A Texas Doctor Says He Defied The Abortion Law, Risking Lawsuits

September 19, 2021
SHARON PRUITT-YOUNG

Texas outlawed abortions past the six-week mark in a law that went into effect on Sept. 1. Dr. Alan Braid, a Texas physician, says he performed one anyway just a few days later.

In an opinion piece for The Washington Post on Saturday, Braid, who's
been practicing for more than 40 years, explained his decision as a matter of
"duty of care." The new law, known as S.B. 8, not only makes performing
an abortion after about six weeks illegal, but makes it so that anyone who aids
anyone else in getting one — by performing the procedure or even by giving them
a ride to the clinic where they have the procedure done — runs the risk of
being sued for at least $10,000.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/19/1038717122/a-texas-doctor-says-he-defied-the-abortion-law-risking-lawsuits

Texans seeking abortions have options — but they’re very limited

The state now has the nation’s most restrictive abortion law

Caroline Anders
September 5, 2021

A divided Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to stop a restrictive Texas abortion law from taking effect, allowing the state to prohibit medical providers from ending a pregnancy after detecting an embryo’s cardiac activity.

In effect, the law bans Texans from getting abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

https://www.thelily.com/texans-seeking-abortions-have-options-but-theyre-very-limited/

Texas abortion clinics brace for near shutdown as new law is enacted: ‘We have to comply’

Jeremy Blackman, Austin Bureau
Aug. 12, 2021

The National Abortion Federation has told doctors in Texas it will stop referring patients and sending money to clinics that offer abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy.

In North Texas, the Texas Equal Action Fund will likely “pause” its ride share program that helps women reach abortion appointments.

Continued: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texas-abortion-clinics-brace-for-near-shutdown-as-16382541.php

Long Drives, Costly Flights, And Wearying Waits: What Abortion Requires In The South

August 2, 2021
SARAH VARNEY

Just a quick walk through the parking lot of Choices-Memphis Center for Reproductive Health, in this legendary music mecca, speaks volumes about access to abortion in the American South. Parked alongside the polished SUVs and weathered sedans with Tennessee license plates are cars from Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida and, on many days, Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

Choices is one of two abortion clinics in the Memphis metro area, with a population of 1.3 million. While that might not seem like much for women seeking a commonplace medical procedure, it represents a wealth of access compared with Mississippi, which has just one abortion clinic for the entire state of 3 million people.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/08/02/1022860226/long-drives-costly-flights-and-wearying-waits-what-abortion-requires-in-the-sout

‘Insidious,’ ‘draconian,’ ‘cruel’: New Texas abortion law empowers vigilantism, experts say

Abortion advocates in Texas say the law will encourage their opponents to flood courts with lawsuits that will cripple their ability to operate.

July 24, 2021
By Adam Edelman

For Anna Rupani, harassment comes with the job.

As the co-executive director at Fund Texas Choice — a practical-support abortion fund in Texas that helps women travel to places, both in and out of the state, where they can receive abortion care — she’s been the target of protests, violent threats, online bullying and terrifying mail.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/insidious-draconian-cruel-new-texas-abortion-law-empowers-vigilantism-experts-n1274642

We Need a Left Strategy for Confronting the Anti-Abortion Movement

The anti-abortion movement has grown increasingly militant in recent years — and increasingly successful. The liberal pushback isn’t cutting it. We need a leftist strategy to defend abortion rights.

BY ANNE RUMBERGER
July 14, 2021

Abortion access has been uneven and inadequate for decades. But with the recent announcement that the Supreme Court will hear a major abortion case next term concerning a Mississippi state law that would ban almost all abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy, the threat has reached new levels.

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization strikes at the heart of the precedent set in Roe v. Wade in 1973 that abortion is permitted until fetus viability, generally at around twenty-four weeks. As it hears the case, the Supreme Court will consider one clearly delineated question: whether or not “all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.” Mary Ziegler, author of Abortion and the Law in America, said recently that the court taking up the case could result in overturning Roe, but it could also get rid of viability as the point at which states can ban abortion.

