United States

Judge strikes down a North Carolina abortion restriction but upholds another

"A federal judge ruled Friday that a provision in North Carolina's abortion laws requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy before prescribing abortion pills should be blocked permanently, affirming that it was too vague to be enforced reasonably. The implementation of that requirement was already halted last year by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles until a lawsuit challenging portions of the abortion law enacted by the Republican-dominated General Assembly in 2023 was litigated further. Eagles now says a permanent injunction would be issued at some point...."
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Anti-abortion group argues that Indiana health department’s abortion records must be public

In defense of its lawsuit against the state health department, a South Bend-based anti-abortion group doubled down in new court filings that related medical records do not compromise patient privacy and should be made available to the public. The ongoing lawsuit was filed in May by “Voices for Life,” which seeks to regain access to Terminated Pregnancy Reports (TPRs) that are no longer being released by the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH). The state health department is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, however, maintaining that TPRs qualify as medical records and are exempt from disclosure under Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act, also known…
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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Clinic, which moved from Fargo to neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota, filed the lawsuit challenging the state's now-repealed trigger ban soon after the fall…
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Democrats Hope Harris’ Bluntness on Abortion Will Translate to 2024 Wins in Congress and White House

President Joe Biden might not often use the word “abortion” when he talks about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but Vice President Kamala Harris sure does. She's also toured a Minnesota Planned Parenthood clinic where the procedure is performed and routinely links the fall of Roe to the larger issue of rising maternal mortality nationwide.
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Check your VPN, abortion seekers. New ‘Vagina Privacy Network’ aims to keep data safe

"Two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights and data privacy advocates teamed up to launch a new kind of VPN: The Vagina Privacy Network. The campaign offers a how-to guide on protecting digital privacy for people worried their data could be used against them after they've had an abortion, particularly those in one of the 14 states that ban the procedure. The seven tips range from using encrypted messaging apps to communicating on burner phones, which campaign creator MSI Reproductive Choices has been handing out at reproductive rights marches nationwide, according to Whitney Chinogwenya, the…
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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 Gets the Silent Treatment at the RNC

Sen. Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee didn’t talk about it. Neither did her colleagues Sens. Steve Daines from Montana or Tim Scott from South Carolina. Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, didn’t bring it up. A top adviser to the former president, Kellyanne Conway, certainly didn’t — she’s been warning Republican lawmakers for months to be careful about how they talk about it. 
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Opinion: Supreme Court’s blow to federal agencies’ power will likely weaken abortion rights

The Supreme Court wrapped up its term at the beginning of July 2024 with a range of rulings that reshape everything from the power of the presidency to how federal agencies carry out their work. One of the court’s most significant decisions was Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.This ruling, at its core, determines the balance of power between the judiciary branch’s federal courts and the executive branch’s federal agencies. When Congress passes laws, legislators know that many will have gaps and ambiguities. It is generally the job of federal agencies – staffed with subject-matter experts – to issue regulations to fill in that…
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Defending Women’s Rights: The Urgent Need for Equal Rights Amendments

The Dobbs decision and recent legal actions in Arizona, such as the temporary reinstatement and subsequent reversal of a pre-1901 restrictive abortion law, have severely disrupted women's access to reproductive health services. Recent wins in Nevada and Pennsylvania, where restrictions on state health insurance-funded abortions were overturned, highlight the critical need for federal and state Equal Rights Amendments (ERAs). These amendments would strengthen reproductive rights protections, ensuring the U.S. aligns more closely with international human rights standards by grounding these rights inequality rather than privacy.
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