Are Blue States Ready To Relax Their Bans On Later Abortions?

By Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
JAN. 30, 2023

You hear people say the term “third rail” all the time in politics, usually in reference to an issue that is too volatile — too charged — to touch. For decades, abortion later in pregnancy has been one of those issues. As recently as four years ago, a proposal to loosen restrictions on third-trimester abortions went down in flames in Virginia after Republicans accused Democratic lawmakers of advocating for infanticide — an attack that was misleading but effective.

But the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, has changed the current running through the abortion debate. And now Democratic legislators may have new opportunities to try and expand abortion rights — including abortions in the late second and early third trimester of pregnancy.

Continued: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/are-blue-states-ready-to-relax-their-bans-on-later-abortions/

Ireland – Rotunda master says 95% of parents in Down syndrome cases choose abortion

Hospital ‘does not advocate for termination, that is just the lived experience’, says Prof Fergal Malone

Paul Cullen
Mon Dec 26 2022

About 95 per cent of parents whose babies are diagnosed with Down syndrome at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin choose to have an abortion, according to the master of the hospital.

Prof Fergal Malone says the Rotunda strives to be non-directive in its counselling to affected parents. “The 95 per cent who choose to travel do reach that decision themselves. We very much do not advocate for termination,” he said. “The reality is that the vast majority choose to terminate. I don’t have a view on whether that is the right thing. We don’t advocate for it, that is just the lived experience.”

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/health/2022/12/26/rotunda-master-says-95-of-parents-of-babies-diagnosed-with-down-syndrome-choose-abortion/

26.12.2022

India: Late-term abortion ruling highlights mothers’ rights

Abortions in India are usually permitted only up to 24 weeks of pregnancy. But in a recent landmark ruling, a Delhi court allowed a woman to undergo an abortion in the 33rd week due to fetal abnormalities.

Dec 12, 2022
Nidhi Suresh

The High Court of Delhi last week permitted an Indian woman, who was 33 weeks pregnant to undergoa medical termination after doctors found abnormalities in the fetus.

"The ultimate decision in such cases ought to recognize the choice of the mother," said Justice Prathiba M.Singh on December 6.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/india-late-term-abortion-ruling-highlights-mothers-rights/a-64068504

Abortion Bans Will Kill Diabetic People

Already hit with crushing insulin prices and health issues, diabetics say the end of Roe v. Wade scares the hell out of them—for good reason.

By Zoe Witt
July 28, 2022

Diabetics in America are accustomed to indifference and discrimination. Before insulin was first synthesized a hundred years ago, we were condemned to “starvation diets” and an excruciating death. For too many this is still reality. When gestures towards caring are made, coverage coalesces around white, wealthy, thin, type 1 diabetic celebrities, usually for wearing medical devices that are unaffordable to most. Democrats use us to campaign, while making deals that benefit pharmaceutical companies behind closed doors. The major diabetes nonprofits take donations from the same insulin manufacturers price gouging us. As many as 40 percent of Americans who died from covid had diabetes, and diabetics were 48 times as likely as non-diabetics to have become unhoused during the pandemic. Many erroneously assume diabetics of all types “did this to ourselves.”

Continued: https://jezebel.com/diabetics-pregnancy-abortion-bans-1849339872

28.07.2022

Commentary

Featured

diabetes and abortion

fetal abnormalities

gestational diabetes

pregnancy and diabetes

Poland shows the risks for women when abortion is banned

Katrin Bennhold, Monika Pronczuk
14.06.2022

It was shortly before 11 p.m. when Izabela Sajbor realized the doctors were prepared to let her die. Her doctor had already told her that her fetus had severe abnormalities and would almost certainly die in the womb. If it made it to term, life expectancy was a year, at most. At 22 weeks pregnant, Sajbor had been admitted to a hospital after her water broke prematurely.

She knew that there was a short window to induce birth or surgically remove the fetus to avert infection and potentially fatal sepsis. But even as she developed a fever, vomited and convulsed on the floor, it seemed to be the baby’s heartbeat that the doctors were most concerned about.