Continued: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/07/anti-abortion-movement-choice-reproductive-justice

14.07.2021

Commentary

Featured

Alliance Defending Freedom

Anne Rumberger

anti-choice intimidation

anti-choice protests

anti-choice restrictions

anti-choice terrorism

anti-choice violence

At the Well

Bevelyn Beatty

Child Evangelism Fellowship

clinic blockades

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Edmee Chavannes

Father Fidelis Moscinski

Flip Benham

Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act

Marjorie Dannenfelser

Mary Wagner

Mary Ziegler

Monica Migliorino Miller

National Abortion Federation

Operation Rescue

Operation Save America

overturning Roe v. Wade

‘Two Americas’: Aid groups prepare for more women needing to cross state lines for abortions

Organizations are strategizing for the possibility of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and a future where even more women seek financial and logistical help.

June 26, 2021 By Adam Edelman

Last summer, Crystal Zaragoza drove a 15-year-old patient from her home in rural Georgia to Virginia, the nearest location where the teen could receive the abortion care she needed.

Zaragoza remained with the patient every step of the way, making the 650-mile trip in one, long 12-hour haul and staying with her at a hotel during and after the procedure before driving back.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/two-americas-aid-groups-prepare-more-women-needing-cross-state-n1272133

Standing Between Care and Violence

Abortion-clinic escorts and defenders serve as human shields protecting patients from angry, aggressive protestors. Now, with emboldened extremists and the COVID crisis, they face more danger than ever before.

By Garnet Henderson
Jun 2, 2021

Shelley, an abortion-clinic defender at Clinics for Abortion and Reproductive Excellence (CARE) in Bellevue, Nebraska, had a bad feeling on the morning of September 25, 2020. One of those gut bad feelings. It had been a volatile summer. Warmer months typically bring more anti-abortion-rights protesters to clinics, and the groups had been even larger than usual in 2020, likely due to high unemployment rates. By September, the crowds had begun to thin back down to the clinic’s 12 to 14 “regulars.” That morning, one of the regulars was camped out in his usual spot at the base of the clinic’s driveway.

Continued: https://www.marieclaire.com/politics/a36061740/abortion-clinic-escorts-defenders-face-violence/

An Anti-Abortion Rally Led by Far-Right Trolls Was a Capitol Riot Warning Sign

According to a newly uncovered report, a 2019 rally outside a Texas Planned Parenthood showed the ways far-right groups continued to build relationships by demonizing abortion providers.

By Anna Merlan
27.4.21

In 2019, a small group of truly unpleasant people banded together to be loud, obnoxious, and wrong outside a Texas Planned Parenthood. While the tactic isn’t new, the faces were: the Proud Boys wore their signature black and gold polo shirts, while the InfoWars personalities they stood beside wore the channel’s T-shirts; both wore red MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN hats, waved Trump flags, and perspired under a merciless sun, yelling anti-abortion slogans at passing cars and anyone unfortunate enough to be in earshot. A guy wearing a shirt from the militia group Texas Nomads SAR (which stands for Security and Resistance) and a crooked helmet emblazoned with a Trump bumper sticker proudly offered his thoughts on Planned Parenthood for a far-right livestreamer: “It’s eugenics,” he said, squinting at traffic and half-heartedly waving a Trump flag. “It’s not for the purpose that was stated.” He segued into a selection of questionably related and exceedingly racist thoughts on the dangers of “illegal immigrants” raping women. And all the while, Texas law enforcement agencies were watching, and were taking note of the attendees’ capacity for violence.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7ea3n/an-anti-abortion-rally-led-by-far-right-trolls-was-a-capitol-riot-warning-sign

USA – Why we might soon see a surge in antiabortion violence

By ROBIN ABCARIAN, COLUMNIST

JAN. 31, 2021

In 2009, four months after Barack Obama, who supported abortion rights, was
sworn in as president and Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, a
religious zealot murdered the late-term abortion doctor George Tiller in the
vestibule of Tiller’s church.

I have always believed those two things were related.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-01-31/column-why-we-might-soon-see-a-spike-in-antiabortion-violence