Tag: Abortion

Categories
Health

Abortion ban launched by Lindsey Graham after Supreme Court docket Roe ruling

Abortion ban introduced by Lindsey Graham after Supreme Court Roe ruling

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduced legislation on Tuesday that would ban most abortions nationwide after the 15th week of pregnancy.

The South Carolina senator introduced the bill less than three months after the Supreme Court ruled Roe v. Wade, overturned the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion. The measure would severely limit access to abortion in numerous states — particularly blue states, which tend to have more protections from abortion rights.

The law, as it stands, has little chance of passing Congress as Democrats hold narrow majorities in both the House and Senate.

It comes ahead of the crucial midterm elections in November, which have cast doubt on expectations of a Republican defeat as evidence mounts that Roe’s reversal has roiled Democratic voters. Abortion rights advocates have warned that a GOP takeover of Congress would erode women’s rights, and many were quick to tout Graham’s bill as a prime example.

Even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Republican who would decide whether to vote on a statewide abortion ban if the GOP wins the chamber in November, was reluctant to pass Graham’s bill.

“I think most members of my conference would prefer this to be dealt with at the state level,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday afternoon. Other GOP senators have offered mixed messages on the bill.

While the title of Graham’s bill suggests it would only ban “late” abortions, it would limit the procedure nationwide after less than four months of pregnancy, a threshold that falls in the second trimester.

According to the health policy non-profit KFF, abortions are typically considered “late date” from the 21st week of pregnancy. However, the organization notes that this term is not an official medical term and that abortions at this stage are rarely sought and difficult to achieve.

The 15-week boundary precedes the point of fetal viability, which is generally considered to be around 24 weeks gestation. The Supreme Court ruled in Roe that women have the right to have a pre-viability abortion, and after that point states can begin to impose restrictions.

In June’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 for Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, another abortion-right case. The ruling by a court that had become much more conservative after nominating three of former President Donald Trump’s nominees gave individual states the power to set their abortion policies.

Numerous Republican-leaning states have immediately sought outright bans on abortion, while many Democratic leaders have attempted to enshrine safeguards over the procedure.

Graham, a close Trump ally, had previously expressed his support for states making their own abortion laws. “This is, in my view, the most constitutionally sane way to deal with this issue and the way the United States handled this issue up until 1973,” Graham tweeted in May.

But Graham has also introduced legislation to limit abortion nationally – although his 2021 bill would have banned abortion after 20 weeks, instead of the 15-week limit in the current version.

“Abortion is a controversial issue. After Dobbs, America has a choice to make,” Graham said at a Tuesday news conference unveiling the new legislation.

“States have an opportunity to do this at the state level, and we have an opportunity in Washington to speak on this issue if we choose to,” he said. “I have decided to speak.”

By the 15-week mark, Graham said, the fetus has developed enough to feel pain from an abortion. After that, his bill would no longer allow abortions except in cases of rape or incest, or to save the mother’s life. “And that should be America,” the senator said.

Flanking Graham was the leaders of several anti-abortion groups, including Pro-Life America President Susan B. Anthony, Marjorie Dannenfelser.

“This is incredible progress, but much more needs to be done,” Dannenfelser said in a statement.

The White House slammed Graham in a statement later Tuesday, calling the bill “wildly inconsistent with what Americans believe” and touting the Biden administration’s legislative goals while accusing Republicans of “spending millions of… taking away women’s rights”.

Abortion rights groups echoed this sentiment but tied the issue directly to the midterm elections.

“Republicans in Congress for anti-abortion rights are showing us exactly what they intend to do when they come to power: pass a national ban on abortion,” Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement.

“We want to thank Senator Graham for making it clear to voters today that Republicans are pursuing a national abortion ban in this midterm election,” said Dani Negrete, national political director for progressive advocacy group Indivisible.

Polls show attitudes toward abortion are shifting toward the pro-choice position after the Dobbs ruling. Some Republican candidates who previously took tough positions on abortion during the GOP primaries have softened or toned down their views as they run in general elections.

Democratic candidates such as Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman have addressed the issue.

“Dr. Oz has made it *very* clear that he wants to take women’s reproductive freedom away,” Fetterman tweeted Tuesday of Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz. “As the GOP introduces a national abortion ban, it’s now more important than ever that we stop it in November.”

Categories
Politics

Put up-Roe Resolution, Abortion Tablet Suppliers Work to Broaden Entry

Post-Roe Decision, Abortion Pill Providers Work to Broaden Access

This company and others who are caring for patients who are 11 or 12 weeks pregnant can legally do so at their doctor’s discretion, as studies suggest that abortion pills are safe and effective at this stage. The World Health Organization supports medical terminations of pregnancy up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

dr Daniel Grossman, professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, said medical abortion is safe and effective late in the first trimester, but “there is a slightly higher risk of some complications, including heavy bleeding.” , and an additional dose of misoprostol is often required to fully expel the tissue.

Some services, including abortion telemedicine, automatically send a second round of the four misoprostol tablets to patients undergoing a late first trimester abortion.

