#Abortion Medication

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Kavitha Surana at ProPublica:

In her final hours, Amber Nicole Thurman suffered from a grave infection that her suburban Atlanta hospital was well-equipped to treat. She’d taken abortion pills and encountered a rare complication; she had not expelled all of the fetal tissue from her body. She showed up at Piedmont Henry Hospital in need of a routine procedure to clear it from her uterus, called a dilation and curettage, or D&C. But just that summer, her state had made performing the procedure a felony, with few exceptions. Any doctor who violated the new Georgia law could be prosecuted and face up to a decade in prison. Thurman waited in pain in a hospital bed, worried about what would happen to her 6-year-old son, as doctors monitored her infection spreading, her blood pressure sinking and her organs beginning to fail. It took 20 hours for doctors to finally operate. By then, it was too late.

The otherwise healthy 28-year-old medical assistant, who had her sights set on nursing school, should not have died, an official state committee recently concluded.

Tasked with examining pregnancy-related deaths to improve maternal health, the experts, including 10 doctors, deemed hers “preventable” and said the hospital’s delay in performing the critical procedure had a “large” impact on her fatal outcome. Their reviews of individual patient cases are not made public. But ProPublica obtained reports that confirm that at least two women have already died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state. There are almost certainly others. Committees like the one in Georgia, set up in each state, often operate with a two-year lag behind the cases they examine, meaning that experts are only now beginning to delve into deaths that took place after the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion.

Thurman’s case marks the first time an abortion-related death, officially deemed “preventable,” is coming to public light. ProPublica will share the story of the second in the coming days. We are also exploring other deaths that have not yet been reviewed but appear to be connected to abortion bans. Doctors warned state legislators women would die if medical procedures sometimes needed to save lives became illegal. Though Republican lawmakers who voted for state bans on abortion say the laws have exceptions to protect the “life of the mother,” medical experts cautioned that the language is not rooted in science and ignores the fast-moving realities of medicine.

The most restrictive state laws, experts predicted, would pit doctors’ fears of prosecution against their patients’ health needs, requiring providers to make sure their patient was inarguably on the brink of death or facing “irreversible” harm when they intervened with procedures like a D&C. “They would feel the need to wait for a higher blood pressure, wait for a higher fever — really got to justify this one — bleed a little bit more,” Dr. Melissa Kottke, an OB-GYN at Emory, warned lawmakers in 2019 during one of the hearings over Georgia’s ban. Doctors and a nurse involved in Thurman’s care declined to explain their thinking and did not respond to questions from ProPublica. Communications staff from the hospital did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Georgia’s Department of Public Health, which oversees the state maternal mortality review committee, said it cannot comment on ProPublica’s reporting because the committee’s cases are confidential and protected by federal law.

The availability of D&Cs for both abortions and routine miscarriage care helped save lives after the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, studies show, reducing the rate of maternal deaths for women of color by up to 40% the first year after abortion became legal. But since abortion was banned or restricted in 22 states over the past two years, women in serious danger have been turned away from emergency rooms and told that they needed to be in more peril before doctors could help. Some have been forced to continue high-risk pregnancies that threatened their lives. Those whose pregnancies weren’t even viable have been told they could return when they were “crashing.” Such stories have been at the center of the upcoming presidential election, during which the right to abortion is on the ballot in 10 states.

Thurman, who carried the full load of a single parent, loved being a mother. Every chance she got, she took her son to petting zoos, to pop-up museums and on planned trips, like one to a Florida beach. “The talks I have with my son are everything,” she posted on social media.

But when she learned she was pregnant with twins in the summer of 2022, she quickly decided she needed to preserve her newfound stability, her best friend, Ricaria Baker, told ProPublica. Thurman and her son had recently moved out of her family’s home and into a gated apartment complex with a pool, and she was planning to enroll in nursing school. The timing could not have been worse. On July 20, the day Georgia’s law banning abortion at six weeks went into effect, her pregnancy had just passed that mark, according to records her family shared with ProPublica. Thurman wanted a surgical abortion close to home and held out hope as advocates tried to get the ban paused in court, Baker said. But as her pregnancy progressed to its ninth week, she couldn’t wait any longer. She scheduled a D&C in North Carolina, where abortion at that stage was still legal, and on Aug. 13 woke up at 4 a.m. to make the journey with her best friend.

On their drive, they hit standstill traffic, Baker said. The clinic couldn’t hold Thurman’s spot longer than 15 minutes — it was inundated with women from other states where bans had taken effect. Instead, a clinic employee offered Thurman a two-pill abortion regimen approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, mifepristone and misoprostol. Her pregnancy was well within the standard of care for that treatment. Getting to the clinic had required scheduling a day off from work, finding a babysitter, making up an excuse to borrow a relative’s car and walking through a crowd of anti-abortion protesters. Thurman didn’t want to reschedule, Baker said. At the clinic, Thurman sat through a counseling session in which she was told how to safely take the pills and instructed to go to the emergency room if complications developed. She signed a release saying she understood. She took the first pill there and insisted on driving home before any symptoms started, Baker said. She took the second pill the next day, as directed.

