viewed as a risk factor and girls under 14 are allowed to access abortion.

At the same time, abortion and the delivering of babies have long been among nine types of medical practices that cannot be performed by private medical entities, along with organ transplants, blood donation, providing medical-forensic examinations and other similar medical services. Such services are restricted to the government in part as an effort to prevent the sale of children and the illegal documentation of births and deaths.

Continued: https://thediplomat.com/2022/11/abortion-in-uzbekistan-legal-accessible-declining/

29.11.2022

U.S. Overturn of Roe Will Embolden Anti-Abortion Movements Abroad

11/29/2022
by MICHELLE ONELLO

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ruled that there is no U.S. constitutional right to abortion, will have ripple effects around the world, according to the International Center for Research on Women’s (ICRW) policy brief, “U.S. Foreign Policy Implications of Overturning Roe v. Wade.” While Dobbs did not change existing U.S. foreign policy regarding abortion, the brief argues that it will embolden anti-abortion movements abroad, contribute to global stigmatization of abortion, cause confusion for policy implementation and open the door for new restrictions—all of which will negatively impact the health, economic resources and well-being of women throughout the world.

Dobbs is a reminder that current U.S. foreign aid restrictions “are not aligned with best health care practices nor consistent with human rights and bodily autonomy principles.”

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2022/11/29/us-overturn-roe-v-wade-abortion-abroad-foreign-policy-helms-amendment-global-gag-rule/

Without Abortion, Doctors in Texas Are Forced to Witness Horrible Outcomes

We’re supposed to be able to give patients choices on how to handle high-risk pregnancy complications. A new paper shows what happens when we can’t.

BY CHAVI EVE KARKOWSKY
NOV 28, 2022

Usually, articles in medical journals are about science; they bring data to their readers, who can use them to provide evidence-based care to their patients.

But sometimes, evidence is an expression of grief or even rage. A recent journal article, “Maternal Morbidity and Fetal Outcomes Among Pregnant Women at 22 Weeks’ Gestation or Less with Complications in 2 Texas Hospitals After Legislation on Abortion,” contains such evidence.

Continued: https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/abortion-texas-roe-v-wade-data-maternal-morbidity.html

28.11.2022

A Woman Wanted an Abortion to Save One of Her Twins. She Had to Travel 1,000 Miles.

“There was no decision, really, because the baby wasn't going to survive... I’m not going to leave my son without a mom.”

By Carter Sherman
November 28, 2022

Early one Friday morning, about six weeks into her pregnancy, a woman started throwing up and didn’t stop for more than 36 hours. She tried drink after drink—ginger ale, tea, Pedialyte—to rehydrate, but the woman kept vomiting. Once chills started to wrack her body, she decided enough was enough. The woman, who VICE News is calling A. for privacy reasons, needed to go to the emergency room.

A., who already has a toddler son, had already been nervous about being pregnant in her home state of Texas. Although A. and her husband had planned for this pregnancy, A. worried that if anything went wrong, Texas’ ban on abortion would prevent her from getting help.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epz7ap/texas-abortion-ban-woman-travels-to-save-twin

28.11.2022

Commentary

Featured

abortion story

fatal fetal abnormality

Texas abortion ban

traveling for abortion

Kenya – Give adolescents contraceptives to address cases of teen pregnancies

By Esther Kimani
Nov 28, 2022

As the world population clocked eight billion recently, more than 3,500 delegates from across the globe gathered in Pattaya City, Thailand, for the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP).

The conference attended by key women’s rights advocates from Kenya, including Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris, provided a global stage for countries, organisations, and individuals to make important commitments, celebrate achievements, and interrogate barriers to the realisation of Reproductive Health goals, including access to contraception.

Continued: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/opinion/article/2001461905/give-adolescents-contraceptives-to-address-cases-of-teen-pregnancies

Italy – Feminists protest against Meloni over abortion rights

By Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it
Nov 27, 2022

Feminists protested in Rome against new Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling her a fascist and saying her government threatens the right to abortion in the country.

The protest aimed first at decrying the violence perpetrated against women and showing support for Iranian women but turned into denouncing Meloni’s government which protesters claimed threatened the right to abortion.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/feminists-protest-against-meloni-over-abortion-rights/

27.11.2022

Featured

News

abortion denial

conscientious objectors

Abortion will remain illegal in Malta, penalties will apply says PM

By Alice Taylor | EURACTIV.com
Nov 27, 2022

Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela confirmed that abortion will remain illegal in Malta and anyone found abusing new legislation designed to allow pregnant mothers to be treated even if such treatment could result in a termination, will face legal consequences.

Malta is home to some of the world’s most restrictive abortion laws with the procedure being a criminal offence in all circumstances including rape, incest, or if they mother’s life is at risk.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/abortion-will-remain-illegal-in-malta-penalties-will-apply-says-pm/

27.11.2022

USA – The case against medical abortion rejects science and embraces falsehoods

BY GREER DONLEY AND PATRICIA ZETTLER, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS
11/27/22

On Nov. 18, a group of antiabortion activists sued the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to try to remove mifepristone from the market. Mifepristone is the only drug that is FDA-approved to terminate a pregnancy. The lawsuit is based on several fundamental mischaracterizations of the FDA’s decision-making and the scientific evidence surrounding medication abortion.  

If this lawsuit is nevertheless successful, it would apply nationally and remove the drug from the market throughout the United States. It is therefore another reminder that the antiabortion movement will not stop with overturning Roe v Wade and banning abortion in half the country— its goal is to stop abortion everywhere. 

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/3751672-the-case-against-medical-abortion-rejects-science-and-embraces-falsehoods/

27.11.2022