Reproductive health experts said patients should be cautioned that expelled tissue earlier in pregnancy resembles a heavy period, but may appear more like a fetus at 10 weeks. dr Abigail RA Aiken, an associate professor at the University of Texas, Austin who leads a medical abortion research group, said preparing patients for what the tissue might look like could also help them protect themselves from legal risks in states that allow abortions forbid – for example , in a situation where a patient is surprised by what he sees and “then you expose that to someone who’s like, ‘Well, I’ll report you.'”

Joann, 23, a single mom, was 10 weeks pregnant when she decided to have an abortion, so she contacted Abortion Telemedicine. She said she initially intended to carry her pregnancy to term, but then her 3-year-old son was diagnosed with autism and her employer, the US military, decided to transfer her to another state. Joann, who asked to be identified by her first name only to protect her privacy, was in Colorado at the time, where abortion is legal but her community was conservative.

The service nurse told her that since she would be taking the pills after the 10th week of pregnancy, she would have to expect more pain and bleeding, advising that the tissue that was expelled might resemble a fetus “so I would be prepared.” . said John.

Categories
Politics

Abortion Arrives on the Middle of the American Political Maelstrom

Abortion Arrives at the Center of the American Political Maelstrom

WASHINGTON – Die Entscheidung des Obersten Gerichtshofs, ein texanisches Gesetz, das Abtreibungen stark einschränkt, nicht zu blockieren, hat das Thema am Donnerstag abrupt in den Vordergrund der amerikanischen Politik gerückt und die Dynamik der Wahlen in Kalifornien in diesem Monat, in Virginia im November und in den Halbzeiten nächsten Jahres neu gestaltet, die entscheiden werden Kontrolle des Kongresses und der Statehouses.

Die Republikaner begrüßten die 5-zu-4-Entscheidung des Gerichts, die in einem einteiligen Urteil mitten in der Nacht erklärt wurde, als einen enormen Sieg, der ein fast vollständiges Verbot von Abtreibungen im zweitgrößten Staat der Nation ermöglichte.

Für die Demokraten wurde ein Albtraum wahr: Ein konservativer Oberster Gerichtshof, angeführt von drei vom ehemaligen Präsidenten Donald J. alte Entscheidung, die Abtreibung als verfassungsmäßiges Recht verankerte.

Plötzlich sahen sich Befürworter des Abtreibungsrechts nicht nur mit dem politischen und politischen Versagen konfrontiert, das zu diesem Punkt geführt hatte, sondern auch mit der Aussicht, dass andere republikanisch kontrollierte Gesetzgeber schnell Nachahmergesetze erlassen könnten. Am Donnerstag versprachen die GOP-Gesetzgeber in Arkansas, Florida und South Dakota, dies in ihren nächsten Legislaturperioden zu tun.

Die Demokraten nutzten jedoch auch die Gelegenheit, ein Thema, von dem sie glauben, dass es ein politischer Gewinner für sie ist, in den Mittelpunkt der nationalen Debatte zu drängen. Nach Jahren der Verteidigung sagen die Demokraten, das texanische Gesetz werde testen, ob die Realität eines praktischen Abtreibungsverbots die Wähler dazu motivieren kann, sie zu unterstützen.

Senatorin Catherine Cortez Masto aus Nevada, eine Demokratin, die sich 2022 zur Wiederwahl stellt, sagte, die Menschen in ihrem Bundesstaat hätten für den Schutz der reproduktiven Freiheit von Frauen gekämpft und würden entsprechend abstimmen. „Wenn ein Republikaner nach Washington geht, um diese Freiheiten zurückzudrängen, werde ich es zum Thema machen“, sagte sie in einem Interview. “Ich denke, Sie sollten die Auswirkungen, die dieses Problem auf die Einwohner Nevadas hat, nicht unterschätzen.”

Die Republikaner hielten das texanische Gesetz als Vorbild für das Land. „Dieses Gesetz wird das Leben Tausender ungeborener Babys in Texas retten und zu einem nationalen Vorbild werden“, sagte Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick aus Texas. “Ich bete, dass jeder andere Staat unserem Beispiel bei der Verteidigung des Lebens folgt.”

Gouverneurin Kristi Noem aus South Dakota, die als potenzielle republikanische Präsidentschaftskandidatin im Jahr 2024 gilt, sagte, sie habe ihr Büro angewiesen, “sicherzustellen, dass wir die stärksten Pro-Life-Gesetze in den Büchern haben”.

Die Entscheidung des Gerichts, die sich nicht mit dem Inhalt des texanischen Gesetzes befasste, schafft neue Dringlichkeit für Präsident Biden und die Demokraten im Kongress, mehr zu tun, als öffentliche Erklärungen abzugeben, in denen sie die reproduktiven Rechte der Frauen verteidigen.

