Year: 2023

NC pharmacists emerge as new prescribers of hormonal contraceptives

"Work is underway to bolster access to contraception at pharmacies in an effort to combat ‘contraceptive deserts’ amid the post-Roe reproductive health care environment. Reimbursement poses barrier to implementation. A 31-year-old Asian American woman hopped into an Uber on a mission — to head to a pharmacy in New Bern to get birth control. Because of her family’s cultural and religious beliefs, she was not allowed to go to doctors’ appointments alone nor to ask for contraception. But pharmacists’ new ability to prescribe hormonal contraception in North Carolina gave her the opportunity to get connected to the pregnancy prevention method…
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To expand abortion access in Texas, a lawmaker gets creative

"Texas's Republican Governor Greg Abbott addressed a rally earlier this year, celebrating the abortion bans that took effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. "As long as I am governor of the great state of Texas, Texas will always protect the unborn," he told a cheering crowd. So it may be surprising that just a few weeks ago, Abbott signed a law giving doctors leeway to provide abortions in Texas when a patient's water breaks too early and for ectopic pregnancies. There was considerably less fanfare for that signing..."
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Strategies to Advance Racial Equity in Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health

"Sexual and reproductive health equity means that all people are supported by policies and systems that help them achieve their desired sexual and reproductive health. Currently, too many young people—especially Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth—lack the autonomy and system-level supports to achieve the sexual and reproductive health they desire. This brief aims to show programs, providers, and researchers how they can approach adolescent sexual and reproductive health services in a way that advances racial equity. In this brief, we first provide some context on how racism impacts sexual and reproductive health for Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth. We then offer…
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‘I was shocked’: Australian Catholic hospitals refuse to provide birth control and abortion

"Publicly funded hospitals are using the cover of religion to opt out of providing reproductive care - and experts say it has created a ‘postcode lottery’ for access to services When Sarah*, a Melbourne mother, was pregnant with her second child, her GP gave her a surprising warning: if she had any serious complications, concerns about the viability of the pregnancy or believed she might be miscarrying, she should go to the Royal women’s hospital rather than the Mercy hospital for women, where she was planning to deliver the baby. The reason, the GP told her, was that the Mercy…
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Where do the 2024 presidential candidates stand on abortion? Take a look

"COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, the issue has at times dominated the discussion among the Republicans seeking their party’s 2024 presidential nomination and is sure to be on display during the first GOP campaign debate Wednesday in Milwaukee."COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — More than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, the issue has at times dominated the discussion among the Republicans seeking their party’s 2024 presidential nomination and is sure to be on display during the first GOP campaign debate…
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Hey Jane Expands Its Virtual Health Services Beyond Abortion Care

"Virtual abortion care provider Hey Jane is broadening its online services to include treatments for vaginal infections, birth control, and emergency contraception. This expansion seeks to provide a discreet and accessible solution for these reproductive and sexual health issues, leveraging their established digital healthcare platform. The process involves a brief patient intake, connecting them through Hey Jane’s secure messaging platform. This allows patients to communicate with clinicians via text, phone call, or video, facilitating access to FDA-approved medications typically available at clinics or from doctors..."
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Abortion pill ruling sets up Supreme Court showdown

"The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled that access to the abortion pill, mifepristone, should be sharply curtailed, ramping up the legal threat to the most popular method of ending a pregnancy. The decision — if allowed by the Supreme Court to take effect — would roll back actions the federal government has taken since 2016 to make the pills more accessible, including rules allowing online ordering, mail delivery, and pharmacy dispensing of the drugs. It also would roll back access from the current 10 weeks of pregnancy to seven and would reimpose a requirement that only physicians can…
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Illinois Man Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison for Setting Fire to Reproductive Health Services Facility

"An Illinois man was sentenced on August 15 for the arson of the Planned Parenthood Peoria Health Center in Peoria, Illinois. "An Illinois man was sentenced on August 15 for the arson of the Planned Parenthood Peoria Health Center in Peoria, Illinois. Tyler W. Massengill, 33, was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $1.45 million in restitution. He previously pleaded guilty on Feb. 16 to malicious use of fire and an explosive to damage, and attempt to damage, the Peoria Health Center. According to court documents and statements…
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Meta criticized for making reproductive health an R-rated issue

"Female reproductive health experts are calling on Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to rethink its restrictions on reproductive health content."Female reproductive health experts are calling on Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to rethink its restrictions on reproductive health content. The company has long faced criticism for removing and restricting female reproductive health information with a prominent report from the Center for Intimacy Justice early last year accusing Meta of systemically rejecting many female and gender diverse reproductive health ads. The CIJ report also accused Meta of having bias algorithms, stating that male reproductive health…
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California grads headed to HBCUs in the South prepare for college under abortion bans

"When I'laysia Vital got accepted to Texas Southern University, a historically Black university in Houston, she immediately began daydreaming about the sense of freedom that would come with living on her own, and the sense of belonging she would feel studying in a thriving Black community. Then, a nurse at her high school's health clinic in Oakland, California explained the legal landscape of her new four-year home in Texas – where abortion is now banned completely. Vital watched some TikTok videos of protestors harassing women outside clinics in other states. She realized her newfound freedoms would come at the expense of another. That's…
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She Wasn’t Able to Get an Abortion. Now She’s a Mom. Soon She’ll Start 7th Grade. 

"Ashley just had a baby. She’s sitting on the couch in a relative’s apartment in Clarksdale, Miss., wearing camo-print leggings and fiddling with the plastic hospital bracelets still on her wrists. It’s August and pushing 90 degrees, which means the brown patterned curtains are drawn, the air conditioner is on high, and the room feels like a hiding place. Peanut, the baby boy she delivered two days earlier, is asleep in a car seat at her feet, dressed in a little blue outfit. Ashley is surrounded by family, but nobody is smiling. One relative silently eats lunch in the kitchen,…
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RFK Jr. backs 15-week federal ban on abortion, then reverses himself

"Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday said he would support a federal ban on abortion after the first three months of pregnancy, but his campaign later said he “misunderstood” the question. Speaking to NBC from the Iowa State Fair, Kennedy said, “I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the women during the first three months of life,” but added: “Once a child is viable, outside the womb, I think then the state has an interest in protecting the child.” He said he would sign a federal ban on abortion after 15 weeks or…
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Nebraska judge allows abortion limits and restrictions on gender-affirming surgery

"A Nebraska judge on Friday rejected an effort to block a ban on abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and restrictions on gender-affirming surgery. Lancaster County District Court Judge Lori Maret sided with the state and allowed a law approved by the Nebraska Legislature earlier this year to remain in effect. The law outlaws abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy with exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother. As of Oct. 1, it also will prevent people under 19 from receiving gender-affirming surgery and restricts the use of hormone treatments and puberty blockers for minors...."
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Texas questions rights of fetus in prison guard lawsuit despite arguing opposite on abortion

"In defending themselves against a lawsuit, Texas officials have argued that an “unborn child” may not have rights under the US constitution, putting them in tension with arguments made by the state’s attorney’s general’s office as well as Republican lawmakers to support restrictions to abortion...."
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