What does the future of abortion look like?

Although many people still turn to surgical methods like vacuum aspiration or dilation and curettage (also known as a D&C), abortion with pills (also known as medical abortion or medication abortion) has become an incredibly popular method around the globe. In some European countries, over 90 percent of abortions are performed with pills; in the United States, over half of all abortions performed in 2020 were medication abortions.

 Abortions = Life-saving Healthcare

My abortion was elective and it saved my life, my future, and my mental well-being. My story is one of many and each abortion has a different reason behind it.

 Recent abortion bans will impact poor people and people of color most

Let’s be clear: the recent abortion bans will not stop abortions from happening. They will only ensure that some groups — specifically, poor people and people of color — are disproportionately punished when seeking access to abortions.

 The Abortion Backup Plan No One Is Talking About

Even in states with the strictest abortion laws, pregnant people have a safe, inexpensive option to terminate their pregnancies. But few know about it.

 We’re Not Going Back to the Time Before Roe. We’re Going Somewhere Worse

We are entering an era not just of unsafe abortions but of the widespread criminalization of pregnancy.

It Took Almost 50 Years, But TV Is Finally Getting Abortion Stories (Mostly) Right

From Maude having an abortion pre-Roe v. Wade to Wonder Woman revealing a secret matriarchal world, women on film have been way ahead of the curve fighting for change for more than a century. With Ladies First, we’re tracing the often-forgotten legacy that these leading ladies left on history.

Women Have Always Had Abortions

Over the course of American history, women of all classes, races, ages and statuses have ended their pregnancies, both before there were any laws about abortion and after a raft of 19th-century laws restricted it. Our ignorance of this history, however, equips those in the anti-abortion movement with the power to create dangerous narratives.

#YouKnowMe: why women are sharing their abortion stories

Abortion is a taboo subject. #YouKnowMe is trying to change that.

A concise history of the US abortion debate

While many may think that the political arguments over abortion now are fresh and new, scholars of women’s, medical and legal history note that this debate has a long history in the U.S. It began at more than a century before Roe v. Wade.

How to Talk About Abortion

When moral philosophers and others take up an issue that is at the center of public debate, we tend to frame it as a matter of individual ethics. Is it morally permissible to eat meat? To offer money for sex? To have an abortion? Yet, such questions often fail to focus on the issues that are important and relevant for public policy and, as a result, can derail productive public debate.

Personal Stories of Abortion Made Public

Prompted by Emma Green’s note on the Supreme Court case Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt, for which a group of lawyers filed a document openly describing their abortions, readers share their own stories in an ongoing series edited by Chris Bodenner.

What Are the Different Types of Abortion?

The type of abortion depends on the trimester...

Women in England to be allowed to have abortions at home

Women in England will soon be able to have abortions at home if they are less than ten weeks pregnant. Home abortions were introduced in Scotland and Wales last year. Now the UK government has said this will be legalised in England before the end of the year. But abortion remains illegal in almost all circumstances in Northern Ireland.

Yes, Roe really is in trouble

Roe v. Wade has survived for decades because of luck. That’s about to change.

Abortion affects men, too

Abortion is often treated exclusively as a women’s health issue. And let’s face it, the women’s perspective is more important.

Abortion Is Different in Europe Because Religion Is Different in Europe

Trying to talk about the struggle over reproductive rights while ignoring religion is like trying to understand sports while ignoring the existence of teams...

Abortion Is Morally Good

A fetus is a possibility, not a person. While abortion can be the tragic end to a wanted pregnancy, it’s never murder. The opposite position is extreme, and a threat to the health and safety of women. There is no compromise, not on the personhood of women. You can’t find middle ground. Invite them into your big tent, and you threaten the most vulnerable people inside it.

Abortion: Not Easy, Not Sorry

Nearly one in three American women will have an abortion by age 45. Why are we so afraid to talk about it—or to acknowledge that our lives would have been so much less than we hoped for without it? Why are we pressured to feel that we should regret our choice, and that there's something wrong with us if we don't?

Artificial wombs are coming. They could completely change the debate over abortion.

If a fetus can be transferred to a fabricated womb, can the right to abortion survive?

Banning abortion does not make abortion go away

Banning abortion does not make abortion go away. Women who have the means to travel, or the desperation to go underground, have always found a way, and their organizing power ultimately made abortion a constitutional right in the United States. Today, women should keep that history in mind as they prepare for the next chapter in this fight.

Being denied an abortion may push more people into poverty

A new study published today in the American Journal of Public Health provides important evidence to expand this claim, showing opposing abortion harms the poor, not just because it’s often lower-income women who decide to get abortions, but because being denied an abortion is linked to long-term consequences.

Bringing Down the Flowers: The Controversial History of Abortion

Was abortion a crime in previous centuries? The answer has shaped recent Supreme Court rulings—and might do so again.

It’s Not Just Abortion, Birth Control Coverage Is Also in Jeopardy

With the retirement of Justice Kennedy, a more conservative Supreme Court could limit access to contraception.