“Die Temperatur ist in dieser Angelegenheit gerade viel heißer geworden, und ich erwarte jetzt sicherlich, dass sich der Kongress an diesen Kämpfen beteiligt”, sagte Gouverneurin Michelle Lujan Grisham aus New Mexico, die Vorsitzende der Democratic Governors Association. “Unsere Wähler erwarten von uns allen, dass wir mehr tun.”

Die Demokraten im Senat haben jedoch nicht die Stimmen, um den Filibuster zu beseitigen, der notwendig wäre, um das Bundesabtreibungsgesetz in der gleichmäßig geteilten Kammer zu ändern.

In Washington bemühten sich die demokratischen Führer am Donnerstag pflichtbewusst darum, ihre Entschlossenheit zu zeigen, gegen die Möglichkeit einer Nachahmung des texanischen Gesetzes an anderer Stelle zu protestieren – oder zu reagieren, wenn der Oberste Gerichtshof das Abtreibungsrecht zurücknimmt, wenn er über ein Mississippi-Gesetz entscheidet, das versucht, das Gesetz zu verbieten die meisten Abtreibungen nach 15 Schwangerschaftswochen, zwei Monate früher als Roe und nachfolgende Entscheidungen erlauben.

Die Sprecherin Nancy Pelosi versprach, über das Gesetz zum Schutz der Gesundheit von Frauen abzustimmen, das das Recht auf Abtreibung in Bundesgesetzen festschreiben würde.

Und Herr Biden versprach „eine gesamtstaatliche Anstrengung“ als Reaktion auf das texanische Gesetz und wies das Gesundheitsministerium und das Justizministerium an, mögliche Bundesmaßnahmen zu ermitteln, um sicherzustellen, dass Frauen im Bundesstaat Zugang zu sicheren und legale Abtreibungen.

„Das höchste Gericht unseres Landes wird es Millionen von Frauen in Texas ermöglichen, die eine kritische reproduktive Versorgung benötigen, zu leiden, während die Gerichte die verfahrenstechnischen Komplexitäten sichten“, sagte Biden. “Die Auswirkungen der Entscheidung von gestern Abend werden unmittelbar sein und erfordern eine sofortige Reaktion.”

Vizepräsidentin Kamala Harris fügte hinzu: “Wir werden nicht zusehen und zulassen, dass unsere Nation in die Tage der Abtreibungen in den Hinterhöfen zurückkehrt.”

Die erste Wahl, die die Fähigkeit der Demokraten auf die Probe stellen könnte, die Wähler für das Recht auf Abtreibung zu motivieren, findet am 14. September in Kalifornien statt, wo die Wähler das Schicksal von Gouverneur Gavin Newsom bestimmen werden, der mit einer Rückrufaktion konfrontiert ist. Herr Newsom warnte auf Twitter, dass das Abtreibungsverbot in Texas „die Zukunft von CA sein könnte“, wenn der Rückruf erfolgreich wäre.

In Virginia haben sich am Donnerstag demokratische Kandidaten für die drei landesweiten Ämter des Bundesstaates und das Abgeordnetenhaus auf das Thema gestürzt. Der ehemalige Gouverneur Terry McAuliffe, der im November für die Rückeroberung des Amtes kandidiert, sagte, der Kampf für das Recht auf Abtreibung würde dazu beitragen, demokratische Wähler zu motivieren, die möglicherweise selbstgefällig sind, nachdem die Partei 2019 die volle Kontrolle über die Landesregierung übernommen und Herrn Biden geholfen hat, den Staat zu gewinnen letztes Jahr.

„Wir sind ein demokratischer Staat. Es gibt mehr Demokraten“, sagte McAuliffe. “Aber dies ist ein Off-Off-Jahr, und die Demokraten zu motivieren, herauszukommen, das ist immer die große Herausforderung.”

Mit Blick auf das Jahr 2022 hat der Wahlkampfarm der Demokraten im Senat signalisiert, dass er das Abtreibungsrecht als Knüppel gegen Republikaner einsetzen wird, die in Staaten wie Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada und North Carolina antreten. Demokraten, die Kampagnen für den Gouverneur im nächsten Jahr planen, bereiten sich darauf vor, sich als letzte Verteidigungslinie für das Recht auf Abtreibung zu brandmarken, insbesondere in Staaten mit republikanisch kontrollierten Gesetzgebern.

„Die Leute wachen jetzt mit der Tatsache auf, dass der Kampf jetzt in den Staaten stattfinden wird, und sie erkennen, dass das einzige, buchstäblich das einzige, was der Verabschiedung des gleichen Verbots, das Texas gerade verabschiedet hat, im Weg steht, der Veto-Stift ist unseres demokratischen Gouverneurs“, sagte Josh Shapiro, der Generalstaatsanwalt von Pennsylvania, ein Demokrat, der sagte, er erwarte, in das Rennen um die Nachfolge von Gouverneur Tom Wolf einzutreten. „Ich habe die Politiker in Washington aufgegeben. Ich glaube nicht, dass wir uns mehr auf sie verlassen können.“

Obwohl die Republikaner den Sturz von Roe seit langem zu einem zentralen politischen Ziel gemacht haben – als Kandidat im Jahr 2016 sagte Trump voraus, dass seine späteren Ernennungen des Obersten Gerichtshofs dies tun würden –, herrschte unter den Demokraten immer noch ein spürbares Gefühl der Erschütterung. Trotz der konservativen Mehrheit von 6 zu 3 des Gerichts schienen viele Demokraten auf das Urteil vom Mittwoch geistig unvorbereitet zu sein.

