We’re excited to bring you U.S. Repro Matters, your go-to source for the latest updates on reproductive health and rights in the U.S. This week, doctors flee restrictive states, anti-abortion protesters are convicted, and a new lawsuit is filed in Montana. |
Repro News This Week: September 8 |
Five anti-abortion protestors were convicted of illegally blocking access to a clinic in Washington, D.C. |
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This blockade occurred in October 2020 when multiple anti-abortion activists stormed into a clinic and others blocked employees from the outside.
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All five members of the group were found guilty August 29 under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) and face up to 11 years in prison. A trial for four others involved in the blockade begins this week.
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- The law, HB 937, creates restrictive new licensure requirements for Montana abortion clinics and is set to take effect October 1.
- In the lawsuit, filed September 1 on behalf of Montana abortion providers, plaintiffs argue that the law is unconstitutional in its specific targeting of abortion clinics and that the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services has not provided clear guidance on how to comply with the new requirements.
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Doctors who handle high-risk pregnancies are leaving states such as Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas because of their restrictive abortion laws, according to a New York Times report. |
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The report found that many doctors feel unable to provide comprehensive health care under state abortion bans, which frequently carry penalties such as high fines, medical license revocation and prison time yet fail to clarify when “medical emergency” exceptions apply.
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More than a dozen of Idaho’s labor and delivery doctors will have left or retired by the end of this year, and two of the state’s hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units, citing physician shortages. In a recent survey, three-quarters of Oklahoma OB-GYNs indicated a desire to leave the state, according to the report.
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The departures create new maternity care deserts (areas that lack any maternity care), damage the states’ medical networks and place additional strain on remaining physicians.
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Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) decriminalized abortion on the federal level, establishing that criminalization in the Federal Penal Code is a violation of the human rights of women, transgender, and non-binary people.
According to the Court’s reasoning, “the criminalization of abortion constitutes an act of violence and discrimination based on gender, as it perpetuates the stereotype that women and pregnant individuals can only exercise their sexuality for procreation and reinforces the gender role that imposes motherhood as a compulsory destiny.” |
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“This isn’t an issue about abortion... This is an issue about access to comprehensive obstetric and gynecologic care. When you restrict access to care that is based in science, that everybody should have access to — that has a ripple effect.” - Dr. Stella Dantas, president-elect of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists |
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