Virtual Abortion Care Is a Lifeline, Not a Safety Net

by Amy Hagstrom Miller
May 1, 2025

New data from the Guttmacher Institute shows that more people are turning to virtual abortion care—and while that tidbit might sound like a silver lining in our post-Roe world, it can be dangerously misleading if we’re not careful.

Telehealth is, without a doubt, an essential tool. My organization was one of the first abortion providers in the country to offer telemedicine back in 2009. And since the FDA allowed abortion pills to be delivered by mail in 2021, we have worked tirelessly to expand our virtual abortion care into 10 states to reach as many patients as possible. But let’s be clear: virtual care alone isn’t a silver bullet. And it’s not a stand-in for truly accessible care.

Continued: https://time.com/7281013/abortion-telemedicine-virtual-access

USA – A Conversation About Abortion Care — and It’s Not All Bad News

Angel Foster of the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project on how abortion with pills is here to stay, even as anti-abortion forces double down.

April 28, 2025
By Colleen DeBaise

It can be difficult to find good news in women’s health these days, but here’s a sliver: Abortion, to some extent, is easier and cheaper to access than ever before.

To talk us through how that’s possible in a post-Dobbs world, we spoke to Angel Foster, a professor at the University of Ottawa who in 2023 co-founded the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, also known as the MAP. The MAP currently assists 2,500 patients a month, prescribing and sending abortion pills primarily to U.S. states where abortion is banned or restricted.

Continued: https://thestoryexchange.org/protecting-abortion-care-in-the-u-s-a-conversation-with-a-top-provider/

29.04.2025

Interviews/Podcasts

Dr. Angel Foster

Margaret Carpenter

Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project

shield laws

telehealth abortion

telemedicine abortion

Rural women face barriers to abortion, contraceptive care, MoH review says

28 April 2025
Monique Steele

Access to abortion and contraceptive healthcare has improved in New Zealand in recent years, but there are concerns women who live in remote or rural areas face greater challenges to accessing this care than their urban-dwelling counterparts.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health reviewed certain matters under the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act (1977), and how the law was working in the years following a legislative change which decriminalised abortion and integrated other health services to it, in 2020.

Continued: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/559295/rural-women-face-barriers-to-abortion-contraceptive-care-moh-review-says

28.04.2025

News

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

Jackie Edmond

Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa

Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977

USA – Abortions Are Rising—Even After Dobbs. A New Book Explains Why.

“It’s a story of resistance and resilience and hope.”

Julianne McShane, Mother Jones
April 17, 2025

New data released this week reaffirmed a seemingly paradoxical reality of the post-Roe v. Wade era: Abortion rates have continued to rise despite the increasing restrictions nationwide.

The latest data, compiled by the abortion rights research and policy organization the Guttmacher Institute, shows that throughout 2024, clinicians provided more than one million abortions in states without total abortion bans, a slight increase compared to 2023. A closer look at the data reflects how healthcare providers and patients have adapted to changing circumstances—which have made access both more difficult and, in some ways, easier—since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization revoking the constitutional right to abortion.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/04/abortions-are-rising-even-after-dobbs-a-new-book-explains-why/

The Forgotten—and Incredibly Important—History of the Abortion Pill

Mifepristone took longer to get approved than most drugs—but not because it was unsafe.

Nina Martin, Mother Jones
Feb 7, 2025

At his Senate confirmation hearings to head the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. surprised no one by admitting that he planned to order a new review of the safety of abortion pills. While Kennedy claimed that President Donald Trump has not taken a position—yet—on medication abortion, “he’s made it clear to me that he wants me to look at the safety issues,” Kennedy said. “And I’ll ask [agencies] to do that.”

