Molly – Page 13 – REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ALERTS

01 Feb

Activists renew push to repeal Kentucky’s near-total abortion ban

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Ban, Activists, Kentucky, legislation, Repeal, United States

"Abortion rights supporters mounted another push Wednesday to restore abortion access in Kentucky, but the Democratic lawmaker sponsoring the legislation acknowledged the odds are overwhelmingly against them in the Republican-dominated legislature. A near-total abortion ban has been in place in Kentucky since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The so-called trigger law banned abortions except when carried out to save the mother’s life. It does not include exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest...."

31 Jan

ACLU warns Supreme Court that lower court abortion pill decisions relied on “patently unreliable witnesses”

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Pills, ACLU, Court decision, legislation, Lower courts, mifepristone, Supreme Court, United States

"The American Civil Liberties Union is warning the Supreme Court that lower court decisions in a closely watched battle over a widely used abortion pill relied on "patently unreliable witnesses" and "ideologically tainted junk science." In a friend-of-the-court brief the ACLU filed with the Center for Reproductive Rights and The Lawyering Project, the groups argued the lower courts that have ruled in the case involving the drug mifepristone supplanted the Food and Drug Administration's scientific judgment with unproven assertions from anti-abortion rights medical associations and doctors about the alleged harms of medication abortion...."

29 Jan

Pennsylvania high court revives a case challenging Medicaid limits for abortions

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Care, Abortion Coverage, Abortion Rights, Healthcare, Medicaid, Pennsylvania, Planned Parenthood, Reproductive healthcare, United States

"Pennsylvania's Supreme Court said Monday that a lower court must hear a challenge to the constitutionality of a decades-old state law that limits the use of Medicaid dollars to cover the cost of abortions, a major victory for Planned Parenthood and the abortion clinic operators who sued. The decision also elicited hope that the state Supreme Court may one day find a right to abortion in Pennsylvania's constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court ended nearly a half-century of federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade...."

27 Jan

Lina Hidalgo criticizes Texas’ abortion ban after study estimates thousands of rape-related pregnancies

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Ban, Healthcare, Rape-related pregnancy, Texas, Trigger Warning, TW, United States

"One of the Houston area's top elected officials criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders after a recent study published in a peer-reviewed medical journal estimated that more than 26,000 Texas women became pregnant by rape after abortion was banned in the state, which offers no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, examined rape-related pregnancies in the 14 U.S. states that have implemented total abortion bans since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision from 1973. Texas was estimated to…

26 Jan

In states with abortion bans, rape exceptions ‘fail to provide reasonable access’ to survivors, researchers say

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Ban, Abortion Care, Healthcare, leglislation, rape, Rape exception, Reproductive rights, Sexual Assault, Trigger Warning, TW, United States

"Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and removed federal protections on abortion rights in 2022, over a dozen states have enacted total bans on abortion. Now, new research suggests only a small fraction of people who become pregnant through rape are able to obtain a legal abortion in those states, including those with exceptions in place for such scenarios. After analyzing multiple datasets, researchers estimated that between July 2022 and January 2024, nearly 65,000 people became pregnant through rape in the 14 states that have total abortion bans, according to a research letter published this week in the journal JAMA…

24 Jan

North Dakota judge denies request to temporarily block part of abortion law for doctors

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Care, Abortion laws, Healthcare, Judge, legislation, life saving care, North Dakota, Reproductive healthcare, Temporary block, United States

"A North Dakota judge on Tuesday denied a temporary block on a part of the state's revised abortion laws so that doctors can perform the procedure to save a patient's life or health. State District Judge Bruce Romanick said the request for a preliminary injunction "is not appropriate and the Plaintiffs have presented no authority for the Court to grant the specific relief requested." The request asked the judge to bar the state from enforcing the law against physicians who use their "good-faith medical judgment" to perform an abortion because of complications that could pose "a risk of infection, hemorrhage,…

23 Jan

Maine Democrats who expanded abortion access now want to enshrine it in the state constitution

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Access, Abortion Rights, Maine, Reproductive healthcare, State constitution, United States

"Maine Gov. Janet Mills and other leading Democrats are pressing to end future legislative debate over abortions by amending the state constitution to enshrine the right to reproductive health care, just six months after lawmakers expanded access to abortions. Maine is seeking to join four other states that have amended their constitutions to protect the right to abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022...."

