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Time of India
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
19th century law fails: Wisconsin supreme court overturns 176-year old abortion ban; pro-choice advocates cheer
Wisconsin supreme court (AP) On Wednesday, the Wisconsin supreme court ruled to overturn the state's 176-year-old abortion ban, determining that a more recent law, criminalising abortions only when the fetus is viable outside the womb, takes precedence. In a closely split 4-3 ruling, the court, with its liberal majority, declared that the state's 1849 abortion ban is not unenforceable. The court rejected arguments claiming the law had been revived after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022. That federal decision eliminated nationwide abortion protections and sparked legal uncertainty over whether Wisconsin's near-total 19th-century ban had been reactivated. The court sided with Democratic attorney general Josh Kaul, who argued that although the 1849 law was never formally repealed, it has effectively been nullified by more recent state laws and regulations. This decision marks the conclusion of a three-year legal battle over abortion rights in Wisconsin and reaffirms that current laws, focused on fetal viability, take precedence. In 2022, soon after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion, Kaul filed a lawsuit against a Republican district attorney who claimed that Wisconsin's 1849 abortion ban had been reinstated and was legally enforceable. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like These Are The Most Beautiful Women In The World Undo Although abortions had resumed in Wisconsin after a lower court struck down the 19th-century ban, the Supreme Court's ruling on Wednesday offers a greater sense of finality and legal clarity. The Wisconsin Supreme Court retained its liberal majority following an April election in which Susan Crawford, who openly supported abortion rights, won the seat. The race, widely viewed as an early referendum on former President Donald Trump, became the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. The Wisconsin supreme court drew national attention earlier this year when billionaire Elon Musk, a former adviser to Donald Trump and now in conflict with the Republican president, funneled over $20 million through affiliated groups to support conservative candidate Brad Schimel in the high-stakes judicial race. Despite the massive spending, Schimel lost to Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, who secured the seat and preserved the court's liberal majority. The 1849 law banned abortion in nearly all cases, allowing it only when necessary to save the mother's life, with violators facing up to 15 years in prison. It became unenforceable in 1973 after the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision established a nationwide right to abortion.
The National
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Ruth Wishart: Anti-abortion movement is well-funded and gunning for us
Her doctors and a midwife said such a course of action would be illegal under the then Irish law whilst a foetal heartbeat was detectable. Savita was just 31 when she died of sepsis in 2018. In the furore which followed, Ireland voted overwhelmingly to ditch the legal clause which prevented abortion. But it took six long years to pass the new amendment which did so. It became part of the Irish Republic's journey to unlock the stranglehold the church had previously held over the law, and subsequently, in 2015, another amendment endorsed same-sex marriage. READ MORE: Scottish Government announces £3 million in funding for 14 festivals More recently, when the US Democratic legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered by a self-styled evangelical 'Christian' earlier this month, police found a list of some 70 other potential victims in his vehicle. The link they shared is that they had all been vocally pro-choice. You might imagine it was enough for these ultras that they had killed off Roe v Wade in 2022, the landmark ruling which gave federal rights to termination in every US state. Evidently not. Since that ended, we have had tragic instances of rape, child and incest victims being forced to carry to full term, women bleeding to death in hospitals, and the better-heeled having to take flights to that handful of states which didn't take advantage of the new legal landscape and kept women's rights safe. It's almost as if all the male legislators who hollered loud and long for women to stay pregnant no matter the circumstances, collectively believed that all these pregnancies were somehow the result of immaculate conceptions. Unsurprisingly, there is not a four-deep queue of rogue fathers volunteering their financial or indeed any support. Men rule OK? Last week in the Commons, the weaker of two possible amendments was passed which 'allowed' women who self-terminated pregnancies, perhaps via online medication, to avoid prosecution. It did not exempt any medical staff who may have been involved. The author of the second, stronger amendment wrote in The Guardian that the House had chickened out of proper reform and had been altogether too timid. Yet again, some of the loudest voices raised in defence of the legal status quo belonged to men. Blokes like Tory Edward Leigh, whose features have always looked as if he were on the verge of apoplexy or worse. These men also have one thing in common. They will never, ever be pregnant. Which doesn't prevent them from telling women what they should think, or whether or not they should control their own