Medical or Surgical Abortion

When comparing medical and surgical abortion, focus should therefore not only be on efficacy and complications, but also on acceptability and patient satisfaction.

Pro-Choice Organizations Launch the #OneInFour Campaign Ahead of President Trump's Supreme Court Nomination

The name #OneInFour comes from the statistic that nearly one in four women in the United States will have had an abortion by the age of 45. That's almost a quarter of the female population, and yet there is still an incredible amount of stigma attached to women talking about their own abortions.

Shattering the Silence: My Abortion Story

One really hasn't the foggiest idea how they'll respond in a situation until they're facing that double pink line. I had been sexually violated in my sleep, bringing about a string of horrid flashbacks.

Sometimes the biggest obstacle to abortion is insurance

Patients often have to fight for coverage, even if their plans include the procedure.

Spreading Plan C to End Pregnancy

The F.D.A. warns against purchasing the drugs from online vendors, but women in the United States are doing it anyway. Increasingly, advocates of access to the drugs say, women are turning to the internet to procure the pills for use in their homes.

The New Abortion Underground Starts With Information

The threats against safe abortions are changing—where women once feared the coat hanger, the symbol of the handcuff is now more ominous. Is arming activists with information the first step in keeping abortion accessible?

The truth about how women get abortions in America

In numerous countries there is a time limit on the legality of abortion—for the UK, it’s 24 weeks, for France 12 weeks, for Italy 90 days. In the US, determining the “fetal viability” is left to the medical practitioner’s discretion. Generally speaking, viability occurs between 24 and 28 weeks (seven months), but every pregnancy is different, which places the very concept of viability at the center of a heated debate.

Two Stories That Are Shaping the Abortion Debate

An activist group is trying to discredit Planned Parenthood with covertly recorded videos even as contraception advocates are touting a method that sharply reduces unwanted pregnancies.

What you need to know about abortion methods

In as much as the talk about abortion has been here for a while, there is not so much that is known about the methods of abortion. While there are various abortion methods that are used to terminate early pregnancies, they are broadly grouped into are two main categories; medical abortion and surgical (also called aspiration abortion or suction abortion).

When Regulation Is Bad—Except for Abortion

Regulatory laws based on phony health claims erode economic liberty. But some free-market conservatives have a double standard for abortion.

Could Roe v. Wade Be Overturned?

Roe v. Wade is arguably one of the most famous Supreme Court cases of all time. It established a woman's right to abortion as a matter of privacy and has remained at the forefront of American politics for decades. Supporters of the decision hold it up as a beacon for women's independence and equality. Critics view it as an overreach by the Supreme Court. As states continue passing restrictions on abortion, many wonder: Could Roe v. Wade be overturned? Like most things in the law, the answer to this question isn't exactly a simple one.

Here's exactly how restricting abortion harms public health

The recent abortion bills don't align with what health experts know about abortion safety.

Should Abortion Be Legal?

The debate over whether abortion should be a legal option continues to divide Americans long after the US Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision on Roe v. Wade declared the procedure a fundamental right on Jan. 22, 1973.

What the polls say about Americans, abortion, and the Supreme Court

While a majority of Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned in its entirety, most believe abortion should only be legal under certain circumstances.

Are You The #OneInFour?

No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body - Margaret Sanger

Is the future of abortion online?

While the abortion debate continues worldwide, even in countries where it has long been legal, new drugs and online telemedicine services could provide access to safe abortion beyond borders and laws.

Majority of women who have an abortion don’t regret it five years on

The majority of women who have an abortion don’t regret their decision. The finding rebuts the idea that mental distress is commonplace, which is often the basis of laws that require women to have cooling off periods after requesting an abortion, says Corinne Rocca at the University of California, San Francisco.

Self-managed abortions should be universally available

A combination of feminist advocacy, new drugs and the internet is allowing people to safely end early pregnancies themselves when they choose to do so. People can manage abortions using medicines without face-to-face contact with doctors and nurses.

Study Examines The Lasting Effects Of Having — Or Being Denied — An Abortion

In The Turnaway Study, Diana Greene Foster shares research conducted over 10 years with about 1,000 women who had or were denied abortions, tracking impacts on mental, physical and economic health.

Terminating a pregnancy for medical reasons (TFMR)

Deciding whether to have a termination for medical reasons can be very difficult. You should be given all the information you need to help you make the best decision for you and be supported throughout the process.

The Scientific Breakthrough That Could Upend the Abortion Debate

That breakthrough is the artificial uterus, which could drastically lower the developmental age at which an unborn baby is viable, potentially to as early as conception itself.

What’s missing from the conversation about late abortions, explained by a doctor

Abortion opponents are accusing doctors of infanticide. Here’s the reality of abortion late in pregnancy, according to a doctor.

Who are the 1 in 4 American women who choose abortion?

Abortion is a routine part of reproductive health care. Approximately 25% of women in the U.S. will undergo an abortion before the age of 45. The Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy institute in New York City, has been tracking these data for the last 50 years.