Abortion

No travel reimbursement for US troops seeking abortion, fertility treatment

The Defence Department will no longer reimburse service members for travel out of state to get reproductive health care, including abortions and fertility treatments, according to a new memo. The directive signed this week eliminates a rarely used Biden administration policy enacted in October 2022, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and more states began to impose increased abortion restrictions. Signed on Wednesday by Jeffrey Register, the director of the Pentagon's human resources department, the memo simply shows red lines crossing out the previous regulation and offers no other guidance. Asked if service members would still be allowed time off to travel at their own expense, the department had no immediate answer. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the policy change shameful. Our service members go wherever they need to in order to bravely serve our country and because President Trump's extremist Supreme Court

Blocking all funding to 'woke programmes', says US State Department

Prioritising the welfare of American citizens, the US State Department released an official statement where it stated that no foreign is entitled to those benefits

Trump, Vance join anti-abortion activists, celebrate 'March for Life' gains

President Donald Trump vowed to support anti-abortion-rights protesters in his second term as tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Washington on Friday for the annual March for Life. We will again stand proudly for families and for life, Trump declared in a pre-recorded video address. Protesters had come to the capital for decades to call for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, which affirmed a constitutional right to an abortion. Now, with the repeal of Roe in 2022, they are now on the inside rather than the outside. With Trump's return to the White House and Republicans in control of Congress, the activists want to build on their victories. Our country faces the return of the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes," Vice President JD Vance told the crowd in his in-person speech. Vance hailed Trump's previous actions on abortion, saying the president delivered on his promise of ending Roe" and appointed hundreds of anti-abortion judges. Abortion was ..

Trump pardons anti-abortion activists who blockaded clinic entrances

President Donald Trump has announced he would pardon anti-abortion activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances. Trump called it "a great honour to sign this". "They should not have been prosecuted," he said as he signed pardons for "peaceful pro-life protesters. The people pardoned were involved in the October 2020 invasion and blockade of a Washington clinic. Lauren Handy was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for leading the blockade by directing blockaders to link themselves together with locks and chains to block the clinic's doors. A nurse sprained her ankle when one person pushed her while entering the clinic, and a woman was accosted by another blockader while having labour pains, prosecutors said. Police found five fetuses in Handy's home after she was indicted. Trump pardoned Handy and her nine co-defendants: Jonathan Darnel of Virginia; Jay Smith, John Hinshaw and William Goodman, all of New York; Joan Bell of New Jersey; Paulette Harlow and Jean ..

Africans worry Trump will reimpose abortion 'gag rule' governing US aid

Carrying her infant daughter, 19-year-old Sithulisiwe Moyo waited two hours to get birth-control pills from a tent pitched in a poor settlement on the outskirts of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. The outreach clinic in Epworth provides Moyo with her best shot at achieving her dream of returning to school. I am too young to be a baby-making machine," she said. "At least this clinic helps me avoid another pregnancy. But the free service funded by the US government, the world's largest health donor, might soon be unavailable. As he did in his first term, US President-elect Donald Trump is likely in January to invoke the so-called global gag rule, a policy that bars US foreign aid from being used to perform abortions or provide abortion information. The policy cuts off American government funding for services that women around the world rely on to avoid pregnancy or to space out their children, as well as for heath care unrelated to abortion. Four decades of on-again, off-again ...

