Latest news with #antiabortion
The Independent
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Passengers intervene to stop Labour MP being ‘hassled' by man on Tube
Labour MP Stella Creasy thanked London Underground passengers for intervening when she was harassed by a man on the Victoria Line. Ms Creasy is considering reporting the incident to the police and has appealed for witnesses to come forward. This incident follows a history of abuse and harassment faced by Ms Creasy, including from anti-abortion activists and a man who was jailed in 2014 for sending her violent messages. She was previously forced to install a panic button at her home due to threats received after supporting Jane Austen's image on a banknote. The incident highlights concerns raised by a recent cross-party inquiry, which warned that abuse and intimidation against MPs are undermining democracy, and called for a review of electoral law and enhanced security for political candidates. Stella Creasy thanks passengers for intervening as she was 'hassled' by man on London Underground
The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Planned Parenthood CEO warns budget bill could devastate group and slash abortion access in blue states
Planned Parenthood stands to lose roughly $700m in federal funding if the US House passes Republicans' massive spending-and-tax bill, the organization's CEO said on Wednesday, amounting to what abortion rights supporters and opponents alike have called a 'backdoor abortion ban'. 'We are facing down the reality that nearly 200 health centers are at risk of closure. We're facing a reality of the impact on shutting down almost half of abortion-providing health centers,' Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood Federation of Americas's CEO, said in an interview Wednesday morning. 'It does feel existential. Not just for Planned Parenthood, but for communities that are relying on access to this care.' Anti-abortion activists have longed to 'defund' Planned Parenthood for decades. They are closer than ever to achieving their goal. That $700m figure represents the loss that Planned Parenthood would face from a provision in the spending bill that would impose a one-year Medicaid ban on healthcare non-profits that offer abortions and that received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023, as well as the funding that Planned Parenthood could lose from Title X, the nation's largest family-planning program. In late March, the Trump administration froze tens of millions of dollars of Title X funding that had been set aside for some Planned Parenthood and other family-planning clinics. 'Essentially what you are seeing is a gutting of a safety net,' said McGill Johnson, who characterized the bill as a 'backdoor abortion ban' in a statement. Medicaid is the US government's insurance program for low-income people, and about 80 million people use it. If the latest version of the spending-and-tax bill passes, nearly 12 million people are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage. Donald Trump has said that he would like the bill to be on his desk, ready for a signature, by 4 July. The provision attacking Planned Parenthood would primarily target clinics in blue states that have protected abortion rights since the overturning of Roe v Wade three years ago, because those blue states have larger numbers of people on Medicaid. Although not all Planned Parenthood clinics perform abortions, the reproductive healthcare giant provides 38% of US abortions, according to the latest data from Abortion Care Network, a membership group for independent abortion clinics. Among the clinics at risk of closure, Planned Parenthood estimated, more than 90% are in states that permit abortion. Sixty percent are located in areas that have been deemed 'medically underserved'. In total, more than 1.1 million Planned Parenthood patients could lose access to care. 'There's nowhere else for folks' to go, McGill Johnson said. 'The community health centers have said they cannot absorb the patients that Planned Parenthood sees. So I think that we do need to just call it a targeted attack because that's exactly how it is.' Nationally, 11% of female Medicaid beneficiaries between the ages of 15 and 49 and who receive family-planning services go to Planned Parenthood for a range of services, according to an analysis by the non-profit KFF, which tracks healthcare policy. Those numbers rise in blue states like Washington, Oregon and Connecticut. In California, that number soars to 29%. The impact on the state would be so devastating that Nichole Ramirez, senior vice-president of communication and donor relations at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino counties, called the tax-and-spending package's provision 'a direct attack on us, really'. 'They haven't been able to figure out how to ban abortion nationwide and they haven't been able to figure out how to ban abortion in California specifically,' said Ramirez, who estimated that Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino counties stands to lose between $40m and $60m. Ramirez continued: 'This is their way to go about banning abortion. That is the entire goal here.' Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion In a post on X, the prominent anti-abortion group Live Action reposted an image of a Planned Parenthood graphic calling the provision 'backdoor abortion ban'. 