There are no longer consequences for abortionists if they attempt to complete abortions in places other than abortion clinics (which are no longer required to be licensed ambulatory surgical treatment centers) or hospitals. With the changes brought by the Illinois Reproductive Health Act, they may be able to commit abortions in literal back alleys if their "professional judgment" deems it acceptable. Read more by clicking the link below:
April 16, 2020
April 15, 2020
Alabama Temporary Abortion Ban Blocked by Federal Judge
“... efforts to combat COVID-19 do not outweigh the lasting harm imposed by the denial of an individual’s right to terminate her pregnancy, by an undue burden or increase in risk on patients imposed by a delayed procedure, or by the cloud of unwarranted prosecution against providers,” she wrote on Easter Sunday.
The order was designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 and preserve medical resources for doctors fighting the pandemic.
A similar executive order in Texas has been brought all the way to the Supreme Court and could be decided any day.
Click here to read more.
Restraining Order Blocking Oklahoma's Temporary Abortion Ban Upheld by Appeals Court
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's temporary restraining order against Oklahoma's temporary elective abortion ban due to a technicality.The judges concluded that they could not challenge District Judge Charles Goodwin's action because it was only a temporary restraining order. Temporary restraining orders are meant to block certain government actions from taking effect until after a judge has fully considered the case and come to a decision. In the case of the Oklahoma ban, which was only written to continue until the end of this month, the time Goodwin spends making a decision could essentially block the executive order entirely.
Abortion clinics do not deserve to be the exception to Oklahoma's executive order, which actually bans all elective surgeries and minor medical procedures. Abortion clinics that continue to complete abortions during the COVID-19 outbreak are putting unnecessary additional strain on medical resources such as personal protective equipment which could be used by doctors treating patients with COVID-19.
Click here to read more.
Fifth Circuit Ruling Creates Exception for Chemical Abortions in Texas Ban on Non-Essential Medical Procedures
The state of Texas, which has apparently become ground zero for legal battles about states temporarily banning elective abortions during the COVID-19 epidemic, has hit another obstacle. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily blocked part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order until it makes a decision specifically about whether chemical abortions can be banned via executive order during emergencies.The ban against surgical abortions still remains in place (unless the mother's pregnancy would exceed Texas's late-term abortion ban of 22 weeks), but women will be able to have chemical abortions by taking the abortion pill regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol at least until the court makes a decision. The first of these suffocates and starves an unborn child of the nutrients that a mother's body normally provides them, and the second induces labor to remove the deceased baby from the mother's womb.
Click here to read more.
April 14, 2020
Planned Parenthood Goes to Supreme Court Seeking Restraining Order Against Texas Temporary Elective Abortion Ban
Planned Parenthood issued an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court asking for a reinstatement of a temporary restraining order against a Texas executive order temporarily banning non-essential abortions during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Supreme Court accepted the appeal and a decision could be made at any time, letting Americans know what stance the highest court will take on this issue.“The court is unjustifiably forcing women to wait until the 11th hour to get the time-sensitive, essential healthcare that they are constitutionally guaranteed,” Center for Reproductive Rights President and CEO Nancy Northup told the Texas Tribune, adding, “We will pursue all legal options to ensure no women are left behind.”
The executive order technically bans all non-essential medical procedures, including elective abortions. Planned Parenthood is arguing that abortions are an essential service, and is fighting ongoing legal battles against states across the country to receive exceptions from similar rules. The temporary ban on non-essential medical procedures is designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 and preserve essential personal protective equipment for doctors helping fight the virus.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order was originally blocked by federal judge Lee Yeakel, but his decision was quickly overturned in a 2-1 ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The latter ruled that elective abortions could be temporarily banned under a governor's emergency powers unless an unborn child would pass that state's gestational cutoff for late-term abortions (22 weeks in Texas).
Click here to read more.
Doctors Deliver Premature Baby of Mother in Induced Coma Fighting COVID-19. Both Survive.