“Sie können ein so offensichtlich falsches oder verfassungswidriges Gerichtsurteil nicht planen”, sagte der Abgeordnete Conor Lamb aus Pennsylvania, ein Demokrat, der nächstes Jahr für den offenen Senatssitz seines Staates kandidiert.

Verstehen Sie das texanische Abtreibungsgesetz

Karte 1 von 4

Die Bürger, nicht der Staat, werden das Gesetz durchsetzen. Das Gesetz vertritt normale Bürger – auch solche außerhalb von Texas – und erlaubt ihnen, Kliniken und andere zu verklagen, die gegen das Gesetz verstoßen. Es zahlt ihnen mindestens 10.000 US-Dollar pro illegaler Abtreibung, wenn sie erfolgreich sind.

Senatorin Kirsten Gillibrand aus New York, die Frauenrechte zum Kernstück ihres Präsidentschaftswahlkampfs 2020 machte, sagte, die Demokraten könnten nicht länger zimperlich sein, wenn es um das Recht auf Abtreibung geht. “Wir müssen das Thema anheben”, sagte sie am Donnerstag. “Wir müssen dem amerikanischen Volk erklären, dass dieses texanische Gesetz und andere Gesetze, die in anderen Bundesstaaten verabschiedet werden sollen, die grundlegende Gesundheitsversorgung von Frauen auf den Kopf stellen werden.”

Im Allgemeinen beklagten progressive Befürworter das Versagen der Demokraten, mit den Republikanern mitzuhalten, die sich seit Generationen in den Hauptstädten der Bundesstaaten verschanzen und enormen Wert darauf legten, Konservative auf die Bank zu berufen – Schlüsselarenen, in denen Demokraten es versäumt haben, das Recht auf Abtreibung zu schützen.

„Wir spielen 50 Jahre Aufholjagd“, sagte Ben Jealous, ein ehemaliger NAACP-Chef und jetzt Präsident von People for the American Way, einer fortschrittlichen Organisation. „Das Gericht steht nicht im Einklang mit dem amerikanischen Volk. Und die Republikaner haben den Obersten Gerichtshof zu ihrer Mauer gegen die Demokratie gemacht.“

Selbst während sie frohlockten, machten sich die Konservativen gegen Abtreibungen Sorgen über mögliche Fallstricke. Sie erinnerten an Todd Akin, einen ehemaligen Kongressabgeordneten aus Missouri, dessen Kandidatur im Senat 2012 durch seine Aussage entgleist wurde, dass Frauen, die Opfer einer von ihm so genannten „legitimen Vergewaltigung“ sind, selten schwanger wurden. Demokraten benutzten Äußerungen wie die von Herrn Akin, um die GOP als einen „Krieg gegen die Frauen“ darzustellen, eine Taktik, die die Republikaner als sehr effektiv einräumten.

“Jeder Kandidat im Land wird jetzt nach seiner Position zur Abtreibung gefragt”, sagte Tom McClusky, der Präsident von March for Life Action, die sich für Gesetze zur Einschränkung des Abtreibungsrechts einsetzt. „Was wir vermeiden wollen, sind Vorfälle wie in der Vergangenheit.“

Demokraten glauben seit langem, dass die öffentliche Unterstützung für legale Abtreibung verhindern würde, dass sie effektiv verboten wird, wie es Texas getan hat. Sogar einige konservative Anti-Abtreibungs-Aktivisten räumen ein, dass ihre absolutistische Position nicht von einer Mehrheit der Amerikaner geteilt wird, obwohl sie glauben, dass einige Demokraten es übertrieben haben, alle gesetzlichen Beschränkungen der Abtreibung aufzuheben.

„Vielleicht stimmt nicht die Mehrheit der Leute mit mir überein, dass das Leben mit der Empfängnis beginnt, aber sie glauben nicht, dass Abtreibung zu irgendeinem Zeitpunkt legal sein sollte und alles vom Steuerzahler bezahlt werden sollte“, sagte Penny Nance, die Geschäftsführerin von Concerned Women for America, eine konservative christliche Organisation.

Die Unterstützung für das Recht auf Abtreibung war für die Demokraten kaum ein Motivationsfaktor wie für die konservativen Wähler, die gegen die Abtreibung sind. Bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen 2020 unterstützten Wähler, die sagten, Abtreibung sei das wichtigste Thema, Herrn Trump gegenüber Herrn Biden, 89 bis 9 Prozent, laut AP/Votecast-Daten.

