Bills that elevate politics over science, research and training are an attack on the integrity of the medical profession As a doctor about to finish residency after multiple years of training, I have never been so worried about the future of medical practice.
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abortion rights
abortion rights
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) are trying to piece together how the end of Roe v. Wade has so far transformed pregnancy-related medical care in America, and the yet-to-be-released preliminary data are alarming, the lead principal investigator told States Newsroom in an exclusive interview. The team has already received dozens of stories about health care providers directing patients to continue very high risk or doomed pregnancies, which they might not have done before their states criminalized abortion.
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WASHINGTON — Attorneys general representing nearly two dozen Republican states are backing a lawsuit that would remove the abortion pill from throughout the United States after more than two decades, eliminating the option even in states where abortion access remains legal. The state of Missouri filed its own brief in the case Friday while Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch filed a brief on behalf of her state as well as Alabama...
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It’s been almost seven years since North Carolina Republican lawmakers and then-Gov. Pat McCrory hastily concocted and enacted House Bill 2 – the infamous “bathroom bill” that targeted transgender people for ignorant, mean-spirited, and altogether absurd discrimination, while simultaneously making the state the target of numerous boycotts and countless late-night TV one-liners. The bill was later repealed, of course, but its legacy – as an embarrassment to be forgotten as quickly as possible...
...Encouraged by six victories — and zero defeats — in this month’s midterm elections, abortion rights advocates are considering another round of ballot measures in 2024 that would enshrine reproductive freedom in state constitutions. This time, they’re mostly aiming at states with tight abortion restrictions already on the books, hoping to outflank anti-abortion state lawmakers and courts that are out of step with most residents.
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So now what? What are we to make of the results of the 2022 midterms now that they are – at least for the most part – finally in the books? While most everyone agrees that the results generally defied expectations given the much-smaller-than-anticipated size of the Republican “red wave” (and the best performance by a sitting president’s party in more than 40 years), triumphant claims of ideological victory and mandates have been understandably scarce.
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Close votes loom on bills impacting the environment, abortion rights, gun violence, public education, LGBTQ rights Republicans fell short of winning a supermajority in the state House, which may help preserve the strength of Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. Republicans needed to pick up three seats in the 120-member House to win a supermajority, but fell short by one, the Associated Press reported.
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Many more people are seeking abortions in North Carolina since June, when the U.S. Supreme Court rescinded the constitutional right to abortion and neighboring states began outlawing or severely restricting abortions. Fifty-three percent of the people coming to A Woman’s Choice North Carolina clinics are from out of state, spokeswoman Amber Gavin said in an interview. At least one person has come as far away as Missouri.
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When the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned abortion protections in Roe v Wade, the majority wrote that it’s up to the states to decide whether to allow abortions, restrict them or to ban them altogether. In other words, the six justices were saying that the U.S. Constitution gives no more protections to people who can get pregnant than it does to a zygote, the cell that’s formed when a human sperm fuses with a human egg.
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The overwhelming majority of abortions in this country (more than 90%) occur before the pregnancy has reached 12 weeks, and generally less than 1% occur after 20 weeks. As is the case with all healthcare, however, there are instances in which difficult or unpredictable circumstances can intervene and make accessing an abortion beyond 20 weeks a necessary option for patients to have. Pregnant people need abortion care later in pregnancy most often related to two factors.
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North Carolina is a deeply “purple” state. That is to say it’s one in which statewide elections between Republicans and Democrats tend to be very close. A classic example: The 2020 contest for state Supreme Court chief justice in which the incumbent Cheri Beasley (the current Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate) lost to Republican challenger Paul Newby (then an associate justice on the court) by 0.00007% -- just 401 votes out of the almost 5.4 million cast.
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WASHINGTON — Democrats in the U.S. Senate are confident the Department of Veterans Affairs can implement a new policy that allows its doctors to provide abortions when the pregnancy threatens the patient’s life or health, or when it's the result of rape or incest. The VA announced the new policy last week to cheers from Democrats who have been searching for ways to broaden abortion access in states where the procedure has been outlawed since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion in June.
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