USA – Fear and uncertainty grip patients as abortion referral services struggle to keep up

BY: SUSAN TEBBEN
AUGUST 8, 2022

Abortion referral services have seen a change in how they do their work, but despite restrictions that make it less possible to get an abortion in Ohio, clinics and non-profits definitely haven’t seen a shortage of need.

Abortion Fund-Ohio, which provides case management, grants and resources for patients in need of abortion care, had to take an “intake pause” recently, not because they didn’t have things to do, but because of an onslaught of calls and requests following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Continued: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/08/08/fear-and-uncertainty-grip-patients-as-abortion-referral-services-struggle-to-keep-up/

Texas lawmakers test how far their threats against abortions can reach

Letters warning of felony charges for firms who offer funds could set up a showdown over constitutional rights

Poppy Noor
Sun 24 Jul 2022

Republican lawmakers have sent legal threats to Texas organizations that offer to fund out-of-state travel for abortions, potentially setting up a showdown between abortion law and long-held constitutional rights such as freedom of association and freedom of travel.

The Texas Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction of Republicans in the state legislature, sent a letter on 7 July to a law firm that offered to cover employees’ expenses if they travelled for abortion. It threatened Sidley LLP with felony charges, claiming Texas can criminalize anyone who “furnishes the means” for an abortion, regardless of where the abortion occurs. The letter cites a 1925 law which was not formally repealed after the supreme court codified the right to abortion in Roe v Wade in 1973; last week, the Texas supreme court confirmed the 1925 law can be applied.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/23/texas-republican-lawmakers-legal-threats-abortions

How to Support People in States Where Abortion Is Under Threat

Donating to national organizations is great. But these local reproductive health care services—in places under immediate threat—could use your help, too.

July 17, 2022

IT’S BEEN SEVERAL weeks since the US Supreme Court wiped out 50 years of established precedent of reproductive rights. The cultural analyses, personal narratives, and investigations that might best be described as horror stories have since predictably surfaced to the top of the news cycle.

For example, highlighting Texas as a model for what’s to come, several media outlets reported on a teen who found out she was pregnant with twins 48 hours before the Texas abortion ban. Also known as the scientifically inaccurate Texas Heartbeat Act, the ban took effect in September 2021. The teen wanted an abortion but couldn’t access one in her home state—a disastrous predicament that many women will soon face, or are now facing.

Continued: https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-support-local-people-funds-abortion/

17.07.2022

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Hoosier Abortion Fund

Kansas Abortion Fund

Right By You

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Post-Roe, ‘camping’ has become code for abortions. Activists say it may put people at risk.

Some say broadcasting the coded language on social media is a form of political posturing. Others say it's unnecessary self-censorship.

June 30, 2022
By Morgan Sung and Ben Goggin

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, social media has been flooded by posts from people offering to take people "camping" — coded language for assisting people seeking abortions out of state.

But some activists and experts warn that offering to house strangers isn't as helpful as connecting them with local abortion rights organizations.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/camping-meme-roe-v-wade-abortion-ban-rcna35765

30.06.2022

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USA – In Abortion Safe Havens, Organizers Prepare to Assist Those Fleeing Restrictions

by Tyler Walicek, Truthout
June 18, 2022

Last month’s leak of a Supreme Court draft ruling rendered the longstanding fears of abortion rights activists a veritable certainty: Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a federal right to abortion in the United States, is under dire and imminent threat.

While “safe haven” or “sanctuary” states and cities still offer refuge to interstate abortion seekers, access remains a patchwork, presenting financial and logistical hurdles that most deeply impact the marginalized. Under-resourced abortion funds, clinics and activist groups will be in for a struggle merely to hold onto existing gains; their driven organizers and staffers will face staggering challenges amid an influx of abortion refugees.