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| Angela Primachenko Photo from Instagram |
“After all the medication and everything I just woke up and all of a sudden, I didn’t have my belly anymore. It was just extremely mind-blowing,” Primachenko said.
Her daughter, whom she named Ava, tested negative for COVID-19 after her premature birth. Ava has been staying in neo-natal intensive care, while her mother was released from the hospital on Saturday.
“Everyone did a standing ovation and just clapped me out of the ICU, which is so amazing and such a huge thing to be able to leave the ICU and go to the floor — it’s just the grace of God,” she said.
Primachenko hopes to be able to hold her daughter soon but has had to keep her distance from Ava to prevent her exposure to COVID-19.
Click here to read more.
April 13, 2020
Undercover Pro-Lifer Finds Websites will Mail Abortion Pills to Women without Meeting a Doctor
Undercover pro-lifer Joe Baca recently found that when he used female aliases on several abortion pill websites, businesses were willing to send him pills and prescriptions without him needing to meet a doctor or verify his identity.Joe Baca was able to order abortion pills from the websites AbortionRx.com and AidAccess.org, and he shared his experience with Live Action News.
“Neither company required proof of a doctor’s visit or even an ultrasound proving I was pregnant,” he said. “They did nothing to make sure I was not being abused, raped or trafficked. They did absolutely nothing to verify I was an adult beyond asking me how old I was. I simply told them I was born in 1995, but they never asked for an ID.”
“When I asked someone from AbortionRx.com if I needed an ID to prove I was an adult they said, ‘We trust that you are at least 18,'” Baca said. “When I asked if I should go to a doctor after I took the abortion pills, I was highly discouraged. They said that the medical staff would only try to con me into additional charges. When I asked one of these recommended companies what I should do if I bled profusely for several days, they let me know that they were not doctors but I could ‘Google it’ if I was concerned.”
He was able to order the first part of the abortion pill regimen, mifepristone, from AbortionRx.com, and it came packaged in bubble wrap with candy. He received prescriptions for the second part of the abortion pill regimen, misoprostol, from both websites. Mifepristone kills an unborn child by stopping the flow of nutrients from a mother to her child, while misoprostol completes an abortion by causing a woman to go into labor and "complete her miscarriage." Misoprostol is not recommended by the FDA to be used alone to complete abortions, but that is what AbortionRX.com prescribed.
Click here to read more.
April 10, 2020
Pennsylvania Health Department Document Proposes "Point System" Potentially Rationing Health Care for the Disabled
Disability Rights Pennsylvania has filed a civil rights complaint against the Pennsylvania Health Department for a document suggesting that those with disabilities might not receive ventilators during the coronavirus outbreak. The document suggests that healthcare providers use a "point system" biased against those with preexisting conditions and disabilities for accessing these life-saving devices.The points system specifically prioritizes those with longer life expectancies over those with preexisting conditions.
“Doctors associate certain disabilities with a poor prognosis for long-term survival even though people with disabilities regularly outlive the prognoses that doctors ascribe to them, often by years,” Disability Rights Pennsylvania legal director Kelly Darr wrote in a letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
The letter goes on to suggest the document in its current form could allow physicians to take ventilators away from disabled persons who already use them regularly, “People who are dependent on ventilators should not be at risk of losing their life-preserving equipment if they must go to the hospital. Failure to include such protections in the [guidelines] will discourage such individuals from seeking necessary health care – for COVID-19 or any other issues that may require hospitalization.”
A Pennsylvania Health Department spokesperson gave this response to the criticism: “The interim guidance that was sent to hospitals was a draft that was not meant for further distribution. We will be working with these and additional stakeholders on a final document.”
The fact that the Health Department's response only says that the public wasn't supposed to know about the point system and doesn't suggest that it will be changed doesn't bode well for groups that could be marginalized. The public needs to keep a close eye on the medical system during this time to watch out for discriminatory health care rationing.
Click here to read more.
