Cecile Richards marks a year since RBG death with abortion rights battle cry

Former Planned Parenthood president cites Texas law and says Republicans are on brink of ending right to abortion

Martin Pengelly and agencies
Sat 18 Sep 2021

Marking the first anniversary of the death of the supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Cecile Richards warned that after nearly 50 years, Republicans are on the brink of ending the right to abortion.

“We must fight to fully regain it,” said the former president of Planned Parenthood, a leading provider of women’s healthcare.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/18/abortion-rights-campaigner-anniversary-rbg-death

18.09.2021

American Bridge 21st Century

‘No one wants to get sued’: Some abortion providers have stopped working in Texas

Nearly half of the doctors at one of the state’s biggest providers stopped working after Texas’ new law went into effect. The law has created a chilling effect for some abortion care services.

Jennifer Gerson
September 15, 2021

On August 31, there were 17 abortion providers serving at the four locations of the Whole Woman’s Health clinics in Texas. On September 1 — the day that the nation’s most restrictive active abortion law went into effect, there were just eight.

Senate Bill 8 not only bans the procedure past six weeks of pregnancy, but allows private citizens to sue anyone who “aids or abets” abortion care past that point. Clinics have told The 19th they are fully complying with the new law. It is why Whole Woman’s Health in Fort Worth raced to perform as many abortions as possible before SB 8 went into effect, battling against the clock. It’s why, in mid-August, Planned Parenthoods across the state stopped taking appointments related to the procedure if it would be performed past six weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2021/09/abortion-providers-texas-stopped-working-under-threat-sued/

Texas judge issues injunction against anti-abortion group on enforcing new law

By Jessica Schneider and Ariane de Vogue, CNN
Mon September 13, 2021

(CNN) A Texas state judge issued an injunction against anti-abortion
group Texas Right to Life, blocking it from trying to enforce the new six-week
abortion ban against Planned Parenthood in Texas.

The injunction, issued by Judge Karin Crump of the Travis County court, applies
to anyone affiliated with the group and stops them from filing a lawsuit
against Planned Parenthood for any potential violation of SB8, the law that
effectively bans most abortions in Texas. The law gives private citizens the
power to enforce it.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/13/politics/texas-sb8-planned-parenthood-right-to-life/index.html

13.09.2021

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

With ban in effect, Texas abortion clinics will no longer terminate pregnancies after 6 weeks

By Caroline Kitchener, Emily Wax-Thibodeaux, Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow
Sep 1, 2021

AUSTIN — A Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy went into effect Wednesday, as a midnight deadline for the Supreme Court to stop it came and went without action.

The court could still grant a request from abortion providers to halt the law, one of the nation’s most restrictive. But for now, abortion providers in Texas, including Planned Parenthood and Whole Woman’s Health, said they will no longer terminate pregnancies more than six weeks from a woman’s last period.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/texas-six-week-abortion-ban/2021/09/01/e53cf372-0a6b-11ec-a6dd-296ba7fb2dce_story.html

400 calls, no more appointments: Texas abortion clinic scrambles to see patients before 6-week ban may take effect

Abortion providers are preparing for the law to take effect this week

Caroline Kitchener
August 30, 2021

HOUSTON — Kathy Kleinfeld’s cellphone lit up for the first time on Monday at 3 a.m. By 7 a.m., she had 13 missed calls. When she couldn’t be reached by phone, she said, patients emailed, desperate to schedule their abortion with Houston Women’s Reproductive Services before Wednesday, Sept. 1, when Texas is on track to ban abortions after six weeks gestation, before most people know they’re pregnant.

Calls soared once Kleinfeld got to work. The ringing of the office phones reverberated as Kleinfeld, the clinic director, and three other staff members juggled up to seven calls at once, jumping up every few minutes to buzz in a patient at the door. While S.B. 8 could still be stopped before Wednesday, clinic staff counseled patients as if the law was a certainty.

Continued: https://www.thelily.com/400-calls-no-more-appointments-texas-abortion-clinic-scrambles-to-see-patients-before-6-week-ban-may-take-effect/

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

USA – The New Pro-Abortion Generation

As Roe v. Wade faces its greatest challenge yet, young people are taking the reins to protect abortion access.

BY AMELIA POLLARD
AUGUST 5, 2021

Every day at the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mississippi’s only abortion clinic, resembles trench warfare. Painted like a shade of bubble gum, the center has affectionately earned the nickname the “Pink House.” But its modern windows and copper roof are shielded from the street. Black plastic tarps and panels guard patients’ privacy by keeping the protesters out of eyesight.

Around a dozen anti-abortion protesters often show up with bullhorns and picket signs, while volunteers for the Pinkhouse Defenders, a nonprofit organization, thwart hecklers by blasting music and escorting patients from their cars to the clinic’s waiting room. In the last several months, volunteers have embraced TikTok as their weapon of choice, filming protesters and posting the videos on social media.

Continued: https://prospect.org/justice/the-new-pro-abortion-generation/

Missouri – The last clinic

There were once 30 clinics performing abortions in Missouri. Now there’s just one. It’s on the front line of a battle to defend a woman’s right to choose.

By US correspondent Kathryn Diss
Foreign Correspondent
Published 4 Aug 2021

Colleen McNicholas is always watching her back. The location of her family home is protected. The perimeter is guarded with security cameras and alarm systems. Her child’s identity is kept secret. As she drives to work, she checks her rear-view mirror to make sure no-one is following. She never takes the same route two days in a row.

It’s not the typical routine for a doctor travelling to their surgery. But in the conservative mid-west state of Missouri, Dr McNicholas’s line of work makes her and her family a target for extremism. She’s a doctor at the state’s last abortion clinic, the only centre still providing safe and legal abortions for a population of 1.1 million women. If the powerful anti-abortion lobby gets its way, it too could soon be shut down.

Continued: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-05/missouris-last-abortion-clinic-dr-colleen-mcnicholas/100342294

Planned Parenthood’s former president says she was instructed to say the word ‘abortion’ in every interview

Anna Medaris Miller
July 27, 2021

On her first full day on the job as Planned Parenthood's president, Dr. Leana Wen appeared on ABC's "The View" to talk about her vision for the organization.

As the first physician at Planned Parenthood's helm, Wen was dedicated to centering the organization in Americans' psyche as a nonpartisan healthcare service provider. She talked about how women's healthcare is healthcare, and how receiving screenings and medications doesn't need to be political.

Continued: https://www.insider.com/former-planned-parenthood-leader-i-was-pressured-to-say-abortion-2021-7

27.07.2021

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Dr. Leana Wen

Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health

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United States

Federal judge blocks Arkansas law banning nearly all abortions

Law, which was set to take effect on Friday, was approved by Republican-led legislature and signed by Asa Hutchinson

Maya Yang and agencies

Wed 21 Jul 2021

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a law passed in Arkansas that would ban
nearly all abortions.

The law, which was set to take effect on Friday, had been approved by
Arkansas’s Republican-led legislature and signed by the state’s Republican
governor, Asa Hutchinson.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/21/arkansas-abortion-ban-federal-judge-blocks