Abortion in a Post-Roe World? “People Are Resilient and Resourceful”

Thanks to new medications and innovative organizations committed to reproductive health and bodily self-determination, a reversal of Roe v. Wade would not send us back to the pre-Roe world of coat hangers and hospital wards full of deathly ill women.

6/3/2021
by CARRIE N. BAKER, Ms. Magazine

The day after the Supreme Court announced they would hear the Mississippi abortion ban case, internet searches related to self-managed abortion surged across the United States—especially in states hostile to abortion rights. Online searches for terms related to abortion pills such as “misoprostol” and “medical abortion” exploded by more than 5,000 percent in the 24 hours after the court’s announcement.

“We see a definite spike in visitors to our website when there is news about abortion bans,” said Elisa Wells, co-founder and co-director of Plan C Pills, which provides up-to-date information on how to access abortion pills online. “People are looking for ways to access abortion pills. The need for abortion is never going to go away. When you cut off mainstream supply of it through clinical means, people will look for other ways to access the service.”

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2021/06/03/misoprostol-medical-abortion-post-roe-v-wade-abortion-pill-plan-c-aid-access-self-managed-abortion/

USA – Clinics Close, but Abortion Continues

Even as abortion is restricted, telemedicine allows some women to end unwanted pregnancies using legal medications.

By Jane E. Brody
May 31, 2021

Abortion is once again a prominent source of controversy, restrictive legislation and, for many, great distress. A little background may help put this in perspective.

Fifty years ago last fall, after New York State adopted the most lenient abortion law in the country, many out-of-state women with unwanted pregnancies sought help from New York doctors.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/well/live/abortion-legal-medication.html

What You Didn’t Know About Abortion In Ghana

By Alpha Osei Amoako
26.05.2021

Unsafe abortion is the second most common cause of maternal mortality in Ghana. It accounts for about 15% of maternal deaths in the country. Unsafe abortion is very common amongst teenagers, women in their 20s and poor women probably because—they either do not know where to get safe abortions or they do not have access to financial resources.

Also, the stigma associated with abortion is one major reason why most teenagers and women in their early 20s resort to orthodox methods or practice unsafe abortion.

Continued: https://www.modernghana.com/news/1083798/what-you-didnt-know-about-abortion-in-ghana.html

26.05.2021

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USA – Cost of care, distance to clinics drives demand for self-managed abortion: Study

The study looked at 57,500 who requested self-managed medication abortions.

By Alexandra Svokos
21 May 2021

The cost of care at clinics is a major factor driving patients to seek self-managed abortion through telemedicine, a new study published Friday found.

Aid Access, a nonprofit advocacy group founded by a Dutch doctor, helps individuals access abortion by arranging to mail mifepristone and misoprostol, the pills that make up a medication abortion, directly to people -- thus, they can have a self-managed abortion, meaning they take care of it outside a traditional medical setting. The study, published in the peer-reviewed JAMA Network Open, used data from the organization.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/cost-care-distance-clinics-drives-demand-managed-abortion/story?id=77826875

USA – These Start-Ups Could Make Abortion One Click Away

During the pandemic, women have been able to get abortion pills to take at home through an email or phone call. Will it stay that way?

Emily Shugerman, Gender Reporter
Updated May. 16, 2021

In California right now, you can get an abortion without speaking to a single other human being. You log onto a website—mychoix.co—put in your health information, answer some questions, and wait for an email from a clinician letting you know if you’ve been approved. If you are, an online pharmacy will ship you a package of mifepristone and misoprostol—a two-pill regime that is safer than many prescription drugs and 98 percent effective at terminating early-stage pregnancies. You will take it, you will bleed, your pregnancy will—in all likelihood—end.

This particular configuration is available in only one state, for a limited time, due to an emergency declaration issued by the Food and Drug Administration during the pandemic. But make no mistake: This is the future abortion advocates want.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/these-start-ups-could-make-abortion-one-click-away

16.05.2021

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Ireland – Garda in the clear after ‘abortion pills’ inquiry

Senior officer was investigated by GSOC and the force

Ali Bracken
May 16 2021

A senior garda accused of trying to force a woman he had sex with to take illegal abortion pills has been cleared of any wrongdoing by an internal disciplinary inquiry.

The accusations against the officer had been subject of a garda ombudsman investigation a number of years ago.

Continued: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/garda-in-the-clear-after-abortion-pills-inquiry-40430368.html

16.05.2021

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Women in Mexico use mobile apps during at-home abortions

With abortion illegal in 30 Mexican states, women are using an over-the-counter drug for the procedure.

By Andalusia K Soloff
14 May 2021

Mexico City, Mexico – In the middle of the global pandemic crisis, Maria Muñoz, a 26 year-old journalist, found herself facing an unwanted pregnancy in Mexico City. Fearful of contracting COVID-19 at a hospital or clinic she decided to abort at home, with assistance coming via the popular messaging service, WhatsApp.

An increasing number of women in Mexico are turning to online support networks who advise them on how to use misoprostol, an over-the-counter ulcer medicine, to abort.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/14/women-in-mexico-use-mobile-apps-for-at-home-abortions

The mobile apps helping Mexican women seek abortion

Feminist groups and activists in Mexico are helping women perform ‘at-home’ abortions.

10 May 2021

Al Jazeera
(20 minute podcast)

Feminist groups and activists in Mexico have taken it upon themselves to help
women gain access to abortion, in a country where it is largely illegal. At
great risk to their safety, they use social networks to inform women on how to
perform “at-home” abortions. They have taken to the streets and to their
cellphones to push back against the law, while helping women find the support
they seek. The local efforts come as Mexico’s Supreme Court prepares to discuss
the legal merits of cases surrounding abortion in June.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/podcasts/2021/5/10/the-mobile-apps-helping-mexican-women-seek-abortion

10.05.2021

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Expanding access to safe abortions in Japan

BY MAGDALENA OSUMI, STAFF WRITER, JAPAN TIMES
May 2, 2021

Choosing to get an abortion is not an easy decision to make. But women in Japan who do so, due to a variety of reasons, may soon have a safer alternative to surgical procedures — currently the only option they have.

LinePharma, a British pharmaceutical maker, is planning to seek the Japanese government’s approval for the use of its first oral “abortion pills” in Japan as a safe and affordable method of inducing abortion in early stages of pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/05/02/national/japan-safe-abortion/

02.05.2021

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Will the Biden Administration Get Bolder on Improving Abortion Access?

The FDA’s announcement that it will permit abortion medication to be sent by mail is a start—but advocates are hoping for more.

By Amy Littlefield
Apr 27, 2021

The Biden administration’s announcement this month that it would allow mifepristone to be sent by mail revolutionized access to abortion—in about half the country. Elsewhere, state laws requiring patients to meet with a provider in person preempt the new policy, underscoring just how much a person’s options depend on where they live.

“I think it’s great for states that it will impact,” Laurie Bertram Roberts, who cofounded the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund and now leads the Yellowhammer Fund in Alabama, said with a wry laugh. “Neither of the states that I work in are one of those.”

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/fda-abortion-biden/

27.04.2021