Healthcare

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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Florida’s abortion rate increases despite 15-week ban

"A 15-week ban on abortion in Florida hasn't decreased the number of procedures done in the state as women from surrounding states with more restrictive bans head here for their procedures.  “We are seeing a lot of in-state and out-of-state individuals who are having to travel farther to receive care,” said Miranda Colavito, with Planned Parenthood communications. Colavito has been doing advocacy work for women’s rights for five years...."
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A woman who had a miscarriage is now charged with abusing a corpse as stricter abortion laws play out nationwide

"An Ohio woman who had sought treatment at a hospital before suffering a miscarriage and passing her nonviable fetus in her bathroom now faces a criminal charge, her attorney told CNN. Brittany Watts, 33, of Warren, has been charged with felony abuse of a corpse, Trumbull County court records show. “Ms. Watts suffered a tragic and dangerous miscarriage that jeopardized her own life. Rather than focusing on healing physically and emotionally, she was arrested and charged with a felony,” her attorney, Traci Timko, told CNN in an email...."
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North Dakota judge to decide whether to temporarily block part of abortion law that limits doctors

"A North Dakota judge said Wednesday he will decide soon whether to temporarily block a part of the state's revised abortion laws so doctors can perform the procedure to save a patient's life or health. The request for a preliminary injunction asks state District Court Judge Bruce Romanick to bar the state from enforcing the law against physicians who use their “good-faith medical judgment” to perform an abortion because of pregnancy complications that could pose "a risk of infection, hemorrhage, high blood pressure, or which otherwise makes continuing a pregnancy unsafe.”
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Amarillo City Council says it needs more time to debate abortion travel ban

"The Amarillo City Council prolonged its debate over a so-called abortion travel ban on Tuesday, spending more than two hours in front of a packed room reviewing draft rules that would attempt to block access to Colorado and New Mexico, two states where a Texas woman could legally obtain an abortion. The five-member council discussed three different drafts of the ordinance, with varying measures in each, and left the table without resolution. Abortion rights activists and legal scholars have sharply criticized the ordinances, calling the rules unconstitutional...."
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Report: Minnesota sees spike in out-of-state patients seeking abortions

"The number of people crossing state lines to Minnesota to get an abortion spiked after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, new data show. The number of out-of-state patients jumped from 9% in 2020 to 30% in 2023 over the same time period, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Nationwide, one in five patients are traveling out of state for an abortion...."
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What does the Texas Supreme Court ruling on emergency abortions mean for patients?

"Monday's ruling from the Texas Supreme Court denying a woman's request for an emergency abortion shines a spotlight on the medical exceptions contained in many U.S. states' abortion bans. Here are some of the most important facts about the case, and what it could mean: WHAT IS TEXAS' MEDICAL EXCEPTION? Texas has banned nearly all abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court last June overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which had guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. Texas' ban includes an exception allowing the procedure if, in a doctor's "reasonable medical judgment," the mother has a "life-threatening condition" related to the pregnancy…
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Proposed abortion law sparks debate

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Some Missouri lawmakers are renewing a call for the state to take an anti-abortion step that goes further than prominent anti-abortion groups want to go and that has not gained much traction in any state so far: a law that would allow homicide charges against women who obtain abortions.
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Ken Paxton asks Texas Supreme Court to stop Dallas woman from getting an abortion

"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked the state Supreme Court to intervene and stop a Dallas woman from having an abortion. Paxton’s office petitioned the high court just before midnight Thursday, after a Travis County district judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing Kate Cox, 31, to terminate her nonviable pregnancy. Paxton also sent a letter to three hospitals, threatening legal action if they allowed the abortion to be performed at their facility...."
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More Kansans need help paying for abortions, but aid groups are getting fewer donations

"More than a year after abortion became illegal in many parts of the U.S., the nonprofit that helps Kansans pay for abortions says demand for financial assistance continues to grow. The Kansas Abortion Fund works directly with clinics that provide abortions, which refer patients who need help paying for medications and surgical procedures that can stretch into the thousands of dollars. In 2022, the fund doled out $111,473 to 431 Kansas residents to help cover the costs of abortions at clinics in and out of the state. Eleven months into 2023, the group has more than doubled both the amount…
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