This, of course, is exactly what anti-abortion groups have been pushing for. Since 2022, when the US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, abortion opponents have been ramping up unfounded claims that mifepristone and misoprostol are dangerous. Their efforts have included a flurry of letters to the new administration, explicit directives in the far right’s Project 2025 blueprint for the second Trump term, and a barrage of ever-more-extreme lawsuits and state bills.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/02/abortion-pill-forgotten-history-attacks-mifepristone-ru486-anti-abortion-extremists-new-book/

07.02.2025

Commentary

abortion pills

Abortion Pills: US History and Politics

Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Feminist Majority Foundation

Food and Drug Administration

manual vacuum aspiration

Reproductive Health Technologies Project

Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies

Roussel-Uclaf

RU-486

Searle

Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Company

shield laws

telehealth abortion

telehealth clinics

telemedicine abortion

Arrest warrant issued for New York doctor indicted in Louisiana for prescribing abortion pill

By SARA CLINE and GEOFF MULVIHILL
January 31, 2025

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An arrest warrant has been issued for a New York doctor indicted on Friday by a Louisiana grand jury for allegedly prescribing abortion pills online to a pregnant minor in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country.

Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish of West Baton Rouge unanimously issued an indictment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter; her company, Nightingale Medical, PC; and the minor’s mother. All three were charged with criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs, a felony.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-indictment-lousiana-new-york-doctor-63ff4d9da8a9b592a7ca4ec7ba538cd3

USA – Reproductive rights and justice groups plan for Trump’s return

By: Sofia Resnick
January 18, 2025

In the days following President-elect Donald Trump’s win last November, a national abortion-assistance hotline was being inundated with calls. “They were confused about whether abortion was even still legal in the country, because they have heard the rhetoric around Trump’s position on abortion,” said Brittany Fonteno, the president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation.

The association of abortion providers runs what Fonteno says is the largest financial assistance program for people seeking abortions and is among the many groups preparing for another potentially destabilizing shift in U.S. reproductive health policy after Trump takes office Monday.

Continued: https://lailluminator.com/2025/01/18/abortion-trump-2/

Abortion pills by mail surge despite Texas’ bans. How long can it last? | Opinion

Bridget Grumet, Austin American-Statesman
Jan 16 , 2025

NEWARK, DELAWARE — The large cardboard box in Debra Lynch’s living room contained enough pills for 162 medication abortions. Last summer, such a shipment would last a month. Then she needed to reorder every two weeks. Now she goes through a box like this every week.

“We’re mailing a lot to Texas,” said Jay Lynch, who handles most of the packaging and postage for Her Safe Harbor, an abortion-drug-by-mail service spearheaded by his wife.
Joe Pojman, the founder and executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life
Continued: https://www.statesman.com/story/opinion/columns/2025/01/16/abortion-pill-texas-ban-law-mifepristone-misoprostol-plan-c-pills/77332833007/

Canadian non-profit that facilitates abortion pill access sees surge in U.S. requests

By Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press
November 27, 2024

A Canadian non-profit that helps women obtain the abortion pill in countries with restrictions says it saw a fourfold increase in U.S. requests after the presidential election.

The majority of inquiries came from women who were not pregnant, suggesting many want the drug on hand in case they need it, says Venny Ala-Siurua, executive director of Women on Web.

Ala-Siurua, based in Montreal, says some women fear abortions could become illegal or harder to access in the U.S. after Donald Trump takes office.

Continued: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2024/11/27/canadian-non-profit-that-facilitates-abortion-pill-access-sees-surge-in-u-s-requests/

Who can access abortion in Australia?

November 26, 2024
Erica Millar

Abortion is legal in all Australian states and territories. Women, trans men and gender diverse people with a uterus have the option of taking medication to end a pregnancy, or undergoing surgery.

It is estimated that between a quarter to one-third of people with a uterus will have an abortion in their lifetime. But the availability and cost of services depends on where you live and your pregnancy gestation.

So what do the different types of abortion involve? And how do gestation, cost and location affect access?

Continued: https://theconversation.com/who-can-access-abortion-in-australia-243699

26.11.2024