Aber während die Republikaner seit Generationen für die Einschränkung des Abtreibungsrechts kämpfen, sind die Demokraten in dieser Frage erst vor kurzem nach links gerückt – von Bill Clintons Formulierung, dass es „sicher, legal und selten“ sein sollte, bis hin zu den Argumenten der modernen Demokraten, dass die Wahl bei der Frau liegen sollte allein. Senator Bernie Sanders aus Vermont hat sich noch 2017 mit Anti-Abtreibungskandidaten eingesetzt.

Während praktisch alle gewählten Demokraten das Recht auf Abtreibung befürworten, haben nur sehr wenige mit einem nationalen Profil eine politische Identität zu diesem Thema aufgebaut.

Eine, die es versuchte, war Wendy Davis, die ehemalige Senatorin des Bundesstaates Texas, die mehr als 11 Stunden lang bei einem gescheiterten Versuch im Jahr 2013 sprach, Gesetze zur Einschränkung des Zugangs zu Abtreibungen im Bundesstaat zu blockieren. Sie kandidierte 2014 für die Gouverneurin und 2020 für den Kongress, wurde jedoch beide Male leicht besiegt.

„Wir können dieses Thema nicht scheuen, aus Angst, dass wir als Abtreibungsaktivisten gebrandmarkt werden“, sagte Frau Davis am Donnerstag. „Ich bin stolz, so bezeichnet zu werden, denn es ist keine Schande. Abtreibungen sollten nicht stigmatisiert werden.“

Nate Cohn, Astead W. Herndon und Jeremy W. Peters trugen zur Berichterstattung bei.

Categories
Politics

Texas abortion legislation in impact as Supreme Courtroom makes no transfer to dam it

Texas abortion law in effect as Supreme Court makes no move to block it

Pedestrians walk past the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, United States on Sunday, June 20, 2021.

Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A Texas law banning most abortions went into effect Wednesday after the Supreme Court failed to respond to an urgency complaint to block its enforcement.

A group of abortion providers and advocates, including Planned Parenthood, had asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block enforcement of the law that would ban most abortions as early as six weeks of gestation.

The petitioners say the law would set Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that enshrined women’s right to abortion, essentially overturning it.

In response, a group of Texas officials, including Attorney General Ken Paxton, urged the Supreme Court to reject their opponents’ offer to thwart the law, calling the request “bold”.

SB 8 was enacted in May by Republican Governor Greg Abbott. It prohibits doctors from performing or having abortions after they “detect a fetal heartbeat in the unborn child” except in medical emergencies.

CNBC policy

Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:

The law prohibits state officials from enforcing these rules. Rather, it empowers anyone to bring civil actions against anyone who performs abortions or “helps or assists” them after a heartbeat is detected. These lawsuits can earn a minimum of $ 10,000 in “legal damages” per abortion.

If it went into effect, the bill would “immediately and catastrophically restrict access to abortion in Texas, ban the care of at least 85% of abortion patients in Texas,” and likely force many providers to shut down, the urgency motion filed Monday said .

This motion was filed directly with Conservative Judge Samuel Alito, who is handling inquiries from the Lone Star State. It was filed days after a lower appeals court refused to block implementation of the law.

Alito had asked respondents to respond to the appeal by 5 p.m. ET Tuesday.

“In less than two days, Texan politicians will have effectively overthrown Roe v. Wade,” said Nancy Northup, CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, whose organization helped the Supreme Court filing the motion, in a statement Monday.

The Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority of 6: 3 after the administration of former President Donald Trump, is already supposed to hear arguments in a potentially decisive abortion case from Mississippi. This state has urged judges to reconsider existing precedents preventing states from banning abortions that occur before the fetus is viable.

This is the evolution of news. Please check again for updates.

– CNBC’s Christine Wang contributed to this report.

Categories
Health

Gibraltar Votes to Ease Abortion Restrictions

Gibraltar Votes to Ease Abortion Restrictions

Gibraltar residents voted by a large majority on Thursday to relax one of the strictest abortion laws in Europe after an emotional campaign to lift a near-ban on the procedure and bring tiny British territory closer to British law.

In a referendum, about 62 percent of voters approved a change in the law to allow abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy if a woman’s mental or physical health is judged to be at risk by a doctor, or later if a woman has severe fetal abnormalities.

Previously, Gibraltar law had only allowed abortions to save a mother’s life. The law provided for a potential criminal sentence of life imprisonment, although no such sentence has been imposed in recent history.

In contrast, UK law allows abortion in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Parliament set the stage for the vote on Thursday in 2019 when it adopted language to relax abortion restrictions, which it passed to voters for approval. A referendum was originally planned for March 2020 but was postponed to Thursday due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Gibraltar, a territory of 34,000 at the tip of southern Spain, has retained some significant legal differences from the UK. But the Gibraltar Parliament kicked off the changes after the UK Supreme Court warned in 2018 that Northern Ireland’s ban on abortion was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Keith Azopardi, an opposition politician who was against a relaxation of abortion restrictions, described the referendum campaign as “emotional and divisive”. The majority of Gibraltar’s residents are Catholics, and the Bishop of Gibraltar had spoken out against any relaxation of the abortion law.

