Ruling

Zimbabwe court rules against law that denies abortion to marital rape victims and girls below 18

“A law prohibiting abortion services for women raped by their husbands and girls under the age of 18 is unconstitutional, Zimbabwe’s High Court has ruled. In his ruling handed down on Nov. 22 and made public this week, Judge Maxwell Takuva said since Zimbabwe’s laws already criminalize marital rape and sex with a minor, victims should be allowed to abort if they become pregnant….”
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Missouri abortion-rights amendment could be axed from the ballot after ruling

 "A Missouri judge on Friday ruled that an abortion-rights campaign did not meet legal requirements to qualify for the November ballot, potentially thwarting a yearslong effort to undo the state's near-total abortion ban. But Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh stopped short of removing the measure from the ballot. Instead, he gave the abortion-rights campaign a chance to file a last-minute appeal before Tuesday's deadline to make changes to the Missouri ballot...."
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Foetuses can be called ‘unborn humans’ for Arizona abortion vote

"Pro-choice activists in Arizona have hit out after judges allowed the state to use what the campaigners call "biased" language ahead of a vote on abortion. The state's top court ruled on Wednesday that a foetus could be called an "unborn human being" in official public information leaflets ahead of the 5 November poll. America's bitter debate over reproductive freedoms will again be in the spotlight on that date, when Arizona and other states will vote on whether to add to their constitutions the right for a woman to have an abortion...."
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Utah Supreme Court upholds pause on abortion ban

“The Utah Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday morning that upheld an injunction blocking enforcement of a 2020 trigger law that bans nearly all abortions across the state. The 4-1 opinion from the Utah Supreme Court — which is comprised of three women and two men — affirmed a district court’s decision to enjoin the enforcement of the ban while Planned Parenthood of Utah and the state continue to litigate the constitutionality of the law….”
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Mayes wins extended delay of Civil War-era abortion law ruling to mull appeal to U.S. Supreme Court

“Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has further delayed the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to revive a near-total abortion ban from 1864 — and she’s still eyeing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Since the Arizona Supreme Court’s bombshell ruling that the Civil War-era law could once again be enforced earlier this year, the law was repealed by the state legislature. While reproductive rights proponents celebrated the move at the time, they also worried that the legislature’s action would simply delay the ban’s reinstatement, because laws don’t become effective until 90 days after the legislative session ends. But that fear was laid to…
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North Dakota judge will decide whether to throw out a challenge to the state’s abortion ban

"Attorneys argued Tuesday over whether a North Dakota judge should toss a lawsuit challenging the state's abortion ban, with the state saying the plaintiffs' case rests on hypotheticals, and the plaintiffs saying key issues remain to be resolved at a scheduled trial. State District Judge Bruce Romanick said he will rule as quickly as he can, but he also asked the plaintiffs' attorney what difference he would have at the court trial in August. The Red River Women's Clinic, which moved from Fargo to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, filed the lawsuit challenging the state's now-repealed trigger ban soon after the fall…
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Ruling keeps abortion question on ballot in South Dakota

"A state court judge's ruling Monday keeps an abortion-rights question on the November ballot in South Dakota. Judge John Pekas dismissed a lawsuit filed by an anti-abortion group, Life Defense Fund, that sought to have the question removed even though supporters turned in more than enough valid signatures to put it on the ballot...."
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Abortion bans still leave a ‘gray area’ for doctors after Idaho Supreme Court case

"The Supreme Court’s abortion ruling on Thursday is a narrow one that applies only to Idaho and sends a case back down to the appeals court. Confusion among doctors in states that have strict abortion bans remains widespread. The case concerns the kinds of situations in which emergency room doctors could end a pregnancy. Under Idaho law, it is a felony to provide nearly all abortions, unless the life of the mother is at risk. But what if a pregnancy threatens her health? For now, those abortions can happen in Idaho emergency rooms...."
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Abortion Pill Access Is Still Under Threat After SCOTUS Ruling, Legal Experts Warn

"....Last week’s ruling was widely expected, legal experts say. “Anybody that values reproductive freedom and the scientific integrity of the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] can breathe a sigh of relief,” says Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University. But “it would be foolish to declare victory” for abortion rights, he says. The ruling was a narrow legal technicality that didn’t go into the case’s actual merits. It’s quite possible, Gostin says, that the Court could make future rulings that restrict access to medication abortion and usurp the FDA’s broader authority to regulate drug safety...."
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Ohio voters approved reproductive rights. Will the state’s near-ban on abortion stand?

 "A county judge could rule as early as Monday on Ohio's law banning virtually all abortions, a decision that will take into consideration the decision by voters to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution. The 2019 law under consideration by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins bans most abortions once cardiac activity can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women are aware...."
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Arizona Supreme Court rules a near-total abortion ban from 1864 is enforceable

"The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a 160-year-old near-total abortion ban still on the books in the state is enforceable, a bombshell decision that adds the state to the growing lists of places where abortion care is effectively banned. The ruling allows an 1864 law in Arizona to stand that made abortion a felony punishable by two to five years in prison for anyone who performs one or helps a woman obtain one.  The law — which was codified in 1901, and again in 1913 — outlaws abortion from the moment of conception but includes an exception to save the woman’s…
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U.S. publisher retracts studies cited by Texas judge in suspending abortion pill’s approval

"A U.S. scientific publisher has retracted two studies, largely due to their methodology, that a Texas judge cited last year in his ruling suspending federal approval of the abortion pill mifepristone in response to a lawsuit by anti-abortion doctors and medical associations. The retraction Monday by Sage Publications came less than two months before the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear an appeal by President Joe Biden's administration in that case. Mifepristone, the first in a two-pill regimen for medication abortion, remains available while the appeal is pending...."
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Dane co. judge’s ruling on consensual abortions sparks statewide debate

"It may look like a win for abortion rights activists today, but the debate isn’t over. Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper reaffirmed her July decision permitting consensual abortions. However, Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski says he plans to appeal. In the State of Wisconsin, abortion is legal up to 21 weeks and six days. If you are under the age of 17, you must of parental consent. When Healthfirst has a pregnant person come in and they are unsure if they want to keep the baby, they want to give that person options...."
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Providers can sue over Arizona ban on abortion for genetic anomalies -court

"A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived a challenge to an Arizona law banning abortions from being performed solely because the fetus has a genetic abnormality. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that a group of healthcare providers can sue the state over the law because they are harmed by it, reversing a lower court ruling. The panel did not address the merits of the challenge, finding only that the providers are entitled to pursue it in court...."
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Kansas can’t enforce new law on abortion pills or make patients wait 24 hours, judge rules

"A Kansas judge on Monday put a new state law on medication abortions on hold and blocked older restrictions that for years have spelled out what providers must tell patients and forced patients to wait 24 hours to end their pregnancies. The ruling was another big victory for abortion rights advocates in Kansas, where a statewide vote in August 2022 decisively confirmed protections for abortion access under the state constitution. District Judge K. Christopher Jayaram’s order suspends some restrictions that have been in effect for years. The waiting period had been in place since 1997...."
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