Asked to clear up abortion bans, Republican Party leaders blame doctors and misinformation for the confusion
In Republican-led states across the U.S., conservative legislators are refusing to reevaluate abortion bans — even as doctors and patients insist the laws’ exceptions are dangerously unclear, resulting in denied treatment to some pregnant women in need. Instead, these politicians accuse abortion rights advocates of deliberately spreading misinformation and doctors of intentionally denying services in an effort to undercut the bans and make a political point. At the same time, however, some states are taking steps that they say will provide more clarity about when abortions can be legally performed.
SOURCE: ABC News, by Kimberlee Kruesi, Associated Press, 10 March 2024
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Teen abortion access remains difficult even in states where access is protected
A state like Massachusetts is considered a safe haven for abortion today. But a first-of-its-kind report about national abortion access for youth from Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts’ ASPIRE Center for Sexual & Reproductive Health, released on Monday, called “The Minor Abortion Access Research and Advocacy Project” reveals that there are stark gaps in reproductive health care availability for minors – even in states that have expanded abortion access since the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The group’s research found that oftentimes, parental involvement laws – which mandate minors’ parental permission before an abortion – or the judicial bypass process – which requires teens to go through the court system if they cannot ask their parents for consent to an abortion – stand between teens under the age of 18 and abortion, hindering young people’s bodily autonomy despite state policies meant to enhance reproductive health care access.
SOURCE: Teen Vogue, by Rachel Janfaza, 11 March 2024
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As medical students decide where to go for training, states with abortion bans are losing out
As medical students prepare to find out on 15 March, the annual “Match Day”, where they will further their training, and possibly spend their careers, fewer of them are applying to go to states with abortion bans or limits, research showed. Roughly 50,000 medical students across the country will find out where they will spend the next several years in a residency program, further refining their skills as a doctor and learning a specialty.
SOURCE: Post and Courier, by Tom Corwin, 11 March 2024