'They might be onto us,' Live Action wrote. The Planned Parenthood network is overseen by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, but it also consists of dozens of independent regional affiliates that operate nearly 600 clinics across the country. In June, as the spending-and-tax bill moved through Congress, Autonomy News, an outlet that focuses on threats to bodily autonomy, reported that Planned Parenthood Federation of America's accreditation board had sent waivers out to affiliates to apply for approval to cease providing abortions in order to preserve access to Medicaid funding. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that a memo sent to the leadership of one California affiliate suggests that leaders there had considered ending abortion services. McGill Johnson said that there have been discussions within Planned Parenthood's network about what it would mean to stop offering abortions. But no affiliates, to her knowledge, are moving forward with plans to stop performing the procedure. 'Educating our volunteers and teams around hard decisions to stand and understand the impact of that is different than weighing and considering a stoppage of abortion,' McGill Johnson said. The budget bill and Title X funding freeze aren't the only sources of pressure on the group. The US supreme court last week ruled in favor of South Carolina in a case involving the state's attempt to kick Planned Parenthood out of its state Medicaid reimbursement program – a ruling that will likely give a green light to other states that also want to defund Planned Parenthood. At least one other organization that provides abortion and family-planning services, Maine Family Planning, will be affected by the provision, according to the organization's CEO, George Hill. Maine Family Planning directly operates 18 clinics, including several that provide primary care or are in rural, medically underserved areas. If the provision takes effect, Hill estimates, the organization would lose 20% of its operating budget. 'It's dressed up as a budget provision, but it's not,' Hill said. 'They're basically taking the rug out from under our feet.'
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Planned Parenthood CEO warns Trump bill will lead to $700m loss and ‘backdoor abortion ban'
Planned Parenthood stands to lose roughly $700m in federal funding if the US House passes Republicans' massive spending-and-tax bill, the organization's CEO said on Wednesday, amounting to what abortion rights supporters and opponents alike have called a 'backdoor abortion ban'. 'We are facing down the reality that nearly 200 health centers are at risk of closure. We're facing a reality of the impact on shutting down almost half of abortion-providing health centers,' Alexis McGill Johnson, Planned Parenthood Federation of Americas's CEO, said in an interview Wednesday morning. 'It does feel existential. Not just for Planned Parenthood, but for communities that are relying on access to this care.' Anti-abortion activists have longed to 'defund' Planned Parenthood for decades. They are closer than ever to achieving their goal. That $700m figure represents the loss that Planned Parenthood would face from a provision in the spending bill that would impose a one-year Medicaid ban on healthcare non-profits that offer abortions and that received more than $800,000 in federal funding in 2023, as well as the funding that Planned Parenthood could lose from Title X, the nation's largest family-planning program. In late March, the Trump administration froze tens of millions of dollars of Title X funding that had been set aside for some Planned Parenthood and other family-planning clinics. 'Essentially what you are seeing is a gutting of a safety net,' said McGill Johnson, who characterized the bill as a 'backdoor abortion ban' in a statement. Medicaid is the US government's insurance program for low-income people, and about 80 million people use it. If the latest version of the spending-and-tax bill passes, nearly 12 million people are expected to lose their Medicaid coverage. Donald Trump has said that he would like the bill to be on his desk, ready for a signature, by 4 July. The provision attacking Planned Parenthood would primarily target clinics in blue states that have protected abortion rights since the overturning of Roe v Wade three years ago, because those blue states have larger numbers of people on Medicaid. Although not all Planned Parenthood clinics perform abortions, the reproductive healthcare giant provides 38% of US abortions, according to the latest data from Abortion Care Network, a membership group for independent abortion clinics. Among the clinics at risk of closure, Planned Parenthood estimated, more than 90% are in states that permit abortion. Sixty percent are located in areas that have been deemed 'medically underserved'. In total, more than 1.1 million Planned Parenthood patients could lose access to care. 'There's nowhere else for folks' to go, McGill Johnson said. 'The community health centers have said they cannot absorb the patients that Planned Parenthood sees. So I think that we do need to just call it a targeted attack because that's exactly how it is.' Nationally, 11% of female Medicaid beneficiaries between the ages of 15 and 49 and who receive family-planning services go to Planned Parenthood for a range of services, according to an analysis by the non-profit KFF, which tracks healthcare policy. Those numbers rise in blue states like Washington, Oregon and Connecticut. In California, that number soars to 29%. The impact on the state would be so devastating that Nichole Ramirez, senior vice-president of communication and donor relations at Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino counties, called the tax-and-spending package's provision 'a direct attack on us, really'. 