Abortion in America: From Roe to Dobbs and beyond

Why is abortion in America so polarized? How did we get where we are today, and what lies ahead? Leading legal expert and historian Mary Ziegler, JD, weighs in.

By Stacy Weiner, Senior Staff Writer
Sept. 21, 2023

Few U.S. Supreme Court cases have ignited as much passion as the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that established a constitutional right to an abortion and the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning it.

…Mary Ziegler, JD, a professor of law at the University of California, Davis, and one of the world’s leading experts on reproductive rights, has been watching — and assessing — as the abortion landscape shifts in a post-Dobbs world.

Continued: https://www.aamc.org/news/abortion-america-roe-dobbs-and-beyond

21.09.2023

Interviews/Podcasts

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Our Abortion Stories: ‘I Didn’t Have the Support I Needed to Be the Parent I Wanted to Be’

“I already was a parent to my sister and I couldn’t financially or emotionally provide for another child. I also wanted to finish high school.”

9/20/2023
by VAL DIEZ CANSECO, Ms. Magazine

Last summer, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding precedents of Roe v. Wade, representing the largest blow to women’s constitutional rights in history. A series from Ms., Our Abortion Stories chronicles readers’ experiences of abortion pre- and post-Roe. Abortions are sought by a wide range of people for many different reasons. There is no single story. Telling stories of then and now shows how critical abortion has been and continues to be for women and girls.

The fall of Roe will strain abortion access nationwide. We cannot, we must not lose the right to safe and accessible abortion or access to birth control.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/09/20/abortion-stories-before-roe-v-wade/

21.09.2023

Interviews/Podcasts

abortion stories

Our Abortion Stories

women's abortion stories

United States

Health

Human Rights

Ursula K. Le Guin on Her Illegal Abortion in 1950

“I beg you to see what it is that we must save, and not to let the bigots and misogynists take it away from us again.”

By Arwen Curry
September 13, 2023

The Journey That Matters is a series of six short videos from Arwen Curry, director and producer of Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, a Hugo Award-nominated 2018 feature documentary about the iconic author. In the first of the series, Elisabeth Le Guin and Caroline Le Guin reflect on “What It Was Like,” in which Ursula reads from her essay of the same name about the illegal abortion she had while studying at Radcliffe.

As young women growing up under the protection of Roe, we never really talked with our mother about her abortion. Elisabeth learned that it had occurred when she went through several abortions of her own in the 1980s; but what we know about the story of Ursula’s necessarily different experience comes to us through her written words, as it does to you. “The Princess” was her keynote address to NARAL Pro-Choice America in 1982 when Roe was not even a decade old, and this piece, “What It Was Like,” was a talk for Oregon’s NARAL chapter in 2004. These stories are public statements, performances of Ursula’s own life material as a means to inspire and transform. The second of them, which you are about to hear, is also a rather extraordinary public love letter to her own family.

Continued: https://lithub.com/watch-ursula-k-le-guin-on-her-illegal-abortion-in-1950/

13.09.2023

Sara Nelson: Attacks on Abortion Rights Are Attacks on All Workers

Association of Flight Attendants-CWA President Sara Nelson on abortion rights, building union density, and the sham of “corporate benevolence”

NATASCHA ELENA UHLMANN
SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

Over the past year, workers have seen our lives irrevocably changed. The Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs decision gutted a fundamental right to bodily autonomy and plunged millions into crisis and uncertainty. Almost immediately, a litany of horror stories emerged. Doctors denying life saving care for fear of retribution; women trapped with their abusers or killed for accessing abortion care; children — already subjected to unspeakable violence — forced to seek the procedure in the shadows, lest they bear children of their own.

Since the ruling, 14 states have implemented full abortion bans, and several others are working tirelessly to restrict access. Not content with their unprecedented assault on reproductive autonomy, some Republicans have moved swiftly onto their next target: birth control. It’s abundantly clear that these assaults will continue unabated until we’re strong enough as a movement to stop them. So, how the hell do we get there?

