Biden hopes abortion will keep him in the White House. But has he done enough to protect rights?

The president has made big promises and held the line against legal challenges, but activists say he could be doing more

Carter Sherman
Fri 26 Jan 2024

Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has made a big bet that outrage over abortion will keep the president in the White House come November.

Over the last several days, the Biden administration has unleashed a blitz of ads and events to spotlight the devastation wrought by the overturning of Roe v Wade. Biden met with a reproductive health task force, while his vice-president, Kamala Harris – who he has entrusted to lead this effort – embarked on a national tour to talk about abortion. They even devoted their first joint campaign stop of 2024 to the issue.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/biden-abortion-rights-expand-protections

US – The Supreme Court considers an important showdown over abortion this week

The Court has been surprisingly hesitant to weigh in on abortion. But a pending case is likely to force its hand.

By Ian Millhiser
May 11, 2021

The Supreme Court has been sitting on a potentially very significant abortion case for the last two months, one that the Court’s rules say it should dismiss. We’re likely to find out this week whether the Court will dismiss this case, however, and that decision could tell us a great deal about how fast the Court plans to move in rolling back abortion rights.

In February, about a month after President Joe Biden took office, the Supreme Court announced that it would hear three consolidated cases challenging a Trump administration policy targeting abortion clinics.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/22428611/supreme-court-abortion-gag-rule-title-x-american-medical-association-becerra-biden-trump

Biden begins to undo Trump-era ban on abortion referrals

Apr 14, 2021
By: Canadian Press

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Wednesday began to undo a Trump-era ban on clinics referring women for abortions, a policy that drove Planned Parenthood from the federal family planning program and created new complications for women trying to get birth control.

The proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services follows through on President Joe Biden's campaign promise to reverse his predecessor's family planning policy, which was branded a “gag rule” by women's groups and decried by medical associations as violating the doctor-patient relationship.

Continued: https://www.bradfordtoday.ca/world-news/biden-begins-to-undo-trump-era-ban-on-abortion-referrals-3630894

Biden rolls back Trump’s anti-abortion curbs on family planning funds

The proposed overhaul erases restrictions on abortion providers that Democrats derided as a "gag rule."

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
04/14/2021

The Biden administration on Wednesday moved
to unwind former President Donald Trump’s anti-abortion restrictions on federal
family planning funds.

New rules proposed Wednesday would largely return the Title X program to its
pre-Trump formation, allowing more abortion clinics to participate in a program
that provides free or subsidized contraception and other health services to
about 4 million low-income Americans each year.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/14/biden-trump-anti-abortion-family-planning-481395

Mike Pompeo is Wrong: There Is an International Right to Abortion

As reluctant as Pompeo and the rest of the Trump administration may be to follow the law, the fact remains: The U.S. is party to a number of human rights treaties that protect abortion rights—and adhering to these treaties is a legal requirement.

11/2/2020
by MERRITE JOHNSON

Last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a U.S.-led document that fired yet another shot across the bow at reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy. Bookended by a bizarre montage video, the signing ceremony was touted as a watershed moment in the fight against an international movement to declare a right to abortion at the expense of traditional family values. The only problem? There very much is an international right to abortion.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2020/11/02/mike-pompeo-geneva-consensus-declaration-international-right-to-abortion/

Amy Klobuchar: ‘I will reverse Trump abortion policies in the first 100 days’

Amy Klobuchar: 'I will reverse Trump abortion policies in the first 100 days'
The Democratic presidential candidate, who is rising in the Iowa polls, puts reproductive rights at heart of campaign

Ed Pilkington
Sat 14 Dec 2019

Amy Klobuchar, one of few viable women remaining in the Democratic presidential race, has vowed to reverse Donald Trump’s key anti-abortion measures in her first 100 days in office were she to prevail in next year’s epic battle for the White House.

Klobuchar, the senator from Minnesota who is creeping up in the polls in the vital first-to-vote state of Iowa, laid out aggressive steps she would take to shore up reproductive rights were she to win the Democratic nomination and defeat Trump.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/14/amy-klobuchar-abortion-reproductive-rights-interview

What Have We Delivered for the World’s Women and Girls Since 1994?

What Have We Delivered for the World’s Women and Girls Since 1994?

11/19/2019
by Latanya Mapp Frett

End poverty. End patriarchy. Could it be that these two goals are more intimately linked than ever before? Last week marked a rubber-hits-the-road moment for those who are interested in doing both.

Government leaders, politicians and civil society activists gathered from November 12 to 14 in Nairobi, Kenya for a United Nations Summit on population and development. I joined those delegates to follow up on commitments made 25 years ago at the original International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)—and to continue to advocate for grassroots women’s voices to be not only present but fully heeded in these global conversations, processes and policies that will help determine our futures.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2019/11/19/what-have-we-delivered-for-the-worlds-women-and-girls-since-1994/

19.11.2019

International Conference on Population and development

USA – How billionaire philanthropy provides reproductive health care when politicians won’t

How billionaire philanthropy provides reproductive health care when politicians won’t
How philanthropists brought us modern contraception — and where we’d be without them.

By Kelsey Piper
Sep 17, 2019

There’s a new backlash against billionaire philanthropy. Some of its leading voices have argued that “every billionaire is a policy failure” and that it’d be better if billionaires didn’t exist at all — even if that meant the disappearance of philanthropy by billionaires.

The conversation has done a lot of valuable work, encouraging more scrutiny of charitable activity, pointing out where philanthropy is a fig leaf for misconduct, and forcing institutions to grapple with when it’s wrong to accept money that was unethically acquired.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/9/17/20754970/billionaire-philanthropy-reproductive-health-care-politics

The Democratic debate ignored abortion. That’s a loss for voters.

The Democratic debate ignored abortion. That’s a loss for voters.
Reproductive rights are key for a lot of Democratic voters. They didn’t get a mention Thursday night.

By Anna North
Sep 13, 2019

Abortion rights are shaping up to be a key issue for Democratic voters going into 2020.

But you wouldn’t know it from the third Democratic debate on Thursday night.

The moderators didn’t ask a single question about abortion or reproductive health more generally, and candidates didn’t bring it up. At least one candidate complained about the absence: Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted Thursday night that the debate “was three hours long and not one question about abortion or reproductive rights.”

Continued: https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/2019/9/13/20863699/september-2019-democratic-debate-abortion-reproductive-health

USA – “I Am Honestly Scared to Death”: Small Abortion Clinics Are Fighting for Survival Over Trump’s New Abortion Rules

“I Am Honestly Scared to Death”: Small Abortion Clinics Are Fighting for Survival Over Trump’s New Abortion Rules
Independent abortion clinics' budgets were slashed after being driven from the only federal program dedicated to family planning.

by Carter Sherman
Sep 10 2019

After the Trump administration announced that providers who receive money from the nation’s only dedicated family planning program can’t refer people for abortions, Planned Parenthood made national headlines by leaving the program.

But while Planned Parenthood is anti-abortion activists’ biggest bogeyman, the bulk of American abortions are actually performed by small, independent abortion clinics. Those providers are also quietly leaving the Title X program — and without the name-brand recognition, political sway, or fundraising firepower of a national network, they’re fighting to keep their services cheap and available.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43k37d/i-am-honestly-scared-to-death-small-abortion-clinics-are-fighting-for-survival-over-trumps-new-abortion-rules