Category Archives: Abortion

Cost of abortions causing Queensland women to consider self-harm, study reveals

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More than 40% of women seeking help from pregnancy counselling service had exposure to family or intimate partner violence

Queensland women are self-harming and searching for pills on the black market to induce abortions as they face chronic delays, financial pressures and a lack of support from healthcare providers, a new study has found.

The University of Queensland study published in the CSIRO’s Sexual Health journal analysed almost 2,000 anonymous client records from the pregnancy counselling service Children by Choice between December 2018 and June 2020.

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Abortion rights at risk in region led by party of Italy’s possible next PM

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The Brothers of Italy has further impeded access to abortion in the Marche region – a policy it could replicate nationally if it wins power

When Giulia, 20, discovered she was pregnant she immediately decided that she wasn’t ready to have a baby. Supported by her boyfriend and family, she sought medical advice in her home town in Italy’s central Marche region on how to obtain an abortion. She faced obstacles at every turn, from telephones not being answered and surgeries being closed, to one doctor who tried to persuade her to change her mind.

Abortion in Italy was legalised via a referendum in 1978, overturning an outright ban enforced by the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini who deemed it a crime against the Italian race, but the high number of gynaecologists who refuse to terminate pregnancies for moral reasons – 64.6%, according to 2020 data – has meant women still encounter huge difficulties in accessing safe procedures.

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Walmart expands abortion coverage for employees after Roe overturned

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Memo to staff says that new healthcare policy will also offer ‘travel support’ for workers seeking abortions

The US’s largest private employer, Walmart, is expanding its abortion coverage for employees after staying largely mum on the issue following the supreme court ruling that in June scrapped a nationwide right to abortion.

In a memo sent to employees Friday, the retail giant said its healthcare plans will cover abortion for employees “when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability”. The plans will be “effective immediately”, the memo added.

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Louisiana woman faces ‘horrifically cruel’ abortion choice over fetus missing skull

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Nancy Davis, denied abortion in home state despite fetus being diagnosed with fatal skull condition, forced to travel for procedure

A pregnant Louisiana woman faced with either carrying a skull-less fetus to term – for the baby to likely die within hours – or traveling several states away to obtain an abortion has hired a prominent civil rights attorney as she weighs how to move forward.

Nancy Davis, 36, has retained lawyer Ben Crump as she becomes the latest to embody the gut-wrenching decisions some women are being forced to make after the US supreme court’s decision in June to strip away nationwide abortion rights, according to a statement from the attorney’s office.

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How they won: Kansas organizers unpack their big win for abortion rights

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The strategies that worked in Kansas – countering misinformation, building a broad coalition – offers lessons for other ballot measures

In February, long before organizers in Kansas had made the hundreds of thousands of calls, knocked on the tens of thousands of doors; or did the thousands of media interviews needed to win a monumental race against an anti-abortion amendment, they started having parties.

Sometimes they were small parties: parties where tea and cookies were handed out, and people sat in living rooms getting to know one another. Other times, they sat around a dinner table, drinking wine with strangers.

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Kansas’s vote to protect abortion rights upends US midterm elections – as it happened

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Following her visit to Taiwan and China’s furious response, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reiterated her commitment to standing up for the country and said it’s shared by lawmakers across the US Congress.

“Our Congressional delegation’s visit should be seen as a strong statement that America stands with Taiwan. We came to Taiwan to listen to, learn from and show our support for the people of Taiwan, who have built a thriving Democracy that stands as one of the freest and most open in the world,” Pelosi said in a statement after the trip.

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Biden set to sign second executive order to protect abortion access

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The directive equips the Heath and Human Services agency to expand coverage for patients seeking out of state care

Joe Biden is set to sign a second executive order on Wednesday that aims to protect access to reproductive healthcare after the US supreme court struck down the constitutional right to abortion.

Most significantly, the order directs the Health and Human Services agency to consider ways to expand coverage for patients traveling out of state for reproductive healthcare. Biden’s order does not detail how this could be achieved; currently, government-subsidized Medicaid health insurance plans cover medically necessary abortions in only 16 states and do not reimburse patients who leave their state to seek an abortion.

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Kansas votes to protect abortion rights in state constitution

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Kansas is the first state to put abortion rights to a vote since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade

Kansans secured a huge win for abortion rights in the US on Tuesday night when they voted to continue to protect abortion in the state constitution.

The race was called by a host of US groups including NBC News, the New York Times and Decision Desk HQ.

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Justice department sues Idaho over state’s near-total abortion ban

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Lawsuit is DoJ’s first piece of litigation aimed at protecting abortion access since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade

The Biden administration’s Department of Justice is suing Idaho over the state’s near-total abortion ban, set to take effect on 25 August.

The lawsuit is the justice department’s first piece of litigation aimed at protecting abortion access since the US supreme court in June overturned the landmark Roe v Wade decision that established federal abortion rights nearly 50 years earlier.

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Kansas referendum will test change in abortion landscape since Roe fell

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The ballot measure is the first of many across the country that will decide where and how women can preserve reproductive rights

In the first of a wave of referendums across the country on abortion rights, Kansas voters will decide on Tuesday whether the state’s constitution protects the right to terminate a pregnancy.

Should Kansans pass the ballot measure, it would give state lawmakers leeway to ban the procedure, which they appear likely to do.