Continued: https://inthesetimes.com/article/sara-nelson-abortion-working-class-power

04.09.2023

Interviews/Podcasts

abortion and labour rights

Association of Flight Attendants

Karen Lewis

labour unions and abortion rights

Natascha Elena Uhlmann

right to self-determination

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

Abortion bans are fueling a rise in high-risk patients heading to Illinois hospitals

August 23, 2023
By Kristen Schorsch
3-Minute Listen with Transcript

When she was around 22 weeks pregnant, the patient found out that the son she was carrying didn't have kidneys and his lungs wouldn't develop. If he survived the birth, he would struggle to breathe and die within hours.

The patient had a crushing decision to make: continue the pregnancy — which could be a risk to her health and her ability to have children in the future — or have an abortion.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/08/23/1193898181/abortion-bans-are-fueling-a-rise-in-high-risk-patients-heading-to-illinois-hospi

For one Texas doctor, abortion bans are personal and professional

August 21, 2023
Selena Simmons-Duffin
4-Minute Listen with Transcript

On a recent Friday night, as her husband made dinner at the family's home in Dallas and her toddlers ran around underfoot, Dr. Austin Dennard saw an email come in on her phone.

The judge who heard her testify last month in an Austin courtroom about Texas's abortion laws had reached a decision. Dennard is among 13 women who sued the state arguing that the current abortion bans are unclear when it comes to pregnancy complications. She is also an OB-GYN, and she's nearing the end of a healthy pregnancy – she was visibly pregnant while on the stand.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/08/21/1194482842/texas-pregnant-doctor-abortion-bans

21.08.2023

Center for Reproductive Rights

Voices of three Wisconsin women who have had an abortion

A trio of Wisconsinites share their abortion stories, describe why they chose to end a pregnancy, and explain why they are speaking up at a time when the practice is once again illegal in the state.

By ZAC SCHULTZ, STEVEN POTTER | Here & Now
August 8, 2023
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Over three weeks, "Here & Now" is examining the new debate surrounding abortion, presenting the viewpoints of those who have utilized abortion, those who want to keep it illegal, and those in the medical community advocating for their patients.

Tosha Kowalski: I was 26. I had just gotten out of a relationship, a long relationship with somebody for four years. And that was actually the father.
Sara: I was a full-time student at UW-Eau Claire going for political science, really loving school. I was a single mom, I had a beautiful, amazing little son, working two jobs.

Continued: https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/voices-of-three-wisconsin-women-who-have-had-an-abortion/

08.08.2023

Interviews/Podcasts

Videos/Images

abortion stories

women's abortion stories

United States

Health

Human Rights

Medical professionals describe a world of uncertainty a year after the Roe v. Wade reversal

Jul 23, 2023
Maureen Chowdhury, CNN

It's been over a year since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion nationwide. The opinion was one of the most consequential Supreme Court decisions in decades and paved the way for states to pass laws to limit or ban access to the procedure.

Abortion has already become one of the defining issues of the 2024 campaign and is expected to continue to be a key topic as candidates face questions about whether they support banning the procedure on the local and national level.

Continued: https://www.kcra.com/article/medical-professionals-uncertainty-year-after-roe-v-wade-reversal/44619065#

23.07.2023

Commentary

Interviews/Podcasts

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Association of American Medical Colleges

Brad Little

Dr. Pratima Gupta

lack of Ob/Gyns

prosecuting health providers

Dr Simon Peter Kayondo on implementing the Maputo Protocol in Uganda

7 July 2023

Jameen Kaur, Advocating for Safe Abortion Project – FIGO
On 11 July 2023, FIGO is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Maputo Protocol by sharing reflections from across Africa on how the Maputo Protocol has impacted the practice of obstetrics and gynaecology. Dr Simon Peter Kayondo, an obstetrician-gynaecologist from Uganda, discusses the achievements of the treaty and the remaining challenges to fully implement its provisions in the Ugandan context.

What have been the key achievements of the Maputo Protocol?
As we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Maputo protocol I can see, as a gynaecologist, the impact it has had on the women's and girls’ health and rights, especially in Uganda.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/maputo-protocol-at-20/simon-kayondo

07.07.2023