23 Jan

Wisconsin GOP introduces bill to ban abortions after 14 weeks of pregnancy

MollyLatest News, United States14 weeks, Abortion Ban, Bill, United States, Wisconsin

"Republicans who control the Wisconsin Assembly introduced a bill Friday that would call for a binding statewide referendum on whether abortion should be banned after 14 weeks of pregnancy. The GOP has scheduled a public hearing on the bill for Monday afternoon at the state Capitol. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is almost certain to veto the measure. However, the proposal could still galvanize the conservative base after Democrats parlayed anger over the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn its landmark 1972 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide, into big election wins across the country...."

23 Jan

In Washington state, pharmacists are poised to start prescribing abortion drugs

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Care, Abortion Pill, FDA, mifepristone, Prescriptions, Reproductive healthcare, United States, Washington

"Over the past several months, a handful of community pharmacies in states where abortion remains legal have begun to take advantage of a new rule that allows them to fill prescriptions for the abortion pill mifepristone. Prior to the rule change, which was finalized last January by the Food and Drug Administration, pregnant people had to get the drug directly from their doctor or by mail if using telemedicine, depending on the laws in their state. Reproductive health experts have said relaxing that requirement could help ease the growing burden on abortion clinics in states where abortion is legal. And perhaps nowhere is the potential for…

23 Jan

Abortion rights advocates launch ‘Vote Yes’ campaign as Maryland ahead of vote on new amendment

MollyLatest News, United StatesAbortion Rights, Ballot, Campaigning, Maryland, Reproductive Health Care, United States, Vote Yes

"Abortion rights supporters Monday kicked off their campaign to "Vote Yes" on November's ballot referendum to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state's constitution. "We can't take anything for granted when it comes to reproductive health care," Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones said Monday. "We don't just need to win. We need to send a message."..."

17 Jan

Why ‘viability’ is dividing the abortion rights movement

MollyUnited StatesAbortion Care, Abortion Rights, Healthcare, Non-viable pregnancy, United States, viable pregnancy

"Reproductive rights activists in Missouri agree they want to get a ballot measure before voters this fall to roll back one of the strictest abortion bans in the country and ensure access. The sticking point is how far they should go. The groups have been at odds over whether to include a provision that would allow the state to regulate abortions after the fetus is viable, a concession supporters of the language say will be needed to persuade voters in the conservative state. It’s a divide that’s not limited to Missouri...."

15 Jan

Tusk pledges bill introducing “legal and safe abortion” in Poland

MollyInternationalAbortion, abortion bills, Abortion Care, Abortion Rights, Bill, International, Legal and safe abortion, legislation, Poland

"Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has pledged that his centrist Civic Coalition (KO) political grouping will submit a bill to liberalise the abortion law. He admitted, however, that it remains uncertain if he can gather enough support from his more conservative coalition partners to pass the measure. “Civic Coalition will submit a bill that gives the right to safe abortion up to the 12th week [of pregnancy] with certain conditions,” said Tusk in an interview on Friday with Poland’s largest three television stations, TVP, Polsat and TVN...."

12 Jan

Abortion rights clashes with NIMBYism in California

MollyUnited StatesAbortion Clinic, Abortion Rights, Billboards, California, NIMBY, Public Opinion, United States

"There would seem to be no place friendlier to abortion rights than Beverly Hills, where the City Council voted unanimously on a resolution supporting access to the procedure after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Which is why billboards going up Thursday in the famously wealthy city are such a surprise. “Los Angeles should be safe for abortion seekers,” the brightly colored signs read. “Fight back against attempts to shut down DuPont Clinic.”..."

10 Jan

In the fight over abortion rights, the government bans its first company from tracking medical visits

MollyUnited StatesAbortion Ban, Abortion Providers, Abortion Rights, legislation, Medical data, Medical visits, Personal data, Tracking ban, Tracking medical visits, United States

"The Biden administration stopped a company from selling data on people’s medical visits on Tuesday, its first settlement on a privacy issue that has many Americans concerned about who can see their most sensitive personal data — particularly visits to abortion providers. After an investigation, the Federal Trade Commission said it had reached a settlement with Outlogic, a location data broker formerly known as X-Mode Social, which had been collecting information on people’s visits to medical centers...."

09 Jan

Arkansas group files third draft of proposed abortion amendment

MollyUnited StatesAbortion Rights, Amendment, Arkansas, Attorney General, legislation, State constitution, Third draft, United States

"Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin will review a third draft of a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee a limited right to abortion. Arkansans for Limited Government, a ballot question committee supporting the amendment, submitted the draft Monday after Griffin rejected the second draft last week. Griffin wrote in Thursday’s opinion that the drafters had addressed most of the issues he had with the first iteration of the amendment, which was proposed and rejected in November...."