The latest after the decision of the Supreme Court to annul the right to abortion

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3 posts

11 mins ago

In Arizona, several abortion providers preemptively pause services

By Alta Spells, Natasha Chen

Several abortion providers in Arizona — Family Planning Associates, Planned Parenthood Arizona and Tucson Choices — said they have preemptively halted abortion services due to a lack of legal clarity, according to postings on their websites.

Dr. DeShawn Taylor, who operates Desert Star Family Planning in Phoenix, said her clinic had to cancel about 20 abortion appointments originally scheduled for today and into next week.

“We are committed to keeping our doors open if we can, so that we can provide abortion services, once it is safe to do so.

I think we're going to be in dark times for a while, hopefully not too long, but I think the pendulum will swing back,” she said.

Arizona does not have a "trigger ban," but it does have a ban on abortions past 15 weeks that will go into effect in about 90 days.

Meanwhile, the Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus issued a memorandum today, declaring effective immediately that Arizona will enforce “pre-Roe law.

The law, which is already on the books, prohibits most abortions unless the procedure is necessary to save a mother's life."

This pre-Roe law was first created in 1901 and was updated last year.

It states that anyone who intends to cause a miscarriage in a woman, "unless it is necessary to save her life, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two years and not more than five years."

Brittni Thomason, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General's office, gave CNN a statement, saying, "We understand this is an important issue for many people and they are seeking clarity."

The Arizona governor's office declined to comment.

“It amazes me how heartbroken I feel when I knew in my bones” that the ruling would come, Taylor said.

She said she hopes not only to secure women's right to abortion, but also to ensure real and meaningful access to abortions in Arizona, where there are a handful of clinics providing such services, mostly in urban areas.

15 mins ago

"Chaos" at the last abortion clinic in Mississippi, which promised to remain open for the next few days

By Alta Spells, Natasha Chen

The owner of the only abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi promised at a news conference Friday afternoon to remain open and continue providing services to women for the next 10 days, hours after the US Supreme Court • issued a ruling that eliminates the constitutional right to abortion throughout the country.

“We continue to provide services, and women like me, and there are many across the country, will be doing the same.

And I tell them that today we are not going to leave.

We are not giving up,” said Diane Derzis, owner of the Jackson Women's Health Organization.

Under Mississippi law, the abortion ban triggered by today's Supreme Court decision will take effect 10 days after Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch certifies the decision.

Fitch has not announced plans for certification.

“That means we will be open for the next 10 days and we will be seeing patients for the next 10 days.

Even if they have to do what they have done so often and that is because of this kind of terrorism,” Derzis said, referring to anti-abortion activists who have frequently gathered near the clinic.

“I will tell you that any patient who contacts us, we will take care of them.

We will make sure to see them during those 10 days,” Derzis said.

"A woman shouldn't have to go out of state to get medical care."

Beginning at 4 a.m. local time on Saturday, anti-abortion activists began showing up at the clinic, according to CNN's Nadia Romero.

"Things got really noisy, they really got carried away. The police were called," he reported, adding that the situation has since calmed down.

"They let the women into the facility hours before it was technically open because there was so much chaos outside," she reported.

Clinic volunteer Kim Gibson told Romero that staff will continue to "put the patient first...in the face of some really monstrous protesters."

Romero said the inside lobby was packed on Saturday.

Once the Mississippi clinic is forced to close its doors, Derzis said they plan to continue helping women find the services they need.

“It is financing throughout the country.

So we know how to get her in touch with those people and find out what the closest clinic is that she knows of, there will be women who can afford a plane ticket and if they can get on a plane and get to Las Cruces, or Baltimore, Maryland or wherever , Chicago, Illinois, so wherever it's easiest to get it because your needs have to come first,” Derzis said.

Derzis and his team have initiated plans to open a new clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where they will continue to provide services.

18 mins ago

These are the states where "activation bans" are already in effect

By Tierney Sneed

Now that the Supreme Court has given lawmakers the green light to ban abortion, several states, most of them led by Republicans, have moved quickly to do so.

In at least seven states, state officials say abortion bans can now be enforced.

Three states -- Kentucky, Louisiana and South Dakota -- have so-called "trigger bans" that went into effect automatically with the Supreme Court's reversal Friday of Roe vs.

Wade, the 1973 ruling that had established the constitutional right to abortion.

Ten other states have trigger bans with enforcement mechanisms that occur after a set period of time or after action is taken by a state government entity.

Among states that ban abortion in the latter category, Missouri has already taken the necessary steps to implement its abortion ban, with state Attorney General Eric Schmitt announcing Friday that he had taken the certification step required by law. from Missouri.

Oklahoma, which had recently enacted a law banning most abortions, has also moved to implement its trigger ban, according to the state attorney general's office.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge also certified the state's activation ban, allowing it to take effect Friday, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced.

In Texas, where the ban will be implemented on the 30th day after the Supreme Court rules (a court move that will occur in the coming weeks), Attorney General Ken Paxton has announced that local prosecutors can now begin enforcing a State-approved abortion ban prior to Roe ruling.

Other states have abortion bans that had been blocked by courts that had cited Roe's abortion rights guarantee.

Those states can move quickly to have those court orders lifted so those restrictions can go into effect.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey referenced a court order that halted the state's abortion ban in 2019, saying in a statement that Alabama will "immediately ask the court to remove any legal barriers to enforcing this law."

These are the US states where the right to abortion would be under threat after the annulment of Roe vs.

Wade

abortion