USA – How Viability Limits End Up Criminalizing Pregnancy

Pregnancy Justice’s legal director, Karen Thompson, warns: “We are in dangerous territory. This is our reality now.”

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
June 30, 2025

When Karen Thompson became the legal director at Pregnancy Justice a year and a half ago, she was still learning about the reproductive justice issues at the heart of the organization’s mission. But after 20 years focused on the criminal justice system, first at the Innocence Project and then at the ACLU of New Jersey, she did know a lot about racial profiling, government surveillance, law enforcement overreach, and wrongful convictions. And to her, the parallels between her earlier work and the increasing criminalization of pregnancy and abortion in post-Roe v. Wade America could not have been clearer. “We are seeing all the same kinds of issues in the repro space that people in the criminal defense space have been talking about for years,” Thompson says.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/06/pregnancy-justice-karen-thompson-viability-limits-fetal-personhood-criminalizing-pregnancy/

30.06.2025

UK – Parliament takes a historic step toward decriminalising abortion—but the work isn’t over

The recent shake-up of abortion laws in England and Wales marks an important moment for abortion rights, but full decriminalisation remains essential

BMJ 2025; 389 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r1348 (Published 30 June 2025)
Jayne Kavanagh, co-chair, Hayley Webb, co-chair

We welcomed the passing of amendment NC1 in parliament on 17 June, which will put a stop to the criminalisation of anyone who ends their own pregnancy in England and Wales. This is a landmark step forward for reproductive rights and justice. In recent years, increasing numbers of women have been investigated and prosecuted under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.1 This Victorian-era law was enacted before women even had the right to vote and carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for “unlawful abortion.”

More than 100 women are believed to have been investigated since 2020 for allegedly ending or attempting to end their pregnancies outside the parameters of the 1967 Abortion Act, which set out legal exemptions for abortion.2 Many endured distressing and intrusive investigations, faced enormous legal costs, and suffered lasting psychological, financial, and reputational harm—repercussions that also deeply affected their families.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/389/bmj.r1348

HHS eliminates CDC staff who made sure birth control is safe for women at risk

By Rachana Pradhan
June 30, 2025

For Brianna Henderson, birth control isn't just about preventing pregnancy. The Texas mother of two was diagnosed with a rare and potentially fatal heart condition after having her second child. In addition to avoiding another pregnancy that could be life-threatening, Henderson has to make sure the contraception she uses doesn't jeopardize her health.

For more than a decade, a small team of people at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked to do just that, issuing national guidelines for clinicians on how to prescribe contraception safely for millions of women with underlying medical conditions — including heart disease, lupus, sickle cell disease, and obesity. But the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, fired those workers as part of the Trump administration's rapid downsizing of the federal workforce.

Continued; https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hhs-cdc-staff-birth-control-safety-women-at-risk/

Improving access to medical abortion in Australian primary care

Primary care providers play an integral part in medical abortion access, but many barriers are preventing uptake of medical abortion provision.

Annika Howells
Issue 25 / 30 June 2025

Access to safe and affordable abortion is essential health care and a human right.

Medical abortion — via administration of the combined mifepristone–misoprostol regimen (MS-2 Step) — is becoming more accessible, thanks to increased access via telehealth models and subsidisation in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

However, medical abortion is still not widely available in primary care, and geographic and financial barriers remain.

Continued: https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2025/25/improving-access-to-medical-abortion-in-australian-primary-care/

30.06.2025

Commentary

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

Dr Greta Skahill

medication abortion

mifepristone and misoprostol

MS-2 Step

primary care providers and abortion

Doctor arrested over termination of pregnancy at 9 months

Surgeon faces murder charge as abortion remains in legal gray areaBy Jung Min-ho
Published Jun 29, 2025

A doctor has been arrested and charged with murder after the termination of a pregnancy at nine months last year, underscoring persistent legal uncertainties as lawmakers continue to struggle with abortion regulation.

Judge Park Jeong-ho at the Seoul Central District Court issued arrest warrants on Saturday for the surgeon, identified only by his last name Shim, and the clinic’s head, surnamed Yoon, over their alleged roles in the death of a baby believed to have been born alive and then left to die through willful neglect.

