Category Archives: Abortion

Republican-controlled House pushes for new abortion restrictions

Posted on by

Bills not expected to advance in Senate but underscore Republican majority’s legislative priorities ahead of 2024 election

The Republican-led House on Wednesday pressed ahead with a pair of anti-abortion measures, despite warning signs that the issue had galvanized the opposition in the wake of the supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade last year.

Voting mostly along party lines, Republicans first approved a bill that would compel doctors to provide care for an infant who survives an attempted abortion – an occurrence that is exceedingly rare.

Continue reading...

The US government just took two big steps on abortion. Will they matter?

Posted on by

While the decisions cannot undo abortion bans in the 13 states they exist, it could make a huge difference where the right is protected

This week, the federal government announced two decisions designed to improve abortion access in the US. The first, a rule change made by the Food and Drug Administration, allows pharmacies to dispense mifepristone, one of the two drugs needed for a medication abortion. The second, an opinion drafted by the justice department, gives the US Postal Service the all clear to continue mailing abortion pills, even to states where abortion is severely restricted.

How big an impact the moves will have, however, remains to be seen.

Continue reading...

Women with restricted abortion access may face higher suicide risk – study

Posted on by

Research shows anti-abortion laws may have affected suicide rates among reproductive-aged women from 1974 to 2016

Women with restricted access to abortion during the last 40 years may have faced a higher risk of suicide, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania.

Abortion restriction laws may have influenced suicide rates among reproductive-aged women from 1974 to 2016, according to a study released Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry.

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Continue reading...

Plan B morning-after contraceptive is not abortion pill, US to specify

Posted on by

FDA regulators to change packaging labels to make clear pill will not work if person is already pregnant

The US Food and Drug Administration has announced it will change packaging labels for the emergency contraceptive Plan B, to specify that it is not an abortion pill.

According to many anti-abortion activists, any form of disruption to an egg is considered an abortion.

Continue reading...

GPs ask for all contraceptives to be subsidised and end to abortion ‘postcode lottery’

Posted on by

Exclusive: ‘We need to do more to improve access to and affordability of the full range of contraceptive options,’ Senate inquiry told

All contraceptives should be government subsidised, Medicare rebates for IUD insertion should be increased and larger quantities of contraception pills should be dispensed at once to make abortion and contraception more accessible, the peak body for general practitioners says.

In its submission to the Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive healthcare, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said there were significant barriers to reproductive care, particularly in rural and remote communities.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Anti-abortion US priest Frank Pavone defrocked by Vatican

Posted on by

Pavone had been investigated for placing an aborted foetus on an altar and posting a video of it online

The Vatican has defrocked the anti-abortion US priest Frank Pavone for what it said were “blasphemous communications on social media” as well as “persistent disobedience” of his bishop.

A letter to US bishops from the Vatican ambassador to the US, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, said the decision against Pavone, who heads the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, had been taken and that there was no chance for an appeal.

Continue reading...

Argentinian court clears woman of killing her baby after obstetric emergency

Posted on by

Accused had a gynaecological condition and was unaware she was pregnant, court told, as verdict hailed a victory by women’s rights activists

A woman in Argentina accused of killing her baby after suffering an obstetric emergency has had her case dismissed.

A court in Buenos Aires, cleared La China*, 43, after the prosecution withdrew its charge of aggravated homicide.

Continue reading...

Northern Ireland can create abortion clinic buffer zones, supreme court rules

Posted on by

Unanimous judgment in UK’s highest court means Stormont assembly can proceed with abortion services bill

The Northern Ireland assembly can legislate to create buffer zones around abortion clinics to protect users and staff, the UK’s highest court has ruled.

The supreme court’s unanimous judgment means the assembly can proceed with the abortion services (safe access zones) (Northern Ireland) bill, which criminalises people who enter the specified areas and influence people attending clinics.

Continue reading...

France moves closer to making abortion a constitutional right

Posted on by

Lower house approves resolution to guarantee access to ‘the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy’

France has moved a step closer to becoming the first country in the world to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, after lawmakers approved a resolution in the lower house to guarantee access to “the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy”.

In a rare cross-party move, members of parliament from the left’s La France Insoumise party and Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition agreed on the wording of a clause that could be added to the constitution. It read: “The law guarantees the effectiveness and equal access to the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy.”

Continue reading...

Malta drafts law allowing abortion if mother’s life or health at risk

Posted on by

Proposal follows outrage after pregnant US tourist was denied abortion despite partial miscarriage and threat to her health

Malta’s government has published a draft law that would ease the country’s strict abortion laws by allowing the termination of pregnancies if the mother’s life or health are at serious risk.

The proposed change in the law follows an outcry over the treatment of a pregnant American tourist in June, a case that sparked headlines worldwide.

Continue reading...

Rights group calls for Samuel Alito to be investigated after claims of leaked 2014 ruling

Posted on by

Anti-abortion activist said supreme court justice revealed the landmark ruling on contraception and religious rights weeks earlier

A civil rights group issued a call Saturday for US supreme court justice Samuel Alito to be investigated over allegations that the judge leaked a 2014 landmark ruling involving contraception and religious rights at a private dinner with wealthy political donors.