'They haven't been able to figure out how to ban abortion nationwide and they haven't been able to figure out how to ban abortion in California specifically,' said Ramirez, who estimated that Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino counties stands to lose between $40m and $60m. Ramirez continued: 'This is their way to go about banning abortion. That is the entire goal here.' Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion In a post on X, the prominent anti-abortion group Live Action reposted an image of a Planned Parenthood graphic calling the provision 'backdoor abortion ban'. 'They might be onto us,' Live Action wrote. The Planned Parenthood network is overseen by Planned Parenthood Federation of America, but it also consists of dozens of independent regional affiliates that operate nearly 600 clinics across the country. In June, as the spending-and-tax bill moved through Congress, Autonomy News, an outlet that focuses on threats to bodily autonomy, reported that Planned Parenthood Federation of America's accreditation board had sent waivers out to affiliates to apply for approval to cease providing abortions in order to preserve access to Medicaid funding. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that a memo sent to the leadership of one California affiliate suggests that leaders there had considered ending abortion services. McGill Johnson said that there have been discussions within Planned Parenthood's network about what it would mean to stop offering abortions. But no affiliates, to her knowledge, are moving forward with plans to stop performing the procedure. 'Educating our volunteers and teams around hard decisions to stand and understand the impact of that is different than weighing and considering a stoppage of abortion,' McGill Johnson said. The budget bill and Title X funding freeze aren't the only sources of pressure on the group. The US supreme court last week ruled in favor of South Carolina in a case involving the state's attempt to kick Planned Parenthood out of its state Medicaid reimbursement program – a ruling that will likely give a green light to other states that also want to defund Planned Parenthood. At least one other organization that provides abortion and family-planning services, Maine Family Planning, will be affected by the provision, according to the organization's CEO, George Hill. Maine Family Planning directly operates 18 clinics, including several that provide primary care or are in rural, medically underserved areas. If the provision takes effect, Hill estimates, the organization would lose 20% of its operating budget. 'It's dressed up as a budget provision, but it's not,' Hill said. 'They're basically taking the rug out from under our feet.'
New York Times
22-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Arkansas May Not Be Ready for a ‘Healing' Anti-Abortion Monument
On the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol, just behind a large stone tablet etched with the Ten Commandments, is a grassy meadow designated for a second state-sanctioned project. This one, envisioned as a long wall of luscious green plants, will serve as Arkansas's 'Monument to Unborn Children.' In 2023, an artist named Lakey Goff won a public contest to design the state's official anti-abortion memorial. Her entry — which called for 1,400 plants and a Bible quotation, as well as the piped-in sounds of Arkansas waterfalls — stood out from a raft of more literal-minded entries featuring fetuses and infants. Ms. Goff has described her 'living wall' as a gesture of reconciliation after decades of conflict over abortion policy. 'We're not at war with each other anymore,' Ms. Goff said last year to the members of the state commission that chose her design. 'This is about healing.' But the monument remains unbuilt, months after work on it was supposed to start, not least because the debate over abortion has continued to rage. Even in one of the most conservative states in the nation, bitterness and discord remain, three years after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion. Healing seems like a distant dream. Arkansas has long been hailed as the 'most pro-life state in America' by Americans United for Life, a leading anti-abortion group. On June 24, 2022, the day that Roe was overturned, the state enacted one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, with no exceptions for rape or incest. But last year, abortion rights activists gathered more than 100,000 signatures from many corners of the state for a ballot initiative that would have restored the right to an abortion up to 18 weeks after conception. Anti-abortion forces described the effort as 'radical' and countered with a statewide 'decline to sign' campaign. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Sky News
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Abortion debate reignited as Sky poll reveals public's view on decriminalisation ahead of Commons vote
