Biden’s top priority for a second term: Abortion rights

“The president has been adamant that we need to restore Roe. It is unfathomable that women today wake up in a country with less rights than their ancestors had years ago,” Fulks said. Biden has been poised to run on what has been described as the strongest abortion rights platform of any general election candidate as he and his allies look to notch a victory in the first presidential election since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
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Arkansas AG rejects second proposed amendment to make abortion a constitutional right

"A proposed constitutional amendment proposing a limited right to abortion in Arkansas needs further revisions before it can appear on the 2024 statewide ballot, Attorney General Tim Griffin wrote in a Thursday opinion. Griffin rejected a previous version of the proposed amendment in November. The initial proposal said state government entities would not be allowed to “prohibit, penalize, delay or restrict” Arkansans’ access to abortion “within 18 weeks of conception.” Both rejected proposals would have permitted abortion services in cases of rape, incest, a “fatal fetal anomaly” or to protect a pregnant person’s life or health...."
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Court Says Texas Can Ban Certain Emergency Abortions. What That Means

"Texas hospitals cannot be required to perform emergency abortions to stabilize the life of a patient, a federal appeals court ruled, despite federal guidance to the contrary.  The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists and Christian Medical and Dental Associations. The judges wrote in their opinion that the Biden Administration's guidance—which says hospitals receiving Medicare must provide abortions if they were a necessary medically stabilizing treatment—oversteps its authority and runs counter to state laws...."
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Thousands of women stocked up on abortion pills, especially following news of restrictions

"Thousands of women stocked up on abortion pills just in case they needed them, new research shows, with demand peaking in the past couple years at times when it looked like the medications might become harder to get. Medication abortion accounts for more than half of all abortions in the U.S., and typically involves two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol. A research letter published Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine looked at requests for these pills from people who weren't pregnant and sought them through Aid Access, a European online telemedicine service that prescribes them for future and immediate use...."
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Abortion debate creates ‘new era’ for state supreme court races in 2024, with big spending expected

CHICAGO (AP) — The 2024 elections will be dominated by the presidential contest and the battle for control of Congress, but another series of races is shaping up to be just as consequential. Crucial battles over abortion, gerrymandering, voting rights and other issues will take center stage in next year’s elections for state supreme court seats — 80 of them in 33 states.
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Wisconsin Assembly Speaker seeks ballot referendum regarding abortion laws

"A top Republican lawmaker in Wisconsin has expressed his desire for voters to have a say on the state's abortion laws. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is advocating for a ballot referendum in the new year, which would ask voters whether to limit abortion access to between 12 and 14 weeks of pregnancy. This proposal contrasts with the current state law that prohibits abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy...."
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From gender-affirming care bans to minimum wage increases, these new laws take effect January 1

Several states saw a polarizing legislative session last year as lawmakers tackled high-profile measures, some of which take effect this year. While many Democratic- and Republican-led states passed measures to ease the effects of inflation as the economy remains a top concern for voters ahead of the 2024 election, states were split along party lines on marquee issues such as abortion rights and gender-affirming care for minors.
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‘Jane Roe’ is anonymous no more. The very public fight against abortion bans in 2023

As 2023 comes to a close, so too does the first full year of the post-Roe era in America. Some of the year's developments were expected, like more conservative states enacting abortion restrictions. Others were surprising, like the fact that there were more abortions nationally in the year after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health decision than the previous one.
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How abortion rights fared in 2023 is a mixed bag

The absence of a constitutional guarantee to the right to an abortion has led to a deeply inconsistent landscape of reproductive policy across the map. This year, voters in many states resoundingly elected officials who stood for abortion rights over those who vowed to enact restrictions. Yet, state lawmakers elsewhere implemented draconian abortion bans that would have been unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade, and we saw officials go to great lengths to prosecute, intimidate and shame individuals under those laws.
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