Idaho Joins List of States with "Trigger Laws" Outlawing Abortion if Roe v. Wade is Overturned
The bill's statement of purpose says the following:
This bill becomes effective when the United States Supreme Court restores to the states their authority to prohibit abortion, or the United States Constitution is amended to restore to the states their authority to prohibit abortion. Upon the occurrence of these prerequisites, this statute makes the performance of an abortion a crime.
The bill has exceptions for cases of rape and incest and will charge abortionists rather than women for the potential crime of abortion. Doctors who commit abortions can potentially lose their licenses if the law does come into effect.
April 9, 2020
Appeals Court Upholds Texas's Temporary Elective Abortion Ban
A three-judge panel from the 5th circuit court of appeals voted 2-1 Tuesday to overturn a lower-court judge's ruling which would have blocked the Texas governor's temporary ban on elective abortions during the COVID-19 outbreak.The executive order prohibits non-essential medical and surgical procedures to conserve resources for the ongoing pandemic. Last week, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals put a temporary stay on federal judge Lee Yeakel’s order blocking Gov. Greg Abbott's ban. On Tuesday, they announced a decision overturning Yeakel's ruling entirely.
From the majority opinion:
"The bottom line is this: when faced with a society-threatening epidemic, a state may implement emergency measures that curtail constitutional rights so long as the measures have at least some “real or substantial relation” to the public health crisis and are not “beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law.” Courts may ask whether the state’s emergency measures lack basic exceptions for “extreme cases,” and whether the measures are pretextual—that is, arbitrary or oppressive. At the same time, however, courts may not second-guess the wisdom or efficacy of the measures."A "telephonic preliminary injunction hearing" is scheduled for April 13, when both sides will present additional evidence for the court to consider.
Click here to read more.
April 8, 2020
Illinois Reproductive Health Act Fact 3: Abortion Facilities No Longer Need State “Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center" Licenses
Abortion clinics are no longer required to be licensed by the state as “Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Centers.” One perk of this is that they will no longer be inspected by the state. Read more about the change by clicking the link below:
Federal Judge Rules Certain Elective Abortions Can Continue During Oklahoma's Temporary Ban
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| Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter |
Goodwin ordered April 8 that the temporary ban on elective surgical abortions “may not be enforced with respect to any patient who will lose her right to lawfully obtain an abortion in Oklahoma.” Additionally, he wrote that the prohibition “on medication abortions may not be enforced.” The court clarified its decision by saying, “while the current public health emergency allows the State of Oklahoma to impose some of the cited measures delaying abortion procedures, it has acted in an ‘unreasonable,’ ‘arbitrary,’ and ‘oppressive’ way – and imposed an ‘undue burden’ on abortion access – in imposing requirements that effectively deny a right of access to abortion.”
Women whose pregnancies will go past the 20-week gestation abortion limit during the temporary ban will be allowed to have abortions through the duration of the ban, which ends April 30.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said his office plans to appeal the decision to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Click here to read more.
World Health Organization Says Abortion is Essential Even During Pandemic
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| World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus |
The World Health Organization, a pro-abortion United Nations entity designed to "direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations system," said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation that “services related to reproductive health are considered to be part of essential services during the COVID-19 outbreak.”
“Women’s choices and rights to sexual and reproductive health care should be respected, irrespective of whether or not she has a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection,” WHO said in their statement. This is a misrepresentation of the arguments government officials have been making against providing abortions during this time. The temporary closure mandates in states like Texas were created not to discriminate against those who might have the virus, but to preserve medical equipment and slow the spread of the disease by keeping people from sitting in crowded waiting rooms during this time.
The further said that “sexual and reproductive health care is integral to universal health coverage and achieving the right to health... This includes contraception, quality health care during and after pregnancy and childbirth, and safe abortion to the full extent of the law.” The WHO noted that it provides both global technology and policy guidance to WHO members “on the use of contraception to prevent unintended pregnancy, safe abortion, and treatment of complications from unsafe abortion.”
