Abortion may be legal in Argentina but women still face major obstacles

Mar 4, 2023
By Agustina Latourrette, BBC World Service

María was 23 when she decided to have an abortion. At the health centre where she had gone for treatment, she says she overheard one doctor saying to a colleague: "When will these girls learn to keep their legs closed?"

María lives in Salta, a religiously conservative province in north-west Argentina, where many healthcare workers are still against abortion. She was eventually given a pill to end her pregnancy, but she says the nurses were reluctant to treat her and wanted to make her feel guilty: "After I expelled the pregnancy tissue, I could see the foetus."

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-64784660

German abortion clinics targeted by US-style protests

Protests outside abortion clinics and family planning centers are underway in Germany. Reproductive rights advocates point to the influence of US money and tactics on the anti-abortion movement in Germany and Europe.

Helen Whittle
Mar 4, 2023

In the early afternoon on a gray and windy Friday in February, a dozen protesters from EuroProLife slowly began to appear opposite the Pro Familia family planning advice and counseling center in Frankfurt's Westend.

Clutching hymn sheets and rosaries, they chanted the Hail Mary prayer. Some held placards bearing images of smiling babies or a tiny clenched fist with the slogans "Unborn Lives Matter" and "Abortion Is Not a Solution."

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/german-abortion-clinics-targeted-by-us-style-protests/a-64877764

Google adverts direct pregnant women to services run by UK anti-abortion groups

The tech giant is carrying adverts styled to look like real internet search results for women seeking pregnancy advice

Shanti Das
Sat 25 Feb 2023

Women seeking online advice about abortions are being directed to pregnancy counselling services run by anti-abortion campaigners, an Observer investigation has found.

Google adverts that are styled to look like real search results and appear above genuine listings are routinely being shown to people searching key terms relating to pregnancy and abortion.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/25/google-adverts-direct-pregnant-women-anti-abortion-groups

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/

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

Outcry in Poland over abortion law

Two Polish hospitals refused to terminate the pregnancy of an underage rape victim. The case has sparked controversy over the country's restrictive legislation, with women's rights activists insisting it must be eased.

Jacek Lepiarz
February 5, 2023

A scandal is raging in Polish politics and in the media, concering the shocking case of a 14-year-old rape victim. The girl, who is from the Podlaskie region in northeastern Poland and has mental disabilities, was raped by her own uncle and became pregnant as a result. She was unaware of her condition, but her aunt noticed it and tried to help her get an abortion.

Although the girl had written confirmation from the public prosecutor that she was pregnant as the result of a crime, which gave her the right to a legal abortion, two hospitals in the region refused to carry out the procedure. The province of Podlaskie on the Belarusian border is a bastion of the right-wing conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS), which has been in power in Poland since 2015.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/poland-outcry-over-abortion-law/a-64586531

‘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

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 Inevitable Prosecutions of Women Who Obtain Abortions

The attorney general of Alabama finally went where the logic of the anti-abortion movement has long pointed.

BY DAVID DAYEN
JANUARY 16, 2023

Back when Donald Trump was just a presidential candidate, he was asked by Chris Matthews if he thought abortions should be dealt with under the law, like any other crime. He replied, “There has to be some form of punishment,” specifically saying he meant that the women who obtained abortions should be punished. After his handlers realized what he’d said, he quickly reversed himself, saying that if abortion were banned through the courts or legislation, the punishment should be reserved for “the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman.”

Some Republicans still draw the line there, reserving any legal action over abortions to those who conduct them. … But this don’t-punish-the-woman line is no longer unapproachable.

Continued: https://prospect.org/health/2023-01-16-prosecution-women-mifepristone-abortion-alabama/

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