Continued: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/southkorea/law-crime/20250629/doctor-arrested-over-termination-of-pregnancy-at-9-months-in-korea

29.06.2025

News

abortion pill

Park Jeong-ho

prosecuting doctors for abortion

UK – MP campaigns for more safety precautions at abortion clinic

29th June, 2025
By Jess Skelton

A BOURNEMOUTH MP is campaigning to improve the safety of staff at an abortion clinic. In parliament earlier this month, Bournemouth East MP Tom Hayes spoke about the fears staff have at BPAS Bournemouth.

In parliament, he said: "I have spoken with the people who work at that clinic since that speech was given, and they are scared. "They want to support women’s reproductive rights and women’s health and safety, but staff members’ vehicles are being tampered with, and women seeking the clinic’s support are finding their access impeded."

Continued: https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/25269158.mp-campaigns-safety-precautions-abortion-clinic/

29.06.2025

News

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice protesters

‘I’m an abortion nurse – I hold out hope UK won’t follow America’s draconian path’

At a time of progression and regression in the field of women's reproductive rights, abortion clinic nurse Kendall Robbins has shed light on what goes into her daily work, including the challenges and misconceptions she's come up against

Julia Banim
28 Jun 2025

Last week, Adriana Smith, a brain-dead woman whose decomposing body was kept alive so her baby could be born, was finally taken off life support. The newborn, named Chance, weighed just 1 lb 13oz. It was a case that has shocked those already repulsed by the controversial reversal of Roe vs Wade in the US, a move that has already resulted in women dying after being denied life-saving care.

…But could we see such horror stories unfolding in the UK in the not-too-distant future? Advanced practice development nurse Kendall Robbins, who deals with the realities of terminations on a daily basis, thinks not.

Continued: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/im-abortion-nurse-hold-out-35449310

How Canadian women fought for the right to choose

In 1970, a movement of women led what became known as the Abortion Caravan in an effort to secure a woman’s right to choose in Canada.

June 28, 2025
Carol Off

One early April morning in 1970, a group of women gathered on the courthouse steps of Vancouver, believing they would soon make history. Their plan was to drive more than 4,000 kilometres to Ottawa where they would confront the federal government and demand that abortion become a legal right in Canada.

If you were on the Transcanada that week, it would be hard to miss what came to be called the Abortion Caravan. Seventeen women had piled into several vehicles; one car had a sign on the hood declaring “On to Ottawa!”

If this is behind a paywall for you, PressReader has the full article.
Continued: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/carol-off-how-canadian-women-fought-for-the-right-to-choose/article_5b525068-f05f-4290-9587-f96ac5898e10.html

28.06.2025

Doctor and hospital director arrested in South Korea over controversial 36-week abortion

Note: Abortion is completely decriminalized in South Korea
By Kim Ji-hwan
2025.06.28

In relation to the so-called 36-week abortion case that occurred last year, the director of the hospital where the procedure was performed and the attending physician were arrested on the 28th.

Park Jeong-ho, the presiding judge of the Seoul Central District Court, issued arrest warrants for a person surnamed Yun in his 80s, the hospital director, and a person surnamed Shim in his 60s, the attending physician, at 3 a.m. that day. Judge Park noted, "There is a concern about the destruction of evidence."

Continued: https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-society/2025/06/28/SPHE5NGUDBG63CG2MT5LPPV3WA/

28.06.2025

News

Park Jeong-ho

Seoul Central District Court

Pro-LGBTQ+ yet anti-abortion: What’s behind Malta’s differing stances?

The tiny Mediterranean island is one of Europe's most progressive on LGBTQ+ rights, but at the same time, it has a near-total ban on abortion. What is the reason for this dissonance?

By Clea Skopeliti
28/06/2025

When Belle de Jong shared her experience of having an abortion on national TV in Malta in 2021, she became the first woman in the tiny Mediterranean island nation to do so publicly.

The reaction to her interview reflected how this aspect of healthcare remains deeply divisive on the staunchly Catholic island, which has the EU's most restrictive abortion law.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/06/28/pro-lgbtq-yet-anti-abortion-whats-behind-maltas-differing-stances