USA – Dismantling the RNC’s Legacy of Hostility To Abortion Access

This week, the Republican National Convention has featured graphic and deceptive rails against abortion—the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that Trump has made mainstream over the last few years.

8/27/2020
by ANDREA MILLER

This brand of over-the-top opposition to abortion (Abby Johnson promised “the most provocative, impassioned, memorable” anti-abortion speech in history) may seem like a departure from the genteel conservatism of past conventions.

But, in reality, nearly 40 years of GOP opposition to abortion and the party’s failure to respect the importance of making fundamental decisions about our reproductive lives has led us to this point.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2020/08/27/republican-national-convention-abortion-dismantling-the-rnc-legacy-of-hostility-to-abortion-access/

Will the Supreme Court Strike a Devastating Blow to Abortion Rights?

Will the Supreme Court Strike a Devastating Blow to Abortion Rights?

By Caitlin Moscatello
June 17, 2020

In its first major test on abortion since President Trump appointed conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court is expected to render a decision soon that will signal to state lawmakers how far they can go in restricting abortion access. How the Court comes down on the case could also serve as an indicator of its willingness to dial back reproductive rights going forward.

The case, June Medical Services v. Russo, comes out of Louisiana, but is strikingly similar to a Texas law the Court struck down four years ago in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. Both are considered to be the targeted regulation of abortion providers: Known as TRAP laws, they are medically unnecessary abortion restrictions that lawmakers pass under the guise of protecting women’s health.

Continued: https://www.thecut.com/2020/06/supreme-court-case-june-medical-v-russo-may-change-abortion.html

17.06.2020

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The Supreme Court Might Overturn Roe v. Wade—But Justices Won’t Have the Final Say on Abortion Laws, Expert Says

The Supreme Court Might Overturn Roe v. Wade—But Justices Won't Have the Final Say on Abortion Laws, Expert Says

By Chantal Da Silva
On 1/6/20

With more than 200 members of Congress calling on the Supreme Court to consider overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion rights groups across the country are bracing for the possibility that 2020 could be the year the ruling that established the right to abortion in the U.S. is rescinded.

Last week, dozens of Republican lawmakers, joined by two Democratic representatives, signed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to consider overturning the 1973 decision, which has protected the right to abortion in the U.S. in the decades since.

Continued: https://www.newsweek.com/supreme-court-roe-v-wade-overturn-access-abortion-rights-1480552

USA – Almost 40 Percent of Abortions Are Now Done With Pills

Almost 40 Percent of Abortions Are Now Done With Pills
Experts say the number would be even higher if the FDA loosened its restrictions on medication abortion.

by Marie Solis
Sep 19 2019

While the overall abortion rate in the U.S. has hit a record low since the procedure was legalized in 1973 under Roe v. Wade, the rate of people choosing medication abortion to end pregnancies is on the rise, according to new findings from Guttmacher Institute.

Medication abortion is a method of abortion that involves taking the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol to induce what is effectively a miscarriage. The method became available in the United States in 2000, when the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone, and has dramatically increased in use since: Whereas in 2004, medication abortions made up just 14 percent of all abortions in the U.S., by 2015 that number rose to almost 25 percent. Now Guttmacher reports that the share of medication abortions in 2017 was 39 percent of the total, or almost two in five.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/gyzjgx/medication-abortion-rates-in-the-us-hit-record-high-of-40-percent

Trump abortion ‘gag rule’ leaves poor patients ‘with nowhere to go’ in US

Trump abortion ‘gag rule’ leaves poor patients ‘with nowhere to go’ in US
Impact will vary greatly from state to state after Planned Parenthood withdraws from federal funding program over abortion referral bans

Miranda Bryant
Thu 22 Aug 2019

Last year alone, 37,000 low-income patients in Utah received subsidized family planning under Title X, the federal program which distributes grants to clinics.

