USA – I Never Planned to Tell My Abortion Story—Especially on Capitol Hill

As a congressional staffer, I’m painfully aware of the stigma that exists around abortion.

Sarah Drory
MAY 25, 2023

In December, I went to the doctor’s office thinking I had the flu. It was peak season, and I had all the usual symptoms: vomiting, dizziness, and a bad headache. It turned out I was nine weeks pregnant.

When I got the results, I knew immediately that I wanted an abortion—specifically, a medication abortion. I’ve struggled with anxiety my entire life, including in medical settings, and too often, routine doctors’ visits have resulted in panic attacks or fainting. Even with anxiety medication—and despite knowing that in-clinic abortion procedures are common and safe—it would have been nearly impossible for me to go alone to get one. In order to have someone come with me to a clinic for the procedure, I would have had to tell my parents or friends, something I wasn’t comfortable doing yet. Instead, I was grateful to have the option to take the abortion pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, at home—a way to make this painful experience more bearable. I Never Planned to Tell My Abortion Story—Especially on Capitol Hill As a congressional staffer, I’m painfully aware of the stigma that exists around abortion.

Continued: https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a43980193/medication-abortion-experience-capitol-hill-congressional-staffer/

25.05.2023

self-managed abortion

USA – Inside the Secretive Network of Abortion Pill Vigilantes

Since the fall of Roe, a covert chain of activists have banded together to provide abortion medication to those in red states—and they’re risking everything in the process.

Decca Muldowney
May 23, 2023

Denny spends many of their days sitting on their bed packing small pills into plastic ziplock bags, and then into brown envelopes, ready to be mailed out to people seeking abortion medications in states like Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.

The pills are mifepristone and misoprostol—two medications that are the subject of intense political and legal debate. Every package of pills Denny mails out puts them in danger. But they won’t stop doing it.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/abortion-pill-vigilantes-are-operating-a-covert-network-from-mexico-to-republican-states

Burner phones, aliases, code words: The secret networks that women use to circumvent Honduras’ abortion ban

MAY 20, 2023
Associated Press

Inside a little wooden house among the pine and oak forests of western Honduras' coffee-growing mountains, a woman opened a tiny package of pills, delivered to a nearby town. She didn't know it, but the medication had more than likely entered the country hidden in an activist's suitcase, from Mexico.

The woman, 27, was confident in her decision to have an abortion, but in the moment, she panicked. She knew she was breaking national law banning all abortions and could be prosecuted. Even more, she feared medical complications, or her religious family finding out.

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/burner-phones-aliases-code-words-how-secret-networks-help-women-circumvent-honduras-abortion-ban/

USA – “It Was Really Empowering”—5 Women Reflect on Their Medication Abortion Experience

We can’t stress this enough: You can have a safe abortion at home.

Christen A. Johnson
MAY 10, 2023

Let’s talk about mifepristone, aka the hard-to-pronounce drug that when used in combination with other hard-to-pronounce drug misoprostol is actually extremely safe and effective at ending unwanted pregnancies in the privacy of your own home. You’ve probably seen mifepristone in the news recently. Why, you ask? Because certain members of the right wing are completely fixated on ruthlessly attacking reproductive rights and eliminating body autonomy in our country. Ah, I love it here.

Continued: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a43193640/mail-order-abortion-pills/

How feminist groups in Mexico are aiding abortion seekers in the U.S.

“Getting abortion pills into the U.S. is not as much of a challenge as being safe online,” say abortion companions.

By LORENA RÍOS and DANIELA DIB
8 MAY 2023

Over the past 11 months, some members of Tijuana-based feminist organization Colectiva Bloodys y Projects have reported an increase in demand for their services. The organization provides information on at-home medical abortions and how to access medical abortion pills through platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Crystal P. Lira, an abortion assistant at Colectiva Bloodys y Projects, told Rest of World that the recent surge in demand, to a great extent, has come from people based in the U.S.

According to abortion assistants at organizations like Colectiva Bloodys, this uptick coincides with the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last June, which had ended previous protections on abortion rights at the federal level. In 2021, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to punish abortion as a crime. Verónica Cruz, director of abortion assistance organization Las Libres, told Rest of World her group was now dealing with 200 to 300 calls from the U.S. every day.

