The GOP’s New Tactic to Block Abortion Votes Is Startlingly Successful

By Mary Ziegler
Sept 12, 2024

Conservatives have once again turned to the courts to keep people from voting on reproductive rights. Missouri and Nebraska were set to be among the 10 states where voters will weigh in directly on abortion rights, but anti-abortion groups have gone to court to block either one from moving forward. The conservative Missouri Supreme Court rejected this gambit earlier this week, while a ruling from the Nebraska Supreme Court is expected soon. But whatever happens, it’s worth paying attention to the strategy in these cases: a kind of heads-I-win-tails-you-lose plan that either blocks voters from deciding about abortion rights or confuses the electorate about what is being decided.

A group of anti-abortion advocates and lawmakers had sued Missouri Attorney General Jay Ashcroft for having certified the ballot measure. Nebraska’s high court is considering two suits, one filed by a neonatologist opposed to abortion, a second by an Omaha resident.

Continued: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/09/gop-blocks-abortion-votes-missouri-nebraska.html

12.09.2024

Commentary

abortion ballot measures

anti-choice cruelty

anti-choice deception

anti-choice intimidation

anti-choice lies

anti-choice manipulation

ballot initiatives on abortion

An Abortion Provider Debunks Trump’s Debate Talking Points

By Andrea González-Ramírez, the Cut
Sept 11, 2024

One of Donald Trump’s biggest weaknesses this presidential election is his anti-abortion stance, particularly the role he played (and routinely brags about) in the overturning of Roe v. Wade. During Tuesday’s presidential debate, he attempted to neutralize that weakness by painting Democrats as the extreme party when it comes to abortion rights, repeating falsehoods about patients seeking the procedure “in the ninth month” of pregnancy and having “post-birth abortions.”

This inflammatory rhetoric hinges on voters’ unfamiliarity with abortion care later in pregnancy. Despite what 67 percent of Americans think, only a small percentage of abortions occur after 21 weeks of gestation and they become even rarer further into pregnancy. Providers say these later terminations tend to be medically complex cases that are logistically and financially challenging for many patients.

Continued: https://www.thecut.com/article/trumps-abortion-debate-lies-debunked.html

Harris was strongest at debate when talking about abortion while Trump relied on tired old lies

Carter Sherman
Wed 11 Sep 2024

Throughout his 2024 campaign for president, Donald Trump has avoided giving straight, consistent or accurate answers to questions about abortion – and in his first debate appearance against Kamala Harris, Trump kept up that streak.

Moderators introduced abortion, one of the biggest issues in the election, by asking about the most recent example of Trump’s incoherence on the topic: his position on a Florida ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights into the state’s constitution. Over the last few weeks, Trump initially suggested that he would vote in favor of the measure – which would restore abortion rights in a state that has banned the procedure past six weeks of pregnancy – before quickly backtracking amid outrage from his anti-abortion base.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/11/abortion-harris-trump-debate

11.09.2024

News

abortion in presidential debate

To raise birth rate, North Korea punishes abortion doctors and contraceptive sellers

2 doctors who performed secret abortions were sentenced to prison.

By Moon Sung Hui and Son Hyemin for RFA Korean
2024.09.09

North Korea is attempting to slow its declining birth rate by punishing doctors who perform abortions and people who sell smuggled contraceptive pills, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia.

Abortion has been illegal in North Korea since the widespread famine of the 1990s killed as many as 2 million by some estimates.

Still, to boost their small government salary, some North Korean doctors have secretly installed medical equipment in their homes to perform abortions, and charge about 30,000 won (US$1.76) per abortion, sources told RFA Korean.

Continued: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/north-korea-abortion-contraceptive-womens-health-doctors-prison-sentences-09092024160351.html

09.09.2024

News

abortion in North Korea

Kim Jong Un

Lee Joo Yung

levonorgestrel

Paegam County Hospital

Unhung County Hospital

It’s time for a permanent repeal of the global gag rule

by Maniza Habib, opinion contributor
Sept 8, 2024

Project 2025, the policy agenda created by conservative activists and spearheaded by The Heritage Foundation, envisions sweeping changes to U.S. government policy. Among them, buried within the more than 900-page document, is a vast expansion of the global gag rule, which family planning providers across the world warn threatens abortion rights worldwide, even in countries where it is currently legal.

