United States

State governments looking to protect health-related data as it’s used in abortion battle

Some state governments and federal regulators were already moving to keep individuals’ reproductive health information private when a U.S. senator’s report last week offered a new jolt, describing how cellphone location data was used to send millions of anti-abortion ads to people who visited Planned Parenthood offices.
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Mental health emerges as dividing line in abortion rights initiatives planned for state ballots

 The weeks after Kaniya Harris found out she was pregnant were among the hardest in her life. Final exams were fast approaching for the college junior. Her doctors told her she had an ovarian cyst, and the risk of ectopic pregnancy was high. The wait times for abortion clinics near her city of Bethesda seemed impossibly long. And she couldn’t visit her family in Kentucky because of the state’s abortion ban.
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A lesson in recognizing anti-abortion propaganda

Extremist anti-abortion rhetoric often relies on misleading propaganda to sway public opinion and garner support for the anti-choice cause. By disseminating inflammatory and false information, extremists seek to manipulate individuals into adopting their political viewpoint, regardless of the factual inaccuracies presented to the public. Such tactics not only misrepresent the truth, but also perpetuate harmful misconceptions about reproductive health care and individual rights.
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‘Fleeing under the cover of darkness’: How Idaho’s abortion ban is changing pregnancy in the state

Jen and John Adkins never expected to have to send a package like this. Unsteady on her feet after a medical procedure last spring, Jen emerged from a clinic with a box she needed to ship urgently. The clock was ticking; if they missed the FedEx cutoff, she and John recalled to CNN, they wouldn’t be able to get crucial test results that would affect the future of their family.
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When will women get real reproductive health care in America? Opinion

Last month, Kellyanne Conway made waves within the Republican Party when she announced she was visiting Capitol Hill to promote access to contraception. Her rationale? A pro-contraception message could turn the tide for “young voters” in a post-Roe world. But instead of garnering support, especially from young women, Conway faced intense backlash from within her own party.  
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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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South Carolina woman seeks clarity on abortion ban in lawsuit backed by Planned Parenthood

"A South Carolina woman who traveled elsewhere for an abortion just days after reaching six weeks of pregnancy wants a court to affirm that the state’s ban on the procedure — when a “fetal heartbeat” can be detected — should not take effect until later in a pregnancy. In a lawsuit filed in state circuit court Monday, Taylor Shelton and Planned Parenthood South Atlantic's chief medical officer Dr. Katherine Farris argued that the Republican-led state Legislature provided two different definitions of “fetal heartbeat" in its law restricting abortions. They said the correct interpretation is that the ban begins around nine…
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State legislators aim to restrict abortion pills, ‘trafficking’ next in states with bans

More than half of state legislatures across the country started their 2024 legislative sessions in January, and plenty of abortion-related bills have already been introduced, especially in states where the procedure is already banned. It can be hard to monitor them all, so States Newsroom’s Reproductive Rights Today team will track certain bills that could become law in their respective states in a bi-weekly legislative roundup. Depending on the partisan makeup of a state’s legislature and other state government officials, some bills have a higher chance of passing and becoming law than others.
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Congressional Democrats tell Biden to do more on abortion after Ohio woman’s arrest

"Democratic members of Congress are urging the Biden administration to do more to protect pregnant patients seeking medical treatment from criminal prosecution - a threat they say has intensified in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning decades of abortion-rights precedent. The new letter, spearheaded by the Democratic Women's Caucus, references the case of Brittany Watts, an Ohio woman who faced felony charges after suffering a miscarriage last year...."
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