fertility. So there is absolutely no reason to suppose that Scotland or the UK is safe from American lobbying. Just look at what happened when a modest law from Gillian Mackay MSP was passed stopping the Texan-based 40 Days For Life group assembling nearer than 200 metres from any facility offering terminations. Some commentators have suggested all they were doing was praying. Puleeze. Some of the professional posters displayed had come straight from the source of the protesting. Including pictures of aborted foetuses. And there was much shouting, not just at women but at the medical staff who worked there. READ MORE: Kate Forbes: Numbers prove that the world is ignoring those who talk Scotland down When a woman in her 70s was arrested, but never brought to court, she was immediately given heroine status by some US 'freedom of speech' groups. She had been picketing near Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, though not, to be fair shouting, and was demanding her 'right' to go to court despite the Procurator Fiscal recommending no further action. This is all of a piece with the well-funded, Europe-wide anti-abortion protesters who all demand their day in court to rubbish any laws to which they've taken exception. Rose Docherty's arrest, following police warnings about trespassing in buffer zones, came just days after the US vice-president, JD Vance, made a series of totally false accusations about the Scottish laws, including the assertion that people could be in trouble for privately praying in their own home. And referencing 'thought police'. All garbage of course, but not atypical of the current US administration's legendary inability to check their facts before their mouth is engaged. People who think getting rid of Donald Trump would herald a new relationship with the truth might consider that Vance is the constitutional heir apparent. Which is not to say that legitimate protest should ever be outlawed, including protests with which we fundamentally disagree. The Scottish legislation on buffer zones mentions the where of protest, but not the why. Its principal proposer received both death threats and abuse despite being pregnant herself. Nevertheless, it was the Irish nation rising up and voting for change which brought about two civilising laws in that country where the church had long held too much sway. Even in America, there are signs that decent folks are awakening from the slumber which brought us a second Trump term with all the many and increasingly obvious dangers that represents. Non-Elon-Musk-related social media is awash with images of a poorly attended military parade which 'happened' to coincide with the president's 79th birthday and contrasting these images with the millions across the USA who turned out for No Kings Day. The latter was a public riposte to Trump supposing that his presidential status gave him monarchical powers to do as he pleased. An assertion which followed a Time magazine cover this month featuring a back view of 'Trump' looking into a mirror where he wore a crown and lots of ermine. By long-standing Time artist Tim O'Brien, it was entitled King Me. The idea that the man who treats executive orders like bulk-bought confetti should be left to his own fantasies managed to unite and enrage millions of people, some of whom had sat on their hands on the day of the election. Hell mend them. It's become difficult enough to vote in America as it is without ignoring the hard-fought right to vote for which people once died. These barriers to polling rights have also crossed the pond, with new demands to present ID at polling stations despite there being minimalist evidence of voter fraud. No prizes for guessing which group is least likely to have a passport or driving licence. So we must stay alert at all times to prevent our own rules, regulations and values from being altered by foreign voices. Apart from Vance, Musk has also weighed in with his views on the UK Prime Minister and much else. The irony is that Musk himself is a migrant from South Africa, but the breath is not being held for those cuddly chaps from the US Immigration and Enforcement agency to deport him as they now have so many long-standing Americans who 'look foreign' (which is ICE speak for being brown.) If you think they're licensed thugs, you're not wrong. Meanwhile round about us, the world appears to be hellwards bound in any available handcart. There are many theories about why Trump is planning to take a fortnight before deciding whether or not to give more support to Israel by providing the necessary aircraft and their so-called 'bunker-busting' bombs to reach buried Iranian nuclear sites. I know the US president isn't much of a reader, but could I recommend several tomes which detail the effect of unleashing radio active materials from such sites? Not that he cares. It's a reasonably safe bet that the prevailing winds won't carry the nasties to the eastern seaboard in America. The bit that houses hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. Like Gaza, really.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Illinois limits out-of-state police access to plate readers after Texas case