The claim was contained in a New York Times article in which minister Rob Schenck, an anti-abortion activist, said he was told of the decision weeks before it was announced and had used the information to prepare a public relations push.

Continue reading...

A night of ‘hell’: abortion activists on their ‘inhumane’ detention in DC

Posted on by

As abortion rights are rolled back, more citizens seeking access to reproductive healthcare may face similar treatment

Three women who peacefully protested against restrictions on abortion rights in the US supreme court were mistreated and detained in “inhumane” conditions after their arrest, they say.

Their experience shows unsettling treatment in a landscape where pregnant people, medical providers and others increasingly face criminalization after the Dobbs decision on reproductive care.

Continue reading...

Ohio’s partisan supreme court election could decide abortion’s future in state

Posted on by

The midterms include key elections to the state’s highest court as the judicial system becomes increasingly politicized

In Ohio, a highly partisan fight over three state supreme court seats could determine the political direction of the court on a slew of important issues – particularly abortion.

With the US supreme court increasingly handing issues such as voting rights, abortion, gun rights and gerrymandering back to the states, state supreme court races are becoming more important than ever.

Continue reading...

Finnish MPs abolish need to see two doctors before abortion

Posted on by

Pregnant woman’s request will be sufficient to obtain procedure without need for further reasons

Lawmakers in Finland have approved a legislative reform that will ease the process of getting an abortion in the country, which currently has the Nordic region’s strictest abortion law.

Finland’s 200-seat Eduskunta legislature on Wednesday voted by a wide margin 125-41 in favour of a law reform that will, among other things, abolish the need for approval from two doctors to terminate a pregnancy.

Continue reading...

Florida governor debate: DeSantis defends abortion ban with false claims

Posted on by

Charlie Crist, former Republican who switched parties, puts governor on defensive during Florida’s sole gubernatorial debate

In the sole debate of the Florida governor’s race, the Republican incumbent, Ron DeSantis, was put on the defensive by his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, on subjects including abortion and DeSantis’s presidential ambitions.

Crist called Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest, “callous and barbaric”.

Continue reading...

Victoria Greens spruik family ties in election pitch as ageing millennials defy drift to conservatism

Posted on by

Reproductive rights and parenting become hot topics in state election as parties on the left court women and young families

Kissing babies may be an election campaign trail cliche but for the Victorian Greens, it might also be sign their party – just like their supporter base – has grown up.

Announcing a plan for five days of reproductive leave for public sector workers this week, leader Samantha Ratnam, deputy Ellen Sandell and their candidate for the seat of Richmond, Gabrielle de Vietri, were joined by their children under two.

Sign up for our free morning newsletter and afternoon email to get your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

French right votes down move to make abortion constitutional right

Posted on by

Further proposals to be put before lower house next month after first attempt rejected in senate

The French government has said it supports making the country the first in the world to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, after the right-dominated senate voted down the left’s first attempt at a proposal.

Several political parties in France, from the left to the centrist lawmakers of Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, began pushing for abortion rights to be written into the constitution after the US supreme court’s decision in June to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling, which recognised a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and legalised it nationwide.

Continue reading...

Italian senator renews anti-abortion foetus rights proposal

Posted on by

Maurizio Gasparri has higher chance of success this time after rightwing coalition’s election victory

An Italian senator has submitted a proposal for an amendment to Italy’s civil code that would recognise a foetus as a human being, which if passed into law could enable pregnancy terminations to be classified as murder.

Maurizio Gasparri, a politician with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which is part of the government led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy – a party with neofascist origins – expected to be sworn in next week, unleashed a barrage of criticism from members of the opposition when he presented his “rights of the unborn child” proposal to the senate.

Continue reading...

Abortion is key motivator for Democratic-leaning voters in US midterms, poll finds

Posted on by

More than half claim they are more motivated to vote than in previous elections, with 50% of those people citing abortion

More than half of Democratic-leaning voters say abortion has become a crucial motivation for them to vote in next month’s US midterm elections, according to a recent poll.

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) conducted in September reveals that June’s supreme court decision to overturn Roe v Wade has put a fire under Democratic voters, with more than half claiming they are more motivated to vote than in previous elections, and 50% of those citing as their prime reason the ruling on abortion.

Continue reading...

Republican Chuck Grassley vows to vote against a national abortion ban

Posted on by

The longest-tenured US senator joins a growing chorus of conservative lawmakers opposed to such a restriction

The longest-tenured Republican in the US Senate has pledged to vote against a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy which a prominent fellow party member and chamber colleague proposed last month, joining a growing chorus of conservative lawmakers opposed to that idea.

Chuck Grassley, who’s been one of Iowa’s senators since 1980 and is seeking an eighth term in his seat during November’s midterms, expressed his opposition to such a ban during a televised debate Thursday night with his Democratic challenger Mike Franken.

Continue reading...