A small group have gathered in the main square in the centre of Birmingham, and it's a real mix of people. There are older figures from the community, young students, as well as groups of friends and some families. On closer inspection, you can make out candles and rosary beads, signalling it's some kind of vigil. As hymns start to be sung, it's revealed to be a gathering to protest against abortion. Nearly 90% of this country is pro-choice, but a small, vocal minority is becoming more organised in the UK. Energised by the Trump administration, young and old activists in the UK anti-abortion movement have become more motivated to get their message across. And all this is happening just as abortion laws in the UK could be about to go through the most significant change in over 50 years. Nearly three years on from the ruling reversing Roe v Wade - a landmark case that once made abortion legal in the US - the age-old abortion debate has become even more political in the UK. A breakthrough moment came when Vice President JD Vance criticised the UK laws on abortion buffer zones - areas outside clinics where police are allowed to use their discretion to stop anyone harassing women entering abortion clinics. One of the cases cited by the vice president was that of Isabel Vaughan-Spruce. She's a lifelong anti-abortion activist who has been handing out leaflets outside clinics for 20 years. Since buffer zones came into force, she now visits to silently pray once a week. In 2022, she was arrested outside an abortion clinic for silent prayer and taken to court, although the charges were later dropped. She also received £13,000 in a civil claim against West Midlands Police, which did not admit liability. "They actually asked me what I was doing, and I said, well, I'm just physically standing here. I might be praying in my head, but nothing out loud. And on that basis, they made an arrest. I was heavily searched, I was taken to the police station, locked in a police cell for hours before being questioned under caution. And then, eventually, I went to court. "I believe that abortion centres are like the modern-day Calvary. This is where the innocent are being put to death. I might not be physically interacting with anybody or stopping anyone or talking to anyone, just to be there in prayer is really, really important from a spiritual perspective." For people like Ailish McEntee, any type of protest is a distraction, which she says is not wanted by the women who come to the clinic she works at in London. She's hoping that this week MPs will go further on abortion laws and pass an amendment through the Commons to decriminalise abortion for anyone seeking an abortion up to 24 weeks. "The law itself works very well for the majority of people, but for those individuals in those kind of really high-risk domestic abuse situations... they maybe can't make it to a clinic, they might seek abortion care from those kind of unregulated providers. "So this amendment would take away that decriminalisation of women themselves. And it's a really strange part of the law that we have. "I think particularly in recent years, with Roe v Wade overturning and Donald Trump winning the election again, I think it's really pushed forward the anti-choice rhetoric that has always been there, but it's absolutely ramping up." According to polling by Sky News and YouGov, 55% of people are in favour of the law changing to stop women being criminalised for their own abortion before 24 weeks. Surprisingly though, 22% said they believe women should be investigated or imprisoned for abortion after 24 weeks. Stella Creasy is one of the MPs laying down an amendment to try to decriminalise abortion. "There's no other health care provision that we see with a criminal foundation in this way and it has a very real practical consequence. "We've seen some incredibly vulnerable women and girls who didn't even know that they were pregnant who have late-term miscarriages finding themselves with police officers rather than counsellors at their hospital beds finding themselves under suspicion for months, if not years, and I just don't think that's where the British public are at." But Rachel is concerned by this amendment. She runs sessions at the UK arm of Rachel's Vineyard - a faith-based organisation originally founded in the United States, dedicated to, in their words, "healing the trauma of abortion". They frame abortion not as a medical procedure, but as a harm to mothers and fathers. "With all sudden deaths, whether you are 80 years of age or you're 26 weeks born, you know, out of the womb, and you've died, you've sadly died, we need to be able to investigate that. For us to have compassion, we need to have justice." In Northern Ireland, where the decriminalisation battle was won in 2019, I met Emma, who fought on the campaign at Alliance for Choice. She says police searches were a daily routine for her, and since 2019, she has been able to continue helping women navigate abortion care without the threat of being investigated. Orfhlaith Campbell should have been one of the lucky ones. She was able to seek a medical abortion at 23 weeks in Northern Ireland, two years after it had been decriminalised, but she says she had to fight to get the care she needed. She was on the cusp of the medical time limit when she suffered a premature rupture of membranes, went into labour and was told she would likely develop sepsis. "I would have died and my daughter was dying, I could feel her dying, and it was a compassionate choice. When we got the post-mortem after, the infection had went into her wee body too, and she had nuclear debris in her lungs. If she had survived at all, it would have been a very, very painful existence. "So yes, I had to break through the stigma that had been ingrained in me in Northern Ireland. I had to break through legal fights and the barriers that were being put in place. But I was strong enough to know that that was compassionate and that healthcare was needed both for me and her." The UK is majority pro-choice, and our polling shows the majority are for decriminalising abortion. But activists who are against abortion are energised by the changing landscape of the debate in the US.
