The anti-abortion movement overturned Roe — and only reduced abortions by 6%

Republicans have no plans to deal with a problem that directly incentivizes abortion: the skyrocketing cost of children.

Nov. 25, 2022
By Ryan Cooper, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

The end of Roe v. Wade has created a steady stream of horror stories in conservative states: preteen rape survivors who have to flee across state lines; women with wanted but totally unviable pregnancies who have to do the same; people whose pregnancies threaten to kill them but can’t get care until they are on the brink of death. The list goes on and on. If we examine surveys of Americans who do have abortions, about three-quarters of them cite an inability to afford another child as among their reasons.

It’s understandable that such nightmarish stories get a lot of media attention. But it also raises a question: What is happening to the number of abortions overall? And how much have things really changed since the Dobbs decision in June? The surprising answer appears to be “not much.”

Continued: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/states-allow-abortion-economic-advantage-rcna58358

25.11.2022

Commentary

Featured

decrease in abortions

Matt Bruenig

Nicolae Ceaușescu

People’s Policy Project

Roe v. Wade

Society of Family Planning

USA – Despite dangerous pregnancy complications, many abortions are being denied

Health News Florida | By Associated Press
November 25, 2022

Increasing numbers of physicians and families nationwide say a post-Roe fear has come to pass: Pregnant women with dangerous medical conditions are showing up in hospitals and doctors’ offices and being denied the abortions that could help treat them.

Weeks after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Dr. Grace Ferguson treated a woman whose water had broken halfway through pregnancy. The baby would never survive, and the patient’s chance of developing a potentially life-threatening infection grew with every hour.

Continued: https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/politics-issues/2022-11-25/despite-dangerous-pregnancy-complications-many-abortions-are-being-denied

Will the world abort women’s rights after death of Roe v. Wade?

BY ELLEN WULFHORST, THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
Nov 24, 2022

PATTAYA CITY, THAILAND – Women and girls around the world will suffer a knock-on effect from the U.S. decision to roll back abortion rights, experts say, predicting a global clampdown on hard-won female freedoms.

From access to abortion to voting rights, equal pay to equal status, women from Africa to Asia to Europe are expected to feel the fallout of the U.S. decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/24/world/women-rights-abortion/

BY ELLEN WULFHORST, THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
Nov 24, 2022

From access to abortion to voting rights, equal pay to equal status, women from Africa to Asia to Europe are expected to feel the fallout of the U.S. decision to reverse Roe v. Wade.

Continued: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/11/24/world/women-rights-abortion/

USA – We’re Thankful for Our Abortions

Many people who have abortions celebrate their experience. Here’s why my colleagues and I at We Testify are thankful.

By Nikiya Natale
Nov 24, 2022

This time of year is… complicated. For many people, this season calls for reflection and gratitude. This year I find myself reflecting not only on all the people I love and cherish but also on the outcomes and impact of the midterm elections, and on why our nation celebrates the complicated holiday of Thanksgiving at all.

This holiday is founded on the unforgivable genocide of Native Americans, and my commitment to justice for all people makes it difficult for me to celebrate things I am thankful for. And the harsh reality is that the utter disregard for all Indigenous people in the 1800s fuels the same systems of white supremacy that dehumanize all of us today. Black lives are taken by the police and the prison-industrial complex, any sense of LGBTQ+ peace and tranquility has been obliterated by gun violence and hate, and, ultimately, the small promise of abortion access guaranteed by Roe v. Wade was stripped away by an illegitimate Supreme Court.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/thankful-for-abortions/

24.11.2022

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Interviews/Podcasts

abortion stories

gratitude for abortion

Nikiya Natale

Roe v. Wade

We Testify

women's abortion stories

Indiana – She made headlines for providing abortion care to a 10-year-old. Now she’s fighting to protect patient privacy.

A judge will decide if the Indiana attorney general who is investigating Dr. Caitlin Bernard can seek her patient records.

Jennifer Gerson
November 22, 2022

Weeks after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Dr. Caitlin Bernard made national headlines when she disclosed that she had provided an abortion to a 10-year-old girl who had been raped. That attention landed Bernard in the middle of an investigation by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita into whether she properly documented the abortion and if she violated privacy laws. Now a judge will decide whether Rokita can seek other patients’ medical records as part of the investigation.