What Donald Trump's 2024 victory means for abortion rights in America

Donald Trump's win in the 2024 presidential election against Kamala Harris raises serious concerns about abortion rights in the United States

Arizona voters guarantee right to abortion in state constitution

Arizona voters have approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion access up to fetal viability, typically after 21 weeks a major win for advocates of the measure in the presidential battleground state who have been seeking to expand access beyond the current 15-week limit. Arizona was one of nine states with abortion on the ballot. Democrats have centered abortion rights in their campaigns since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Abortion-rights supporters prevailed in all seven abortion ballot questions in 2022 and 2023, including in conservative-leaning states. Arizona for Abortion Access, the coalition leading the state campaign, gathered well over the 383,923 signatures required to put it on the ballot, and the secretary of state's office verified that enough were valid. The coalition far outpaced the opposition campaign, It Goes Too Far, in fundraising. The opposing campaign argued the measure was too far-reaching and cited its own polling in sayi

Abortion rights issue influencing Indian American women's voting preference

In the upcoming US presidential election, the issue of abortion rights is emerging as a significant factor that is influencing Indian American women's voting preferences. This demographic group, which is a part of the second-largest immigrant community in the United States, is showing a strong inclination towards supporting candidates who advocate for reproductive rights. Meeta Damani, an Indian American documentary filmmaker living in the New Jersey area, has been working in the community with a particular focus on women and children. It is a crucial issue for both men and women in the Indian American community as well. It is interconnected like if there is a woman and the child is going to be born unhealthy, that is going to affect the entire family. At the end of the day, it is about freedom and one's choice. I feel the women voters will make their voice very clear, she said. Looking at the clarity of thought on this subject among Indian American women, it is not a surprise that

Abortion right debate leads to expensive campaigns for state SC seats in US

Abortion and reproductive rights have been central to the races for president and governor in North Carolina, a battleground state that has more moderate abortion restrictions than elsewhere across the South. That's been even truer in the fight for a seat on the state Supreme Court that abortion rights supporters say will play an important role in determining whether Republicans can enact even more restrictions. Registered Republicans currently hold five of seven seats and could expand that majority even further in Tuesday's election. Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat who is running for reelection, is focusing heavily on the issue and touts her support for reproductive rights. Her first television ad featured images of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, who prefers to restrict abortions earlier than the current 12 weeks. She says her GOP rival for the court could be a deciding vote on the bench for such restrictions. This is an issue that is landing in fron

Harris blasts Trump's promise to 'protect women' against their will

Speaking at a rally, Donald Trump said, 'I am going to do it, regardless of whether the women approve or not. I am going to protect them (women)'

'States will undo abortion laws that are too tough,' says Donald Trump

Trump didn't specify which states he was speaking about, but cited Ohio as an example of a GOP-led state that voted to expand abortion rights in a recent ballot measure

Biden's appeal in Texas emergency abortion case declined by Supreme Court

A court order that says hospitals cannot federally be required to provide pregnancy terminations when they violate a Texas abortion ban will stay for now, the Supreme Court said on Monday. The decision is another setback for opponents of Texas' abortion ban, which for two years has withstood multiple legal challenges, including from women who had serious pregnancy complications and have been turned away by doctors. It left Texas as the only state where the Biden administration is unable to enforce its interpretation of a federal law in an effort to ensure women still have access to emergency abortions when their health or life is at risk. The justices did not detail their reasoning for keeping in place a lower court order, and there were no publicly noted dissents. Texas had asked the justices to leave the order in place while the Biden administration had asked the justices to throw it out. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the decision a major victory". The Biden ...

Melania Trump's support for abortion rights puts her at odds with GOP

Melania Trump revealed her support for abortion rights on Thursday, ahead of the release of her upcoming memoir, exposing a stark contrast with her husband, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, on the crucial election issue. In a video posted to her X account on Thursday morning, the former first lady defended women's "individual freedoms" to do what they want with their bodies -- a position at odds with much of the Republican Party and her own husband, who has struggled to find a consistent message on abortion while wedged between anti-abortion supporters within his base and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights. "Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard," Melania Trump said in the video. "Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth: individual freedom. What does 'my body, my choice' really mean?" The video appears to confirm excerpts of her self-titled memoir

