Pregnant with no OB-GYNs around: In Idaho, maternity care became a casualty of its abortion ban

After an Idaho hospital closed its obstetrics department, pregnant women in the county have been left without nearby care. Their OB-GYNs fled the state.

Sept. 30, 2023
By Julianne McShane

If you’re pregnant in Bonner County, Idaho, you’ll likely spend a lot of time on Route 95. Bonner General Health, a 25-bed hospital, discontinued obstetrics, labor and delivery services this year. So for residents, Route 95 is the way to the closest in-state hospital with obstetrics care, which is at least an hour’s drive south — or longer in the snowy winter.

The hospital, which staffed the county’s only OB-GYNs, cited the state’s “legal and political climate” as one of the reasons it shuttered the department. Abortion has been banned in Idaho, with few exceptions, since August 2022.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/pregnant-women-struggle-find-care-idaho-abortion-ban-rcna117872

Understanding The Work Of Abortion Doulas In A Post-Roe V. Wade America

BY MICHAEL-MICHELLE PRATT
SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

The matter of abortion has been a hot button issue since it became a politicized one. With the landmark case of Roe V. Wade on January 23, 1973, abortion became legal, only to be overturned on June 24, 2022. In the forty-nine years between those two dates, the reproductive rights of birthing people were thought to be safe and secure. However, Black women, femmes, and trans people have known this to be a falsehood for some time. This group is aware that they are the most vulnerable when drastic legislative changes occur, but the most influential work happens beyond and outside of legislation. Most of the real work has been happening in mutual aid and abolitionist spaces with the help of Black abortion doulas.

Continued: https://www.essence.com/lifestyle/abortion-doula/

30.09.2023

Commentary

abortion doulas

Ash Williams

Black abortion doulas

Bry Reed

reproductive oppression

Abortion restrictions repel graduating OB-GYNs from conservative states, report shows

Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY
Sept 29, 2023

A survey found new doctors are changing their plans to practice in states with abortion restrictions after the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that preserved abortion as a constitutional right for nearly 50 years.

Researchers from the University of Utah School of Medicine received responses from nearly 350 graduating obstetricians and gynecologists from training sites in 37 states. Findings showed more than 17% of residents said the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision changed their practice and fellowship plans.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/09/29/abortion-new-doctors-avoid-conservative-states-survey-shows/70980770007/

29.09.2023

News

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Commonwealth Fund

Dr. Alex Woodcock

Dr. Leilah Zahedi-Spung

maternal mortality

Ob-Gyn and abortion

Roe v. Wade

states with abortion bans

United States

Clinical

USA – Women denied abortion more likely to be in a poor-quality relationship 5 years later compared to those allowed to abort

by Vladimir Hedrih
September 29, 2023

A study analyzing women who sought abortions discovered that one week after the request, there was a 58% likelihood of the women remaining in a relationship with the man involved in the conception. This number dropped to 27% five years post-request. Importantly, women denied an abortion demonstrated significantly higher chances of being in a substandard romantic relationship five years on, in comparison to their counterparts who had abortions. The study was published in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Abortion, a procedure terminating a pregnancy before the fetus can live outside the womb, is usually conducted within the first 24 weeks of gestation. It can be pursued for diverse reasons, from medical imperatives to personal choices. The procedure frequently becomes a contentious point in public discussions, which encompass women’s reproductive rights, ethical dilemmas, and the legalities governing abortion accessibility.

Continued: https://www.psypost.org/2023/09/women-denied-abortion-more-likely-to-be-in-a-poor-quality-relationship-5-years-later-compared-to-those-allowed-to-abort-213868

29.09.2023

Research

abortion and relationship quality

abortion denial

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health

In divided US, women crisscross country for abortion care

28/09/2023

Washington (AFP) – A year after the US Supreme Court abolished nationwide access to abortion care, many American women are settling into a new reality: arranging costly trips to terminate their pregnancies in states where the procedure is still allowed.

