Convicted for ‘advertising’ abortion, German doctors are fighting to share the facts

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN
Mon June 7, 2021

(CNN) Dr. Detlef Merchel didn't expect to end up in court for doing what he sees as part of his job: giving his patients information about the medical procedures he provides. But there he was, getting convicted for "advertising abortion" -- a crime in Germany.

He received a fine of €3,000 ($3,650) last month for sharing details about the type of abortion he offers, as well as the legal requirements for accessing it on his website.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/07/europe/germany-abortion-law-doctors-cmd-intl/index.html

The last days of Roe v. Wade?

BY ALBERT HUNT, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
05/30/21

Pro-choice abortion advocates are warning ominously that the Supreme Court is about to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision. The head of the Center for Reproductive Rights said “alarm bells are ringing loudly” with the threat of overturning Roe. Democratic politicians are raising the same alarms.

The Republican-dominated Court agreed to review a Mississippi law that bans any abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Lower federal courts have ruled against the law. If the High Court reverses those decisions and upholds the Mississippi statute, it effectively would allow states to overturn Roe protections.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/556116-the-last-days-of-roe-v-wade

Clarence Thomas awaits his chance to drive the conservative majority on abortion and guns

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter
Thu May 20, 2021

(CNN)Twenty-nine years ago, less than a year after he had taken the bench, Justice Clarence Thomas joined a dissent calling the landmark opinion Roe v. Wade "plainly wrong" and an "erroneous constitutional decision." Over the years Thomas would say Roe had "no basis in the Constitution" and call out the court's abortion precedents as "grievously wrong."

He also took aim at challenges to the Second Amendment, accusing lower courts and his own colleagues of thumbing their noses at the right to bear arms, calling it a "disfavored right."

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/20/politics/clarence-thomas-abortion-guns/index.html

Texas governor signs extreme six-week abortion ban into law

Senate Bill 8 bars abortion at six weeks with no exception for rape or incest, amounting to a near-total ban

Mary Tuma in Austin
Wed 19 May 2021

The Texas Republican governor Greg Abbott has signed into law one of the most extreme six-week abortion bans in the US, despite strong opposition from the medical and legal communities, who warn the legislation could topple the state’s court system and already fragile reproductive healthcare network.

“This bill ensures that every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion,” said Abbott, flanked by several members of the Texas legislature this morning.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/19/texas-abortion-ban-law-greg-abbott

Mississippi abortion: US Supreme Court to hear major abortion case

May 17, 2021
BBC

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to Mississippi's 15-week ban on abortion in a major case that will be closely watched across the US.

The verdict could upend the legal right to abortion laid out in the court's 1973 landmark Roe v Wade ruling.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57148278

Access to Medical Abortion and Self-Managed Abortion: FIGO and Partners Share Key Insights with the United Nations

FIGO
22 April 2021

On 18th March 2021, FIGO – in collaboration with the Centre for Reproductive Rights and Ipas – organised a discussion on ‘Access to medical abortion and self –managed abortion. Key insights from health workers and human rights advocates: on guaranteeing human rights’ with United Nations treaty monitoring committee members and Special Procedures mandate holders.

These elected UN experts have a responsibility to interpret human rights treaties, which includes monitoring states’ compliance with their legally binding human rights obligations and recommendations from UN experts. This includes reproductive rights and access to safe abortion. The UN experts do this by conducting fact-finding missions and issuing progress reports and statements, in addition to conducting review meetings with governments to assess their progress.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/access-medical-abortion-and-self-managed-abortion

International court could press El Salvador to change abortion ban

By JULIA BARAJAS, STAFF WRITER
APRIL 17, 2021

About seven months into her pregnancy, Manuela passed out at her family home in a rural part of Morozán in northeast El Salvador.

Her frightened relatives, who had no car, carried her in a hammock to a hospital many miles away. There, a physician asked the groggy woman, who was hemorrhaging and had lumps on her neck, for her husband. He’d migrated to the U.S., she said.

Continued:
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-04-17/el-salvador-abortion-ban-international-court

USA – The Authoritarian Plan for a National Abortion Ban

Some on the right want the Supreme Court to go beyond ending Roe.

By Michelle Goldberg, Opinion Columnist, NY Times
April 5, 2021

The anti-abortion movement was never going to stop with overturning Roe v. Wade.

For years, Republicans have argued that their goal was to return the issue of abortion to the states. At no point was this believable; since 1984, the Republican Party platform has called for a constitutional amendment banning abortion. Having spent decades denouncing abortion as a singular moral evil, the anti-abortion movement will not be content to return to a pre-Roe status quo, where abortion was legal in some places but not others.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/opinion/us-abortion-bans.html

Report details wave of state legislative attempts to restrict abortion in 2021

"This legislative season is shaping up to be one of the most hostile in recent history for reproductive health and rights," said Planned Parenthood's president and CEO.

March 26, 2021
By Chloe Atkins

State legislators across the country are accelerating their efforts to limit access to abortions by fast-tracking a new round of anti-abortion laws this year, according to a report exclusively shared with NBC News.

Over 500 abortion restrictions have been introduced in 44 states this year, compared to around 300 at this time in 2019, according to the report, which Planned Parenthood produced with data compiled by the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights research organization.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/report-details-wave-state-legislative-attempts-restrict-abortion-2021-n1262070

USA – Supreme Court conservatives want to topple abortion rights — but can’t seem to agree on how

By Joan Biskupic, CNN legal analyst & Supreme Court biographer
Fri March 19, 2021

(CNN) Conservative Supreme Court justices have demonstrated a desire to reverse prior decisions on abortion rights. The question, with Chief Justice John Roberts no longer the undisputed swing vote on abortion, is when and how far at least five justices will go to overturn rulings that support a constitutional right to end a pregnancy.

The aims of individual justices, based on their recent writings, range from reversing Roe v. Wade to forbidding clinics from challenging restrictions on behalf of women to relaxing the standard that states must meet to limit women's access to the procedure.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/19/politics/abortion-supreme-court-conservatives-thomas-roberts/index.html