Deaths due to complications from abortion pills are extremely rare. Out of nearly 6 million women who’ve taken mifepristone in the U.S. since 2000, 32 deaths were reported to the FDA through 2022, regardless of whether the drug played a role. Of those, 11 patients developed sepsis. Most of the remaining cases involved intentional and accidental drug overdoses, suicide, homicide and ruptured ectopic pregnancies. Baker and Thurman spoke every day that week. At first, there was only cramping, which Thurman expected. But days after she took the second pill, the pain increased and blood was soaking through more than one pad per hour. If she had lived nearby, the clinic in North Carolina would have performed a D&C for free as soon as she followed up, the executive director told ProPublica. But Thurman was four hours away.

The consequences of draconian abortion bans are being felt, as at least two women in Georgia died over being denied emergency medical care.

[ivygorgon]

Sharing Women's March open letters and petitions. Please sign and share!

14 states have already banned abortion, and more restrictions are on the way. Here are a few of the latest GOP proposals:

⚫ A 12-week abortion ban in Nebraska

⚫ A 6-week ban (because GOP attempts at a full ban failed three times) in South Carolina

⚫ A bill that charges abortion patients with MURDER in Alabama

We HAVE to fight back.

Our state-level mobilizations *are working.* We helped elect a pro-choice state Supreme Court justice in WI and brought national attention to the abortion pill case that started in TX. But we CANNOT stop now.

TY! -Women's March

SIGN ON: TELL THE COURTS TO STAY OUT OF FDA APPROVAL OF ABORTION MEDICATION Medication abortion is safe and effective, and it should be readily available everywhere. Add your name right now to DEMAND the courts stay out of FDA approvals >>>

SIGN ON: TELL THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM TO STAY OUT OF FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION APPROVALS! A Trump-appointed judge may strike down the FDA’s approval of a critical abortion medication later this month. The ruling would set a dangerous precedent that radical right-wingers can challenge the approval of ANY medication they don’t approve of — like the birth control pill or emergency contraception (aka Plan B). We need you to take action to tell the courts to stay OUT of FDA approvals!

ATTN: SOUTH CAROLINA LEGISLATIVE REPUBLICANS Check out our letter to the South Carolina GOP below, then sign it as is or add your own spin:

Make your voice heard

As you well know, abortion bans will not end abortion. Instead, you propose penalties so extreme – so draconian – that they will terrify women into compliance. Your goal was never to “protect life.” It is to control our bodies. You should know: We won’t go back. We’ll fight back. I’m signing this letter to voice my ongoing commitment to opposing any rollback of our human right to reproductive freedom.

ATTN: RON DESANTIS, FLORIDA REPUBLICANS, & THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION Sign our open letter condemning the Don’t Say Gay law in Florida! Make your voice heard The cruel “Don’t Say Gay” law is harming Florida students, teachers, and families. Instead of expanding it, you should be repealing this attack on LGBTQ+ Floridians! Despite your fear and hate-mongering, LGBTQ+ people — including kids — always have existed and always will. We will keep fighting for them to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. We know that more of us are in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community than agree with your regressive and cruel legislation. Women’s Marchers and our allies WON’T stop fighting for a world where all of us can be safe as our authentic selves. We WON’T let your hateful legislation stop us from supporting LGBTQ+ Floridians, and we condemn the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

ADD YOUR NAME TO OUR DEMANDS TO PROTECT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE ACCESS! We demand reform of our broken judicial system. We demand that state and local leaders defend access to mifepristone despite this illegitimate ruling. We demand the FDA issue guidance to disregard the decision. We demand the Biden administration implement a whole-of-government response to this public health crisis. We demand pharmacies execute their mandate faithfully and with the health of their patients rather than the personal ideologies of a few politicians in mind. Sign on to sponsor our demands >>>

REMOVE CLARENCE THOMAS FROM THE SUPREME COURT Congress must impeach Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas now! Justice Clarence Thomas has violated his oath and broken the law by failing to disclose decades of luxury vacations and private jet travel from billionaire and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. Crow also paid the private school tuition for a Thomas family member. Sign our petition, stating loud and clear: No one is above the law, and Justice Thomas must be held accountable and removed from his position of power.

[archi-pelago]

maybe never forgive. but things are different now. so we'll use maybe.

[abortion-pill-instructions]

Get Safe Abortion Training and Education At Howtouseabortionpill.org

Learn how to use abortion medication to safely and effectively end a pregnancy. Visit howtouseabortionpill.org to get safe abortion training and education. Learn more about abortion care through their videos or certificated courses.

