Revealed: Ginni Thomas’s links to anti-abortion groups who lobbied to overturn Roe

Analysis of ‘amicus briefs’ shows how closely Clarence Thomas’s wife was entwined with rightwing effort to reverse 1973 ruling

Ed Pilkington in New York
Fri 9 Sep 2022

Ginni Thomas, the self-styled “culture warrior” and extreme rightwing activist, has links to more than half of the anti-abortion groups and individuals who lobbied her husband Clarence Thomas and his fellow US supreme court justices ahead of their historic decision to eradicate a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy.

A new analysis of the written legal arguments, or “amicus briefs”, used to lobby the justices as they deliberated over abortion underlines the extent to which Clarence Thomas’s wife was intertwined with this vast pressure campaign.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/09/ginni-thomas-abortion-roe-v-wade-supreme-court

New Texas trigger law makes abortion a felony

August 27, 2022
5-minute listen with transcript

Scott Simon talks with Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin about the legal landscape of abortion access in the state.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Laws restricting access to abortion went into effect in a number of states this week, including Texas, which already has some of the toughest restrictions in the country. Its new law goes even further. It makes it a felony to provide an abortion, and that is punishable by up to life in prison. We're joined now by Elizabeth Sepper, who is a professor of law at the University of Texas at Austin.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/27/1119795665/new-texas-trigger-law-makes-abortion-a-felony

Florida calls teen ‘too immature’ for an abortion. But forced motherhood is fine?

Jill Filipovic
hu 18 Aug 2022

A Florida court has held that a pregnant and parentless 16-year-old is not mature enough to have an abortion – but is, apparently, mature enough to raise a child after being forced into childbirth by the state.

This case illustrates the utter absurdity and deep cruelty of parental consent laws, which are in place in 21 states. While parental consent laws seem reasonable enough on their face – who wouldn’t want to know if their child was having an abortion? – they are in practice alternately duplicative or dangerous. If a parent is supportive of their child’s bodily autonomy and has raised that child into a thoughtful, mature teenager, that teenager will either feel comfortable telling their parents about an unplanned pregnancy, or will have the ability and wherewithal to make their own decision and get themselves to an abortion provider. If a parent is abusive or unsupportive of their child’s basic rights, why should the state put young people at risk by requiring that their parents be notified?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/18/florida-teen-abortion-forced-motherhood

18.08.2022

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USA – The coming state-federal showdown over abortion

by Mary Ziegler and Elizabeth Sepper
Fri August 5, 2022

A woman turned away with an ectopic pregnancy. A miscarrying mother sent home, where she develops an infection. People with severe pregnancy complications left untreated. Within a month of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade, abortion bans have thrown emergency care into disarray and put doctors in an impossible bind.

Federal law requires physicians to treat pregnant patients in emergencies, providing abortions when necessary, while the law in some states prohibits emergency abortions. A showdown between the federal government and the states is now brewing. The state of Texas is suing the Biden administration to block federal guidance that protects access to emergency abortion care, even in states where abortion is a crime. And on Tuesday, the administration went on the offensive, suing Idaho over its abortion restrictions.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/05/opinions/state-federal-showdown-abortion-ziegler-sepper/index.html

Abortion foes downplay complex post-Roe v. Wade realities

By AMANDA SEITZ and JOSH KELETY
July 28, 2022

In televised statements and interviews, anti-abortion advocates have used misleading rhetoric about abortion access to downplay fallout and complications from restrictive abortion laws as doctors, struggling to interpret laws that have largely been untested in courts, turn away pregnant patients for care.

https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-ohio-government-and-politics-4eb0712711637e51c3676c852a6b2d7c

Because of Texas abortion law, her wanted pregnancy became a medical nightmare

July 26, 2022
Carrie Feibel

New, untested abortion bans have made doctors unsure about treating some pregnancy complications, which has led to life-threatening delays and trapped families in a limbo of grief and helplessness.

Elizabeth Weller never dreamed that her own hopes for a child would become ensnared in the web of Texas abortion law.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/26/1111280165/because-of-texas-abortion-law-her-wanted-pregnancy-became-a-medical-nightmare

‘People want me dead’: abortion providers fear violence after Roe overturned

Danger is a daily reality for the health workers, and moments of upheaval raise the risk, expert says
Chris Stein
Sun 3 Jul 2022

Boulder, Colorado, has for decades made its abortion providers feel welcome. The city council passed one of the country’s first laws regulating how close demonstrators could get to patients seeking reproductive care, and residents took to the streets in protest when it became clear that the supreme court was ready to overturn the constitutional right to abortion, as it did last month.

“Boulder is probably the most pro-choice community in the country,” said Warren Hern, director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic. “But there are people in the community who want me dead.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/03/abortion-providers-violence-danger-roe-wade

03.07.2022

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USA – Inside the Extreme Effort to Punish Women for Abortion

Abortion “abolitionists” are the outer edge of the anti-abortion movement. They’re looking to gain followers after the decision to overturn Roe, unsettling mainstream anti-abortion groups.

By Elizabeth Dias
July 1, 2022

Hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week, a man with a wiry, squared-off beard and a metal cross around his neck celebrated with his team at a Brazilian steakhouse. He pulled out his phone to livestream to his followers.

“We have delivered a huge blow to the enemy and to this industry,” the man, Jeff Durbin, said. But, he explained, “our work has just really begun.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/01/us/abortion-abolitionists.html

Section 230 Is a Last Line of Defense for Abortion Speech Online

Dobbs should be a wake-up call for anyone seeking to undercut the immunity protections afforded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Evan Greer, Lia Holland
Jun 29, 2022

Forced-birth extremists are not satisfied with shutting down abortion clinics. They also want to scrub accurate information about abortion access from the internet. In a post-Roe world, defending online speech about abortion—and the ability for abortion advocates and providers to fundraise and organize online—is a matter of life or death. Democrats who have been misguidedly attacking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act need to wake up now. If they don’t start listening to the warnings of human rights experts, sex workers, LGBTQ+ folks, and reproductive rights groups, Democrats could help right-wing zealots achieve their goal: mass censorship of online content about abortion.

https://www.wired.com/story/section-230-is-a-last-line-of-defense-for-abortion-speech-online/

USA – Anti-Abortion Activist Bragged About ‘Dumpster Diving’ for Fetuses

Police found five fetuses inside the home of Lauren Handy, who was indicted for allegedly blockading a clinic.

By Carter Sherman
April 1, 2022

The anti-abortion activist accused of storing fetal remains in her home has spent years tweeting about scouring abortion clinic grounds for fetuses and then burying them.

Lauren Handy, indicted Wednesday for allegedly blockading an abortion clinic, has not hidden her interest in creeping around abortion clinics. In a Twitter thread published in October 2020, Handy said that, by 2016, she was “regularly dumpster diving” at a Maryland abortion clinic to retrieve fetuses for a “proper burial.”

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx9dn/lauren-handy-fetuses-dumpster-diving