USA – The Resilient Provider Who’s Survived Arson, Death Threats and Supreme Court Rulings

Before Julie Burkhart could even open Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic, an extremist tried to burn it down. That hasn’t stopped her. Neither has the Dobbs ruling.

June 20, 2025
By Colleen DeBaise

I figured Julie Burkhart – an abortion care provider whose Wyoming clinic was torched a few years ago – would be tough as nails. What I didn’t expect, as we spoke over Zoom recently, was that I’d be complimenting Burkhart on her actual nails. Turns out, her daughter got married recently, and “I got these done for the wedding,” Burkhart told me, twisting both hands in front of the camera to show off her ballet-slipper manicure.

That Burkhart, named to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025 list, can enjoy moments of lightness speaks to the resilience she’s honed amid a career marred by violence, death threats and vicious harassment. A longtime fighter for women’s reproductive freedom, she has been called a hero by abortion-rights supporters and “Julie Darkheart” (and much worse) by detractors.

Continued: https://thestoryexchange.org/abortion-provider-julie-burkhart/

Abortion Bans Are Making It Impossible for Advocates to Help Abuse Victims

“To have to say to someone, ‘You live in a state where you’re more likely to be criminalized than the person who’s abusing you’—it’s devastating,” If/When/How’s Sara Ainsworth told Jezebel.

By Kylie Cheung
March 26, 2025

In 2007, Erica DuBois learned she was pregnant just two months after becoming cancer-free. And then the abuse began, she recalled to Jezebel. Her partner would invoke religion to justify physically harming her: “He talked about the beatings and violence like a test—if the baby survived, then it was God’s will,” DuBois said. She eventually gave birth to a healthy baby girl, but as a result of these sustained beatings, her first pregnancy was the only one that didn’t end in a miscarriage. She sometimes tried to take birth control pills, but when her abuser found them, he punished her. This violence would only escalate when she inevitably became pregnant.

Continued: https://www.jezebel.com/abortion-bans-are-making-it-impossible-for-advocates-to-help-abuse-victims

Planning for the Worst in Trump’s Next Term: Prepare, Don’t Panic, and Don’t Comply in Advance

Amy Hagstrom Miller championed abortion rights in Texas, and she’s ready for the next fight.

Mary Tuma
January 30, 2025

In the frenetic days following the November election, longtime abortion provider Amy Hagstrom Miller spent a lot of time in meetings—some in person, some on Zoom—rallying her troops. As one of the most prominent and tenacious independent abortion providers in the country, with six Whole Woman’s Health clinics in four states, it was a safe bet that she and her staff of 125 would find themselves in the crosshairs of a Donald Trump presidency and the anti-abortion extremists his second term will empower.

Hagstrom Miller could feel the alarm and dread that washed over some of her employees as they contemplated an America in which the 1873 Comstock Act might be enforced to institute a national abortion ban, the abortion pill would come under myriad other relentless attacks, federal appointees would use their bureaucratic powers to target providers in states where abortion remains legal, and patients would face new risks to their physical safety and constitutional rights.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/trump-amy-hagstrom-miller-championed-abortion-rights-in-texas-and-amy-hagstrom-miller-is-ready-for-the-next-fight/

USA – Abortion influences everything

By inhibiting drug development, economic growth, and military recruitment, as well as driving doctors away from the places they’re needed most, bans almost certainly harm you — yes, you.

By Keren Landman, MD
Mar 20, 2024

Last year in Texas, federal Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that, based on his read of some very bad science, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) needed to withdraw its approval of the safe and widely used abortion drug mifepristone. He claimed that the FDA hadn’t adequately considered its safety (it had) and that the lack of restrictions on the drug (there were plenty) had led to many deaths and severe adverse events (demonstrably false).

… Restricting abortion means removing women’s control over not only their bodies, but also their futures — and giving that control to someone else. In a nation where sex education and contraception access are already spotty and about half of all pregnancies are unplanned, that act is a population-level assault on women’s autonomy. The result is a psychic wound even to those who aren’t seeking abortions.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/even-better/24106111/abortion-mifepristone-kacsmaryk-fda-economic-military-readiness-mortality-mental-health-poverty

Our Abortion Stories: ‘I’m a Registered Nurse, a Wife and a Mother. This Story Is Personal and Painful.’

Feb 13, 2024
by AMY ROGERS

My name is Amy Rogers; I’m a registered nurse, a wife and a mother. I am writing this in support of House Bill 12, the Women’s Health Protection Act. This story is personal and painful. I am sharing this for myself, my daughters, and the 25 million women of childbearing age living in states with abortion bans or restrictions.

