Not just Ohio: Biased language is the hot new tactic to thwart ballot measures

Wording can affect a measure’s support among voters

BY: ZACHARY ROTH
AUGUST 31, 2023

Abortion-rights supporters filed a lawsuit Monday against what they call “deceptive” ballot language produced by Ohio officials for the state’s closely-watched upcoming referendum on the issue. But it isn’t just the Buckeye State that’s lately seeing fierce battles over the once-obscure topic of ballot language.

In recent weeks, officials in Missouri — where another abortion-rights measure is at issue — and Idaho also have been accused in lawsuits of seeking to thwart citizen initiatives they oppose by using biased and negative ballot language to describe the issue to voters. Arkansas last year saw a similar court fight after a state board rejected a proposed ballot measure that had gained the required number of signatures, claiming the ballot language didn’t explain the issue in enough detail.

Continued: https://coloradonewsline.com/2023/08/31/biased-language-ballot-measures/

Ohio – An abortion saved my life and made the family I have now possible

"For my own life and my family’s, I did what I never thought I would have to do – I ended the pregnancy," Emily Savors

Emily Savors, Guest Columnist
Aug 31, 2023

As a mother of two beautiful daughters, I can say with confidence that the incredible family I currently have would not be possible without abortion. My pregnancy journey has been incredibly long and difficult — it is the reason why my two daughters are nearly nine years apart.

It was early 1997, and I was newly married with a 4-year-old daughter from a previous marriage. My husband and I wanted more children, and by late spring, I was pregnant. My first pregnancy being uneventful, we settled in for an easy few months with expectations of a baby due in March 1998.

Continued: https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2023/08/31/ohio-mother-how-an-abortion-saved-my-family/70711306007/

31.08.2023

Opinion

abortion is life-saving

abortion story

Emily Savors

women's abortion stories

Abortion providers on two years of Texas ban: ‘We’re living in a devastating reality’

Senate Bill 8 wiped out almost all abortion care in the second-most populous state in the US, and served as a harbinger of what was to come over the rest of the country

by Mary Tuma
Thu 31 Aug 2023

Nearly a year before the US supreme court eviscerated Roe v Wade, the court allowed an unprecedented abortion ban to take effect in Texas, serving as a harbinger of what was to sweep over the rest of the country.

…. In the two years since, Texas abortion providers – some of the first in the US to experience a nearly post-Roe world – reflect on the devastating and lasting effect of the severe law, the trauma they felt denying patients care, and the struggle they faced when deciding whether or not to flee the state or stay put.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/31/texas-abortion-ban-senate-bill-8

Global Opposition To Abortion Is Getting More Strategic

Aug 31, 2023
By Amanda Seller, President MSI United States (for Forbes EQ)

In 2023, a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the opposition to abortion rights is more strategic, better funded and more harmful than at any point in history. Despite a growing global trend toward less restrictive access to abortion care, the opposition continues to have significant impact on the right to choose.

There are many factors contributing to their impact over the past decade, Conservative politicians have found abortion to be a mobilizing issue that can be used to “get out the vote.” They merge anti-choice sentiment with anti-LGBTQI+ and anti- gender-equality movements, to appeal to conservative audiences more comfortable with traditional patriarchal systems where women have fewer rights. Social media and cable television opinion programs provide opportunities to amplify their narratives in environments unchallenged by different opinions. The momentum they gained during the Trump administration when he expanded the global gag rule, continues to arouse anti-choice sentiment and cultivate opposition to choice activity around the world.

Continued: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeseq/2023/08/31/global-opposition-to-abortion-is-getting-more-strategic/?sh=3415cb6222b7

31.08.2023

Heartbeat International

MSI United States

World Congress of Families

Nigeria – How preventing unwanted pregnancies can reduce abortion, deaths — Experts

by Sade Oguntola
August 31, 2023

INDUCED abortion is illegal in Nigeria, except when performed to save a woman’s life. Both the penal code, which is generally applied in the country’s northern states, and the criminal code, which generally applies in the southern states, allow this exception and the regions specify similar criminal penalties for noncompliance.

Yet, pregnancy terminations are quite common and because they are often performed clandestinely or by unskilled providers, they are sometimes unsafe. A recent survey indicated that unintended pregnancy and abortion are experienced by women worldwide.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/how-preventing-unwanted-pregnancies-can-reduce-abortion-deaths-experts/

USA – Slavery rhetoric has long been part of abortion debate. ‘Abolitionists’ take it to next level.