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois will shut out-of-state police from accessing the state's network of license plate readers after a police department in Texas used the system to find a woman who came to Illinois for an abortion. According to the , police in Mount Prospect shared license plate reader data upon a request from Texas police. The incident occurred in May, when Texas authorities of nearly 83,000 license plate reader cameras to locate a woman who had a self-administered abortion. Johnson County Sheriff Adam King said his agency had requested the data out of concern for the woman's safety, not 'to block her from leaving the state or whatever to get an abortion.' 'License plate readers can serve as an important tool for law enforcement, but these cameras must be regulated so they aren't abused for surveillance, tracking the data of innocent people or criminalizing lawful behavior,' said Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said. 'No one seeking legal healthcare services in Illinois should face harassment or jail – period.' Thousands of license plate readers have been installed throughout Illinois and other states to help law enforcement track suspects in crimes. The technology allows police to read thousands of license plate readers per minute and provide realtime information on vehicles' location. Police departments using the network regularly request data from other law enforcement agencies to investigate crimes. Following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, other states, including Texas, outlawed abortion and made the practice a prosecutable crime. In 2024, Illinois passed a law that prohibits police departments from sharing data that would allow out-of-state authorities to pursue individuals due to their immigration status or seeking an abortion. In response to the recent incident, Giannoulias has instructed Flock Safety, the company that operates the cameras, to shut off access for out-of-state authorities if they issue requests that violate Illinois laws. Giannoulis also said his office has asked the Illinois Attorney General to conduct an audit to ensure Illinois police agencies don't violate state law. The Secretary of State said between January 14 and April 30, there were 262 out-of-state searches for immigration related matters in Mount Prospect alone. In December 2022, the reported that about a third of abortion patients in Illinois are now from out of state, after the U.S. Supreme Court abolished Roe v Wade last year. Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, said that Illinois has become 'the ' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
TimesLIVE
21-05-2025
- Health
- TimesLIVE
Family powerless as brain-dead pregnant woman is kept alive
A 30-year-old woman declared brain-dead in Georgia is being kept on life support against her family's wishes because she is pregnant. This complex and painful situation is because of one of the strictest abortion laws in the US. Adriana Smith was nine weeks pregnant when she began experiencing severe headaches in February. According to her mother, April Newkirk, Smith sought medical help at a hospital but was allegedly sent home with medication and no further testing. 'They gave us some medication. But they didn't do any tests. Didn't do any CAT scans. If they did, they would have caught it,' Newkirk told NBC News. The next morning, Adriana's boyfriend realised something was terribly wrong as she was gasping for air and appeared to be choking, likely on blood. She was rushed to Emory Decatur Hospital and later transferred to the facility where she worked as a registered nurse. Doctors there discovered extensive blood clots in her brain. 'They did a CAT scan and she had blood clots in her head. They asked if they could do a procedure to relieve them, and I said yes. Then they called me back and said they couldn't do it,' said Newkirk said. Shortly afterward, Adriana was declared brain-dead. Despite her condition, Georgia's 'heartbeat' abortion law requires that she remain on life support to carry the foetus, now around 22 weeks, to term. The law which was signed by governor Brian Kemp in 2019, bans abortion after a heartbeat is detected, typically around six weeks and well before many women even realise they are pregnant. While the law includes limited exceptions for rape, incest and medical emergencies, it does not explicitly address scenarios where the mother is already legally brain-dead. 'It's torture for me. I come here and I see my daughter breathing on the ventilator. She's not there, and I'm touching her,' said Newkirk. Newkirk said she continues to bring Adriana's young son to visit her. Newkirk voiced concern about the baby's future health, as doctors warn that the foetus may suffer severe complications due to Adriana's condition and the lack of oxygen during the trauma. 'She's pregnant with my grandson, but my grandson may be blind, may not be able to walk, may be wheelchair bound. We don't know if he'll live once she has him,' she said. For Newkirk, the most heartbreaking part is not just her daughter's condition but the loss of agency over Adriana's care. 'It should have been left up to the family. I'm in my 50s. Her dad is in his 50s. We're going to have the responsibility with her partner to raise her sons,' she said. 'I'm not saying that we would have chosen to terminate her pregnancy. What I'm saying is we should have had a choice,' she said. Georgia is one of several states that enacted restrictive abortion bans after the US Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade. The state has at least 11 abortion providers, according to the National Abortion Federation. Similar 'heartbeat bills' have been passed in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Ohio. This case has ignited renewed debate over abortion rights, patient autonomy and how states interpret medical decisions in cases involving brain death and pregnancy. Advocates warn that laws like Georgia's fail to account for the complexities of real-life medical crises.
