How Barrett’s confirmation could influence the fight over abortion access

PBS, Oct 21, 2020
by Courtney Vinopal

Over her three-day confirmation hearing, Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett repeatedly declined to discuss her stance on abortion. But while there is no way to know for certain how she will rule on such cases, legal scholars say that her record, as well as a careful reading of certain answers she gave the Senate Judiciary Committee, gives clues about where the Supreme Court could be headed on issues of reproductive rights.

Barrett assured members of the committee that she would bring “no agenda” to her role if confirmed to the high court. She has also expressed anti-abortion beliefs in the past, and joined two dissents on abortion restriction cases during her time on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Continued: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-barretts-confirmation-could-influence-the-fight-over-abortion-access

Roe v. Wade Might Be Overturned Soon — This Is Worse Than You Think

MOLLY LONGMAN
OCTOBER 20, 2020

Angel Kai’s* heart sank when she found out she was pregnant again. The 20-year-old had delivered her second child only three months prior. She was on unpaid maternity leave from her job in Amarillo, TX, and she’d just received a $130 electricity bill in the mail that she didn’t know if she’d be able to pay. “Everything that was happening financially was just bad,” she remembers. “I couldn’t have another kid. I knew getting an abortion would be the best thing, because I couldn’t walk up the street to get a soda if I wanted one at the time. We were that tight on money.”

It turned out, though, that Angel couldn’t even afford the abortion she knew she wanted. Her health plan was offered under state-funded Medicaid, which, in Texas, only covers abortion in cases of life endangerment, rape, and incest. So, Angel Googled “abortion financial help.”

Continued: https://www.refinery29.com/en-ca/2020/10/10112297/what-happens-if-roe-v-wade-overturned-state-abortion-laws

20.10.2020

American Civil Liberties Union

American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Americans United for Life

Caitlin Knowles Myers

Catherine Glenn Foster

constitutional amendment to ban abortion

crisis pregnancy centers

Laurie Bertram Roberts

Marcela Howell

Mary Ziegler

Medicaid abortion

Mississippi Freedom Fund

National Abortion Federation

National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda

National Network of Abortion Funds

National Women’s Law Center

Noel León

Planned Parenthood Action Fund

self-managed abortion

Talcott Camp

Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers

TRAP laws

traveling for abortion

trigger laws

women's abortion stories

Women’s Health Protection Act

What Happens if Roe v. Wade Is Overturned?

By Quoctrung Bui, Claire Cain Miller and Margot Sanger-Katz
Ne York Times
Oct. 15, 2020

The almost-certain confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court has increased the chances that Roe v. Wade will be weakened or overturned. If that were to happen, abortion access would decline in large regions of the country, a new data analysis shows.

Legal abortion access would be unchanged in more than half of states, but it would effectively end for those living in much of the American South and Midwest, especially those who are poor, according to the analysis. (The analysis incorporates more recent data on research we wrote about last year.)

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/15/upshot/what-happens-if-roe-is-overturned.html

USA – Telemedicine has become the norm for most medical specialties — except abortion services

Federal restrictions are limiting access to telemedicine abortion care. That needs to change

Julie Burkhart
August 9, 2020

The ongoing pandemic has led to huge shifts in how we live and work, and health care is no exception. In the past few months, telehealth visits have surged more than 50 percent, enabling patients to access much of the health care they need without taking the added risk of leaving their homes.

But for people seeking reproductive health services, longstanding state and federal restrictions continue to needlessly limit their access to telemedicine abortion care.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2020/08/09/telemedicine-has-become-the-norm-for-most-medical-specialties--except-abortion-services/

USA – The Covid Crisis Reveals the Need to Abolish Abortion Restrictions

What kind of nation allows people to be prosecuted for health care?

