Trump’s pardons spark fresh fights over abortion clinic safety

Democratic state lawmakers are trying to bolster protections, but those efforts are imperiled by legal fights.

By Alice Miranda Ollstein and Amanda Friedman
03/19/2025

Abortion rights supporters across the country are scrambling to strengthen protections for clinics in response to moves by the Trump administration that they believe will put providers and patients in danger.

Democratic lawmakers have introduced bills in Illinois, Michigan, New York and elsewhere to restrict demonstrations outside of clinics, increase criminal penalties for people who harass doctors and patients, or allocate more funds for abortion providers to buy security cameras, bulletproof glass and other protections.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/19/abortion-clinic-safety-trump-pardons-00234319

How the Supreme Court’s Abortion Decision Left Many Youth Behind

BY ALEX BERG
DECEMBER 20, 2022

After having an abortion two years ago, B (whose name is withheld for privacy) didn’t think much about her experience with the procedure. As a 17 year-old at the time with a couple of months to go before her high school graduation, she “put it out of sight.” That was until June 24, 2022, the day the Supreme Court issued a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in the United States.

“It really snapped me back into reality from it,” B, now 19, tells Teen Vogue.

Continued: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-the-supreme-courts-abortion-decision-left-many-youth-behind

USA – Long uncertain, young people’s access to abortion is more complicated than ever

Megan Burbank | NPR
August 13th, 2022

For
decades, young people have faced major barriers to abortion because of state
laws requiring parental involvement in the decision to terminate a pregnancy.
But now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s
Health Organization — and the federal right to an abortion is gone — access is
even more complex for adolescents.

In states where abortion is heavily restricted, advocates are fighting back:
They’re shoring up legal support for young women seeking abortion and taking to
social media platforms like TikTok to counter misinformation.
https://www.wabe.org/long-uncertain-young-peoples-access-to-abortion-is-more-complicated-than-ever

USA – Teenagers already face extra barriers to abortion care. It’s about to get worse.

Will states seeking to provide safe haven for abortion patients in the wake of Roe reconsider their parental consent laws?

Sara Sirota
June 19 2022

THANKS TO A draconian new law, a pregnant Texan who wants an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy now has no other choice but to leave the state. She could go to Louisiana or Arkansas, but they have tight restrictions and trigger laws in place to outright ban the procedure when Roe v. Wade is overturned. Nearby Oklahoma is not an option either, since the government already effectively outlawed abortions in May.

The only remaining neighbor is New Mexico, where patients who have the means to travel can receive care under some of the country’s most liberal regulations. But New Mexico’s clinics have limited capacity: In 2019, the state’s providers performed about 3,800 abortions, compared to more than 55,000 in Texas. For many of those unable to secure an appointment, the next closest option is Colorado, a state with no gestational age limits, waiting periods, or other controls.

Continued: https://theintercept.com/2022/06/19/abortion-minors-parents-roe/

USA – A process that allows minors to get an abortion could disappear if Roe falls

June 14, 2022
Ailsa Chang, Jonaki Mehta, Sarah Handel

B was at her partner's house one day when she had a gut instinct, a churning feeling inside her body that led her to take a pregnancy test.

"I kind of went robotic and shut everything out, any emotions or anything," she said. "I felt like my whole life was going to go down the drain because that's how society portrays it."

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/14/1104649399/scotus-roe-v-wade-abortion-minors-law-texas

14.06.2022

judicial bypass for minors

parental consent

parental consent for abortion

parental notification

With Roe set to fall, minors seeking abortion have few choices left

June 8, 2022
Ailsa Chang, Jonaki Mehta, Sarah Handel 8-Minute Listen with Transcript