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Pregnant woman shocked after GP ‘gave her anti-abortion leaflet’

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Woman was reportedly handed information from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children at London clinic

A pregnant woman who told her GP she was considering having an abortion says she was left “shocked and traumatised” after being given a leaflet for an anti-abortion group.

The woman, 38, says she was seeking treatment for a bladder problem on 19 July when a doctor at All Saints Medical Centre in Plumstead, south-east London, asked whether she was pregnant.

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‘What about my life?’ West Virginia girl, 12, speaks out against anti-abortion bill

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Plea by Addison Gardner during public hearing against bill that would prohibit procedure in nearly all cases goes viral

An impassioned plea from a 12-year-old girl has gone viral after she spoke to West Virginia Republican lawmakers during a public hearing for an abortion bill that would prohibit the procedure in nearly all cases.

On Wednesday, Addison Gardner of Buffalo middle school in Kenova, West Virginia, was among several people who spoke out against the bill.

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Queensland Health to review medical costs for sexual assault victims by end of year

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Organisation says fees for treatment of injuries, MRIs and STI testing for people without medicare would be reassessed

Queensland Health has committed to reviewing medical costs billed to sexual assault victims who are ineligible for Medicare by the end of the year, following reports one victim was charged $800 for pathology tests.

It comes after reports by Guardian Australia prompted Queensland Health to pledge not to charge sexual assault victims without access to Medicare for rape kits.

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Sharp rise in US abortion clinic closures after Roe v Wade overturned

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Guttmacher study shows reduction in clinics offering care in 11 states that have implemented bans since supreme court ruling

The number of clinics offering abortion care in 11 US states that have implemented total or six-week bans in the month since the supreme court overturned abortion rights has dropped from 71 to 43, a new study shows.

In the study released on Thursday, the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit that studies sexual and reproductive health, said that among the the 11 states, as of 24 July seven no longer had a single clinic providing abortion care.

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Indiana investigates abortion doctor who treated 10-year-old rape victim

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State attorney general notifies Dr Caitlin Bernard and claims ‘she used a 10-year-old girl to push her political ideology’

The Indiana state attorney general has launched an investigation into the doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim.

According to Kathleen DeLaney, a lawyer acting for the doctor, Caitlin Bernard, a notice from the Indiana attorney general, Todd Rokita, regarding his investigation arrived on Tuesday.

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‘Voters don’t want a culture war’: Victorian Liberals raise concerns over preselections

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Candidates include Evan Mulholland from the Institute of Public Affairs and Moira Deeming, who called for abortion laws to be repealed

Several Victorian Liberal MPs have raised concerns the preselection of candidates at the weekend could undermine efforts to present as a more progressive party ahead of the November state election.

Evan Mulholland, from the right-leaning Institute of Public Affairs, was preselected on Sunday for the top spot on the Liberal party ticket for the upper house Northern Metropolitan Region, replacing Craig Ondarchie. This came after Melton city councillor Moira Deeming was endorsed for the Western Metropolitan Region on Saturday.

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Government establishes new measures at airports to stop FMD; 63 Covid deaths – as it happened

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US ambassador arrives in Australia

The new US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, has arrived this morning and told the media she feels “lucky … to serve here and to live here.”

There’s a big agenda and I can’t wait to get started. Personally this means a great deal to me. My my husband is here with me. We first came to Australia on our honeymoon 36 years ago, almost exactly, because three days ago was our anniversary. Then we are were fortunate to come back with our children when we were in Japan. So we met so many wonderful people and I can’t believe that I’m lucky enough to get a chance to serve here and to live here and get to know even more people.

The weather and staff shortages were all worse than expected.

We are doing the best we can – the show will go on rain, hail or shine.

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Medicare reforms are essential for creating fairer national abortion system, say advocates

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Health experts are calling for Medicare item numbers for abortions and pregnancy counselling ahead of women’s safety ministers’ meeting

Medicare item numbers for abortions and pregnancy counselling along with specific funding for reproductive health are needed to create a fairer national abortion system, according to MSI Australia, formerly known as Marie Stopes.

State and federal women’s safety ministers are meeting on Friday for the first time since the Albanese government was elected. A 10-year plan to end violence against women and children, gender equity issues and the need for a specific plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are expected to be discussed.

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Democratic members of Congress arrested during pro-choice protest

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The legislators were engaged in peaceful civil disobedience against the loss of abortion rights in front of the supreme court

Several prominent Democratic members of Congress were arrested on Wednesday during a protest in support of abortion rights in front of the supreme court, in the aftermath of the historic overturning of Roe v Wade last month.

The politicians gathered in front of the US Capitol before marching to the court building, chanting “our bodies, our choice” and “we won’t go back”.

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West Virginia judge blocks enforcement of 150-year-old abortion ban

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Judge says the state’s sole abortion clinic and its patients ‘are suffering irreparable harm’

A judge in West Virginia blocked enforcement of the state’s 150-year-old abortion ban on Monday, opening the door for abortions to resume in the state.

The Kanawha county circuit court judge, Tera L Salango, granted the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia a preliminary injunction against the ban, saying that in the absence of action by the court, the state’s sole abortion clinic and its patients, “especially those who are impregnated as a result of a rape or incest, are suffering irreparable harm”.

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