Polish parliament rejects controversial abortion bill before elections

By Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl
Mar 7, 2023

Parliament rejected a controversial bill that aims to further restrict one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe on Tuesday, with some conservative members of the ruling PiS saying off the record that they did not want the bill to cause a new wave of street protests ahead of the upcoming elections.

The controversial “Abortion is murder” bill was submitted to parliament by popular anti-abortion activist Kaja Godek and her “Life and Family” foundation, aiming to sanction those publicly promoting abortion in Poland and abroad, as well as those advising and distributing materials on the topic of abortion.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/polish-parliament-rejects-controversial-abortion-bill-before-elections/

07.03.2023

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Here’s What States Are Doing to Abortion Rights in 2023

In the first full legislative session after Roe v. Wade was overturned, states across the country are looking to further restrict or better protect abortion rights. ProPublica looked at what abortion legislation is on the table in 2023.

by Megan Rose
Feb. 8, 2023

For 50 years, Roe v. Wade shut down the biggest ambitions of the anti-abortion movement. Last summer, the Supreme Court overturned that decision, unleashing a flurry of abortion legislation across the nation. And anti-abortion advocates have eager partners in Republican-controlled legislatures across the country.

“It’s exciting because our hands have been untied,” Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, said. “We’re going to see what we can do and do it.”

Continued: https://www.propublica.org/article/us-abortion-legislation-2023

Republican-controlled House pushes for new abortion restrictions

Bills not expected to advance in Senate but underscore Republican majority’s legislative priorities ahead of 2024 election

Lauren Gambino in Washington
Wed 11 Jan 2023

The Republican-led House on Wednesday pressed ahead with a pair of anti-abortion measures, despite warning signs that the issue had galvanized the opposition in the wake of the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade last year.

Voting mostly along party lines, Republicans first approved a bill that would compel doctors to provide care for an infant who survives an attempted abortion – an occurrence that is exceedingly rare.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/11/new-abortion-restrictions-bills-republicans-house-congress

TEXAS LAWMAKERS PLAN TO FURTHER DECIMATE ABORTION RIGHTS IN UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE SESSION

All Texas clinics have halted abortion care, but the anti-abortion movement says its work isn’t over.

Mary Tuma
December 26 2022

MONTHS BEFORE THE U.S. Supreme Court eviscerated nearly 50 years of abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade, Texans were already living in a grim post-Roe world. Senate Bill 8 — in effect since September 2021 due to the Supreme Court’s refusal to block the measure — barred abortion care once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, typically at six weeks of pregnancy. Then considered the most restrictive abortion law in the country, SB 8 halted the overwhelming majority of care in the nation’s second most populous state. The draconian law carried no exception for rape, incest, or severe fetal abnormality.

Next came the high court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which struck the final blow to abortion rights in Texas by allowing a full “trigger” ban to take effect. Performing an abortion in Texas is now a felony punishable by up to life in prison. Adding to the reproductive health crisis, state officials sought to push criminal enforcement of a 1925 pre-Roe ban. Today, all 23 abortion clinics in Texas have stopped providing abortion care at any stage, the most of any state in the nation.

Continued: https://theintercept.com/2022/12/26/texas-abortion-legislative-session/

USA – The Fight Over Abortion Is Far From Over. Here’s What Will Happen in 2023.

2023 is going to be a big year for anti-abortion policy: Anti-abortion activists could even harness a 19th-century law to curtail talking about abortion.

By Carter Sherman
December 26, 2022

If this is the year that Roe v. Wade fell, 2023 will be the year that kicks off what promises to be a years-long, state-by-state brawl between Americans who believe abortion is essential to freedom and Americans who believe the procedure is murder.

Come January, state legislatures across the country will open for business. Conservative lawmakers will try to narrow the last few avenues to abortion available in red states. Abortion rights activists, buoyed by their victories in the midterms, will push for more ballot measures. Many of these legislative and political showdowns will likely end up in the courts.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkg9p7/abortion

Italian senator renews anti-abortion foetus rights proposal

Maurizio Gasparri has higher chance of success this time after rightwing coalition’s election victory

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Wed 19 Oct 2022

An Italian senator has submitted a proposal for an amendment to Italy’s civil code that would recognise a foetus as a human being, which if passed into law could enable pregnancy terminations to be classified as murder.

Maurizio Gasparri, a politician with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which is part of the government led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy – a party with neofascist origins – expected to be sworn in next week, unleashed a barrage of criticism from members of the opposition when he presented his “rights of the unborn child” proposal to the senate.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/19/italian-senator-renews-anti-abortion-foetus-rights-proposal

100 Days Since Roe V. Wade Was Overturned: The 11 Biggest Consequences

Alison Durkee
Oct 2, 2022

Sunday marks 100 days since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade and found there’s no longer a federal constitutional right to abortion, setting off a wave of abortion bans nationwide that have impacted healthcare and spawned new legal battles while energizing voters ahead of the midterm elections.

State Abortion Bans: Total abortion bans that criminalize performing the procedure in nearly all cases are now in place in 13 states, and Georgia bans the procedure at six weeks into a pregnancy (another six states have bans that were blocked in court).

Continued: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/10/02/100-days-since-roe-v-wade-was-overturned-the-11-biggest-consequences/?sh=47a29af74642

The GOP is learning just how hard it is to legislate abortion

Ahead of the midterms, severe abortion restrictions are coming up against public opinion — and people’s real lives.

By Ellen Ioanes
Sep 10, 2022

South Carolina’s state senate on Thursday refused to pass a bill that would outlaw abortion after fertilization, with some exceptions, despite a Republican majority in that body. In South Carolina, as in states like Michigan, Kansas, Idaho, and Indiana, the challenge of legislating such extreme bans is becoming increasingly apparent — and abortion is becoming a landmine issue for Republicans.

Five Republican senators joined Democrats in opposing the bill in South Carolina’s Senate, with GOP Sen. Tom Davis threatening a filibuster should the measure as written come to a vote. Davis joined all three Republican women in the senate, as well as one male GOP colleague, in filibustering the House’s severe restrictions; Davis and one woman Republican senator, Penry Gustafson, voted in favor of the compromise measure.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/2022/9/10/23344663/south-carolina-gop-vote-legislation-abortion

10.09.2022

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Oklahoma’s New Abortion Ban Leaves Clinics Reeling

Near-total ban on abortions took immediate effect in the state, forcing abortion clinics to halt procedures

By Jennifer Calfas
May 27, 2022

Oklahoma abortion clinics suspended appointments and are now referring patients to nearby states after new legislation quickly outlawed most abortions there.

Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, signed a ban on abortion at any stage of pregnancy into law Wednesday. It took effect immediately and is now the strictest antiabortion law in any U.S. state. The law also deputizes enforcement to private citizens, a strategy first used by Texas lawmakers that has made it more difficult for abortion-rights groups to challenge the regulations in court.

Continued: https://www.wsj.com/articles/oklahomas-new-abortion-ban-leaves-clinics-reeling-11653610467

Oklahoma GOP governor signs one of nation’s strictest abortion bills into law

By Karen Smith and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN
Thu May 26, 2022

(CNN)Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt on Wednesday signed a bill into law banning abortions from the stage of "fertilization" and allowing private citizens to sue abortion providers who "knowingly" perform or induce an abortion "on a pregnant woman."

The bill, HB 4327, is among the nation's strictest on abortion and is a clear rebuke of the protections granted in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. A coalition of abortion providers and abortion rights advocates said Wednesday evening they'd challenge the law, which takes effect immediately, in court and try to block it.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/oklahoma-abortion-ban-hb-4327-signed-governor-stitt/index.html