By Renee Bracey Sherman
July 15, 2020

Washington, D.C.—Last November, I drove more than 12 hours for an abortion. It wasn’t mine (I had mine in 2005); I picked up a young woman in rural Pennsylvania whom I’ll call Raquel. She needed a ride to a clinic in Maryland to get some pills that she would take back at her home to have a medication abortion. As we drove to the clinic, I told Raquel about what to expect during the appointment; after I finished I paused and said, “As much as I love getting to know you on this drive, did you know you could safely do this at home but the government won’t let you?” She was surprised. Like many people, she knew about limitations on abortion but didn’t know that very safe and basic methods are being restricted because of outdated FDA regulations on how they can be dispensed. The drive bonded us—we still keep in touch, and she approved the inclusion of her story here—but it was an unnecessary exercise, one that antiabortion politicians created to make yet another constitutional right as inaccessible as possible. The cruelty of the barricades along the journey is the point.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/coronavirus-abortion/

USA – ‘I see a danger in returning to a pre-Roe world:’ Abortion advocates view coronavirus-era restrictions as a dark sign of what could come

'I see a danger in returning to a pre-Roe world:' Abortion advocates view coronavirus-era restrictions as a dark sign of what could come

Kayla Epstein
May 15, 2020

In non-pandemic times, obtaining an abortion already presented serious legal and logistical challenges for millions of women. For patients who live in certain states, getting care means enduring state-imposed waiting periods, submitting to unnecessary ultrasounds, or rushing to receive care before an arbitrary legal deadline. For patients who already have children, care must be arranged. Those without a car need a ride, especially if the nearest clinic is hours away. Some need flights to more accommodating states. And many, many need funds.

But women seeking abortions since the coronavirus outbreak began faced a new challenge — states' attempts to temporarily limit or ban abortion outright by deeming them "non-essential" procedures, under the pretext of preserving medical supplies for COVID-19 treatment. These restrictions collided with the travel and social distancing restrictions put in place to limit the spread of the virus, leading to an even more precarious situation for abortion care than the one already in place.

Continued: https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-arkansas-abortion-bans-coronavirus-advocates-fear-lack-of-access-2020-5

15.05.2020

Commentary

Featured

abortion access during pandemic

abortion funds

abortion is essential healthcare

American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology

American Civil Liberties Union

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

anti-choice restrictions

Bridget Schilling

Brigid Alliance

Clinical Access Support Network

coronavirus

Covid-19 and abortion

National Abortion Federation

New Orleans Abortion Fund

Odile Schalit

personal protective equipment

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains

pre-Roe laws

Roe v. Wade

traveling for abortion

Very Rev. Katherine Ragsdale

Texas Abortion Patients Arrive in Colorado Clinics ‘Frustrated and Exhausted’

Texas Abortion Patients Arrive in Colorado Clinics ‘Frustrated and Exhausted’
People are making the grueling drive from Texas to Colorado for abortion care after Gov. Greg Abbott (R) used the COVID-19 pandemic to suspend abortion rights.

Apr 20, 2020
Lauren Young

Dr. Rebecca Cohen now recognizes Texas area codes calling the Comprehensive Women’s Health Center in Denver.

In recent weeks, pregnant people have found their access to legal abortion increasingly compromised by the COVID-19 crisis. And many are looking to Colorado—an abortion care oasis—in desperation.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2020/04/20/texas-abortion-patients-arrive-in-colorado-clinics-frustrated-and-exhausted/

Texas’s Opportunistic Abortion Ban Puts Women’s Lives at Risk

Texas’s Opportunistic Abortion Ban Puts Women’s Lives at Risk

4/15/2020
by Dr. Sara Simons

I was midway through my volunteer shift for a Texas abortion fund hotline when the Texas attorney general banned abortions.

I realized something was amiss when I spoke to a college student who had called our hotline that morning, March 23, seeking funding for her procedure.

By the time I reached her that afternoon, the clinic where her appointment was scheduled for March 25 had been shut down until April 21.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2020/04/15/texas-opportunistic-abortion-ban-puts-womens-lives-at-risk/

Abortion clinics see increased demand amid coronavirus: ‘The calls … are frantic’

Abortion clinics see increased demand amid coronavirus: 'The calls ... are frantic'

David Crary, Associated Press
Apr 14, 2020

NEW YORK – The coronavirus outbreak has fueled attempts to ban abortions in some states, but providers where the procedure remains available report increased demand, often from women distraught over economic stress and health concerns linked to the pandemic.

“The calls we’ve been getting are frantic,” said Julie Burkhart, who manages clinics in Wichita, Kansas, and Oklahoma City. “We’ve seen more women coming sooner than they would have because they’re scared they won’t be able to access the services later.”

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/04/13/abortion-clinics-see-high-demand-more-phone-calls-amid-coronavirus/2982538001/

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/