Anti-abortion leaders undeterred as Trump says he would veto abortion ban

Anti-abortion leaders said on Wednesday that they're undeterred after Donald Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban, the first time he has explicitly said so after previously refusing to answer questions on the subject. During Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate, the Republican presidential nominee posted on his social media platform Truth Social that "everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it". He then said that abortion rights should be left up to the states -- his most common response to questions about the issue since Roe v Wade was overturned by a conservative majority that included three of Trump's own appointees to the Supreme Court. In the two years since the ruling, abortion rights have emerged as a major vulnerability for the GOP, which has struggled to find a consistent message on the path forward, while driving turnout for Democrats. With the election less than five weeks away, Trump has

Climate, abortion, and gun control: Young women demand change in America

Young men have shown reluctance to embrace the liberal label, despite becoming more progressive on select issues, said a recent report

Trump wouldn't say whether he'd veto national ban as abortion is top issue

Former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined to say during this week's debate if he would veto a national abortion ban if he were elected again a question that has lingered as the Republican nominee has shifted his stances on the crucial election issue. In Tuesday's debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump said he would not sign a federal abortion ban, insisting that a ban would not pass Congress anyway. But he refused twice to say if he would veto such legislation if it landed on his desk. Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance, a Republican from Ohio, said in an interview with NBC News last month that the former president would veto a ban. In response to moderators prompting him about Vance's statement, Trump said: I didn't discuss it with JD, in all fairness. And I don't mind if he has a certain view, but I don't think he was speaking for me. The exchange comes as voters and advocates across the spectrum wait for Trump to clarify his fluctuating stances on abortion, and

Abortion rights measure will be on Missouri's November ballot, court rules

An amendment to restore abortion rights in Missouri will be on the ballot, the state's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. The proposal to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution is expected to widely undo the state's 2022 near-total abortion ban if passed. Judges ruled hours before the Tuesday deadline for changes to be made to the November ballot. Mary Catherine Martin, a lawyer for a group of GOP lawmakers and abortion opponents suing to remove the amendment, during Tuesday arguments told Supreme Court judges that the initiative petition misled voters by not listing all the laws restricting abortion that it would effectively repeal. Abortion-rights campaign lawyer Chuck Hatfield described the lawsuit as an attempt to derail democracy. Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who opposes abortion, decertified the measure Monday, removing it from the ballot himself following a county circuit judge's ruling Friday. The amendment is part of a national push to have voters weigh

Trump endorses free IVF; campaign stumbles over Florida abortion measure

IVF treatments became an additional flashpoint after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos could be considered children under state law

Doesn't have vote to liberalise Poland's abortion law, says Donald Tusk

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has acknowledged that he does not have the backing in parliament to change the country's abortion law, which is among the most restrictive in all of Europe. Tusk, a centrist, took power in December at the head of a coalition that spans a broad ideological divide, with lawmakers on the left who want to legalise abortion and conservatives strongly opposed. Changing the law to allow abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy was one of his campaign promises. There will be no majority in this parliament for legal abortion, in the full sense of the word, until the next elections. Let's not kid ourselves," Tusk said during an event on Friday where he was asked about the matter. Lawmakers to the parliament were elected last October for a term of four years. Tusk said his government is instead working on establishing new procedures in the prosecutor's office and in Polish hospitals in order to ease some of the de facto restrictions. This is already underwa

Arizona Supreme Court clears way for voters to decide on right to abortion

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 200-word summary that abortion advocates used to collect signatures for a ballot measure is valid, clearing the way for voters to decide on the constitutional right to an abortion. Under the measure, abortions would be allowed until an embryo or foetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks. There are some exceptions for later-term abortions to save the mother's life or to protect her physical or mental health. The decision comes on the heels of a Thursday ballot printing deadline in Arizona. The Arizona Right to Life, the organisation that sued the ballot measure campaign, argued that the petition summary was misleading. The high court justices rejected that argument, as well as the claim that the summary for the proposed amendment failed to mention it would overturn existing abortion laws if approved by voters. We have noted that (r)easonable people can differ about the best way to describe a principal provision,