Project 2025 refers to the rule by its more innocuous sounding name, the “Mexico City Policy,” but a gag order is what it is. It prohibits foreign non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. funding from promoting, providing or referring patients to abortion services (with some exceptions for rape, incest and pregnancies that are life-threatening), or even advocating abortion law reform. Just mentioning the a-word would jeopardize their U.S. funding and their work, and for many non-profits, their very existence. So they aren’t allowed to talk about it.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4866475-project-2025-global-gag-rule/

08.09.2024

Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance

Scotland – Abortion buffer zones to take effect within weeks

Sept 5, 2024

Buffer zones around clinics offering abortion services in Scotland will come into force on 24 September.

The new law will prevent any protests or vigils from taking place within 200m (656ft) of 30 clinics around the country.

Opponents had claimed the legislation would infringe on freedom of religion, but it was passed overwhelmingly by MSPs in June.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0r75n72qzo

06.09.2024

News

Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Bill

buffer zones

Christian Action Research and Education

U.S. States with strictest abortion laws offer the least support for women and families

Researchers evaluated states on access to maternal and family social services, childcare assistance and supplemental nutritional programs for families with children.

Sept. 4, 2024
By Kaitlin Sullivan

States with abortion bans are falling short in helping low-income families, experts say. New research from Northwestern Medicine in Chicago compared state abortion laws to public programs meant to help families, such as paid parental leave and state-funded nutrition programs for families with children.

“States with the most severe abortion restrictions have the least public infrastructure to support families,” said Dr. Nigel Madden, a maternal-fetal medicine physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who led the study published Wednesday in the American Journal of Public Health.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/womens-health/states-strictest-abortion-laws-offer-least-support-women-families-rcna169578

04.09.2024

Commentary

Research

anti-choice contempt for women

anti-choice cruelty

anti-choice misogyny

Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health

Caitlin Myers

Diana Greene Foster

Dr. Nigel Madden

Family and Medical Leave Act

Once a liability for Democrats, abortion gets new life with Harris as nominee

'It was a little frustrating that Biden can barely say the word abortion,' activist says

By Nina Heller
September 4, 2024

Reproductive rights groups say they are more confident that Vice President Kamala Harris will be able to appeal to voters, with some citing frustration with President Joe Biden’s abortion messaging.

Abortion access and reproductive rights have been a central theme in Harris’ campaign since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket, with reproductive rights groups hopeful that the Harris campaign can use her message on the issue to further fuel voters’ enthusiasm for her.

Continued; https://rollcall.com/2024/09/04/once-a-liability-for-democrats-abortion-gets-new-life-with-harris-as-nominee/

Scotland – SNP members vote to enshrine right to abortion in indy Scotland constitution

Sep 1, 2024
By James Walker

SNP members have voted to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution of an independent Scotland. The motion, which was proposed by the SNP’s Elgin branch, was comfortably passed at conference on Sunday.

It looked to "safeguard women's reproductive rights against any potential political or legal regression" amid recent developments in the United States, where the overturning of Roe v. Wade has led to significant rollbacks in women's right to an abortion in several states.

Continued: https://www.thenational.scot/news/24555117.snp-members-vote-enshrine-right-abortion-constitution/

01.09.2024

News

buffer zone laws

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

Polish government publishes guidelines to help women obtain legal abortions

Aug 31, 2024
Notes from Poland

Poland’s government has published guidelines for when and how abortions can be carried out, with the aim of ensuring that doctors and prosecutors “take the women’s side” when making decisions on the issue.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk – who last week admitted that it is unlikely he can achieve his aim of liberalising the country’s strict abortion law – declared today that “if we won’t change the law, we will change the reality”.

“We are looking for ways of acting that, in accordance with the law, will enable in practice access to legal abortion for women who, for various reasons, should have the right to this abortion,” he added.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/08/31/polish-government-publishes-guidelines-to-help-women-obtain-legal-abortions/

31.08.2024