How GOP efforts to restrict trans rights take a page from the antiabortion playbook

BY ARIT JOHN
JUNE 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — Bans on treatment. New laws threatening doctors with malpractice suits and criminal charges. Praise from lawmakers who say their legislation is meant to protect minors, even as the new policies infringe on the rights of adults.

As state legislatures wind down and the 2024 election cycle kicks off, the similarities between the fights for abortion access and transgender rights have come into stark focus. Republican lawmakers have introduced a record number of bills at the state level and in Congress that would restrict the rights of transgender people and the healthcare they receive.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-06-07/wave-of-anti-trans-laws-reminds-advocates-of-another-struggle-abortion-rights

Kenya – Pharmacist Charged In Mombasa For Alleged Induced Abortion Of 15-Year-Old Girl

By BRUHAN MAKONG
Jun 7, 2023

NAIROBI, Kenya - A pharmacist has been charged before a Mombasa court for allegedly conducting an induced abortion on a 15-year-old girl who had conceived through defilement.

Mombasa Chief Magistrate Martha Mutuku heard that Amos Nzioki committed the offence on 3 June 2023 at his private chemist in Tudor.

Continued: https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2023/06/pharmacist-charged-in-mombasa-for-alleged-induced-abortion-of-15-year-old-girl/

07.06.2023

How the SCOTUS ‘Supermajority’ is shaping policy on everything from abortion to guns

June 6, 2023
By Dave Davies
44-Minute Listen

Constitutional lawyer Michael Waldman says that there's an increasing distance between the American people and the Supreme Court. He points out that Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections, but Republican presidents have appointed six of the nine justices now on the Supreme Court.

"In a sense, the country is moving in one direction and, with this locked-in majority supermajority, the Court is moving fast in another direction," Waldman says.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/06/1180389289/supreme-court-supermajority-michael-waldman-abortion-guns

06.06.2023

Commentary

Interviews/Podcasts

Brennan Center for Justice

Clarence Thomas

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Maltese society divided over arrest of woman who had abortion

By Alice Taylor and Spiros Sideris | EURACTIV.com and EURACTIV.gr
Jun 6, 2023

The arrest of a Maltese woman for having a medical abortion at home has divided Maltese society, with pro-choice groups calling for urgent changes to the law and staging protests, and the prime minister declaring it makes him feel ‘uncomfortable’.

Malta has a total ban on abortions, even in the case of rape, incest, or if the woman’s life is in danger. The unnamed woman reportedly took abortion pills, likely imported from abroad as they are illegal in the country, and had a medical abortion. She was subsequently arrested and given a conditional discharge.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/maltese-society-divided-over-arrest-of-woman-who-had-abortion/

06.06.2023

News

arresting women for abortion

decriminalisation of abortion

Doctors For Choice Malta

Doctors for Life Malta

Maltese Socialist Party

Robert Abela

self-managed abortion

total abortion ban

Women’s Rights Foundation

Republicans’ abortion bans are nothing like those in Europe

Yes, even the 12-week ones.

By Rachel M. Cohen
Jun 6, 2023

Republicans scrambling to address mounting backlash to abortion bans have landed on what they hope they can market as a moderate political compromise: limiting abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Over the last month, Republicans in North Carolina and Nebraska have passed 12-week abortion bans, a dramatic reduction in access for states that previously allowed abortion up until 20 weeks and 22 weeks, respectively.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/23741997/republicans-12-week-abortion-bans-europe-roe-dobbs

06.06.2023

Commentary

12-week limit

abortion on request up to 12 weeks

Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

coverage for abortion

N. Ireland – Abortion access lessons to be compulsory in post-primary schools in NI

June 6, 2023
By Robbie Meredith, BBC News NI education correspondent

It will be compulsory for all post-primary schools in Northern Ireland to teach pupils about access to abortion and prevention of early pregnancy.

It comes after Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris laid new regulations in Parliament, covering relationships and sex education (RSE). In a written statement, he said he had a legal duty to act on recommendations made in a United Nations (UN) report.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-65824502

06.06.2023

CEDAW Report

Chris Heaton-Harris

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

comprehensive sex education

Dr John Kirkpatrick

Executive Formation Act

Natalie Whelehan

Relationships and Sex Education

Here’s How Companies Can Protect the Privacy of People Providing or Seeking Abortion Care

6/6/2023
by JENNIFER WEISS-WOLF and ALEXANDRA REEVE GIVENS

In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s leaked decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a wave of dystopian warnings flooded the internet. Women were urged to erase their digital footprints, delete period tracking apps, and communicate in code. A year later, myriad of digital communications have been used to fuel abortion-related prosecutions and lawsuits—from mother-daughter exchanges on Facebook to private text messages among friends.

The Center of Democracy & Technology (CDT) released a set of best practices last week for companies to adopt in order to better protect the privacy and safety of people seeking, providing or otherwise supporting abortion care.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/06/06/reproductive-health-data-abortion-search-online/

06.06.2023

Commentary

Center of Democracy and Technology

Digital Defense Fund

digital privacy

digital surveillance and abortion

Shelley Alpern

United States

Human Rights

How one quiet Illinois college town became the symbol of abortion rights in America

Chris Kenning, USA TODAY
Jun. 4, 2023

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The 26-year-old had never heard of the distant southern Illinois town, but it had become the closest option.

So she cobbled together money. Found child care. Asked her brother for a ride. And set off early one morning to drive north across state lines to 22,000-person Carbondale.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2023/06/04/carbondale-illinois-abortion-clinics/70180040007/

Scotland – Anti-abortion group leader: Government has no duty to protect public’s feelings

June 04, 2023

The Scottish Government does not have a duty to protect the feelings of the public, the head of an anti-abortion group has said.

Shawn Carney, the co-founder and chief executive of 40 Days for Life, rejected accusations his group had harassed women attempting to access abortions.

Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay is expected to publish a widely supported Bill this month to establish buffer zones around abortion clinics, which is expected to pass Holyrood without issue.

Continued: https://kalkinemedia.com/au/news/general-news/anti-abortion-group-leader-government-has-no-duty-to-protect-publics-feelings

Doctors rally to defend abortion provider Caitlin Bernard after she was censured

June 3, 2023
Sarah McCammon

Hundreds of Indiana doctors are coming to the defense of Caitlin Bernard, the obstetrician/gynecologist who was recently punished by a state licensing board for talking publicly about providing an abortion for a 10-year-old rape victim.

In public statements, doctors across a range of specialties are speaking out against the board's decision, and warning that it could have dangerous implications for public health.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2023/06/03/1179941247/abortion-caitlin-bernard-indiana-doctor-medical-board

03.06.2023