Tennessee woman gets emergency hysterectomy after doctors deny early abortion care

Tennessee's ban went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

By Nadine El-Bawab
May 31, 2023

Mayron Hollis said she had just started taking contraceptives when she found out she was pregnant again a few months after giving birth in February 2022. Despite the surprise, Hollis and her husband say they were excited about the pregnancy and eager to add another child to their growing family.

Hollis, 32, had no idea the excitement would turn into a fight for her baby's life and her own.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/tennessee-woman-gets-emergency-hysterectomy-after-doctors-deny/story?id=99457461


Oklahoma Supreme Court rules 2 abortion bans unconstitutional, but abortion is still illegal in most cases

MAY 31, 2023

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that two state laws banning abortion are unconstitutional, but the procedure remains illegal in the state in most cases.

In a 6-3 ruling, the high court said the two bans are unconstitutional because they require a "medical emergency" before a doctor can perform an abortion. The court said this language conflicts with a previous ruling it issued in March. That ruling found the Oklahoma Constitution provides an "inherent right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy when necessary to preserve her life."

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oklahoma-abortion-bans-supreme-court-rules-unconstitutional-still-illegal-most-cases/


USA – The Weldon Amendment: A Poison Pill Rider for Abortion Access

National Women’s Law Center
May 30, 2023

A health care provider’s personal beliefs should never dictate health care. Yet a federal law known as the Weldon Amendment allows personal beliefs, not patient health and the standard of care, to determine the care a patient receives.

The Weldon Amendment is a rider that has been attached to the annual Labor-HHS appropriations bill in Congress since 2005. Although it is written to prohibit any entity subject to the rider from “discriminat[ing]” against certain health care entities – including hospitals, health insurance plans, doctors, and nurses – that refuse to provide, cover, pay for, or refer for abortion, it really allows health care providers to discriminate against patients by denying them the care they need. There are no provisions in the Weldon Amendment to protect patient access to abortion services.

Continued: https://nwlc.org/resource/the-weldon-amendment-a-poison-pill-rider-for-abortion-access/


USA – The Right’s War on Abortion Was Never About Legal Doctrine

The justices in the Dobbs majority promised to return abortion “to the people’s elected representatives.” For conservative activists, this was just the beginning.

BY PETER SHAMSHIRI 
MAY 30, 2023

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Court’s conservatives tried to couch the decision in moderated, legalistic terms.  

In his majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the Court was simply returning the power to regulate abortion “to the people’s elected representatives.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh filed a platitude-ridden concurrence stating that “on the issue of abortion, the Constitution is neither pro-life nor pro-choice. The Constitution is neutral.” Both justices were making the same point. They were claiming that the decision did not speak to the propriety of abortion, but instead was a judgment only about the scope of the Constitution.

Continued: https://ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics/dobbs-opinion-never-about-legal-doctrine/


USA – Don’t rule out a national abortion ban in 2025

Activists think they have a path to stopping abortions nationwide. It runs not through Congress but through the White House, the Supreme Court, and an arcane 19th-century law.

By Mary Ziegler
May 30, 2023

Almost a year ago, when the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the court promised that each state would make its own decision on abortion. At the time, a national statute of any kind seemed impossible. Democrats had tried and failed to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have secured abortion rights nationwide. And once Republicans gained a majority in the House of Representatives, they didn’t try to pass a national abortion ban. Their legislative wish list did not include one, and poll after poll showed that most Americans believed abortion to be a right and wanted it to be legal, especially early in pregnancy.

The antiabortion movement had never wanted the issue left to the states. Since the 1980s, the movement had made sure that the Republican Party platform had a plank endorsing a human life amendment. But in the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs ruling, it seemed that there was little chance that antiabortion advocates could get their wish for a national ban.

Continued: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/30/opinion/abortion-ban-comstock-act-mary-ziegler/


Danish teenager soon can go for abortion at 15

The age limit for abortion should be lowered from 18 to 15, says the Danish government. According to critics, this proposal drives parents to the sidelines. "Parents have to be involved."

30-05-2023
CNE.news

It has been fifty years since Denmark legalised abortion. And on that 50th anniversary, Marie Bjerre, the Minister for Equality, announced that the age limit for abortion without parental consent would be lowered from 18 to 15. "The government wants young women to be able to decide over their own bodies and lives. They must be able to make the choice themselves about whether to have an abortion."

Various people welcomed Bjerre's statement. Charlotte Wilken-Jensen, a chief physician at an obstetrics department, believes that it is a "crazy good idea": "We have a society where the sexual minimum age is 15, and to imagine that young people, who can have sex with each other quite legitimately, cannot also have the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, does not add up."

Continued:  https://cne.news/article/3124-danish-teenager-soon-can-go-for-abortion-at-15


This Alabama Health Clinic Is Under Threat. It Doesn’t Provide Abortions.

Former abortion clinics in red states are trying to pivot to other services after Dobbs. But they’re finding it’s not so easy.

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
05/29/2023

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Patients arriving for an appointment at the West Alabama Women’s Center one year ago would brave a gauntlet of chanting protesters, skirt an idling police car, take seats in a crowded waiting room and wait for one of the clinic’s dozen busy staff members to help them terminate a pregnancy. Over the clinic’s nearly 30-year history, visits also included the risk of being shot, bombed or rammed by a vehicle.

But when Abigail arrived on a Tuesday morning in April, nearly 11 months after the fall of Roe v. Wade, the parking lot was so quiet you could hear the clinic’s windchime tinkling faintly in the hot breeze.

Continued:  https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/29/alabama-abortion-clinic-problem-00096020


India – Reason behind each abortion must be provided: Collector

May 29, 2023

Kolhapur: District collector Rahul Rekhawar has instructed the health authorities to ensure that every pregnant woman is registered with the relevant authorities agencies, and that any woman undergoing an abortion after the first trimester must provide the reason for the same to the heath officials.

The move, said officials, is a bid to ensure the effective implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, given that cases of abortion have reportedly been on the rise across Kolhapur district in recent years.

Continued: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolhapur/reason-behind-each-abortion-must-be-provided-collector/articleshow/100579927.cms


India – Telangana: 18 held for illegal sex determination tests, abortion

The team also seized sex-determination scanning machines, Rs 73,000 in cash, and 18 cell phones.

Posted by Masrath Fatima 
Published: 29th May 2023

Hyderabad: Eighteen members of a gang involved in carrying out illegal pre-natal sex determination tests as well as conducting 100 unauthorized abortions were nabbed in a joint operation in Warangal district on Monday.

The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU), Task Force police, Kakatiya University Campus (KUC), and the medical and health department teamed up and arrested the 18 accused. However, two people managed to escape.

Continued: https://www.siasat.com/telangana-18-held-for-illegal-sex-determination-tests-abortion-2601469/


India – Fundamental right: Woman allowed to abort 23-week fetus

Rosy Sequeira
May 29, 2023

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has allowed the medical termination of a 23-week pregnancy (MTP) of a rape survivor, observing that forcing her to continue with it would violate her fundamental rights.

“…forcing the petitioner to continue with the pregnancy would be a serious affront to her fundamental right to exercise reproductive choices, to her bodily integrity and her dignity,” said vacation judges Justices Abhay Ahuja and Milind Sathaye on Friday.

Continued: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/fundamental-right-woman-allowed-to-abort-23-week-fetus/articleshow/100575269.cms