The turnout among the 23,000 eligible voters in Gibraltar was 53 percent.

Fabian Picardo, the leader of the Gibraltar government, had supported the abortion changes. After casting his own vote Thursday, he retweeted a message from the London-based Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists saying that “restrictive abortion laws endanger women’s lives by forcing them to either leave the country or to access unsafe and illegal supplies ”. . “

Early on Friday morning, Mr. Picardo tweeted a “We did it!” Message and wrote that the government “will work on introducing the new services we need to provide counseling and safe and legal abortions”.

The changes will take effect in 28 days. Previously, the law in Gibraltar had resulted in women seeking an abortion usually traveling elsewhere, often to the UK and sometimes across the land border to neighboring Spain, where abortions were legalized under certain circumstances more than 30 years ago.

Great Britain secured control of Gibraltar in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, although Spain has long denied British sovereignty. In December negotiators struck a last-minute deal to prevent travelers and goods from being stranded on Gibraltar’s land border with Spain after the UK completed its exit from the European Union.

While British voters supported leaving the EU in a referendum in 2016, an overwhelming majority of voters in Gibraltar voted against the decision known as Brexit.

Categories
Health

Clinics Shut, however Abortion Continues

Clinics Close, but Abortion Continues

Among women in the study, nearly half reported using the licensed abortion drug misoprostol or another medication in their most recent attempt to self-terminate a pregnancy, while 38 percent used herbs they heard could induce abortion, and nearly 20 percent used a physical method, such as being hit in the abdomen. Nearly 28 percent said they had succeeded in ending the pregnancy. Among those who had failed, 33.6 percent subsequently had abortions at a clinic (often 100 miles or more from home), and 13.4 percent continued the pregnancy. Eleven percent said they had suffered a complication following their self-attempt at abortion.

The most common reasons they gave for having tried to end a pregnancy on their own, without involving the health care system, were that it seemed easier or faster, that the procedure at a facility was too expensive and that the nearest clinic was too far away. Although this survey did not include adolescents, pregnant teens are often reluctant or unable to seek parental consent that many states require for a medically supervised abortion, which prompts some teens to attempt a self-induced abortion.

According to Dr. Ralph and co-authors, “abortion clinics and practitioners report caring for an increasing number of individuals who have attempted self-managed abortions.” The researchers predicted that efforts by women to induce abortions on their own will become increasingly common as access to facility-based abortion care continues to decline.

For instance, the last clinic in Missouri that provides abortions, operated by Planned Parenthood, could be forced to stop the practice in a dispute with state regulators. It won a reprieve to continue operating through next May. Missouri and Mississippi are among a number of states in which lawmakers have banned abortions in early pregnancy, and most recently Texas banned all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a point at which the vast majority of women don’t yet know they are pregnant. Last month, the Supreme Court accepted a case that could result in overturning Roe v. Wade.

“As more abortion clinics close and restrictions increase, the convenience of self-managed abortions will likely make them more prevalent,” Dr. Ralph said in an interview. “Just because states make abortion more difficult to access doesn’t mean the need for abortion will go away. We should make sure that women have the safest and most effective methods available.”

She noted that pandemic-induced limitations on in-person medical visits may have made it easier for women in many states to access self-managed abortion in their homes. More doctors are now willing to provide abortion counseling over the phone and may even “distribute abortion medication by mail or hand it to women in the parking lot,” she said.

Used correctly within 70 days of the start of a woman’s last menstrual period (10 weeks gestation), medical abortion is effective in ending pregnancy more than 95 percent of the time, the Guttmacher Institute has reported. There are two prescription drugs, best used in combination, that can induce abortion early in pregnancy. One, an oral drug called mifepristone, is taken first to block the hormone progesterone needed for pregnancy to continue; the other, misoprostol, is dissolved in the mouth or inserted vaginally one or two days later to induce contractions and expel the contents of the uterus, ending the pregnancy.

Categories
Politics

Biden’s Silence on Abortion Rights at a Key Second Worries Liberals

Biden’s Silence on Abortion Rights at a Key Moment Worries Liberals

However, as a presidential candidate, Mr. Biden was far less vocal than many of his rivals in the primary, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who compared an Alabama law effectively prohibiting abortion to “a scene from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale'”.

“If you look at him as a Catholic and his attendance at Mass and the way he looks at life and death and everything else, he is culturally 1,000 percent Catholic,” said Jo Renee Formicola, professor of political science at Seton Hall University, who describes the relationship between investigated by the Catholic Church and American lawmakers. “He’s very, very Catholic, but when it comes to being political he’s a lot more pragmatic than Catholic.”

In office, Mr Biden reversed several Trump administration policies, including removing restrictions on abortion pills, lifting a ban on federally funded medical research using fetal tissue from abortions, and lifting restrictions on funding for U.S. and U.S.A. international groups that offer abortion services or referrals.

