The Mississippi Legislature is advancing a bill to ban abortions from being performed based on race, sex, or potential physical disabilities caused by genetic anomalies. The Republican-led Senate passed the bill Wednesday by a 33-11 margin. The House is expected to send the bill to Republican Governor Tate Reeves later this week. Senator Joey Fillingane […]
Colorado To Vote on Late-Term Abortion Ban in November
An initiative to ban abortions after 22 weeks has made it onto the November ballot in Colorado after collecting 153,204 signatures, according to the Colorado Secretary of State. The initiative, backed by the group Due Date Too Late, proposes to make it illegal to perform abortions at 22 weeks or later. This includes cases where […]
Colorado Group Says It Has The Signatures for Late-Term Abortion Ban Ballot Initiative
A Colorado advocacy group seeking to ban abortion after 22 weeks said yesterday it has collected enough signatures for the issue to appear on the November ballot. The ballot measure Initiative 120, which is supported by the Due Date Too Late group, seeks to ban all abortions after 22 weeks, with an exception only if […]
ACLU Challenges Arkansas’s Latest Attempt to Restrict Abortion Access
Arkansas’s only in-clinic abortion provider, Little Rock Family Planning Services, is suing the state to challenge a rule requiring patients to get a COVID-19 test within 48 hours of their abortion procedure. This is the second time Arkansas abortion providers have had to fight a legal battle to protect abortion access during the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Texas Governor’s Executive Order Banning Abortion Expires
Tuesday night, Texas’ Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s March 21 executive order expired. The order had been the object of weeks of legal debate over the classification of medication and procedural abortion as a ‘non-essential’ medical procedure during the COVID-19 crisis. On Wednesday, Gov. Abbott announced a new executive order, allowing certain medical procedures to resume, […]
Federal Judge Allows Abortions in Oklahoma to Resume Despite COVID-19 Ban
U.S. District Judge Charles Goodwin has just issued a preliminary injunction against Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s attempted abortion ban, and is allowing all abortion services to resume on Friday, April 24. According to a release by the Associated Press, “the injunction ensures that abortions can be performed in Oklahoma while the case continues in federal […]
Judge Blocks Tennessee’s Coronavirus Abortion Ban
A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s halt on procedural abortions during the coronavirus pandemic. This decision is another victory for reproductive rights advocates fighting abortion bans across the United States, including in Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled Friday that Tennessee cannot […]
Judge Affirms Abortion Access in Alabama During Coronavirus Pandemic
A federal judge has ruled that Alabama cannot ban abortions during the coronavirus pandemic. District Judge Myron Thompson decided that the state must allow abortion providers to exercise “reasonable medical judgment” in deciding whether a procedure can wait until after the COVID-19 crisis. Alabama, like many other states, ordered a halt on non-essential medical procedures […]
Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Texas Coronavirus Abortion Ban
A federal appeals court upheld Texas’s ban on abortion services during the coronavirus crisis less than 24 hours after a district judge struck down parts of the ban. This latest decision blocks medication abortions but allows abortions for those who would be past Texas’s legal gestational limit at the end of the ban. In late […]
Abortion Providers in Texas Turn to District Courts for Abortion Ban Exemptions
Texas abortion providers asked a district judge for limited relief from an executive order restricting abortion during the pandemic, rather than taking the case to the Supreme Court. The move by the providers to seek help from a district judge was made in response to an order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the […]
Judge Blocks Oklahoma Abortion Restrictions During COVID-19 Outbreak
Oklahoma US District Judge Charles Goodwin has just blocked a state executive order that limits abortion access during the coronavirus pandemic. Judge Goodwin believes that Oklahoma’s ban would cause “irreparable harm” to individuals unable to receive abortion care. In response to Oklahoma’s state executive order, Goodwin also remarked, “that while the current public health emergency […]
Study Reports Texas Women Will Have to Travel 20 Times Farther to Obtain Abortion Care
Due to Texas’ new abortion ban, women in the state must now travel 20 times farther to obtain an abortion as reported in an analysis of anti-abortion measures implemented in some states due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, the average distance a woman will have to travel one-way […]
Reproductive Rights Groups Sue to Stop Oklahoma’s COVID-19 Abortion Ban
The Center for Reproductive Rights and Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) have filed an emergency lawsuit to nullify Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s ban on abortion procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, Stitt issued an executive order temporarily halting elective surgeries, which he later specified includes all abortions not deemed “necessary to prevent serious […]
U.S. Appeals Court Rules in Favor of COVID-19 Texas Abortion Ban
On Tuesday, March 31, a United States appeals court ruled to allow Texas to continue enforcing limits on people’s ability to obtain safe and legal abortions due to the state’s policy to postpone “non-essential” procedures in lieu of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a New York Times release by Reuters, “Texas and other states that […]
Alabama Legislator Proposes Mandatory Vasectomy Bill in Response to Abortion Ban
Last Thursday, Democratic state representative from Alabama Rep. Rolanda Hollis proposed a new law in which all men are required to have a vasectomy once they reach the age of 50, or after they have their third child – whichever comes first. They would also be required to pay for this surgery on their own. […]
South Carolina Bill Introduced That Would Compensate Pregnant People Forced to Give Birth
South Carolina state Senator Mia McLeod has introduced a bill called the South Carolina Pro Birth Accountability Act, or SB 928, that would compel the state to provide financial support to pregnant people forced to give birth due to the state’s proposed ban on abortion after six weeks. The legislation would mandate that the state […]
Alabama’s Near-Total Abortion Ban is Temporarily Blocked by Federal Judge
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a controversial Alabama abortion bill from taking effect next month, ensuring the procedure remains available and legal while it makes its way through the courts. Judge Myron H. Thompson of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday barring the […]
Ohio Lawmakers Pass Two Anti-Abortion Bills
This week, Ohio lawmakers passed and sent two anti-abortion bills that would restrict abortion access to Governor John Kasich’s office. Opponents of the two bills, the Heartbeat Bill and the Dilation and Evacuation Ban, stated that both bills are unconstitutional and would have a detrimental impact on the state’s health care system. Neither bill includes […]
Oklahoma Senator’s Bill would Classify Abortion as Homicide
On Saturday, Oklahoma Senator Joseph Silk introduced the Abolition of Abortion in Oklahoma Act (SB13), a bill that not only criminalizes abortions, but classifies abortions as homicides that can be punishable by life imprisonment. Whilst discussing the bill, Senator Silk equated seeking an abortion to killing a one-year-old child. According to Sen. Silk, SB 13’s […]
Federal Judge Ruled Mississippi 15-Week Abortion Ban Unconstitutional
On Tuesday, a federal judge in Mississippi permanently blocked the state’s 15-week abortion ban, calling it unconstitutional. The Mississippi Gestational Age Act, or HB 1510, bans abortion procedures after 15 weeks of gestation. Further, doctors who violate the ban would have their licenses revoked or suspended. The law was signed in March by Republican Governor […]
