More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Abortion is an essential healthcare service. Abortion access is varied across the world and throughout the United States due to anti-abortion legislation. Access is often dependent on social factors such as income, race, geographic region and citizenship status.
The Texas abortion ban’s harsh penalties are “terrifying” doctors, leading to women dying from miscarriages.
“It’s like a knife straight to your stomach,” said Dr. Todd Ivey, a Houston-based OB-GYN at an academic hospital, about a third woman dying in the state during a miscarriage.
Five doctors who provide reproductive healthcare in Texas on why they believe three healthy young women died—and their advice about how other pregnant Texans can do their best to survive a miscarriage in the state.
Twenty-three antiabortion extremists convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) were pardoned by President Donald Trump on Thursday. The pardons place extremists responsible for invading and blockading reproductive healthcare clinics in dozens of states back on the street, inviting more violence and chaos against patients and abortion providers.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Sunday said the legislature should amend the language of the state’s near-total abortion ban to address confusion over when doctors may terminate pregnancies. Patrick is the first major state elected official to offer support for changing the state’s abortion law in this legislative session.
“I do think we need to clarify any language so that doctors are not in fear of being penalized if they think the life of the mother is at risk,” Patrick said on the WFAA program Inside Texas Politics.
As the nation grapples with a new political reality, the legacy of Roe v. Wade and Cecile Richards reminds us of the power of coalition-building, advocacy and bold leadership in the fight for bodily autonomy.
In recent years, the use of abortion pills has skyrocketed and now accounts for an estimated 65 percent of all abortions performed in medical settings, including through both brick-and-mortar clinics and telehealth providers.
Carrie N. Baker’s fascinating new book, Abortion Pills: U.S. History and Policy, tells the story of a decades-long struggle for acceptance of this safe, secure and private method of ending an early pregnancy. It’s also a story of antiabortion attempts to suppress abortion pills.
An increasing number of healthcare providers are prescribing abortion pills in advance of pregnancy, and many people are ordering these pills to have on hand in case they or a loved one needs them. Between September 2021 and April 2023, over 40,000 people ordered advance provision abortion pills. In one recent national survey, 65 percent of respondents said they would be interested in having these medications on hand. Advance provision abortion pills can significantly shorten the time between the decision to end a pregnancy and having an abortion. Growing legal restrictions on abortion and threats of even more restrictions once Trump is back in office have made this option more important than ever.
As well documented by the media, Trump’s second term presents a grave domestic threat to essential sexual and reproductive healthcare, which has already been decimated across wide swaths of the country. Considerably less attention, however, has been paid to the devastation his presidency will unleash worldwide when he undoubtedly reinstates the global gag rule, as it is anticipated he will do as a “day one” priority.
In anticipation of this devastating global attack on abortion access, over 100 international civil society organizations have joined together to urgently demand the permanent repeal of the global gag rule.
Fueling the sense of urgency, Project 2025 calls for the further expansion of the gag rule beyond foreign health aid to include “all foreign assistance, including humanitarian aid.” This expansion would increase the affected funding from about $7.3 billion to about $51 billion. Project 2025’s vision of an expanded global gag rule would also, for the first time, include foreign governments in addition to NGOs within its prohibitive sweep.
Each year, the holiday dedicated to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminds us of his remarkable contributions in the fight for civil rights and freedom and his powerful legacy that continues to serve as a beacon of hope. In 2025, the holiday falls on Inauguration Day, when the nation will witness the swearing-in of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States.
Regardless of any discouragement, frustrations and setbacks we may experience in the coming weeks and months, we can learn from Dr. King’s example and remain unbowed, unflinching and undeterred in opposing injustice and fighting for equality. Our commitment must last well beyond Jan. 20—until the promise of democracy becomes a reality for all.
After more than 50 years of providing abortions, Dr. Warren Hern of Boulder, Colo. will retire on Jan. 22 of this year. For 50+ years, he has been one of the most high-profile—and controversial—abortion doctors in the United States. This controversy has stemmed from his work as one of only a handful of providers to perform abortions in the late second trimester and the third trimester of pregnancy.
Though only about 1.5 percent of abortions in the U.S. take place after 20 weeks’ gestation, often due to lethal or serious fetal anomalies or health emergencies of pregnant women, those who perform such abortions have been subject to an even higher level of violence and harassment than that of other providers. One of the most traumatic events of Hern’s life was the loss of his close friend and colleague, Dr. George Tiller, also a provider of later abortions, who was assassinated in his church by an antiabortion zealot after being assailed for years as “Tiller the Killer,” including by a Fox News personality. A note he received from one patient no doubt reflects the feelings of many: “I can’t put into words my gratitude for your compassion during the hardest time in my life.”
On Wednesday, Marco Rubio appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing as the next secretary of state. Rubio is expected to be confirmed without any serious opposition, thanks to the rarity of Cabinet nominee rejections and public support for Rubio, even among Democratic senators. (Rubio served for years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as a senator from Florida, and Democrats like Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Cory Booker of New Jersey greeted him warmly on Wednesday.)
But make no mistake—Rubio’s history of hostility toward reproductive autonomy and his recent embrace of “America First” nationalism heralds a State Department that decimates women’s health, human rights and well-being.