Women’s Health News, Abortion & Contraception

1. At the end of its term, the US Supreme Court issued a stay in litigation around the state of Texas’ new laws that would close 10 more women’s health clinics that provide abortion services.

The law was scheduled to take effect on July 1.Previously, new laws in Texas reduced the number of similar women’s clinics from 41 to 19, making abortion services functionally impossible for tens of thousands of poor women in the state.

These tough new laws require 1) that a doctor performing an abortion — a procedure with an abnormally low rate of complications compared to other medical procedures done in clinics — have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. The hospitals are most reluctant to give such privileges, wanting to avoid becoming embroiled in the abortion debate or for religious reasons.

2) The new laws also require clinics to meet the same standards as outpatient surgery center, upgrades that can cost $1 million or more.

Two dozen other states have new laws similar to those in Texas. Both sides of the abortion debate want the Supreme Court to involve themselves in clarifying the legality of legislation that seeks to eliminate abortion in many states in America, all in the name of protecting the woman. The jedges will indicate whether or not they will put abortion rights on the docket when the court reconvenes in September.

2. Mississippi’s sole abortion clinic in Jackson will remain open, with the US Supreme Court taking no action on a federals appeal ruling that left the clinic open.

Mississippi is another of the states demanding that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. No hospital in MIssissippi will grant such privileges.

3. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt filed notice of appeal on Wednesday that he will appeal a court ruling that overturned a Kansas law using an abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation.

The Wichita Eagle writes:

Laura McQuade, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, called the bill “extreme, unconstitutional” in an e-mail and said it “risks women’s health by banning the safest method of second trimester abortion according to every major medical authority.”

She said she was confident that the restraining order would be upheld and that the law would ultimately be defeated by the courts.

4. Sources of post-abortion counseling that aren’t connected with right to lifers are hard to find.

 Pro-Lifers Harass Women After Abortions The Daily Beast

In 2008, an American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force reviewed the scientific literature on mental health and abortion and concluded, “[T]here is no credible evidence that a single elective abortion of an unwanted pregnancy in and of itself causes mental health problems for adult women.”

The same Task Force cautioned that among the studies indicating that select women can experience grief, depression and anxiety after an abortion, all other risk factors must be taken into account. What is the woman’s exposure to poverty, violence, alcohol, drugs and other negative factors? The report concluded that the best predictor of a woman’s mental health post abortion is her health pre-pregnancy.

Still, writes The Daily Beast, post-abortion organizations are advancing rapidly on the American landscape.

5. In Oregon, lawmakers approved a bill that allows women to get birth control prescriptions from a pharmacist instead of a physician.