Reproductive Rights Prof Blog

49 Years After Griswold, Access to Contraception Still Under Attack

RH Reality Check:  49 Years After Griswold: A Splintering Legacy, 

This month marks the 49th anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut, the landmark Supreme Court decision that ruled states could not criminalize contraception use between married couples.

In a Washington Post article published this March, Walter Dellinger noted that the oral arguments in the 1965 case suggested that, by 21st-century standards, the justices were “either uninformed about contraceptive methods or uncomfortable discussing them.” . . .

Fast forward nearly 50 years and the Supreme Court is once again considering the question of birth control, this time in the Hobby Lobby case . . . .

Wisconsin Department of Justice to Pay Anti-Choice Advocate Thousands for Work as "Expert Consultant" in Trial over Admitting-Privileges Law

The Daily Page: Pro-life advocate Vincent Rue assists state in Wisconsin abortion law defense, by Judith Davidoff:

State Department of Justice lawyers were in court last week defending a 2013 Wisconsin law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic. During the four-day bench trial before U.S. Circuit Judge William Conley, one name came up during the cross-examination of each expert witness for the state: Vincent Rue. . . .

Federal Trial on Alabama TRAP Law Opens Window on Abortion Practice in the State

Montgomery Advertiser:  5 things learned in the Alabama abortion trial, by Brian Lyman:

A trial over an Alabama law requiring abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges is scheduled to conclude Monday. But the closing arguments may just be the start of a lengthy appeals process, regardless of how U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson rules. . . .

The strategies of both plaintiffs and the state suggest possible issues that may come up on appeal. But testimony has also opened a window on the practice of abortion in the state, and who seeks it. . . .

More Reviews of "Abortion Rom-Com" Obvious Child

NPR: 'Obvious Child' Tells An Abortion Story With Rom-Com Heart:

Obvious Child's story goes like this: Boy dumps girl; girl is sad; girl rebounds with nice guy she meets at a bar, and then things get complicated. Comedian Jenny Slate plays Donna, the main character:

"Donna's in her late 20s. She's a comedian in Brooklyn. ... It's going pretty well for her at the start of the film. [But then] she ends up getting dumped and fired and then pregnant all in time for Valentine's Day. ... It all really starts to circle the drain a little bit."

Slate and director Gillian Robespierre join NPR's Rachel Martin to talk about the challenges of making a romantic comedy about abortion.

Listen to the story here.  See also:

TIME:  The Obvious Question About Obvious Child: How Do You Make a Rom-Com With an Abortion?, by Lily Rothman

The Huffington Post:  'Obvious Child' Is An Abortion Rom-Com -- And The Year's Most Revolutionary Film, by Emma Gray

New Report on Sex-Selective Abortions

The University of Chicago Law School International Human Rights Clinic, National Asian Pacific Women's Forum, and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health: Replacing Myths With Facts: Sex-Selective Abortions In the United States:

Sex selection is the practice of attempting to control the sex of one’s offspring in order to achieve a desired sex. One method of sex selection is sex-selective abortion. Laws banning sex-selective abortion are proliferating in the United States. Eight states have enacted laws prohibiting sex- selective abortion. Twenty-one states and the federal government have considered such laws since 2009. Those laws prohibit the performance of an abortion if sought based on the sex of the fetus and provide for both criminal and civil penalties in most cases...

A great deal of misinformation exists regarding sex selection in the United States. We have identified six inaccuracies commonly associated with sex-selective abortion and laws prohibiting it. They appear, among other places, in statements made by legislators, testimony submitted to legislatures, and reports issued by legislative committees that have considered or adopted laws banning sex- selective abortion. We present each piece of inaccurate information as a “myth.” This Report draws on legal research, empirical analysis of U.S. birth data, field-work, and an extensive review of scholarly publications in social sciences, law and other disciplines to replace these myths with facts. . . .

9th Circuit Panel Blocks Arizona Law Limiting Medication Abortions

Bloomberg Businessweek: Arizona Drug-Induced Abortion Limits Blocked by Court, by Karen Gulion:

Arizona’s law limiting drug-induced abortions was blocked by a federal appeals court, handing a victory to Planned Parenthood as it seeks to roll back a restriction it calls among the most stringent in the nation. . . .

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco today ruled unanimously that the law places an undue burden on women’s access to abortions. The statute, while allowing surgical abortions, prohibits medicinal abortions including the use of the drug RU-486 after the seventh week of pregnancy. . . .

CharismaNews/Reuters:  Arizona Abortion-Drug Restrictions to Stay Blocked Pending Appeal, by David Schwartz:

Enforcement of Arizona regulations curbing access to abortion-inducing drugs by prohibiting off-label uses of the medication will remain on hold while a legal challenge to those rules proceeds under judicial review, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. . . .

Obvious Child a Rare Movie that Doesn't Avoid or Demonize Abortion

Slate - DoubleX blog: No More Shmashmortion, by Amanda Hess:

Obvious Child is the most honest abortion movie I’ve ever seen. It’s about time.

In the new movie Obvious Child, twentysomething stand-up comic Donna gets pregnant after a drunken one-night stand, loses her job, attempts to schedule an abortion at her local Planned Parenthood clinic, and—cherry on top—discovers that the only available appointment is on Feb. 14. Turns out, it’s the perfect day: This is a romantic comedy where the girl gets an abortion and gets the guy. Along the way, she doesn’t even have a change of heart, contract a nasty infection, or succumb to a tragic death. That makes Obvious Child a run-of-the-mill story for a woman in America but an exceedingly rare tale for a woman on film. . . .

5 Years After Dr. Tiller's Murder, Abortion Services Have Returned to Wichita

NPR:  Abortion Services Return To Town Where George Tiller Was Murdered, by Aileen LeBlanc:

Five years ago, Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed at the Wichita, Kans., church where he was an usher. Tiller was widely known for performing abortions in late pregnancy and had become a target for protests. . . .

After Tiller's murder, his clinic — the last place in the city providing abortion services — closed. Since 2009, Kansas has also banned post-viability abortions and tightened the laws regulating procedures.

But in April of last year, South Wind Women's Center opened in the very same building where Tiller's clinic was. Executive Director Julie Burkhart worked for Tiller for seven years. Her clinic now offers abortion care for pregnancies less than 22 weeks along. . . .