USA – Why using inclusive language in abortion care is an essential aspect of equal rights

July 26, 2020
Aspen Ruhlin

Across the country, abortion rights are yet again under threat. While Maine is luckily spared from many of these attacks due to our strong legal protections, we are not exempt from the impact that divisive language can have on reproductive rights and access.

The current discourse is saturated with problematic sound bites and overly simplistic messaging about abortion rights, leading to confusion, division and stigma. Well-intentioned politicians and supporters can unintentionally harm marginalized groups at a time when we should be centering those communities.

Continued: https://mainebeacon.com/why-using-inclusive-language-in-abortion-care-is-an-essential-aspect-of-equal-rights/

USA – These States Have More Abortion Clinics Today Than They Did a Decade Ago

These States Have More Abortion Clinics Today Than They Did a Decade Ago
Even as Republican-dominated legislatures passed laws designed to shut down clinics from coast to coast, some states saw an uptick in abortion clinics.

Dec 23, 2019
Alys Brooks

In a decade in which dozens of abortion clinics were shut down by medically unnecessary state laws, around 14 states—mostly in the Northeast and West—have seen an increase in clinics, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.

While the latest Guttmacher data is from 2017, other research, including a recent Abortion Care Network report focusing on independent clinics, indicates that clinics continue to close at an alarming rate. These closures include abortion clinics in states with Democratic-majority legislatures, like Whole Woman’s Health in Illinois, which closed in June, the same month Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed a landmark pro-choice law.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/12/23/these-states-have-more-abortion-clinics-today-than-they-did-a-decade-ago/

USA – This state could become a ‘contraceptive desert’: Trump’s new ‘gag rule’ goes far beyond Planned Parenthood

This state could become a ‘contraceptive desert’: Trump’s new ‘gag rule’ goes far beyond Planned Parenthood
Why 15 of the 20 abortion clinics here are at high risk of shutting down

Caroline Kitchener
August 30, 2019

Abortion providers in northern Maine spend a lot of time in the car.

Every other weekday, nurse practitioner Christina Theriault and clinic administrator Cassidy Jarvis drive an hour and 15 minutes from Fort Kent to Presque Isle, toggling between the two farthest-flung abortion clinics in Maine, the most rural state in the country. They travel on Route 161, a two-lane highway, closed in on both sides by dense forest. To pass the time, they count the number of moose they see on the side of the road.

Their current record is 14.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/this-state-could-become-a-contraceptive-desert-trumps-new-gag-rule-goes-far-beyond-planned-parenthood/

USA – States Lead the Way in Promoting Coverage of Abortion in Medicaid and Private Insurance

States Lead the Way in Promoting Coverage of Abortion in Medicaid and Private Insurance

Adam Sonfield, Guttmacher Institute
Elizabeth Nash, Guttmacher Institute
First published online: June 24, 2019

Advocates and policymakers working to ensure that everyone can afford an abortion scored a number of important victories within just a few days of each other: On June 13, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed a law expanding abortion coverage in private insurance and Medicaid. Just one day earlier, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker had signed a law expanding private insurance coverage of abortion as part of a broader abortion rights law. The same week, New York City allocated $250,000 to a nonprofit abortion fund to directly assist patients, including patients traveling from other states.

This burst of action builds on a nationwide push to overturn the Hyde Amendment, which currently bans abortion coverage under Medicaid and other federal health coverage programs. Expanding coverage will help people overcome one substantial barrier to abortion—the cost of abortion services—and will be particularly important for people with low incomes, people of color and people with disabilities.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/06/states-lead-way-promoting-coverage-abortion-medicaid-and-private-insurance

USA – Reproductive Rights at Risk With or Without Roe

Reproductive Rights at Risk With or Without Roe
In much of the country, access to abortion has already been blocked by state governments, especially for women in poverty. And if Roe goes, access will be scarcer still.

Kalena Thomhave
January 11, 2019

Recent discussions of abortion rights have been understandably chock-full of apocalyptic imagery and language. Some protesters at the U.S. Capitol in the Trump era have dressed as handmaids à la The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s story of an ultra-conservative totalitarian government that compels women to have the children of the wealthy and powerful. After Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court, many — on both the left and right — assumed that Roe v. Wade was soon to fall. “Roe v. Wade is doomed,”CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin pronounced last June to much media fanfare.

Continued: https://prospect.org/article/reproductive-rights-risk-or-without-roe-0