�鶹Ů��

So many states have restricted access to abortion so severely that people in large swaths of the country feel they have no options if they want to terminate a pregnancy. But technically, those who want an abortion still have options. It’s just that few have heard of them. Pregnant people in Texas, or in any other U.S. state, can visit an array of websites that will mail them two pills—mifepristone and misoprostol—that will induce a miscarriage when used in the first trimester of pregnancy and possibly even later. The so-called self-managed abortion is therefore an option at least six weeks further into a pregnancy than the controversial new Texas law’s six-week “heartbeat” cutoff for an abortion at a clinic. Though people in other states have several websites to choose from, Texans can visit Aid Access, a website that provides the pills for $105 or less based on income. (10/12)

Planned Parenthood officials in Missouri on Wednesday urged the Biden administration to take action against new state regulations the organization said could threaten its status as a Medicaid provider. The call came the same day the emergency regulation took effect. The rule requires violations of laws or regulations at abortion facilities to be referred to state Medicaid officials, potentially paving the way to remove Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program, which is mostly funded with federal dollars. (Suntrup, 10/13)

Anti-abortion activists have sued to overturn a new California law that restricts protests outside vaccination sites, just days after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the measure despite warnings from First Amendment experts that it would violate free speech rights. The lawsuit, filed Sunday in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, argues that the state went too far in trying to protect people from harassment as they get vaccinated. Buffer zones for demonstrations established under the law, according to the complaint, unfairly burden and deny free speech in public spaces. (Koseff, 10/13)

The 33-year-old Texas woman drove alone four hours through the night to get to the Louisiana abortion clinic for a consultation. She initially planned to sleep in her car, but an advocacy group helped arrange a hotel room. Single and with three children ranging from 5 to 13, she worried that adding a baby now would take time, food, money and space away from her three children. She doesn’t have a job, and without help from groups offering a safe abortion, she said, she probably would have sought another way to end her pregnancy. (Murphy, 10/13)

Trust Women was flooded with patients; doctors and staff in the Oklahoma City abortion clinic were scrambling to care for everyone they could. It was March 27, 2020, the beginning of the United States’ COVID-19 crisis. Earlier that month, Texas’ governor had announced a temporary ban on elective surgeries — an effort, he said, to conserve medical resources. The ban had included abortions. Almost immediately, Texans seeking care turned to Oklahoma, their neighboring state. That Friday morning had been particularly hectic. By 10 a.m., the Trust Women clinic had already seen eight patients. And then came the phone call: Julie Burkhart, then the clinic’s CEO, was asked by a local TV reporter for a comment on breaking news — Oklahoma had also temporarily banned abortions as COVID surged. (10/13)