Democrats can now think ‘bigger and bolder’ on abortion. What can we actually expect?

The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, but Democrats just won control of the Senate

Caroline Kitchener
Jan. 7, 2021

2020 did not leave abortion rights advocates with much hope for the future of Roe v. Wade.

Their position was tenuous from the outset. After Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh was confirmed in October 2018, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. — a conservative — became the crucial swing vote on abortion cases. Conservatives strengthened their majority in October, when President Trump nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace longtime women’s rights champion Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after her death in September.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/democrats-can-now-think-bigger-and-bolder-on-abortion-what-can-we-actually-expect/

07.01.2021

American Civil Liberties Union

Amy Coney Barrett

Feminist Women’s Health Center

Georgia Life Alliance

Reproductive Freedom Project

Roe v. Wade

U.S. Supreme Court

Women’s Health Protection Act

What Joe Biden’s Election Means For Abortion Rights

December 1, 2020
Sarah McCammon

Like many abortion rights opponents, Tom McClusky is feeling good about battles won under President Trump during his four years in office.

"He has probably done more pro-life things than many Republicans who have had two terms," McClusky said.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/01/935947603/what-joe-bidens-election-means-for-abortion-rights

Even if Roe is gone, the abortion conflict is far from over

BY MARY ZIEGLER, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR
11/06/20

When it comes to abortion, all eyes are currently on the Supreme Court. But in the states, pro-life and pro-choice forces are already shadowboxing about what a post-Roe v. Wade America will look like.

Two states with abortion on the ballot this week just offered a very different perspective on the shape of battles yet to come. By a 62.1 to 39.1 percent margin, Louisiana amended its constitution to declare that there was no state right to abortion or abortion voting. By contrast, in a closely watched Colorado vote, the state rejected a ballot initiative banning abortion at 22 weeks by a 59.1 to 40.9 percent.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/524671-even-if-roe-is-gone-the-abortion-conflict-is-a-far-from-over

How An Abortion Fight In Supreme Court Could Threaten Birth Control, Too

November 3, 2020
JULIE ROVNER

Abortion opponents were among those most excited by the addition of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in October. And they had good reason to be.

As a law professor and circuit court judge, Barrett made it clear she is no fan of abortion rights. She is considered likely to vote not only to uphold restrictions on the procedure, but also, possibly, even to overturn the existing national right to abortion under the Supreme Court's landmark rulings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/03/930533103/how-an-abortion-fight-in-supreme-court-could-threaten-birth-control-too

In Europe and the US, abortion rights are under renewed threat

by Emma Reynolds, CNN
Sun November 1, 2020

(CNN)The Abortion Dream Team usually receives about 400 calls a month, from women seeking advice and information. Last week, the Polish advocacy group had 700 in the space of three days, according to team member Justyna Wydrzynska.

Some came from women who had just arrived at hospital to have abortions because of fetal defects -- only to be told to go home after Poland's highest court on October 22 imposed a near-total ban on abortion.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/01/europe/abortion-rights-poland-us-slovakia-intl/index.html

01.11.2020

anti-choice restrictions

Center for Reproductive Rights

Center of International Law

fetal defects

Geneva Consensus Declaration

Marie Stopes International

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Poland Federation for Women and Family Planning

Roe v. Wade

Sarah Shaw

severe fetal abnormalities

A World Without Legal Abortion: How Activists Envision A ‘Post-Roe’ Nation

October 27, 2020
Sarah McCammon

Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation could open the door to a world that many anti-abortion-rights activists have been envisioning for decades.

"I hope and pray that we will be in a world post-Roe v. Wade," said Carrie Murray Nellis, 41, an adoption attorney based in Georgia.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/27/927862869/a-world-without-legal-abortion-how-activists-envision-a-post-roe-nation

Roe v. Wade Might Be Overturned Soon — This Is Worse Than You Think

MOLLY LONGMAN
OCTOBER 20, 2020

Angel Kai’s* heart sank when she found out she was pregnant again. The 20-year-old had delivered her second child only three months prior. She was on unpaid maternity leave from her job in Amarillo, TX, and she’d just received a $130 electricity bill in the mail that she didn’t know if she’d be able to pay. “Everything that was happening financially was just bad,” she remembers. “I couldn’t have another kid. I knew getting an abortion would be the best thing, because I couldn’t walk up the street to get a soda if I wanted one at the time. We were that tight on money.”

It turned out, though, that Angel couldn’t even afford the abortion she knew she wanted. Her health plan was offered under state-funded Medicaid, which, in Texas, only covers abortion in cases of life endangerment, rape, and incest. So, Angel Googled “abortion financial help.”

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/2020/10/10112297/what-happens-if-roe-v-wade-overturned-state-abortion-laws

20.10.2020

American Civil Liberties Union

American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Americans United for Life

Caitlin Knowles Myers

Catherine Glenn Foster

constitutional amendment to ban abortion

crisis pregnancy centers

Laurie Bertram Roberts

Marcela Howell

Mary Ziegler

Medicaid abortion

Mississippi Freedom Fund

National Abortion Federation

National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda

National Network of Abortion Funds

National Women’s Law Center

Noel León

Planned Parenthood Action Fund

self-managed abortion

Talcott Camp

Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers

TRAP laws

traveling for abortion

trigger laws

women's abortion stories

Women’s Health Protection Act

USA – Why Only the Republicans Are Talking About Abortion

The G.O.P. convention featured an extreme anti-abortion activist. The Democrats mostly kept mum.

By Lauren Kelley
Aug. 26, 2020

Ahead of her speech at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday evening, Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned prominent anti-abortion activist, said she hoped to deliver “the most provocative, impassioned, memorable” anti-abortion speech in history.

“It’s pretty graphic,” she said in a recent podcast interview teasing the speech.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/opinion/rnc-abortion-republican-party.html

26.08.2020

News

Abby Johnson

And Then There Were None

Republican National Convention

Courts are already cutting off abortion access — without saying a word about Roe

If almost no restrictions count as an “undue burden,” there’s not much to overrule.

By Mary Ziegler
August 17, 2020

Since President Trump nominated Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, everyone has placed bets about how long it would be before Roe v. Wade was overturned. What everyone forgot is that the Supreme Court can functionally eliminate access to abortion without saying a word about Roe itself.

This week’s abortion decision out of Arkansas should certainly refresh everyone’s memories. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which just handed down a decision in Hopkins v. Jegley, had the first crack at interpreting the Supreme Court’s recent decision in June Medical Services v. Russo. In that earlier case, the high court struck down a Louisiana law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. At the time, progressives celebrated what seemed to be a big victory for abortion rights. Legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin proclaimed that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in joining his more liberal colleagues, had turned over a new leaf.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/17/jegley-undue-burden-roe/

USA – How Anti-Abortion Advocates Are Co-opting and Twisting Calls for Racial Justice

“It’s like the anti-abortion movement
out-pivoted the reproductive rights movement on race.”

Aug 14, 2020
Becca Andrews

The argument seemed reasonable in theory: “We are pleased that our state values
life no matter an individual’s potential disability, gender, or race.”

In reality, it wasn’t.

Back in March 2016, Mike Fichter, the president and chief executive of Indiana
Right to Life, was talking about the law then-Gov. Mike Pence just signed that
would bar “the knowing provision of sex-, race-, or disability-selective
abortions by abortion providers.” The bill was not nearly as innocuous as
Fichter and his ideological peers in state government made it seem. In fact,
the legislation, colloquially known as a “reasons ban,” operates very much on
racist and ableist assumptions—and has the power to inflict acute harm on
pregnant individuals.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/08/abortion-reasons-ban-race-justice-language/

14.08.2020