But as of Monday, when Planned Parenthood withdrew from the longstanding scheme over new Trump administration rule banning clinics from referring patients for abortions, the US non-profit’s Utah branch must now look elsewhere for the $2m annual grant it used to depend on to provide essential services like birth control, STD and breast and cervical cancer tests to poor women.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/22/planned-parenthood-trump-abortion-gag-rule-harms-patients

The Right to an Abortion Is Under Threat. But States Are Stepping Up to Protect It

The Right to an Abortion Is Under Threat. But States Are Stepping Up to Protect It

By Andrea Miller
July 11, 2019

In 2016, candidate Donald Trump said that determining whether abortion is legal should “go back to the individual states.”

Today, states are indeed setting the terms. While hundreds of laws restricting abortion have passed in the states since Roe, creating significant barriers for many, particularly low-income women, women of color, young women and women living in rural communities, this year, a shocking number of states from Alabama to Ohio have acted with exceptional vigor, passing near-total bans in rapid succession.

Continued: https://time.com/5624770/abortion-rights-states-nirh-report/

11.07.2019

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New York could become first city to provide abortion funding

New York could become first city to provide abortion funding

By Caroline Kelly, CNN
Sat June 15, 2019

(CNN)New York is slated to become what abortion activists say would be the first city in the country to provide funding for abortions.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, both Democrats, announced a budget agreement Friday that included funding for individuals seeking abortions in the city.

continued: https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/14/politics/new-york-city-abortion-funds/index.html

Why Abortion Rights Groups Are Fighting Their Battles At The State Level In 2019

Why Abortion Rights Groups Are Fighting Their Battles At The State Level In 2019

By Monica Busch
Feb 13, 2019

Abortion rights advocates are upfront about the fact that they believe there are currently very real, tangible threats to Roe v. Wade, especially given the Supreme Court's conservative majority. With this in mind, some organizations say they are spending more time advocating for state-level abortion laws in order to protect access in as many places as possible, should the landmark ruling one day be overturned.

"The truth is, it begins and ends in the state. Even our best [rulings], like Roe v. Wade, came from a challenge to a restrictive Texas law that criminalized abortion," Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) and the NIRH Action Fund, tells Bustle. "The reality is that states have long been the arbiters of whether or not women are able to access reproductive health care, and whether their rights are going to be protected."

Continued: https://www.bustle.com/p/why-abortion-rights-groups-are-fighting-their-battles-at-the-state-level-in-2019-15904800

USA – Where the fight for abortion rights will take place next

Where the fight for abortion rights will take place next

By Andrea Miller
January 23, 2019

Forty-six years ago, the Supreme Court issued the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion — and established the popular misconception that the Supreme Court alone determines whether abortion is accessible. In the near half-century since, states have passed more than 1,000 laws against abortion access. And with the looming threat that the court will gut or overturn Roe , we find ourselves in a moment similar to the one abortion rights advocates faced before Roe, in which the greatest possibility for protecting abortion rights and access lies in state-by-state action. That may seem like a discouraging prospect, but it’s a challenge that activists and elected officials should and are beginning to embrace.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/where-the-fight-for-abortion-rights-will-take-place-next/2019/01/23/36d7026e-1f40-11e9-8b59-0a28f2191131_story.html

23.01.2019

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USA – Battles expected in many states over abortion-related bills

Battles expected in many states over abortion-related bills

By David Crary | AP
January 16, 2019

NEW YORK — On each side of the abortion debate, legislators and activists emboldened by recent political developments plan to push aggressively in many states this year for bills high on their wish lists: either seeking to impose near-total bans on abortion or guaranteeing women’s access to the procedure.

For abortion opponents, many of whom will rally Friday at the annual March for Life in Washington, there’s a surge of optimism that sweeping abortion bans might have a chance of prevailing in the reconfigured U.S. Supreme Court that includes Donald Trump’s appointees Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Legislators in at least five states — Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Florida and South Carolina — are expected to consider bills that would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, possibly just six weeks into a pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whitehouse/battles-expected-in-many-states-over-abortion-related-bills/2019/01/16/431b76e8-19a7-11e9-b8e6-567190c2fd08_story.html