How the overturn of ‘Roe’ still impacts Washington abortion care

Seventeen months after the Supreme Court decision, clinics and patients continue to face a maze of legal restrictions that differ from state to state.

by Megan Burbank
December 6, 2023

Confusion, fear and delayed abortions for patients traveling from other states are among the lingering impacts in Washington nearly a year and a half after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

While Washington abortion providers knew they would be helping a lot of people from Idaho and elsewhere in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the reality has been much more complicated than bringing in more providers, expanding abortion training and resources and stockpiling abortion medications, as legal battles that could further restrict abortion access.

Continued: https://crosscut.com/news/2023/12/how-overturn-roe-still-impacts-washington-abortion-care

The choice: a rural mother and abortion care on the Washington-Idaho border

Even in places where abortion is legal, the inaccessibility of the procedure elsewhere can seep over state lines by Katia Riddle in Clarkston, Washington

Fri 24 Nov 2023

As she walks in the door on a recent afternoon to relieve her parents of caring for her five-month-old daughter, Jasmine feels a familiar pang of guilt.

Jasmine*, 28, is a single mother raising four kids in a small town in far eastern Washington, near the border of Idaho. Her partner of more than a decade – and father of her children – is incarcerated for an assault charge that she brought against him.

Without her parents stepping in to help, she’d struggle to hold down her job at a factory. But she knows it’s hard on them.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/24/accessing-abortion-clinics-washington-idaho

In Washington, FDA lawsuit is part of larger strategy to preserve abortion access

Court ruling preserves status quo in several states as fight continues elsewhere over abortion pill

BY: KELCIE MOSELEY-MORRIS
APRIL 19, 2023

As the nation grapples with continuing changes in court rulings affecting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a drug used in abortion care, Washington state’s competing lawsuit and other offensive and defensive moves related to abortion are working exactly as officials and advocates say they intended.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office filed a lawsuit against the FDA in late February, about a month after the federal agency announced it would keep mifepristone, a drug used in tandem with another to end a pregnancy of up to 10 weeks’ gestation, under restrictions associated with its Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies program — also known as REMS.

Continued: https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/04/19/in-washington-fda-lawsuit-is-part-of-larger-strategy-to-preserve-abortion-access/

Washington doctor on leading edge of abortion rights turns to next frontier after Roe: Pills

May 8, 2022
By Nina Shapiro, Seattle Times staff reporter

Several years ago, an abortion rights activist got in touch with Dr. Suzanne Poppema, a reproductive rights leader retired from her Seattle-area practice. As states were passing abortion restrictions, plans were in the works for an offshore internet service that would supply abortion pills to women who couldn’t get them at home.

Would Poppema get involved?

Continued: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/washington-doctor-on-leading-edge-of-abortion-rights-turns-to-next-frontier-after-roe-pills/

Washington State Enacts Law Blocking Texas-Style Abortion Ban As More States Copy Texas Law

Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff
Mar 17, 2022

Washington became the first state Thursday to enact a law blocking people from being sued by the state if they undergo or help facilitate an abortion, ensuring access to the procedure after neighboring Idaho became the first state to copy Texas’ near-total ban on abortion on Monday—with others expected to follow.

KEY FACTS
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed HB 1851 into law Thursday, which stipulates the state cannot “penalize, prosecute, or otherwise take adverse action” against anyone who gets an abortion or who “aid[s] or assist[s]” someone who does.

Continued: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/03/17/washington-enacts-law-blocking-texas-style-abortion-ban-as-more-states-copy-texas-law/?sh=7a1b889221b9

The coronavirus is wiping out a crucial lifeline for abortion services in the US, and many patients may lose access entir

The coronavirus is wiping out a crucial lifeline for abortion services in the US, and many patients may lose access entirely

Rebecca Grant
Apr 16, 2020

Dr. Anuj Khattar was supposed to fly to Oklahoma City on Sunday, March 29 for his monthly stint working at Trust Women, a reproductive health clinic. Khattar, a family medicine practitioner, lives in Seattle and travels a few days each month to provide abortion care.

Washington was one of the first states hit hard by the coronavirus, and Khattar wrestled over whether it was safe to travel under the circumstances. Ultimately, he decided going was the right thing to do.

Continued: https://www.insider.com/coronavirus-abortion-access-limits-travel-2020-4

USA – Then and now, Edmonds doctor a defender of abortion rights

Then and now, Edmonds doctor a defender of abortion rights
Some states’ strict laws worry Dr. Suzanne Poppema, who performed the procedure for 20-plus years.

by Julie Muhlstein
Sunday, June 2, 2019

Retired, Dr. Suzanne Poppema rides her horse five days a week. The Edmonds woman now has time to take piano lessons. Yet retirement hasn’t ended her commitment to a cause that became her life’s work.

Poppema, who in the early 1980s had a family practice in south Everett, spent much of her career performing abortions. In 1996, she wrote a book, “Why I Am an Abortion Doctor,” co-authored with Mike Henderson, a former Herald writer.

Continued: https://www.heraldnet.com/news/then-and-now-edmonds-doctor-a-defender-of-abortion-rights/

USA – At SIFF, a day in the life of doctors who provide abortions

At SIFF, a day in the life of doctors who provide abortions
The documentary ‘Our Bodies, Our Doctors’ profiles women’s health professionals in the Pacific Northwest.

By Brangien Davis
May 28, 2019

A day in the life of an abortion provider usually starts in a parking lot. She gets out of her car, slings a purse and maybe a lunch bag over her shoulder, and walks toward a nondescript building. She might greet a protester on the way in, might note the giant baby photo on the side of a box truck parked in deliberate view. She passes through the clinic doors, where a circular sticker bears the image of a black handgun with a red slash across it. Once inside, the doctor joins her team of receptionists, medical assistants and nurses, and prepares for the first patient.

Behind the headlines, behind the legal battles, behind the politics, protests and posters are the people who go to work every day to provide women with family-planning services, including contraception and abortion.

Continued: https://crosscut.com/2019/05/siff-day-life-doctors-who-provide-abortions

How ‘Shout Your Abortion’ grew from a Seattle hashtag into a book

How ‘Shout Your Abortion’ grew from a Seattle hashtag into a book
Amelia Bonow was recently in Seattle to talk about the book, "Shout Your Abortion."

Originally published December 12, 2018
By Nicole Brodeur, Seattle Times columnist

Amelia Bonow was in a Lyft, headed to Seattle’s Neptune Theatre, when she told the driver what awaited her there: She had co-founded a movement called “Shout Your Abortion,” aimed at humanizing, normalizing and de-stigmatizing the procedure. It had spread from Seattle across the nation, and resulted in a book of personal essays by abortion clients, and providers, that was being launched before a crowd of supporters that night.

The driver had a story of his own, apparently, because at some point during the ride, Bonow posted on Facebook: ” … having my one thousandth conversation with a male Lyft driver who knocked somebody up who had an abortion and hasn’t ever talked about it …”

Continued: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/how-shout-your-abortion-grew-from-a-seattle-hashtag-into-a-book/