Some abortion advocates say these early steps are neglected. In his joint address to Congress, the threat to abortion rights was not mentioned, but only incidentally referred to “protecting the health of women”. Ms. Harris, who was once fairly open on the matter, has made no significant comments since taking office.

“The scale of the crisis calls for stronger leadership,” said Kelley Robinson, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “We want them to be explicit advocates of sexual and reproductive health care and use this bullying pulpit to make sure this is a priority expressed by the highest office in the country.”

Many proponents consider the president’s budget for fiscal year 2022, due to be released on Friday, to be a key indicator of the government’s position. Reproductive rights organizations urge Mr. Biden to keep his promise to remove the Hyde Amendment and other restrictions on federal funds.

His administration has also urged Congress to codify abortion rights that would guarantee reproductive rights nationwide even if the Supreme Court overthrew Roe. However, it has not proposed any specific legislation or outlined a strategy to get such a bill through Congress.

Categories
Politics

Supreme Court docket to listen to Mississippi abortion case difficult Roe v. Wade

Supreme Court to hear Mississippi abortion case challenging Roe v. Wade

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear arguments in a major Mississippi abortion case that pushes the limits of abortion laws set by the landmark reproductive rights case, Roe v. Calf, which were cemented, could reset.

The case will be the first major abortion dispute in which all three people appointed by former President Donald Trump will be considered in the Supreme Court, including the newest member, Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

The Supreme Court announced in an order that it would hear the dispute, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 19-1392. The court will hear the case during its term in office from October. A decision is expected to be made in June 2022.

The case concerns a 2018 Mississippi abortion law that bans abortions after 15 weeks with limited exceptions. The law was blocked by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Under the existing Supreme Court precedent, states cannot prohibit abortions that occur before the fetus is viable, typically about 22 weeks or later.

In this case, Mississippi is asking the judges to re-examine that viability standard. The state argued that the viability rule prevents states from adequately defending maternal health and potential life.

“It is long time the court reassessed the wisdom of the profitability rule,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch wrote in a brief report filed with the judges.

The Mississippi abortion clinic that challenged the law, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, called on the Supreme Court not to take the case.

“In an uninterrupted series of decisions over the past fifty years, this court has ruled that the constitution guarantees everyone the right to choose whether to continue a pregnancy before viability,” wrote Hillary Schneller, an attorney who runs the clinic represents, in a file.

Schneller said Mississippi’s argument was based “on a misunderstanding of the core principle” of previous Supreme Court rulings.

She wrote, “While the state has interests throughout pregnancy.”[b]Prior to viability, state interests are not strong enough to support an abortion ban. “

Conservatives passed a number of bills that challenged Roe and were passed in 1973 in hopes of getting the court to reconsider its previous precedents. With the people appointed by Trump, the nation’s Supreme Court now has a Conservative majority of 6-3.

The struggle for abortion revitalized the confirmation hearings for Barrett, a devout Catholic who, after the death of the liberal judiciary, was the favorite among anti-abortion groups to seek the success of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

While Barrett has not made her exact legal views on abortion clear from the bank, the Democrats have taken up her earlier comments identifying aborted fetuses as “unborn victims” among other potential harbingers of their views.

The other two Trump nominees on the bench, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, voted last June to allow a restrictive abortion law to come into effect for Louisiana in the first major reproductive rights case before them. Chief Justice John Roberts, a Conservative, sided with the Liberals in the 5-4 decision that blocked the law.

In a statement, Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northup said: “Alarm bells are ringing loudly about the threat to reproductive rights.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights represented the abortion clinic alongside the Paul Weiss law firm and the Mississippi Center for Justice.

“The consequences of a Roe reversal would be devastating. Over 20 states would directly ban abortion. Eleven states – including Mississippi – currently have trigger bans on the books that would immediately ban abortion if Roe is overturned,” Northup said.

Diane Derzis, owner of the Jackson Women’s Health Organization, said in a statement, “As the only abortion clinic in Mississippi, we see patients who spent weeks saving the money to travel here and pay for childcare for shelter.” and everything else. “

“If this ban went into effect, we would be forced to turn many of these patients away and they would lose their right to abortion in that condition,” Derzis said.

Fitch, the Mississippi attorney general, said the state legislature “enacted this law in accordance with the will of its constituents to promote the health of women and preserve the dignity and sanctity of life.”

“I continue to advocate for women and defend Mississippi’s legal right to protect the unborn,” she said.

Anti-abortion groups welcomed the Supreme Court move. Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said the court’s decision to hear the case was a “landmark opportunity,” citing the enormous number of bills recently passed to improve access to abortion to restrict.

“Across the country, state lawmakers acting according to the will of the people have introduced 536 pro-life bills aimed at humanizing our laws and challenging the radical status quo imposed by Roe,” she said.

Categories
Politics

Biden to signal orders reversing Trump insurance policies on Obamacare and abortion

Biden to sign orders reversing Trump policies on Obamacare and abortion

President Joe Biden speaks prior to the signing of executive orders to improve access to affordable health care at the White House in Washington, USA, on Jan. 28, 2021.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

President Joe Biden signed executive measures Thursday to expand access to Obamacare during the coronavirus pandemic and to reverse the anti-abortion policy expanded by former President Donald Trump.