[wausaupilot]

Wisconsin joins 24-state group urging Supreme Court to reverse abortion medication limits

Wisconsin joined a brief Friday by nearly half of all U.S. states urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision that placed new restrictions on the abortion medication mifepristone.

by Erik Gunn, Wisconsin Examiner October 13, 2023 Wisconsin joined a brief Friday by nearly half of all U.S. states urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision that placed new restrictions on the abortion medication mifepristone. The friend-of-the-court brief, backed by a coalition of attorneys general in 24 states, urges the high court to reverse a decision by the Fifth…

[rabid-transcendentalist]

Mexico when Texans have to start crossing the border for a better life good heathcare

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Liz Skalka at HuffPost:

Former President Donald Trump hasn’t ruled out backing restrictions on contraception, and suggested Tuesday that limiting access to the morning-after pill should be left up to individual states. Still, the former president mostly dodged the issue when pressed by an anchor for Pittsburgh’s KDKA News, teasing the release of a “very comprehensive policy” in “a week or so” to address contraception, which includes various forms of birth control. “We’re looking at that, and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly. I think it’s something you’ll find interesting,” Trump told the anchor.

When asked specifically about the morning-after pill — a type of emergency contraception, which does not cause abortion — Trump said the issue should be up to the states, echoing what he’s said previously about abortion access. “You know, things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are going to have different policy than others,” Trump said in a video of the interview shared with HuffPost. [...] Project 2025, the policy plan drafted by a group of conservative policy organizations aligned with Trump, suggests that he revive an 1873 anti-obscenity law that bans using the mail for anything “intended for producing abortion.” That law hasn’t been enforced for decades. [...] In a follow-up post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said, in all capital letters, “I do not support a ban on birth control, and neither will the Republican party.“In a followup post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said, in all capital letters, “I do not support a ban on birth control, and neither will the Republican party.”

In an interview today with KDKA's Jon Delano, Donald Trump stated that he won't rule out backing backing restrictions on contraception. Trump later backtracked on it, claiming that Republicans don't support contraception bans (even though there is ample evidence of Republicans giving support to such bans).

Trump is coming for birth control and contraception, so it's imperative to keep him out of the White House.

See Also:

Daily Kos: Trump threatens 'interesting' policy to let states restrict birth control

[itwoodbeprefect]

going into manner of death you may think this is a show about an adult man with an adult job (performing autopsies on his childhood friends), but the further you get, the more clear it becomes that this is actually a show about an adult man with way too many adult jobs (he also treats patients in the ER, gets called in for emergency surgery, and juggles several potentially connected murder investigations as an unpaid side gig). no wonder literally every single person around him keeps randomly handing him food, even though we know he's a good cook. with only twenty-four hours in a day, it's a miracle he even finds the time to be weird and domestic with his prime murder suspect and their pet cactus

[dandyads]

Assorted "Delay" Pills, 1937

These pills under several different brand names, advertised in an "adult humor" magazine called Laughter, promised to cure women who were late, aka "delayed" and restore their periods. These pills are are actually over-the-counter compounds meant to end pregnancy.

[didgeriduwu]

Tf2 Headcanons you cannot change my mind on

Not all of Engie's PhDs are in hard science. One of them is in performing arts.

Everyone on the team wakes up on their birthday to a perfectly chosen gift. Spy would rather die than admit they were from him. He has died for this many times.

Scout understands French perfectly bc of early childhood immersion. He doesn't understand why no one can understand Spy sometimes, since clearly French is just English spoken in a snooty accent.

Pyro knows what's going on. They've always known what's going on. Pyro just likes rainbows.

Scout is transmasc. He is legitimately impressed by his own (meager) muscles because he went through hell to get them.

Solly was 13 when he tried to sign up for WW2. He wasn't allowed in because he was too dumb to realise that he was supposed to lie when they asked him his age.

Medic is pro-choice. Not because he believes in women's rights but because where else is he supposed to get stem cells for free?

Miss Pauling and the Administrator are actually mother and daughter, and they have a weird fucked up Norman Bates style relationship.

Other Headcanons!

Misc.: Part 2

Themed: Sex, Woodstock

[pro-birth]

With Amber Thurman's case no longer useful to pro-aborts, they are already trying to sensationalize other cases of medical negligence in pro-life states and act like it's an anti-abortion problem. Of course they are ignoring the cases that still happen at similar rates in pro-choice states.

I called this shit years ago yet I'm still disgusted. Birth justice deserves better than this.

[rapeculturerealities]

Supreme Court rejects challenge to abortion pill mifepristone | CNN Politics

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a lawsuit challenging the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to regulating the abortion pill mifepristone with a ruling that will continue to allow the pills to be mailed to patients without an in-person doctor’s visit.

The ruling is a significant setback for the anti-abortion movement in what was the first major Supreme Court case on reproductive rights since the court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

[bmoreisapunkrocktown]

I'm worried that y'all genuinely think that the police can't understand that a dot on the calendar you have on your dresser means that you're tracking your period.

And I'm terrified that y'all think they won't go through your trash to check all those home pregnancy tests you bought.

They took apart a woman's toilet and went through her pipes to get evidence of her miscarriage.

If there is data to find, they will find it. If there's evidence to find, they will find it. It isn't possible to shift it into a form they can't find, because that's not real. You have to corrupt the data.