Texas Is What the End of Legal Abortion Looks Like

After Texas used the pandemic as a reason to block the procedure, the number of people who fled the state to undergo abortions skyrocketed, as did second-trimester abortions.

By Carter Sherman
6.1.21

With Amy Coney Barrett now on the Supreme Court, the ruling that legalized abortion nationwide decades ago may be on its last legs. But during the coronavirus pandemic, Texas already gave a sneak peek at what could happen if Roe v. Wade collapses.

In late March 2020, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order postponing all abortions that weren’t “immediately, medically necessary”—which his attorney general defined as including nearly all abortions. Supporters of abortion rights promptly sued, but the order—and the legal tussling over it—intermittently cut off access to abortion until the end of April, when it finally expired.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjpwwp/texas-covid-abortions-end-of-roe-v-wade

06.01.2021

abortion access during pandemic

Aid Access

Amy Coney Barrett

Cedar River Clinics

Covid-19 and abortion

Texas Policy Evaluation Project

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Whole Women's Health

Early In The Pandemic, Texas Banned Most Abortions. After The Ban Lifted, 2nd-Trimester Abortions Jumped, A New Study Shows

Texas officials cited a need to preserve medical supplies as a reason to crack down on abortions. A new study finds that many Texans left the state during this time seeking the procedure.

SHANNON NAJMABADI, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
POSTED ON JANUARY 4, 2021

After Gov. Greg Abbott's order that postponed all non "immediately, medically necessary" surgeries expired in May, second-trimester abortions increased 61%.

The number of Texas residents who went out of state to receive abortions leapt from 157 in February to 947 in April, after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered that all procedures not "immediately, medically necessary" be postponed to contend with the nascent coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Continued: https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/2021/01/04/388664/early-in-the-pandemic-texas-banned-most-abortions-after-the-ban-lifted-2nd-trimester-abortions-jumped-a-new-study-shows/

‘It Wears on Your Soul’: COVID Has Created an Abortion Nightmare in Texas

'It Wears on Your Soul': COVID Has Created an Abortion Nightmare in Texas
In recent weeks, providers have been forced to cancel hundreds of abortion appointments, then call patients back in, only to send them home once more. Abortion funds are helping manage the fallout.

by Mary Tuma
Apr 27 2020

When Texas officials effectively banned abortion in the state in late March, Kamyon Conner and her staff rushed to figure out how to compassionately tell clients that they could no longer access care. Conner doesn’t run an abortion clinic, she’s the executive director of the Texas Equal Access Fund, an abortion fund that provides financial assistance to women in north, east, and west Texas. Their hotline was already busier than normal even before Texas used the coronavirus pandemic to restrict access to abortion.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/g5x4n3/texas-abortion-funds-workers-are-managing-the-fallout-of-state-abortion-ban-during-coronavirus-covid19-pandemic

The State’s Ban Isn’t Stopping Texans From Getting Abortions

The State’s Ban Isn’t Stopping Texans From Getting Abortions
The order from Governor Greg Abbott, closing abortion clinics through April 21, has sent many out of state to seek the procedure—in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Arielle Avila
Apr 13, 2020

Update: On Thursday evening, federal judge Lee Yeakel blocked parts of the state's temporary abortion ban, allowing clinics to legally offer certain abortion procedures. On Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the ban, with limited exceptions.

More than one hundred patients at Whole Woman’s Health facilities in Texas were turned away on March 31 for appointments that some had scheduled the day before. The morning of the 31st, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that an executive order banning abortion during the coronavirus outbreak could remain in place, reversing a federal judge’s block of it, meaning that many who hours before thought they could go through with their appointments now could not. According to Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO and president of the organization, patients were begging, often in desperation, to see the clinicians. But with the order back in place, there was nothing doctors could do except provide funds for some patients to fly to get their abortions out of state, increasing their risk of being exposed to the coronavirus or unwittingly exposing others.

Continued: https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/texas-abortion-ban-coronavirus/

USA – Activists Are Now Teaching Women How to Have Abortions at Home

Activists Are Now Teaching Women How to Have Abortions at Home
“So long as we have a safe option that can be accomplished outside of a clinical or medical setting, there’s no reason that shouldn’t also be available.”

by Carter Sherman
Jan 22 2020

COLUMBIA, Missouri — In the Columbia Public Library, just past a room where a Bible study was wrapping up, a group of people gathered in a conference room to learn how to have an abortion at home.

What happens when you self-induce an abortion? one woman asked the panelists, who sat at a table in the front of the room.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/xgqywj/activists-are-now-teaching-women-how-to-have-abortions-at-home

DIY abortion attempts three times as prevalent in Texas as other states, study finds

DIY abortion attempts three times as prevalent in Texas as other states, study finds

Andrea Zelinski
Jan. 9, 2020

AUSTIN — Using home remedies such as herbs, teas and vitamins or a prescription drug obtained from Mexico, Texas women have tried to end their pregnancies themselves three times more often than women in other states, a new study finds.

The Texas Policy Evaluation Project at The University of Texas at Austin found 6.9 percent percent of 721 patients seeking abortion tried to end their pregnancies on their own before going to an abortion clinic, compared to 2.2 percent nationally. The results of the study were released Thursday morning.

Continued: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/DIY-abortion-attempts-three-times-as-prevalent-in-14962685.php

USA – The Complicated Reality of Buying Abortion Pills Online

The Complicated Reality of Buying Abortion Pills Online
An abortion provider delves into the safety, efficacy, and legality.

April 8, 2019
By Jennifer Conti, M.D., M.S.

Given the many obstacles facing reproductive rights in our current political climate, we as physicians are seeing some people take abortion into their own hands. No, I’m not talking about coat-hanger abortions or any of the other infamous and tragic methods that people in the past (and, sadly, even some in the present) have explored.

Specifically, I’m talking about those who are self-managing medication abortions, meaning that they’re getting and taking abortion medications without going through a health-care provider at all.

Continued: https://www.self.com/story/buying-abortion-pills-online