Republicans reject abortion bans as ‘campaign-enders’ in warning to party

As states continue to bring in tighter restrictions on abortion, internal divisions within the GOP are starting to show

Poppy Noor
Thu 4 May 2023

In one state, Republican women filibustered to block a near-total abortion ban introduced by their own party. In another, the Republican co-sponsor of a six-week abortion ban subsequently tanked his own bill. On the federal level, a Republican congresswoman warns that the GOP’s abortion stance could mean “losing huge” in 2024.

As states continue to bring in tighter restrictions on abortion following the fall of Roe v Wade, internal divisions within the Republican party on the issue are starting to show.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/04/republican-lawmakers-reject-abortion-bans

04.05.2023

Republicans Are Using Exceptions to Sell Their Abortion Bans. It’s a Scam.
Exceptions for rape, incest, and medical emergencies are incredibly hard for pregnant people to actually use—and that’s a feature, not a bug.

By Carter Sherman
April 27, 2023

This week, North Dakota’s governor signed into law one of the country’s most extreme abortion bans. It outlaws almost all abortions—and only allows people to get abortions in cases of rape or incest if they undergo the procedure within the first six weeks of pregnancy.

The ban is, for now, an act of political theater. No one is going to an abortion clinic in North Dakota, because the last clinic in the state moved to Minnesota months ago. But the exceptions in the ban are also likely meaningless. Many people do not even realize that they are pregnant at six weeks, and many sexual assault survivors can take far longer to come forward, if they ever do.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3wvq/republicans-abortion-ban-exceptions

27.04.2023

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Florida Senate approves 6-week abortion ban as two Republicans vote ‘no’

Democrats argued that the bill supported Christian principles over health care for women, and that the government should not interfere in decisions that a patient makes with a doctor.

By AREK SARKISSIAN
April 3, 2023

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Senate on Monday approved a proposed ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, with two Republicans opposing the bill amid outbursts from protesters.

The bill, S.B. 300, would ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for women facing life-threatening harm during pregnancy, and exemptions of up to 15 weeks for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking. There’s also $30 million for the Florida Department of Health to expand programs that support contraception, parenting and pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/03/florida-senate-6-week-abortion-ban-00090202

South Carolina’s Supreme Court Says the State Constitution Protects a Right to Abortion

The court ruled that the state's six-week abortion ban violates the right to privacy.

JACOB SULLUM
1.6.2023

The South Carolina Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the right to privacy protected by the state's constitution includes a right to abortion. The court concluded that a 2021 law prohibiting abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, which typically happens around the sixth week of pregnancy, violates that right.

"We hold that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests upon the utmost personal and private considerations imaginable, and implicates a woman's right to privacy," Justice Kaye Hearn writes in the lead opinion. "While this right is not absolute, and must be balanced against the State's interest in protecting unborn life, this Act, which severely limits—and in many instances completely forecloses—abortion, is an unreasonable restriction upon a woman's right to privacy and is therefore unconstitutional."

Continued: https://reason.com/2023/01/06/south-carolinas-supreme-court-says-the-state-constitution-protects-a-right-to-abortion/

06.01.2023

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State abortion bans are preventing cancer patients from getting chemotherapy

Affidavits in Ohio show people had to leave the state for abortions before they could get cancer treatment. It’s an issue across the country.

Shefali Luthra
October 7, 2022

A six-week abortion ban in Ohio has forced people with cancer to travel out of state for abortions that are necessary to continue with life-saving treatment, according to affidavits submitted by abortion providers in the state. In at least two cases, cancer patients have been blocked from receiving treatment until their pregnancies were terminated — and getting an abortion required them to leave the state.

The cases underscore how abortion bans — even those with exceptions to save the life of the pregnant person — have upended patients’ lives and limited doctors’ abilities to provide essential medical treatments.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2022/10/state-abortion-bans-prevent-cancer-patients-chemotherapy/

‘I would wish this on absolutely no one’: How three women dealt with pregnancy in the year since Texas’ six-week abortion ban

To mark the first anniversary of SB 8 going into effect, The 19th spoke with Texans who sought an abortion in this past year. Each has a different story. But all shared similar sentiments: anger, sorrow, frustration and fear.

Shefali Luthra, Health Reporter
August 29, 2022

Tiff found out she was pregnant on New Year’s Day. Her period was three days late, just enough to suspect that something was off. Still, when she saw the two pink lines, she was shocked.

She was 16. She didn’t know what to do or what would happen with her parents, whom she describes as conservative.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2022/08/pregnancy-texas-six-week-abortion-ban/

USA – Fear and uncertainty grip patients as abortion referral services struggle to keep up

BY: SUSAN TEBBEN
AUGUST 8, 2022

Abortion referral services have seen a change in how they do their work, but despite restrictions that make it less possible to get an abortion in Ohio, clinics and non-profits definitely haven’t seen a shortage of need.

Abortion Fund-Ohio, which provides case management, grants and resources for patients in need of abortion care, had to take an “intake pause” recently, not because they didn’t have things to do, but because of an onslaught of calls and requests following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Continued: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/08/08/fear-and-uncertainty-grip-patients-as-abortion-referral-services-struggle-to-keep-up/

How Republicans pass abortion bans most Americans don’t want

Legalized abortion in some form is widely supported, but gerrymandered districts allow politicians to push extreme measures through

Sam Levine in New York
Wed 8 Jun 2022

On 10 April 2019, the Ohio legislature easily passed SB 23, a bill that banned abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.

It was a move that should have carried considerable political risk in Ohio, a state closely divided between Democrats and Republicans. There wasn’t widespread support for the bill – polling showed public opinion was nearly evenly split over the bill (a poll after the bill was passed showed a majority opposed it), John Kasich, a previous Republican governor, had twice vetoed the bill, saying it was unconstitutional, and it had stalled in the legislature for years.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/07/gerrymandering-abortion-roe-v-wade-ohio

Oklahoma’s New Abortion Ban Leaves Clinics Reeling

Near-total ban on abortions took immediate effect in the state, forcing abortion clinics to halt procedures

By Jennifer Calfas
May 27, 2022

Oklahoma abortion clinics suspended appointments and are now referring patients to nearby states after new legislation quickly outlawed most abortions there.

Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, signed a ban on abortion at any stage of pregnancy into law Wednesday. It took effect immediately and is now the strictest antiabortion law in any U.S. state. The law also deputizes enforcement to private citizens, a strategy first used by Texas lawmakers that has made it more difficult for abortion-rights groups to challenge the regulations in court.

Continued: https://www.wsj.com/articles/oklahomas-new-abortion-ban-leaves-clinics-reeling-11653610467

USA – ‘Pushed to the margins’: Why some activists and lawmakers say abortion bans are a form of White supremacy

The threat to abortion access has underscored the economic hardships and maternal health crisis that Black and brown women face.

by Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN
Wed May 18, 2022

The first time Kenya Martin got an abortion, she was a 19-year-old college student who felt she wasn't old enough or mature enough to raise a child.

The second time, Martin was a 26-year-old single mom making $12 an hour as a bank teller, could barely afford childcare or health insurance and was in a custody battle with her daughter's father. Martin would later have four more abortions, each time knowing she did not want another child.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/18/us/abortion-ban-women-of-color/index.html