Continued: https://truthout.org/articles/in-abortion-safe-havens-organizers-prepare-to-assist-those-fleeing-restrictions/

Europe – The abortion travel agents: ‘Some women know what they need, others just say: help’

With reproductive rights being increasingly restricted in Europe, people are relying on a network of volunteers to help them

Introduction Margaret Atwood
Interviews Candice Pires
Sat 19 Feb 2022

When The Handmaid’s Tale first came out in 1985, the initial response was broadly that people thought such threats to women’s bodies and reproductive rights “couldn’t happen here”. By the time it aired as a TV series in 2017, just after Donald Trump was inaugurated in the US, people were no longer so sure. With every headline about gains in reproductive rights – Ireland repealing the eighth amendment in 2018, which had effectively banned abortions – there are others that underscore how fragile these rights are, wherever you live.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/19/the-abortion-travel-agents-some-women-know-what-they-need-others-just-say-help-europe-margaret-atwood

Abortion support group aims to strengthen partnerships to meet heightened need

December 18, 2021
Heard on All Things Considered (7 minute listen)

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with Odile Schalit, executive director of the abortion support services group The Brigid Alliance, about how her work has changed since the passage of SB 8.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
The fight over SB 8 and abortion rights more broadly continues at the Supreme Court. Last week, the justices issued a ruling that lets abortion providers challenge the restrictive Texas abortion law. Meanwhile, however, the Texas law remains in effect, and that's made it nearly impossible to get an abortion in that state. So what are women who want to end a pregnancy doing? We're going to put that question to a practical support provider. These are individuals or groups that help people seeking abortions with everything from transportation - often out of state - to lodging to child care to funding for the procedure itself. Odile Schalit is executive director of the Brigid Alliance, an organization that supports people who want abortion care. Odile, thank you for talking with us about this.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2021/12/18/1065547264/abortion-support-group-aims-to-strengthen-partnerships-to-meet-heightened-need

Brazil: Access to abortion during Covid-19

July 29, 2020 (International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion)

An initiative to help women to have a safe, legal abortion: a network of women, proactive, advocating for the decriminalisation of abortion in Brazil. An initiative of mutual solidarity: horizontal and self-sustaining.

by Maíra Marques, Director of Communications, Milhas Pela Vida das Mulheres

During the morning of 21 October 2019, a 31-year-old woman (J.) was admitted to the Pérola Byington Hospital in downtown São Paulo (SP), where she had an appointment for psychiatric counselling. A victim of gang rape, she had been receiving treatment for 20 days. Once again, she passed by the tents of “40 Days for Life in SP”, a group of anti-abortion activists who had decided to settle there during the Covid-19 quarantine, trying they said, to convert health professionals and women who have come to the hospital for a legal termination of a pregnancy. According to a report by the Public Journalism Agency, J. attempted to talk to the group that morning, to tell them her story, but without success. Instead, she was beaten up by these militants, some of whom were women, who punched her and put her in a headlock. These violent acts were witnessed by a lawyer, who accompanied her to the nearest police station.

Continued: https://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/blog/brazil-access-to-abortion-during-covid-19/

USA – The abortion underground: Groups quietly help women who have to travel to access care

The abortion underground: Groups quietly help women who have to travel to access care
“We're squirting a bottle of water at a building that is on fire. But it is something that people can do ... ," one volunteer said.

Sept. 1, 2019
By Adam Edelman

It was a warm June afternoon when Judith Plaskow got the email reminding her of a guest arriving soon.

The woman staying at Plaskow's Washington Heights apartment was a stranger who needed to be picked up at the Port Authority bus terminal on Manhattan's West Side. She was young — just 19 — and had never been to New York City before. Plaskow guessed she'd be scared.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/abortion-underground-groups-quietly-help-women-who-have-travel-access-n1048126

The informal networks resisting Honduras’s abortion ban

The informal networks resisting Honduras's abortion ban
Through hotlines and clinics, activists and health experts are trying to change the stigma associated with abortion.

Anna-Cat Brigida
July 12, 2019

Tegucigalpa, Honduras - At 22 years old, Ana Padilla was certain of one thing: she did not want to be a mother. So when she found out she was pregnant six years ago, she frantically called a friend to see if she knew how to get an abortion, which is illegal under all circumstances in Honduras. The friend calmed her nerves and gave her the phone number of someone she knew who clandestinely sold mifepristone and misoprostol, pills used for at-home abortions.

"I was desperate in that moment," says Padilla, adding that the experience of buying the pills was "mysterious", like a drug deal.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/informal-networks-resisting-honduras-abortion-ban-190712162754747.html