USA – Unequal Justice: Did Five Supreme Court Justices Lie About Abortion?

In their auditions for the highest court in the land, each of them was at least materially misleading.

BY BILL BLUM
FEBRUARY 20, 2023

The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, issued last year, overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), and dismantled the federal constitutional right to abortion. One of the lingering questions in the aftermath of Dobbs is whether any of the five justices who voted to take that drastic step lied about their views on abortion during their respective confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A strong argument can be made that each of them either lied or made materially misleading statements.

Continued: https://progressive.org/latest/unequal-justice-supreme-court-justices-abortion-lie-blum-20223/

‘It’s a public health risk’: nurse decries infection control at US anti-abortion crisis center

A Kentucky nurse tried to hold a pregnancy center accountable for the problems she saw – but such facilities are subject to little regulation

Laura C Morel
Thu 2 Feb 2023

At 52, Susan Rames was looking for a way to give back. She worked part-time at a Kentucky hospital as a postpartum nurse and, with her three children nearly grown, she had some extra time during the week.

Motivated by her Christian faith, Rames decided to volunteer at ALC Pregnancy Resource Center, a crisis pregnancy center whose mission is to discourage people from seeking abortions.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/02/kentucky-crisis-pregnancy-center-anti-abortion-malpractices

Undercover in US-Backed Anti-Abortion Clinics in Uganda

VICE News
Jan 25, 2023
17:06 minute video

VICE News goes undercover in Uganda to investigate misinformation and coercion inside the American-backed centers that are convincing teenagers to keep their pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCzqEXa2SrI

U.S. Supreme Court says it is unable to identify the person who leaked draft of abortion ruling

The court was rocked by a highly unusual leak of a draft opinion that previewed its ruling in June rolling back abortion rights.

Jan. 19, 2023
By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court announced Thursday that after a lengthy investigation it has been unable to conclusively identify who leaked an unpublished draft of an opinion indicating the court was poised to roll back abortion rights.

In an unsigned statement, the court said that all leads had been followed up and forensic analysis had been performed but that "the team has to date been unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence."

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-says-unable-identify-person-leaked-draft-abortion-ruling-rcna66578

USA – The Inside Story of Bumbling Extremists’ Sad Crusade Against Abortion Pills

They used to blockade abortion clinics. Now they try to find the elusive headquarters of a pill company—and are targeting pharmacies next.

Sofia Resnick
Jan. 15, 2023

The Rev. Patrick Mahoney ditched his usual jeans and Converse for the dark blue suit and the brown shoes he considers bougie before boarding the Amtrak in Washington D.C., to New York City last March. He wanted to look presentable for the speech he’d be giving at the New York mayor’s interfaith anti-gun violence summit. But he also needed to blend in with the other suits as he later entered an office building in Midtown Manhattan off of Fifth Avenue. Briefcase in hand, the Presbyterian minister walked confidently past the empty lobby, mashed the elevator button, and slipped inside.

He had another mission, and it had nothing to do with guns.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/bumbling-extremists-sad-crusade-against-abortion-pills

UK – Alleged profitable ‘abortion industry’ is a dangerous myth

Despite claims from opponents, no one is profiting from an ‘abortion industry’ in the UK, writes Gemma Clark

By Gemma Clark
December 27, 2022

The overturning of Roe v Wade in America (which ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion) has had a ripple effect across the world.

Anti-abortionists have become emboldened, and abortion rights activists are working harder than ever to safeguard reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/opinion/5203114/buffer-zone-scotland-abortion-industry-myth-opinion/

USA – Anti-abortion pregnancy centers are deceiving patients – and getting away with it

One Florida case shows just how little authorities are doing to hold pregnancy centers accountable, even when the risks to women – and evidence – are significant

Laura C Morel for Reveal
Thu 15 Dec 2022

Patricia Henderson stood in the parking lot next to the Florida Women’s center in Jacksonville, wearing a white lab coat and greeting patients as they emerged from their cars. Their abortion appointments, she told them, were in the flat-roofed building across the road.

Once inside, Henderson handed them three pages of paperwork to fill out – questions about everything from their highest level of education to the date of their last period. State investigative documents lay out what clients say happened next: she led them to a pink-walled ultrasound room, where she would reveal their pregnancies in grainy images that, according to leading medical groups, only a licensed physician or a specially trained advanced practice nurse should interpret.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/15/us-anti-abortion-pregnancy-centers

USA – The Anti-Abortion Movement Is More Conspiracy-Addled Than Ever

From rampant antisemitism to groomer panic, pro-life activists are knee-deep in the far-right fever swamp.

Audrey Clare Farley
December 13, 2022

The “pro-life” movement has gone full groomer. Scroll the Twitter feed of the movement’s darling, Live Action founder Lila Rose, and you’ll find as many recent posts about the sexualization of children as you will see missives that are singularly about abortion. Take a gander at the feed of Students for Life, and you’ll find people calling Planned Parenthood staff “groomers.” Turn the television channel to EWTN, a staunchly anti-abortion Catholic network and the largest religious broadcast in the world, and you’ll find hosts decrying Disney’s “transgender grooming” of kids.

Continued: https://newrepublic.com/article/169461/anti-abortion-movement-antisemitic-conspiracy

Malta – Those who wage a ‘culture war’…

It should come as no real surprise that opponents of this bill have consistently distorted these facts

11 December 2022

Abortion is, by definition, already a sensitive and emotive topic in itself. But the debate surrounding this issue has so far served only to intensify all the emotions: without bringing any clarity (or, even less, rationality) to the discussion.

A case in point is the Opposition’s insistence that – by presenting a bill to amend Malta’s abortion law, in the wake of the Andrea Prudente incident last summer – the government is ‘hell-bent on introducing abortion, at all costs’.

Continued: https://www.maltatoday.com.mt/comment/editorial/120249/those_who_wage_a_culture_war#.Y5aHhXbMKrQ

Was the Anti-Abortion Influence Campaign an Open Secret at the Supreme Court?

There’s new evidence at least one justice not only knew of the clandestine operation, but welcomed it.

Pema Levy
Dec 8, 2022

On Thursday, the Reverend Robert Schenck testified before Congress about the anti-abortion influence campaign he ran targeting the Supreme Court, recounting the bombshell revelations that have clouded the highest court in scandal first reported in November by the New York Times. While speaking to the lawmakers, Schenck shared a new detail: that at least one justice knew about his efforts—and approved of them. “

Justice Thomas commended me,” Schenck recalled of one interaction, “saying something like: ‘Keep up what you’re doing. It’s making a difference.'”

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/12/rob-schenck-clarence-thomas-supreme-court/