These states will have abortion on the ballot in November

By Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN
September 5, 2022

Voters in a small number of states will decide in November how those states should handle the abortion issue. Abortion rights have taken on an increased significance and become a top focus in the midterm elections after the US Supreme Court's ruling this summer that there was no longer a federal constitutional right to the procedure.

In its August primary, Kansas was the first state in the nation to let voters weigh in on abortion since the high court overturned Roe v. Wade, and Kansans overwhelmingly chose to reject a state constitutional amendment that would have given state lawmakers the green light to help enact more restrictive abortion laws,

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/05/politics/2022-midterm-elections-abortion-ballot-measures/index.html

Vermont Could Be First State To Guarantee Abortion Rights In Constitution

Voters will soon get to decide on an amendment that's been in the making for nearly two years.

By Lydia O'Connor
02/09/2022

As another wave of Republican-backed efforts in red states is severely limiting access to abortion, Vermont lawmakers have approved an amendment that would enshrine the right to the procedure in the state’s constitution.

The proposed article will now be put to voters, who could make Vermont the first state to put such a protection in its constitution. If passed, the amendment will affirm that “an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”

Continued: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vermont-abortion-constitution_n_620419d3e4b083bd1cb9568d

09.02.2022

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 – If You Don’t Want to Provide Abortions, Don’t Go Into Healthcare

If You Don't Want to Provide Abortions, Don't Go Into Healthcare
A Vermont nurse's objection to providing an abortion shows we need to be more discerning about who is worthy of serving the public.

by Monica R. McLemore PhD, MPH, RN
Sep 3 2019

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services defended a registered nurse who claimed that the hospital she worked for violated her conscience by forcing her to assist with an abortion. The complaint, filed in May 2018, alleged that the nurse was a self-identified Catholic, and cites violations of the Church Amendment that protects healthcare workers “from impositions of certain requirements contrary to religious beliefs or moral convictions”—in this case, abortion.

Rule changes in the Department of Health and Human Services and new leadership at the HHS Office of Civil Rights have created a fundamental shift of these agencies from protecting patients to protecting providers.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9kead5/vermont-abortion-nurse-if-you-dont-want-to-provide-abortions-dont-go-into-healthcare