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with Rosann Mariappuram of Jane's Due Process about the impact Roe's fall would have on abortion access for minors. A teenager shares her experience navigating judicial bypass.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:
As we await the Supreme Court decision that's likely to drop later this month, potentially overturning federal abortion protections across this country, we wanted to talk about some of the most vulnerable people who do seek abortions - minors. And we're going to start with a story of a young woman in Texas whom we will call B. That's her first initial. She's not ready for her family to know her story. B was 17 in her senior year of high school back at the end of 2020. She was at her partner's house one day when she had a sinking feeling.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/08/1103785044/with-roe-set-to-fall-minors-seeking-abortion-have-few-choices-left

USA – Six Months in a State of Emergency

By Andrea González-Ramírez
Mar. 1, 2022

During the past six months, Kathaleen Pittman has often noticed some of her staff at Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, Louisiana, are on the verge of tears. Every day, more and more patients reach out hoping to schedule an abortion at one of the state’s three remaining clinics, and the one closest to the Texas border. And every day, the employees who answer the phone have to tell callers — who are already frustrated by having to plan around a 24-hour waiting period that forces them to book two appointments — that the clinic may not be able to fit them into its schedule because of overwhelming demand.

“We’re compassionate people. Hearing these women, who are so afraid and so upset, has certainly taken its toll on the staff,” says Kathaleen Pittman, the clinic’s administrator. She’s been working at Hope since 1992, when she started as a part-time patient’s advocate. Over the past three decades, she’s witnessed a full-scale assault on abortion access in Louisiana: TRAP laws, a 20-week ban, mandatory waiting periods, a prohibition on telemedicine, and requiring parental consent for minors. And yet, Pittman tells me, “Never have I been so afraid of what’s happening.”

Continued: https://www.thecut.com/2022/03/sb8-texas-abortion-ban-effects-six-months.html

“Left out of the conversation”: Transgender Texans feel the impact of state’s restrictive abortion law

While Texas’ controversial abortion law strictly refers to women in its phrasing, it also limits access to the procedure for transgender and nonbinary people who are able to become pregnant.

BY NEELAM BOHRA
DEC. 21, 2021

Samson Winsor moved across the country from Utah to Austin in 2019, hoping he would feel less out of place. The Texas capital city had creative opportunities and cheaper living costs than places like Los Angeles and New York City while still having a substantial population of transgender people to support his identity as a transgender man.

But Winsor said he’s still afraid. Weeks after having sex with someone, he noticed his menstrual period was late. While his hormone therapy affected the consistency of his periods, he worried about the possibility of being pregnant. Winsor anxiously awaited test results, recognizing how limited his options would be if he were pregnant.

Continued: https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/21/texas-abortion-law-transgender-pregnancy/

Abortion-Rights Organizations Are Working Overtime In Texas As SB8 Remains In Place

September 19, 2021

NPR Radio, 5-Minute Listen

Transcript
Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Rosann Mariapurram, executive director of Jane's Due Process, a grassroots organization in Texas that helps people under 18 access abortion care.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
Texas' controversial abortion law is still on the books after another judge refused to block it last week. That law prohibits terminations after about six weeks, even in the case of incest and rape, and it allows private citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone else who helps a woman break the law and gives them money if they win. What effect is that having on the ground in Texas now? Rosann Mariappuram is the executive director of Jane's Due Process, a grassroots organization in Texas that helps teens access safe abortion care, and she joins us now. Hello.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/19/1038681772/abortion-rights-organizations-are-working-overtime-in-texas-as-sb8-remains-in-pl

Texas’ Abortion Law Traps Desperate Teenagers

Sept. 13, 2021
By Michelle Goldberg

In Texas, teenagers who need abortions must get their parents’ consent, but for many young people, that’s not an option. Maybe they’re in foster care, or they’re unaccompanied minors in immigration detention, in which case the government has legal authority over them. Maybe their parents are abusive, or adamantly opposed to abortion.

The Supreme Court has ruled that parents don’t have absolute power to make their children continue unwanted pregnancies, so Texas, like many other states, has an allowance for what’s called a judicial bypass. If a pregnant minor can prove to a judge that she’s mature enough to make her own decision, or that notifying a parent is not in her best interest, she can get a waiver allowing her to have an abortion.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/opinion/abortion-texas-teens.html