Monday night concluded the second part of an emergency hearing scheduled to determine whether Bernard will be granted a preliminary injunction to block Rokita from continuing to subpoena medical records from Bernard and her medical partner as part of his ongoing investigation into her. Rokita’s investigation continues even after Bernard proved that she had properly documented the abortion and that she had not violated patient privacy laws when she told reporters about the 10-year-old.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2022/11/indiana-doctor-caitlin-bernard-patient-privacy-records/

22.11.2022

USA – What It Feels Like to Take the Abortion Pill: People Share Their Stories

BY BRITTNEY MCNAMARA
NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, 13 states have outlawed abortion with few or no exceptions. More states have banned abortion and had those bans blocked by courts, and others have restricted how far into pregnancy people can access abortion.

But in the months following the decision, requests for the abortion pill online surged. Currently, more than half of abortions in the U.S. are done via the abortion pill, and as more people may turn to medication abortion because of restricted access to in-clinic abortions, abortion rights organizations We Testify and Mayday Health teamed up to get people to talk about their experiences with abortion pills, showing what having a medication abortion is really like.

Continued: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-it-feels-like-to-take-the-abortion-pill

22.11.2022

USA – “This is the beginning of a very long arc”: The midterms prove abortion can galvanize voters

Voters overwhelmingly supported women’s reproductive freedom on Tuesday, both electing pro-abortion-rights lawmakers and voting in favor of abortion rights—even in red and purple states—on ballot initiatives. “When voters have a chance to decide on this issue, they choose to protect their rights,” one activist said.

BY ABIGAIL TRACY
NOVEMBER 9, 2022

For weeks, pundits and prognosticators questioned whether the fall of Roe v. Wade would actually be a key voting motivator this election cycle. Democratic consultant James Carville’s famed 1992 adage, “It’s the economy, stupid,” rang loud as the narrative grew that gas prices and inflation would overshadow the importance of protecting women’s reproductive rights. Then Josh Shapiro beat Republican Doug Mastriano, who had indicated, without hesitation, that he would sign whatever antiabortion law was put in front of him. Kentucky voters blocked a constitutional amendment that would have denied any abortion rights. Vermont enshrined abortion protections into its state constitution, while Michigan did the same. And California voters went one step further, also writing access to contraceptives into law. Democrats vastly surpassed expectations on Election Day.

As the results rolled in throughout the night, one thing became crystal clear: Abortion was on the ballot.

Continued: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/11/abortion-midterms-democrats-2022

USA – Abortion Bans Will Result in More Women Dying

Pregnancy carries risks, including death. Without abortion access, more women will die.

Elyssa Spitzer, Tracy Weitz, Maggie Jo Buchanan
Nov 2, 2022

Four months after Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, the dire health consequences of banning abortion care have become even more apparent. Eighteen states, home to more than 25 million women of reproductive age, have banned some or all access to abortion care, with only spare exceptions that are nearly impossible to implement. Already, thousands of people are finding it impossible to obtain a needed abortion.

Horrifying stories from the states that have banned abortion demonstrate the medical crisis that now grips nearly half the country. A woman in Wisconsin experiencing a miscarriage was turned away from the hospital and sent home to bleed without medical supervision. In Arizona, a 14-year-old, caught in the crosshairs of abortion restrictions, was denied medically indicated medication she had taken for years. A woman in Texas had to drive 18 hours to receive care for an ectopic pregnancy. And doctors across the country have been put in the untenable position of navigating their medical training and professional ethical obligations amid a lack of clarity about what is allowable under the law.

continued: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/abortion-bans-will-result-in-more-women-dying/

Abortion bans affect Latinas the most among women of color, new report finds

Forty-two percent of Latinas live in the 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortions, the National Partnership for Women & Families and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice found.

Nov. 1, 2022
By Nicole Acevedo

Latinas are the largest group of women of color affected by current and future state abortion bans and restrictions: More than 4 in 10 Latinas of reproductive age live in the nearly two dozen states where officials are working to make abortion inaccessible.

A new analysis from the National Partnership for Women & Families and the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, first shared with NBC News, found that close to 6.5 million Latinas (42% of all Latinas ages 15-49) live in 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortions after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade this summer.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latinas-most-impacted-abortion-bans-study-rcna54793

01.11.2022

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abortion bans and Latinas

Candace Gibson

National Bureau of Economic Research

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice

National Partnership for Women and Families

Overturning Roe Has Meant At Least 10,000 Fewer Legal Abortions

by Maggie Koerth and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
OCT. 30, 2022

The same day the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, Alabama’s law banning abortion took effect. The next morning, phones began ringing in Georgia.

“We got nearly 100 calls the day after the Dobbs decision from patients in Alabama,” said Kwajelyn Jackson, executive director of the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta. In states where abortion remains at least partially legal the phones haven’t stopped ringing.

Continued: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/overturning-roe-has-meant-at-least-10000-fewer-legal-abortions/