“I’m not initiating a new law, any new aspect of the law,” Biden said before signing the orders. “This goes back to the situation before the President’s instructions.”

The latest moves complement the president’s more than three dozen other orders, and memoranda Biden signed in his first week in office are at a record pace.

From mid-February to mid-May, Biden first signed an ordinance restoring a special enrollment deadline for Healthcare.gov, the health insurance enrollment page set up under former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The ordinance also instructs federal agencies to review, and possibly reverse, policies restricting access to health care, including those that have made it difficult for the less fortunate to enroll in Obamacare and Medicaid, the federal health insurance program.

Trump had tried unsuccessfully to repeal the law, Obama’s legislative achievement, but had taken steps to undercut the law.

“Of all the times we need to restore access to Medicaid, the affordability and scale of access to Medicaid is now in the midst of this Covid crisis,” said Biden.

Biden also signed an executive memorandum to immediately repeal so-called Mexico City policies, also known as the “global gag rule”. This decade-old policy prohibits international nonprofits from receiving US funding for providing abortion counseling or referrals.

This policy was expanded under the Trump administration to refuse to support foreign non-governmental organizations that fund other groups that support abortion services.

In his first seven days in office, Biden has taken extensive steps to erase Trump’s achievements. Biden signed orders for the US to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, to end the construction and financing of the border wall between the US and Mexico, to end the travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries, to include undocumented immigrants in the ten-year census and Lift the ban on transgender people who openly serve in the military.

Biden is also trying to work with bipartisan lawmakers to pass extensive coronavirus relief law.

“We have a lot to do and the first thing I have to do is get this Covid package passed,” Biden said after signing the executive actions.

Categories
World News

Poland Imposes Close to-Whole Ban on Abortion

Poland Imposes Near-Total Ban on Abortion

A controversial near-total abortion ban in Poland went into effect late Wednesday, despite rampant resistance from hundreds of thousands of Poles who began to protest in the fall at the country’s largest demonstrations since the collapse of communism in 1989.

Thousands of outraged women, adolescents and allies returned to the streets, bundled up against the cold Wednesday night after it was revealed that a ruling would go into effect making abortion for fetal abnormalities – practically the only abortion performed in Poland.

The decision was taken by the Constitutional Court in October, but its implementation was delayed after a month of protests. On Wednesday, the government abruptly announced that the verdict would be published in the government journal, which means it will take effect.

The protesters sang slogans like “I think, I feel, I decide!” and “Freedom of choice instead of terror!” In Warsaw, they marched to the headquarters of the ruling Law and Justice Party to hear songs like “I will survive”.

“We are dealing with incompetence, corruption and a total collapse of the state, so these men are doing what they know best – to deprive citizens of their rights and freedoms,” protest organizer Marta Lempart told TVN24 on Wednesday. “This is about women, but also about all other minorities and majorities who hate law and justice.”

The opposition legislature on Wednesday criticized the decision to suddenly announce that the verdict would be published in the Official Journal. The government had previously delayed the publication of the verdict in an overt response to the protests, a move that legal experts have described as unconstitutional.

“It’s not just women who take you on the streets, it’s the whole nation that has had enough,” said Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, adding the decision to make the verdict “against the will of Poles” to publish is a “conscious and calculated action to the detriment of the state.”

Others have not crushed words in their dissatisfaction. “Bastards. # Pseudo-ruling # pseudo-tribunal, “said Barbara Nowacka, a left-liberal opposition legislature, on Twitter.

The decision of thousands to protest despite an increase in coronavirus cases was another sign of discontent from a multitude of groups who believe human freedoms are being undermined under the increasingly autocratic Party for Law and Justice. It is also because public anger is mounting over the government’s handling of the pandemic – which is extending restrictions through late January – and the sluggish adoption of vaccinations.

Poland already had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe, with only three cases being legal: fetal abnormalities, pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, and threats to a woman’s life. The latter two remain legal. But with 1,074 of 1,100 abortions performed in the country last year due to fetal abnormalities, the ban would outlaw abortion in most cases, and critics say many women will resort to illegal procedures or travel abroad to obtain abortions .

Even in the absence of the ruling, some hospitals had preventively ordered doctors to stop abortion because of fetal abnormalities for fear of the legal ramifications for their doctors, according to local media.

European lawmakers, who have accused the government of influencing the court’s decision, also criticized the announcement.

“Many of us cannot be on the streets with you to march in defense of our fundamental rights,” said Terry Reintke, a green lawmaker from Germany who is in the European Parliament, on Twitter. “But you know that: in every village, in every city in Europe, women follow your struggle. Never forget that you are standing on the shoulders of brave women who have been fighting this fight for many years. “

“For them, it’s not about protecting life,” said Donald Tusk, an opposition Polish lawmaker and former President of the European Council, of the Law and Justice Party. “Under their rule more and more Poles die and fewer are born.”