Comprehensive national abortion statistics are hard to come by in the United States because data is split between medical facilities and organizations that provide abortion pills by mail. But a recent study indicates a sharp rise in abortions in states that neighbor those which have moved to ban the procedure following the landmark court decision last summer.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230928-in-divided-us-women-crisscross-country-for-abortion-care

28.09.2023

Commentary

Guttmacher Institute

Isaac Maddow-Zimet

National Abortion Federation

traveling for abortion

United States

Health

Human Rights

The abortion myths Republicans are recycling to reframe a losing issue

Anti-abortion activists lost every referendum on the issue in 2022 and the right is scrambling to find a way to talk about a political hot potato

Carter Sherman
Wed 27 Sep 2023

The post-Roe v Wade battle over abortion rights may just torpedo Republicans’ shot at the White House next year, and they know it.

Anti-abortion activists lost every abortion-related voter referendum last year, while ire over the fall of Roe has been credited with boosting Democrats in the 2022 midterms. Now, Republicans in the presidential primary are scrambling to figure out how to talk about and legislate abortion. But they’re regurgitating some common anti-abortion myths to make their case.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/27/abortion-myths-republicans

USA – Billboards Throughout South and Midwest Advertise Abortion Access: ‘Pregnant? You Still Have a Choice’

9/27/2023
by CARRIE N. BAKER, Ms. Magazine

For years, right-wing evangelicals have posted billboards along highways and in towns across the U.S. trumpeting their religious views and their anti-abortion beliefs. Now, post-Dobbs, abortion rights supporters are fighting back with their own roadside billboards and mobile digital LED advertising trucks.

Shout Your Abortion recently posted six abortion rights billboards along interstate 55 through five states that have banned abortion—from Memphis, Tenn., to Carbondale, Ill. The billboards include messages like, “God’s Plan Includes Abortion” and “Abortion is Okay: You Know What’s Best for You.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/09/27/abortion-billboards/

27.09.2023

pro-choice billboards

ProgressNow New Mexico

I’m Ready to Talk About My Abortion

BY KERRY WASHINGTON
SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

In my late 20s, I made the difficult and very private decision to have an abortion. About a decade later, I played a character that was the first woman to be shown undergoing an abortion procedure on network television. As women, it is our right to choose what happens to our bodies, our lives, and our futures. It is also up to us to decide when, how, and with whom we share our stories.

While, as an actor, I was proud to portray a woman exercising her right to choose, in real life I never talked about my own abortion publicly. My shame and embarrassment inspired a private silence that hid my personal truth and made me complicit in a culture of secrecy that shames women, our bodies, our choices, and our power. As I was writing my memoir, however, I realized how important it is to speak openly about experiences that have been kept in the dark, because when we do so we liberate ourselves and each other.

Continued: https://time.com/collection/time100-voices/6316450/kerry-washington-abortion-story-book/

26.09.2023

Opinion

abortion story

celebrity abortions

celebrity support for abortion rights

Kerry Washington

women's abortion stories

United States

Activism

Human Rights

New England Advocates Build a Regional Model for Abortion Rights

9/26/2023
by CARRIE N. BAKER

On Tuesday, Sept. 26, Massachusetts-based Reproductive Equity Now, formerly NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, announced an expansion of its work into Connecticut and New Hampshire to create a regional organization to strengthen abortion access across New England. As more states ban abortion, advocates hope this regional strategy will ensure abortion healthcare for New Englanders and patients traveling to the region for care.

“Reproductive Equity Now’s expansion reflects the urgency we face as a region in demanding, protecting, and expanding abortion access and reproductive equity for all,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now. “As 20 states have moved to restrict or ban abortion, wiping out access to care in broad regions of our country, we must focus on state-by-state work to build regional blocks for abortion access. This work will begin in New England, and we hope that this model can be replicated to advance reproductive freedom nationwide.”

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/09/26/new-england-abortion-rights-connecticut-new-hampshire-massachusetts/

USA – Even the meaning of the word ‘abortion’ is up for debate

September 26, 2023
Selena Simmons-Duffin (4-Minute Listen with Transcript)

For all that abortion is talked about in hospitals, courts, legislatures and the media, it turns out the public doesn't really agree on what the word means, a new survey finds.

The study by the Guttmacher Institute, a group that supports abortion rights, questioned people about a series of situations showing various circumstances in a pregnancy. Researchers asked: Is this an abortion? Yes, no or maybe?

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/25/1201620968/what-does-the-word-abortion-mean

26.09.2023