The Guardian
20-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
New figures shed light on US abortion travel as Trump cuts tracking research
For the second year in a row, abortion providers performed more than 1m abortions in the United States in 2024. About 155,000 people crossed state lines for abortions – roughly double the number of patients who did so in 2020, before the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade and paved the way for more than a dozen state-level abortion bans to take effect. These numbers, released earlier this week by the abortion rights-supporting Guttmacher Institute, have not changed much since 2023, when the US also performed more than 1m abortions and 169,000 people traveled for the procedure. This lack of change masks a deep geographical divide in the US, as a handful of states have now become major hubs for people seeking abortions. In 2024, Illinois provided roughly 35,000 abortions to out-of-state patients, while North Carolina provided 16,700. Kansas and New Mexico, which neighbor anti-abortion Texas, provided 16,100 and 12,800 abortions – the vast majority of which were to out-of-state patients. 'Travel is so incredibly costly, both for patients and for the broader support network of funds, practical support organizations and providers,' said Isaac Maddow-Zimet, a Guttmacher data scientist. The sheer magnitude of the travel, he said, is 'testament to the great efforts that a lot of people are taking in order to make sure that people could access care that really they should be able to access within their own community – without necessarily expending this enormous financial and logistical cost'. As the Guttmacher report focuses on abortions provided through the formal healthcare system, it does not count self-managed abortions, which appear to be on the rise post-Roe. (Medical experts widely agree that individuals can safely end their own first-trimester pregnancies using abortion pills.) The report also does not track abortions provided to people living in states with total abortion bans, even though providers living in blue states sometimes mail abortion pills across state lines – a practice that, in recent months, has sparked heated litigation. This does not mean, researchers warned, that everybody who wants a post-Roe abortion is still able to get one. Caitlin Myers, a Middlebury College economics professor who has researched the impact of abortion bans, estimated that about 20-25% of people who want abortions are blocked from getting them by bans. The Guttmacher report arrived days after the Trump administration effectively demolished the CDC team responsible for government reports on abortion provision in the United States, which are known as 'abortion surveillance' reports. These cuts have alarmed researchers. 'If we can't measure outcomes, we can't do science,' Myers said. 'My concern is that this work fundamentally relies on the ability to track public health outcomes, and if we aren't tracking them, we don't know what's happening to people. We don't know what's happening in their lives. We don't know the effect of policies and interventions.' In addition to the CDC and Guttmacher, just one other group – #WeCount, a research project by the Society of Family Planning – regularly collects nationwide data on abortion incidence. The groups use different methods to collect data, so the CDC's annual report on the topic has long been less comprehensive than the post-Roe reports issued by Guttmacher and #WeCount. A number of states – including California, a haven for abortion rights – do not provide information to the federal government about the abortions performed within their borders. The CDC report also lags behind the Guttmacher and #WeCount reports; its most recent report, issued in November, counted abortions performed in 2022. The CDC report does include information about abortion patients' demographic backgrounds and the gestational age of their pregnancies, which can serve as a critical fact-check in heated debates around abortion. Anti-abortion activists, for example, often condemn abortions that take place later on in pregnancy, but the 2022 CDC report found that only about 1.1% of all abortions take place at or after 21 weeks' gestation. 'Abortion surveillance can be used to asses changes in clinical practice patterns over time,' a former employee from the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health said in a text. 'Without this report, we are losing the ability to track these changes.' Notably, the move to ax the researchers behind the CDC report appears to run counter to Project 2025, a famous playbook of conservative policies. Project 2025 urged the federal government to dramatically expand the CDC's 'abortion surveillance' by cutting funds to states that did not provide the CDC with information about 'exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother's state of residence, and by what method'. It also suggested that the CDC collect statistics on miscarriages, stillbirths and 'treatments that incidentally result in the death of a child (such as chemotherapy)'. These proposals alarmed researchers and raised concerns about patients' data privacy, especially given the fact that abortion remains a deeply controversial procedure. But given the turbulence of the Trump administration, experts are not sure whether another agency will ultimately take up Project 2025's recommendations. Maddow-Zimet said he doesn't 'think that we're necessarily any less concerned than we were before about the possibility of these kind of data mandates going into effect and/or using the data in appropriate ways to either make providers ask patients questions they wouldn't have otherwise asked, that are very stigmatizing, or potentially put providers at risk'.
