Reproductive Rights News Roundup

Reproductive-Rights Advocates Oppose 20-Week Abortion Ban
By Trimmel Gomes
Public News Service Florida
One of several controversial anti-abortion bills in the Florida Legislature this year would ban abortions at 20 weeks.

Florida Abortions Under Fire
By Mike Vasilinda
Capitol News Service
Doctors who abort a fetus after more than 20 weeks of gestation could be charged with a felony under legislation filed in the State Capitol.

What to Know about Florida’s Proposed Post 20-Week Abortion Ban
By Troy Kinsey
Spectrum News
Abortion rights activists are accusing the Florida Legislature’s Republican leaders of capitalizing on the coronavirus pandemic to suppress public testimony against a controversial new measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion rights group wants lawmakers to allow remote testimony during pandemic
By Renzo Downey
Florida Politics
Some abortion rights activists have taken the fight against abortion bans to the airwaves, feeling they have limited options to speak directly against proposed bans.

‘An excuse to make it harder for everyday citizens to have their voices heard’
By Issac Morgan
Florida Phoenix
Excerpt: Dozens of groups are now pushing for expanded access for legislative meetings, and transparency in the overall process that could affect their lives, from issues ranging from reproductive rights to criminal justice and health care…Among the groups who signed the Common Cause letter are: Florida ACLU, Florida AFL-CIO, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, League of Women Voters of Florida, Progress Florida, Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, and the Florida Policy Institute.

Southern states pushing anti-abortion bills despite Biden’s vow to protect Roe
By Abbey Crain
Reckon
President Joe Biden has promised to codify Roe V. Wade on the 48th anniversary of its passing, but states across the South show no signs of letting up on anti-abortion-related bills this legislative season.

Flood of anti-abortion legislation hits Southern legislatures
By Elisha Brown
Facing South
Last year, number of states that were categorized as hostile to abortion rights by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health policy think tank — including all of the states across the South: 29

US anti-abortion activists plan new push in year of Republican schism
By Jessica Glenza
The Guardian
At a church-style rally in Arizona, the state Republican lawmaker Walter Blackman described his “perfect” legislative proposal: to prosecute women who have abortions for homicide alongside the doctors who provide them.

Democratic lawmakers push FDA to lift restrictions on abortion pill
By Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are asking the Food and Drug Administration to lift rules requiring people seeking medication abortion to obtain pills in-person, citing pandemic-related health risks.

What Is The Global Gag Rule & How Does It Affect Abortion Access Around The World?
By Alice Broster
Forbes
It’s been estimated that between 2015 and 2019 around 121 million unintended pregnancies occurred around the globe.

Editor’s Note: The Future of Abortion Access
By Jessica Mason Pieklo
Rewire
Anti-choice advocates have fought so hard against the abortion pill because they know it’s a game changer.

I’m a Doctor. Self-Managed Abortion Is Safe.
By April Lockley
Rewire
We need to listen and be accepting and understanding of the diverse range of experiences of abortion—including self-managed abortion care.

Medication Abortion: House Oversight Committee Urges FDA to Lift Barrier
By Carrie N. Baker
Ms. Magazine
On Tuesday, Jan. 12, six members of the Supreme Court granted a Trump administration request to reinstate an FDA rule requiring patients seeking medication abortion to make an unnecessary in-person visit to their health care provider just to pick up the medication and sign a form.

The Capitol Insurrectionists Were Also Part of a Misogynist Anti-Abortion Movement
By Eleanor J. Bader
Common Dreams
Pundits eager to dissect the origins of the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol rarely include the misogynist anti-abortion movement in their musings. But they should.

Help a gal out: Period poverty is closer than you think
By Amanda Wander and Jodi Wilkof
Tallahassee Democrat
Lack of access to menstrual products like pads and tampons – referred to as “period poverty” — is something we associate with women and girls in other countries.

Panel wants to improve sex ed in local schools
By Tatyiana Hayes
The Famuan
Leon County’s Commission on the Status of Women and Girls held a Health and Education Committee meeting Monday, addressing things regarding how to stay safe health-wise and how to introduce sexual education in local schools.

Students promote sex education, partner with Planned Parenthood
By John Wettach
Rollins Sandspur
A new organization, the Planned Parenthood Generation Action Club, is combatting restricted access to sex education and reproductive healthcare.

Florida mothers of color, seeking better care, turn to midwives and doulas
By Margo Snipe
Tampa Bay Times
Courtney West stepped into the house and ran with her arms wide open to greet Samara Jackson.

Adolescents Deserve Better: What the Biden-Harris Administration and Congress Can Do to Bolster Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health
By Leah H. Keller
Guttmacher Institute
People in the United States have a famously uneasy relationship with sexuality and reproductive health topics, and people younger than 18 often bear the brunt of this discomfort.