Protesters in Utah demonstrate against a school district’s ban on the Bible for having ‘vulgarity and violence’ unfit for young children.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Distinct from civil disobedience, this legal strategy demands complete compliance with the law – even when there are loopholes that the laws’ creators didn’t intend.
A few days after successful fertilization, an embryo becomes a rapidly dividing ball of cells called a blastocyst.
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Scientists can create viable eggs from two male mice. In the wake of CRISPR controversies and restrictive abortion laws, two experts start a dialogue on ethical research in reproductive biology.
The range of reproductive health care available to women depends significantly on the state they live in.
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Abortion bans and restrictions have numerous downstream effects on health care. For instance, medical students in states where those laws exist will not receive training for some standard procedures.
In a March 2023 episode of ‘Accused,’ a teacher tries to help his student navigate the hurdles of getting an abortion.
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Though abortion is appearing in more plot lines, many programs still aren’t accurately depicting what the reality of abortion access looks like in America today.
Abortion referendums in such states as California and Kentucky provide a way to protect abortion rights at the state level – but voting limitations could undermine the power of the ballot box.
A sign at a July 2022 abortion-rights protest in Santa Monica, California, recalls the country’s long history of trying to restrict access to reproductive health care.
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US history suggests that Republican efforts to restrict reproductive rights will be difficult to enforce and widely reviled, undermining their effectiveness – and ultimately causing their demise.
The majority of fertilized eggs die and are resorbed into the body.
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Human embryos are far more likely to die than come to term, an evolutionary trait seen across species. Laws granting personhood at conception ignore built-in embryo loss, with potentially grave consequences.
There’s an interesting evolutionary benefit for some women if the consequences of casual sex are high.
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Some reasons people oppose abortion seem to be at odds with other positions they hold. Evolutionary social science points to a surprising motivation for anti-abortion attitudes.
A sign reads ‘I’m on your side’ outside the Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport, La., in April 2022.
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Abortion funds, which help people who cannot afford the procedure, are facing new kinds of pressures, including potential legal risks and a rising client demand that exceeds their capabilities.
In most countries, like the Netherlands, it has become easier to get a legal, safe abortion over the last two decades.
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Only 24 countries today totally ban abortion. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in the US is unlikely to lead other countries to join that list.
Many Americans reacted with outrage to the Supreme Court’s decision to dismantle the constitutional right to abortion.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
In contrast to their reaction to gay rights or the war in Ukraine, relatively few companies have openly criticized the Supreme Court ruling ending a constitutional right to abortion.
Temporary security fencing surrounds the U.S. Supreme Court building, ahead of its decision on abortion.
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State supreme courts have a relatively low profile in the US. That’s going to change now that they will be under political pressure to decide whether abortion is protected in state constitutions.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signs a law in 2019 that includes a so-called ‘trigger’ provision to ban abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
AP Photo by Summer Balentine
There are 13 states with so-called ‘trigger laws’ that aim to ban abortion now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. But what actually must happen for the laws to take effect?
The death of Savita Halappanavar in an Irish hospital in 2012 after she was denied an abortion during a miscarriage caused outrage across Ireland.
AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik
In 1983, a constitutional referendum outlawed abortion in Ireland. In 2018, another referendum repealed the ban and legalized abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. What happened?
A demonstrator holds a sign during a rally in support of abortion rights on May 3, 2022 in Seattle, Washington.
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Boniface Ushie, African Population and Health Research Center and Kenneth Juma, African Population and Health Research Center
For countries that look to the US for guidance and for funding, the consequences will go beyond abortion.
Anti-abortion protesters use bullhorns to counter abortion rights advocates outside the Supreme Court on May 3, 2022.
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25 states aren’t expected to ban abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. But limits on abortion in these places, too, make it an uncertain refuge for people seeking abortions elsewhere.
Abortion rights battles look set to go from the Supreme Court to statehouses.
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If the Supreme Court guts landmark rulings that established a constitutional right to abortion, the legal struggle will shift to statehouses and state courtrooms.
Banning abortion can have health consequences for pregnant people.
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