Continued: https://restofworld.org/2023/mexican-women-help-us-abortion-seekers/

USA – These abortion clinics no longer provide abortions – but are still hanging on

Even in states with bans, a handful of abortion clinics are still open, providing ‘aftercare’ for patients who travel out of state or manage their own abortions

Rebecca Grant
Fri 5 May 2023

The patient on 9 March was a tricky case.

She was pregnant and seeking an abortion, but had previously had a cesarean section, which could create complications if the placenta embedded in her surgical scar. Houston Women’s Reproductive Services couldn’t perform the procedure because Texas had banned abortions, but the clinic could do an ultrasound and communicate with the provider in New Mexico, where the patient was heading for her appointment. Then, once the patient was back in Texas, the Houston clinic would provide any follow-up care and support she needed.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/05/abortion-clinics-open-states-with-bans

SUPREME COURT’S ABORTION RULING DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTS BLACK PEOPLE WITH LOW INCOMES IN THE DEEP SOUTH

May 05, 2023
Rhonda Sonnenberg

Even before Alauni took an at-home pregnancy test just four weeks after a single instance of unplanned sexual activity, she knew it would be positive.

The 24-year-old Texas college student – a single, working mother of three children under the age of 6, one of whom is autistic – immediately felt the familiar signs of her pregnancies. She had intended to buy the Plan B “morning after” pill, but was in the process of moving to another city and hadn’t yet secured new housing.

Continued: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2023/05/05/supreme-courts-abortion-ruling-affects-black-people-low-incomes

USA – Campus Advocates Stand Strong to Provide Peers With Accurate Abortion Information

As the abortion rights landscape changes from week to week, peer advocates are doubling down to share accurate information about safe and legal abortion.

5/5/2023
by LESLIE ABSHER

The Supreme Court has ruled to maintain the availability of mifepristone, a commonly used abortion medication, for now—reversing a previous ruling from a Texas judge who sought to strip the FDA’s long-standing approval of the drug. While other cases make their way through federal courts and activists anticipate the direction of abortion access, high school and college students find themselves in a key position.

Long before the Dobbs decision, youth advocates across the U.S. were dedicated to providing accurate abortion information with their peers. As the abortion rights landscape changes from week to week, peer advocates are doubling down, speaking out and committing to what they’ve been doing all along: sharing accurate information about safe and legal abortion.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/05/05/teen-college-university-campus-abortion-information/

If Your Partner Has to Travel For an Abortion, You Should Probably Pay for the Plane Ticket

And 13 other rules for men having sex in the post-Roe era.

By Sophia Benoit
May 4, 2023

It has been almost a year since abortion access in the United States was kneecapped by the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. States are now free to outlaw the procedure, and 14 states have done so so far. Living and having sex under these conditions is fraught for everyone, but especially for people who can get pregnant. So if you’re someone, on the other hand, who can get someone pregnant—and we’re mostly talking to cis men here—this is a guide for what you need to do to not be a dick.

Continued: https://www.gq.com/story/post-roe-sex-etiquette

04.05.2023

Commentary

abortion funds

Guttmacher Institute

National Abortion Hotline

Northwest Abortion Access Fund

self-managed abortion

state restrictions

traveling for abortion

United States

Health

Legal abortions in the U.S. dropped 6% after Roe fell, despite an uptick in states with protections

By Farah Yousry / Side Effects Public Media
April 28, 2023

Some days, the phones at the Trust Women Wichita clinic ring nonstop, and staff are unable to keep up. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal protections for abortion last summer, the clinic has had a math problem: too many patients desperate for care with limited time and resources to see them.

“We are averaging about 500 patients a month, give or take,” said Ashley Brink, a clinic director at Trust Women Wichita. “We're located in Kansas, but we only see about 100 patients a month that are actually from Kansas, the other 400-plus are from other states.”

Continued: https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/legal-abortions-in-the-us-dropped-6-after-roe-fell-despite-an-uptick-in-states-with-protections/