Health

How Texas’s S.B. 8 Restricts Sexual Abuse Survivor Advocacy

PUBLISHED 4/4/2022 by

Texas’s S.B. 8 empowers private citizens, giving them the right to sue anyone who “knowingly engages in conduct that aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion”—including attorneys like myself who represent survivors of sexual assault.

This attempt to tie the hands of attorneys and organizations that serve survivors is a gross overreach of the law that opens the door for attorneys to face civil action for giving advice to our clients and constitutes a breach of the attorney-client privilege that is critical to a healthy justice system. That is why, since S.B. 8 was enacted, I have continued to advise my clients and other women who call our office to help them find resources, even though it means I may face civil liability.

Online Abortion Care Provider Hanna Kim of Hey Jane: ‘Everything Is Done in Your Own Time’

PUBLISHED 4/4/2022 by

Hey Jane provides medication abortion for anyone who is at least 18 years old, medically eligible, up to 10 weeks pregnant, and located in New York, California, Washington, Illinois, Colorado or New Mexico.

“Doctor’s appointments can be very difficult to get. With Hey Jane, we can get medication to patients in like a day.” Hanna Kim, lead nurse for Hey Jane, told Ms. “Patients feel really cared for. I remember one email that said, ‘I felt like I was talking to a mom or a sister who had all the answers.'”

The Pornification of War in Ukraine

PUBLISHED 3/30/2022 by and

The trending of #Ukraine on porn sites is only a recent development of an age-old misogyny, as old as warfare itself.

Research shows that habitual users of online porn seek ever more explicit and graphic images in order to sustain the same level of arousal. This partly explains the uptick in searches for pornographic videos of Ukrainian women after the invasion. It also accounts for the horrifying genres known as “refugee porn” and “war porn.” These videos link sex with desperation and violence. But not just any violence will do. The user is mainly interested in videos that feature the utter degradation of women and girls.

I Work the Pandemic Frontlines—But the Cost of Childcare May Force Me Out

PUBLISHED 3/28/2022 by

Amidst all the challenges those of us at the frontlines have faced, the most stressful part of my life comes from the failure that is America’s childcare system.

Congress has the opportunity to change this and help millions of families by passing President Biden’s economic plan. It will cap childcare costs at 7 percent of a middle class family’s income and provide universal preschool to all children aged 3 and 4. This would directly help my family afford childcare, and indirectly help all of my patients. 

Idaho Is the Second State to Ban Abortion After Six Weeks

PUBLISHED 3/24/2022 by

Idaho has become the second state to ban abortion after six weeks.

“By the time you get to six weeks into pregnancy, chances are it is very difficult to have gotten an abortion,” said Lisa Humes-Schulz, vice president of policy and regulatory affairs for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Northwest. “It’s not when you find out you become pregnant, but how long it takes you to get an abortion when you find out in idaho. There’s so few providers, a waiting period, you have to travel and raise money. That’s a big task.” 

Environmental Justice Is An Abortion Rights Issue

PUBLISHED 3/23/2022 by

As abortion becomes increasingly inaccessible in much of the U.S., many more people may soon find themselves with no choice but to fly or drive long distances to access the care that they need.

People should be able to exercise their bodily autonomy and control their reproductive lives without leaving their communities. Whether people opt to make lengthy drives or to fly in the face of bans and restrictions, the environmental cost of forcing this travel will ultimately impact us all.

Texas Abortion Funds File New Challenges to Abortion Ban: ‘We Will Not Be Intimidated’

PUBLISHED 3/23/2022 by

Two Texas abortion funds—the Texas Equal Access Fund and the Lilith Fund—filed lawsuits asking the courts to declare S.B. 8 unconstitutional and to block the defendants from enforcing the law. Whereas previous lawsuits challenging S.B. 8 were filed in Texas, which falls within the notoriously anti-abortion 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, these news lawsuits are filed in Chicago and Washington, D.C., which fall within the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 7th Circuit and the District of Columbia, which are seen as likely to be more favorable to their arguments.

“We are proud to fight back, even when we have no choice,” said Amanda Beatriz Williams, executive director of Lilith Fund.