BY: KELCIE MOSELEY-MORRIS
AUGUST 31, 2023

The first time Tina Marshall heard anti-abortion protesters call themselves “abolitionists,’” she said she burst out laughing.

Marshall, a Black woman who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, was counter protesting at an abortion clinic when a mostly white group — save one Black woman — surrounded her and told her they were abolitionists.

Continued: https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/31/slavery-rhetoric-has-long-been-part-of-abortion-politics-abolitionists-take-it-to-the-next-level/

Dominican Republic: Submission to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child – 94th Session

Human Rights Watch
August 31, 2023

The National Confederation of Rural Women (Confederación Nacional de Mujeres del Campo or CONAMUCA), Network of United Youth Voices (Red Juvenil Voces Unidas), the Coalition for Women’s Life and Dignity (Coalición por la Vida y la Dignidad de las mujeres), and Human Rights Watch write in advance of the 94th session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the “Committee”) and its review of the Dominican Republic. This submission addresses articles 3, 6, 24, 28, and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and covers access to abortion and specific aspects of the right to education.

The total abortion ban in the Dominican Republic, in effect since 1884, threatens the health and lives of girls, women, and pregnant people, and is incompatible with the country’s international human rights obligations.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/31/dominican-republic-submission-un-committee-rights-child

31.08.2023

adolescent pregnancy

Human Rights Watch

Luis Abinader

maternal mortality ratio

Pan-American Health OrganizationPan-American Health Organization

total abortion ban

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child

USA – What It’s Like To Have An Abortion At Home

“I wanted to handle it the way I wanted to handle it. I knew that it was my body and no one else could tell me how to handle it.”

By Alanna Vagianos
Aug 29, 2023

Since Roe v. Wade fell, nearly half of states in the U.S. have implemented near-total bans or severe restrictions on abortion care. Getting an abortion was never easy, even when Roe was the law of the land, but now it’s a logistical and financial nightmare — putting care out of reach for most people, especially poor people, folks of color and women who live in rural areas.

But there’s a quiet revolution happening in the homes of American women and pregnant people across the country. People are taking matters into their own hands and ending unwanted pregnancies at home outside of a formal health care setting. And unlike the dangers of pre-Roe back-alley abortions, managing your own care with abortion pills is extremely safe and effective for anyone less than 13 weeks pregnant, according to the World Health Organization.

Continued: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/abortion-at-home_n_64e4d530e4b07a9e3f5b72be

30.08.2023

Austin women’s clinic fights for its patients — and its future — in post-Roe world

Bridget Grumet, Austin American-Statesman
Aug 30, 2023

Alison Auwerda was no longer pregnant. The medication abortion pills she ordered online, in spite of Texas’ ban on such things, had worked.

But an ultrasound confirmed what the cramping suggested: Her body had not expelled the last remnants of tissue from the terminated pregnancy.

“I'm like, Can I go to the hospital? Can I tell my doctor? My first thought was like, ‘Oh, I have to get a flight and go somewhere else,’” Auwerda, 39, told me.

Continued: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/columns/2023/08/30/austin-womens-health-center-at-risk-closing-texas-abortion-ban-medical-care/70587287007/

USA – Anti-Abortion Centers Spent Over $600M in One Year. That’s the Tip of the Iceberg.

Documents reviewed by Rewire News Group suggest the total may have been closer $1 billion. Where is all that "crisis pregnancy center" money going?

AUG 30, 2023
GARNET HENDERSON, Rewire News Group

“Crisis pregnancy centers,” or anti-abortion centers, are known for deceiving and manipulating people seeking information about abortion. They often pose as legitimate abortion clinics, intentionally obscuring their real purpose. They promote dangerous medical misinformation such as abortion pill “reversal.” They also discourage safer sex practices, and because few of them are actual medical facilities, they don’t adhere to medical standards for confidentiality and safety.

For example, a Massachusetts woman sued a CPC in June for failing to diagnose her ectopic pregnancy, which resulted in an emergency surgery and the loss of her fallopian tube. Months earlier, a Kentucky nurse came forward to reveal that a CPC where she had volunteered was failing to properly sterilize its transvaginal ultrasound equipment.

Continued: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2023/08/30/anti-abortion-centers-spent-over-600m-in-one-year-thats-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/