Abortion Ban

GOP megadonor pours millions into effort to hinder Ohio abortion amendment

"New campaign finance records show Illinois Republican megadonor Richard Uihlein is funding the bulk of the campaign aimed at thwarting a constitutional amendment on abortion in Ohio.  Ohio is likely the only state this year to have a measure on the ballot to enshrine abortion access into the state constitution, setting up a test case for how the issue may drive voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. A USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University poll released this week found 58% of Ohioans support a constitutional amendment...."
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Iowa Supreme Court says the block on the state’s strict abortion law can be appealed

"Gov. Kim Reynolds can proceed with an appeal on a temporary block on the state’s new, restrictive abortion law, the Iowa Supreme Court said Tuesday. Reynolds announced her intentions to appeal last week and said it was “just a matter of time” before lawyers for the state filed the request, which they did Friday. The Iowa Supreme Court had to say whether the request could move forward...."
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Planned Parenthood seeks injunction for two sections of NC abortion law

"Planned Parenthood and a Duke Health doctor have renewed their request for a preliminary injunction against portions of North Carolina’s new abortion law. Documents filed Monday in U.S. District Court target two pieces of the law that otherwise took effect July 1. Meanwhile, the judge in the case rejected defendants’ request to delay the next hearing in the case. The new law permits abortions through 12 weeks of pregnancy, but blocks the procedure with exceptions afterward. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles issued a June 30 order temporarily blocking one portion of the law, labeled the “IUP Documentation Requirement” in court paperwork. That…
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Anti-abortion group seeks to overturn injunction after Tennessee clinic closure

"Anti-abortion protesters urged a Sixth Circuit panel on Tuesday to do away with an abortion provider's claims against the group and vacate an order stopping the group from blocking the facility's entrance, calling the matter moot since the clinic shut down last month. The group held a weeklong protest at carafem, which operated until June in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The company behind the clinic sued the anti-abortion group for violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances and in September 2022 won a preliminary injunction.…
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Ohio abortion clinics continue to help out-of-state patients as bans are put in place

"As groups await legal battles on abortion, as well as hope for a November ballot initiative to include reproduction rights in the Ohio Constitution, abortion clinics are also looking to help surrounding states where bans have taken hold. Indiana has been the most recent state surrounding Ohio to see an abortion ban approved — set to start on August 1 — and with it struggles for Planned Parenthoods in the state to care for patients, even those seeking other reproductive services. While Ohio awaits the state Supreme Court’s decision in a case regarding an indefinite pause to the six-week abortion ban in the state,…
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Police at the hospital: Abortion battle heats up in Poland

"...An ever closer alliance between the Polish government and the Catholic Church has led to a radical tightening of abortion laws in recent years. In 2020, the PiS-controlled Constitutional Court removed the risk of serious fetal malformation as a condition allowing for legal abortion, creating a climate of fear and mistrust among doctors and women...."
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Abortions in Florida topped 38,000 in the first six months of 2023

"Amid a legal battle about the future of abortion rights in Florida, more than 38,000 abortions were performed in the state during the first half of 2023, according to a newly posted report on the state Agency for Health Care Administration website. The report, dated July 3, said 38,244 abortions had been performed this year...."
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What it’s like for doctors in Wisconsin to follow an 1849 abortion law in 2023

"The three women sitting around a table at a busy lunch spot share a grim camaraderie. It’s been more than a year since an 1849 law came back into force to criminalize abortion in Wisconsin. Now these two OB-GYNs and a certified midwife find their medical training, skill, and acumen constrained by state politics. “We didn’t even know germs caused disease back then,” said Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an obstetrician-gynecologist who lives in Green Bay...."
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Nebraska woman charged with disposing of fetus following illegal abortion sentenced to 90 days in jail

"A woman accused of having an illegal abortion in Nebraska when she was 17 and disposing of the fetus was sentenced Thursday to 90 days in jail following a plea agreement. Celeste Burgess, 19, of Norfolk, had entered a guilty plea in May to a felony charge of removing, concealing or abandoning a dead human body. Misdemeanor charges of false reporting and concealing a death were dismissed under the agreement, according to documents filed in district court in Nebraska’s Madison County. In addition to the jail term, Burgess was sentenced to serve two years of probation...."
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Tearful Texas doctor recalls being forced to travel out of state for abortion

"Emotional testimonies from women and doctors continued into the second day of court hearings on the confusion surrounding exceptions under Texas’s restrictive abortion ban. On Thursday, Austin Dennard, an OB-GYN doctor herself, delivered a tearful testimony as she recounted her experiences of being forced to travel out of state for an abortion due to a nonviable pregnancy. Eleven weeks into the pregnancy last year, Dennard, who is pregnant again, learned that her baby had anencephaly, a rare and fatal condition affecting the development of the brain and can also pose a serious health risk to the mother. Explaining the condition,…
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“Undress, Squat, Cough” — Police In Poland Ramp Up The Abortion Crackdown

"Poland's conservative government has made restricting abortion access a guiding pillar since returning to power in 2015. Now that appears to include orders to police to detain women seeking access to terminate a pregnancy in the case of health risks, one of the few exceptions to the strict national abortion ban. One Polish woman, identified as "Joanna" told police this week that police detained her, saying she had been pressured into having an abortion. She had purchased abortion pills on her own volition after health problems, and had decided to take them, which is not punishable in Poland, But the state saw it…
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Texas judge to weigh in on exceptions to state abortion laws

"The issue of exceptions to Texas’ near-total abortion ban are in state court for a second day, after a long day of testimony Wednesday from some of the women who are suing the state, saying the laws put their lives, and their babies, at risk. During the often emotional testimony, the women shared stories of how they were unable to get a medical abortion during their pregnancies, despite having severe risks to their lives. At one point, the judge called a recess after one of the women got physically ill on the witness stand while recounting her experience of having to carry…
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Woman suing Texas over abortion ban vomits on the stand in emotional reaction during dramatic hearing

"A hearing in a lawsuit challenging Texas' abortion ban opened Wednesday with dramatic testimony from three women who experienced serious pregnancy complications but were denied abortions. One of the plaintiffs in the suit, Samantha Casiano, vomited on the stand while discussing her baby's fatal birth defect, which she said also put her life at risk...."
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Nearly two years after Texas’ six-week abortion ban, more infants are dying

"Texas’ abortion restrictions – some of the strictest in the country – may be fueling a sudden spike in infant mortality as women are forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term. Some 2,200 infants died in Texas in 2022 – an increase of 227 deaths, or 11.5%, over the previous year, according to preliminary infant mortality data CNN obtained through a public records request. Infant deaths caused by severe genetic and birth defects rose by 21.6%. That spike reversed a nearly decade-long decline. Between 2014 and 2021, infant deaths had fallen by nearly 15%...."
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