South Carolina passes 6-week abortion ban

South Carolina House passes six-week abortion ban If all three of these bans go into effect, North Carolina will be the only state in the South to allow abortion through the first trimester. The procedure is currently banned in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee; it is only allowed up to six weeks in Georgia. … Read more

Abortion bans don’t prosecute pregnant people. That may be about to change.

But that may be changing. A bill introduced Thursday in Oklahoma’s Senate would amend the state’s abortion restrictions, eliminating language that clarifies pregnant people are protected from prosecution. Under that bill, which has not yet been assigned to a legislative committee and has no co-sponsors yet, pregnant people could face felony charges if they induce … Read more

Alabama case over mistaken pregnancy highlights risks in a post-Roe world

Advocates argue that fetal personhood is a short, slippery slope to nearly unfettered regulation of anyone who may be pregnant: strenuous physical activity, smoking, drinking and medical procedures, like chemotherapy, are potentially risky to fetuses, for example. In practice, it has led to criminalization and increased state control over women – mostly Black women, historically, … Read more

Alabama is jailing pregnant marijuana users to ‘protect’ fetuses

Stories like Banks’s and Burns’s – the needless and disproportionate incarceration, the loss of freedom and recourse inflicted on them on the basis of their pregnancies, the cruelty justified by authorities as “protection” for a fetus – are becoming more common. Alabama criminalizes more women for pregnancy than any other state. Just last year, Kim … Read more

Now hovering in the background during a risky pregnancy: The doctor’s legal team

The woman was 19 weeks pregnant when her water broke. Within less than a day, she’d developed a life-threatening infection. Dr. Mae-Lan Wang Winchester, an OB-GYN in Cleveland, was called in to end the pregnancy. But Ohio has banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected unless the mother’s life is threatened. “The first person … Read more

Discrimination Harms Black Women’s Access to Contraception

Why Black women are especially underserved when it comes to birth control access , by Claretta Bellamy, NBC news The Supreme Court’s ruling to gut nationwide rights to abortion last week has highlighted the importance of access to birth control, which already proves difficult for many women of color due to discrimination, stigma and systemic … Read more