In 2011, my husband and I were newlyweds. We had primary custody of his 8-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter. I had just turned 43 and was shocked and delighted to discover that I was pregnant. Due to my age, I assumed my chances of conceiving without fertility treatments were slim to none.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2024/02/13/dobbs-abortion-story-healthcare-genetic-testing-abnormality-womens-health-protection-act/

States with restrictive abortion laws place more kids in foster care

By Jen Christensen, CNN
Nov 6, 2023

A new study finds that in states with certain restrictive abortion laws, even before the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the number of children whose parents couldn’t or wouldn’t care for them increased and their children end up in foster care.

The study, published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, found that there was an 11% increase in children placed in foster care in states with certain abortion restrictions called TRAP laws, following the enactment of those TRAP laws, relative to states without such abortion restrictions.

Continued: https://www.komu.com/news/nationworld/states-with-restrictive-abortion-laws-place-more-kids-in-foster-care/article_816763e4-3c7c-5129-b3ac-7240ebfcc4d8.html

06.11.2023

News

Research

adoption

adoption and abortion

Dr. Savannah Atkins

Dr. Tracey Wilkinson

foster care system

Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers

USA – Abortion restrictions may have increased suicide risk among women ages 20 to 34, new research suggests

A first-of-its-kind study found an association between laws that restrict abortions and suicide rates in younger women.

Dec. 28, 2022
By Aria Bendix

Restricted access to abortions may have increased the risk of suicide among women of reproductive age for more than four decades, new research from the University of Pennsylvania suggests.

Though suicide deaths are rare, they are the second leading cause of death among women ages 20-24 in the U.S. and the third leading cause among women ages 25-34.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/abortion-restrictions-may-increased-suicide-risk-younger-women-rcna63358

28.12.2022

Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers

USA – Lies about abortion have dictated health policy

By Tamara Kay and Susan Ostermann, Chicago Tribune
Dec 05, 2022

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that abortion policy should be decided at the state level, a number of high-profile abortion issues have appeared on state ballots. In each of these cases — even in conservative states — voters have chosen to support abortion rights. With voters increasingly being asked to make abortion policy, it is critical that they understand the facts in order to make informed decisions.

During the last 50 years, lies and intentional misinformation have dictated abortion health policy in the U.S. Abortion has been demonized and characterized by utter falsities; it has gone under the radar for far too long.

Continued: https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-abortion-misinformation-health-policy-trap-laws-20221205-ildvxeb66bblfc2qml3xcvsfu4-story.html

The Fall Of Roe v. Wade Is Going To Hurt You In Ways You Can’t Foresee

Neha Sharma
Aug 26, 2022

As a family medicine doctor with a focus on reproductive health, including abortion care, I have been fighting against this outcome for years, and I’ve already seen a steadily increasing stream of patients who have needed to fly for compassionate abortion care. I’m lucky to live and work in New York, where Gov. Kathy Hochul recently signed several laws further codifying and protecting abortion access. Connecticut was the first to pass similar protections, and states like California and Massachusetts are working on legislation. But this is a stark contrast to what Americans in other parts of the country are facing, even though access to high-quality, evidence-based health care should not be based on where you live.

So let’s explore what’s coming next, thanks to the fall of Roe: worsening health care disparities, higher maternal mortality rates, criminalization of pregnant people and their doctors, lack of medical care for people experiencing pregnancy complications, attacks on routine medical care for people who can become pregnant, and broad assaults on human rights currently in place for marginalized groups.

https://thenetionalnews.com/the-fall-of-roe-v-wade-is-going-to-hurt-you-in-ways-you-cant-foresee/

USA – Abortion Clinic Workers Are Tired and Terrified—but We’re Still Showing Up

This is a love letter to my colleagues in Ohio and others who make abortion care possible, despite the threat of violence and the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

Apr 21, 2022
Colleen Damerell, Rewire News Group

Abortion clinic workers are exhausted. We’re facing more than two years of COVID-19, understaffing and underresourcing of clinics, and the enormity of the disaster about to crash into our livelihoods.

“I am angry, sad, disappointed, afraid, depressed, anxious all the time,” said Heather, a registered nurse who both provides abortion care and works in labor and delivery.

Continued: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2022/04/21/abortion-clinic-workers-are-tired-and-terrified-but-were-still-showing-up/

21.04.2022