In the White House's April 7 coronavirus briefing, Donald Trump said that he was open to ending United States funding of the WHO.
“They seem to err always on the side of China and we fund it, so I want to look into it,” the president said.
A reporter challenged Trump's statement, saying, “Is it time to freeze [U.S.] funding to the WHO during a pandemic?”
“No, maybe not,” Trump responded. “I am not saying that I am going to do it, but we are going to look at it. We are going to investigate it, we are going to look into it... but we will look at ending funding because you know what, they called it wrong and if you look back over the years even, they’re very much – everything seems to be very biased towards China – that's not right.”
Click here to read more.
April 7, 2020
Team of State Attorneys General Announce They will Assist in Fight Against Texas's Temporary Abortion Restrictions
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| New York Attorney General Letitia James |
Texas is one of several states which enacted an emergency ban on non-essential medical procedures to slow the spread of COVID-19 and preserve important medical equipment such as masks and gloves for doctors fighting the novel disease. Because the state correctly considers elective abortions to be non-essential services that drain resources risk spreading the disease, a team of 19 pro-abortion attorneys general from across the country announced that they will be fighting the Texas ban. New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Twitter April 3 that she would be leading the team.
“I’m leading 19 AGs in legal action to stop Texas from blocking nearly all abortion services & using the #coronavirus as an excuse. In our nation, a woman has a constitutional right to access an abortion & I won't stand for assaults on women's choices, freedoms & bodies," she wrote.
States expending resources to fight each others' coronavirus response policies is hardly an efficient use of government time and money during this unprecedented time. Hopefully, these government officials will realize that they need to prioritize the health and safety of their respective citizens, at least for the time being if not always.I'm leading 19 AGs in legal action to stop Texas from blocking nearly all abortion services & using the #coronavirus as an excuse.— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) April 3, 2020
In our nation, a woman has a constitutional right to access an abortion & I won't stand for assaults on women's choices, freedoms & bodies.
Click here to read more.
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Denies Ohio Appeal to Reverse Federal Judge's Restraining Order Against Temporary Abortion Ban
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| Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost |
State governments continue to hit judicial roadblocks as they attempt to temporarily ban abortions during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are grateful to Attorney General Dave Yost for his continued leadership in holding the abortion industry accountable and we are hopeful that he will continue to do so in light of this ruling,” said Ohio Right to Life vice president Stephanie Ranade Krider. “While all Ohioans are being asked to make sacrifices in order to preserve innocent lives, the larger medical community is sacrificing the most: not only their time, but their equipment, their private practices, and potentially their own lives. The abortion industry ought not interpret this as a loophole to continue ending innocent lives, push abortion on demand, and proceed with business as usual.”
Other states have had mixed results with their bans so far. Some explicitly exempt abortionists from their rules, while others have been fighting similar legal battles.
April 6, 2020
Wisconsin Governor Allows All “Healthcare and Public Health Operations” to Remain Open to Justify Abortion During Pandemic
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| Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) |
Many states have introduced mandates banning all "elective" or "non-essential" medical procedures until further notice. These bans were introduced both to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in these environments and to reduce demand for protective equipment used by physicians helping to fight the pandemic. State governments have conflicting opinions on whether elective abortion should is considered an "essential service," and several pro-abortion organizations have challenged orders temporarily banning elective abortions. These cases will likely continue being debated in federal courts over the next several weeks.
Wisconsin's ban is unique because it specifically exempts all "Healthcare and Public Health Operations" which the order says “shall be broadly construed.” Because of this, it seems as though abortionists, dentists, and even chiropractors in Wisconsin may not have to close their doors despite most businesses being required to do so. By taking this stance, Gov. Evers doesn't have to argue against claims that abortion providers are being given special treatment over healthcare businesses. However, all of these businesses are still being given special treatment over other businesses in general whenever they are allowed to continue doing business by providing non-essential services.