Continued: https://www.ekathimerini.com/nytimes/1186635/poland-shows-the-risks-for-women-when-abortion-is-banned/

USA – Limits on early abortion drive more women to get them later

Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press
June 1, 2022

An 18-year-old was undergoing treatment for an eating disorder when she learned she was pregnant, already in the second trimester. A mom of two found out at 20 weeks that her much-wanted baby had no kidneys or bladder. A young woman was raped and couldn't fathom continuing a pregnancy.

Abortions later in pregnancy are relatively rare, even more so now with the availability of medications to terminate early pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/limits-on-early-abortion-drive-more-women-to-get-them-later-1.5929083

Abortion in India: Bridging the gap between progressive legislation and implementation

When India first passed its abortion legislation in 1971, it was one of the most progressive laws in the world. Fifty years and an amendment later, the country is struggling to offer rights-based abortion care.

Date 18.11.2021
Seerat Chabba (New Delhi)

Shilpa (name changed) found out she was pregnant at the age of 21. She had just enrolled herself into graduate school in India's commercial capital of Mumbai. Distraught and alone in a big city, she took an auto-rickshaw to the nearest hospital and got an appointment with a gynecologist.

Braving judgmental glances, the first question that she had to answer was: "Are you married?" In many parts of India, this question is asked when the doctor wants to know whether the person has been sexually active. Premarital sex remains taboo.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/abortion-in-india-bridging-the-gap-between-progressive-legislation-and-implementation/a-59853929

Bulletproof glass and 24-hour surveillance: The life of an American abortion doctor

ABC News, Australia
By North American correspondent Kathryn Diss and Cameron Schwarz in Colorado
Posted Mon 11 Oct 2021

Warren Hern doesn’t live like any ordinary doctor. He keeps the location of his Colorado home secret. He sleeps with a rifle beside his bed. He wears a bulletproof vest if speaking publicly, and works behind bulletproof glass.

Every square inch of his surgery, which is protected by large security fences, is monitored with surveillance cameras 24 hours a day.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-12/life-of-american-abortion-doctor-bulletproof-glass-surveillance/100524398

Poland’s Recent Abortion Ban

The PiS, the Catholic Church, and the Denial of Basic Human Rights

By Enora Lauvau
On Feb 21, 2021
The McGill International Review

Known to be a conservative Roman Catholic nation, Poland has long been home to fierce debate over abortion rights, with the two opposing sides consisting of traditionalists and those advocating a more progressive agenda. Tensions reached an all-time high last October, as the country’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled to further increase the restrictions on legal abortions. Already, Poland had some of the most stringent abortion laws in Europe, with abortion been legal in only three cases: fetal abnormalities, a direct threat to the woman’s health, and rape or incest. In a decision made on October 22, 2020, however, the court declared abortions in the case of congenital defects illegal, on the basis that the Polish Constitution protects human life. Considering that out of the mere 1,100 abortions that legally occurred in Poland last year, 98 per cent of them were for this reason, such a decision essentially ensures that those seeking abortions will either be forced to leave the country or perform them at home, both of which will put their health at risk and leave them vulnerable to legal prosecution. Already, women’s rights groups estimate that between 80,000 to 150,000 citizens get abortions outside of Poland’s health system each year.

Continued: https://www.mironline.ca/polands-recent-abortion-ban/

The unheard pain of abortion in Poland

By Valérie Gauriat
Updated: 12/02/2021

In front of one of Warsaw's main hospitals, an ominous van is parked. Its sides are covered in an image of what is allegedly a dead fetus. It's a message from anti-abortion groups to one of the capital’s few facilities that still perform pregnancy terminations.

A recent ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal has just toughened one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. Terminations in Poland were once only allowed in cases of rape, incest, danger to the mother's health or life, serious defects of the fetus or incurable disease. The new amendments mean that last option is now prohibited.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/12/the-unheard-pain-of-abortion-in-poland