The Fight for Abortion Must Be Part of the Fight for Medicare for All

Anti-abortion advocates have gained ground in recent decades by separating abortion from health care overall. We have to see abortion rights as an integral part of the fight for Medicare for All.

Missouri's Only Abortion Clinic Could Close Tonight, State Refusing To Renew Its License

Pro-choice supporters, along with Planned Parenthood staff, celebrate and rally outside the Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services Center on May 31, 2019 in St Louis, Missouri. Michael Thomas / Getty


Access to abortion is being whittled away at an alarming rate, especially since 2010, when a wave of conservative Republicans elected to state office began implementing a hard-right “pro-life” agenda. Some of those legislators are hoping that the laws make their way to the Supreme Court, giving the newly conservative-leaning court the opportunity to overturn or undermine Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion in 1973.

Last year, Alabama legislators voted to ban abortions in nearly all cases. Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio all passed so-called “heartbeat bills” that effectively prohibit abortion after six to eight weeks of pregnancy. And Utah and Arkansas passed laws to limit the procedure to the middle of the second trimester.

The Trump administration recently passed new restrictions to the Title X family planning program that prohibits providers from sharing information or referring patients for abortion services. In light of this new nationwide “gag rule,” Planned Parenthood, which serves 41 percent of all Title X patients, and other independent clinics that provide reproductive health care to low-income people, have announced they will refuse the federal family planning dollars. Clinics are already starting to close because of these financial hits, while some progressive states, like New York, have pledged state funds to clinics affected by the Title X restrictions.

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