Why should abortion clinics be allowed to stay open when a florist is required to close? Neither provides an essential service. Abortion doesn't treat any disease. In edge cases when a mother's life is at risk, emergency delivery via induced labor or c-section is less risky because it is faster than preparing a woman for surgical abortion. By providing these exceptions, governors are simply picking which businesses will be winners and losers.
April 3, 2020
21 State Attorneys General, Including Illinois AG Kwame Raoul, Ask Federal Officials to Lift Restrictions on Abortion Pills
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| Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul Credit: Illinois Public Radio / Flickr |
"...due to the REMS, patients have to travel to a designated clinic, medical office, or hospital, as opposed to getting a prescription from their doctor using telehealth, and then obtaining Mifepristone at a local pharmacy or delivered by mail," the letter reads. "The FDA should not mandate this medically unnecessary travel, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis where not only are women being advised to stay home, but families are faced with additional childcare and financial constraints."
If REMS restrictions were lifted, abortionists providing women with prescriptions for abortion pills will not perform ultrasounds on the women to whom they are recommending Mifepristone. This means that women who have pregnancies later than 10 weeks or who have ectopic pregnancies could receive prescriptions when they should not for their own safety. In these situations, the abortion pill regiment has an increased risk of complications such as hemorrhaging. The fact that travel to meet a physician and undergo an ultrasound to ensure a woman's safety is considered "medically unnecessary" by these attorneys general shows that they don't care about the safety of women who have abortions. They only care that abortions continue to happen.
"In light of the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis," the letter later states, "We request you remove the FDA’s restrictive REMS designation for Mifepristone thereby removing these unnecessary, undue burdens in accessing safe and time-sensitive, essential medical care. Alternatively, at a minimum, we request that you use your enforcement discretion to allow certified prescribers to use telehealth for mifepristone.
The attorneys general who sent this letter were further willing to ask that federal officials look the other way if abortionists provide pills over the mail during this pandemic, thereby neglecting their duties to protect the health and safety of Americans. The requests made by these state officials show a disregard for the safety of the citizens they serve.
Click here to read more.
April 2, 2020
Illinois Reproductive Health Act Fact 2: Illinois Will No Longer Assure the Safety of Abortions
Here's another fact exposing the dangers of the Illinois Reproductive Health Act which was signed into law last summer:
GET THE FACTS - Click here to view or download this week's fact sheet.
Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Illinois Attracts Cars from 6 States, Sends Patient to Hospital in Missouri.
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| Credit: Operation Rescue |
To top everything off, pro-life onlookers watched as a Granite City ambulance came to pick up a woman on a gurney and transport her across the Mississippi River to Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. A large hospital exists directly across the street from Hope Clinic, but the nearest hospital with which abortionist Erin King presumably holds hospital admitting privileges is not even in the same state.
“With women coming from six different states for abortions and being forced together into an over-crowded waiting room, the threat exists that when the women go home, they could take the virus with them and spreading it in their home communities,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “The Hope Clinic is not only placing the lives of women at risk with botched abortions, as they did over the weekend, but are also endangering Americans over a vast geographical region, and could be prolonging the current health crisis. This is a public health emergency that must be addressed by the State of Illinois. For the good of the public, Illinois must shut down their abortion mills.”
Click here to read more.
Indiana Governor Issues Order For Physicians to Cancel or Postpone 'Elective and Non-Urgent' Procedures- Including Abortion
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| Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb |
The executive order applies to all kinds of non-essential procedures, but it does provide a list of examples in writing: "health care facilities, whether hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, dental facilities, plastic surgery centers, dermatology offices and abortion clinics" will all be affected.
"We're living in and through an 'all hands on deck' moment if I've ever seen one and it is unifying our state in ways that I could not imagine," Holcomb said regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He also specifically called out abortion clinics again in a statement; making it clear that he was not going to allow clinics to define their own services as "essential": "I directed all healthcare facilities — hospitals, surgical centers, veterinarians, dermatologists, yes, abortion clinics — to cancel all elective or non-urgent procedures."
Click here to read more.
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