But lawmakers have made clear that the bill, crafted in consultation with Texas-based health professionals and abortion opponents, does not introduce new exceptions; Texas’ ban does not allow for abortions in cases of rape, incest or fatal fetal anomaly. And if enacted, it would codify a Texas Supreme Court decision that found that the state’s … Read more
“Clinicians are scared to provide basic medical care, and this care is clearly in line with medical ethics … medical standards of care, and they’re being put in this situation where they can’t win,” said Payal Shah, director of research, legal and advocacy at Physicians for Human Rights. Read more at The Hill
Now, experts worry that a victory for Alabama could serve as a green light for other states’ efforts to attack people who want to end their pregnancies but live in states that ban abortion. Read more at The Guardian
“These websites are breaking the law … aiding and abetting crimes in Texas,” says John Seago, the president of Texas Right to Life. “We want to use all the instruments that we have, all the tools available, to really fight against this new trend of abortion pills by mail.” Seago says providers should still be … Read more
Lee’s actions mean Tennessee will soon become the second state in the nation to enact legislation that supporters say will stop any adult who “intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports” a pregnant minor within the state to get an abortion without consent from the minor’s parents or guardians. Read more at The Guardian
Lawmakers also criminalized assistance by adults helping minors seek an out-of-state abortion without a parent’s approval, establishing the practice as a Class A misdemeanor with penalties up to one year in jail. Read more at The Guardian
In the nearly two years since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, 16 states have implemented near-total abortion bans. In theory, these bans have exceptions that permit people to get medically necessary abortions – but in practice, doctors and patients say, these exceptions are worded so vaguely that they are unworkable, prompting doctors … Read more
But abortion rights advocates argue that the ambiguous and nonmedical terminology leaves doctors uncertain about when they can render care without being prosecuted. The medical exception doesn’t work if doctors “can’t understand it,” Goldstein said. Read more at NBC News
A Tennessee doctor explains how lifesaving decisions get made—and denied. Read more at The Atlantic
In states that banned abortion, doctors are forced to wrestle with tough decisions about high-risk pregnancy care. “I don’t want to have a patient die and be responsible for it,” one Tennessee doctor said. Read more at Talking Points Memo/ProPublica
