The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Next steps in abortion battle
ATexas group that helps women pay for abortions has halted its work while it evaluates its legal risk under a strict state ban on termination.
In Mississippi, the state’s only abortion clinic continues to see patients while awaiting a 10-day notice that will trigger a ban.
Elected officials across the US have vowed to take action to protect women’s access to reproductive health care, while those against abortion promised to take the fight to new arenas.
Days after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling overturning Roe v Wade ended the constitutional right to abortion in America, emotional protests and prayer vigils turned to resolve as several states enacted bans and both supporters and opponents of abortion rights mapped out their next move.
In Texas, Cathy Torres of the Frontera Fund, a group that helps pay for abortions, said there is a lot of fear and confusion in the Rio Grande Valley near the USMexico border, where many people are in the country illegally. That includes how the state’s abortion law, which bans the procedure from conception, will be enforced. Under the law, people who help patients get abortions can be fined and doctors who perform them face life in prison.
Ms Torres said: “We are a fund led by people of colour, who will be criminalised first. We just really need to keep that in mind and understand the risk.”
She said abortion funds like hers that have paused operations hope to find a way to safely restart their work.
Tyler Harden, Mississippi director for Planned Parenthood Southeast, said she spent Friday and Saturday making sure people with impending appointments at the state’s only abortion clinic know they do not have to cancel them right away.
Mississippi will ban the procedure except for pregnancies that endanger the woman’s life or those caused by rape reported to law enforcement.
The Republican speaker of the Mississippi House, Philip Gunn, said during a news conference on Friday that he would oppose adding an exception for incest. “I believe that life begins at conception,” he said.
At the National Right to Life convention in Atlanta, Randall O’Bannon, the organisation’s director of education and research, encouraged activists to celebrate their victories but stay focused and continue working on the issue.
Specifically, he called out medication taken to induce abortion.
He said: “With Roe headed for the dustbin of history, and states gaining the power to limit abortions, this is where the battle is going to be played out over the next several years.
“The new modern menace is a chemical or medical abortion with pills ordered online and mailed directly to a woman’s home.”