Last week Delaware became the first state since Donald Trump was elected President to sign into law a bill ensuring abortion remains should Roe v. Wade be overturned.
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Texas to Sign Into Law Fetal Burial Requirement
Senators voted last week to send anti-abortion bill SB 8 to the desk of Governor Abbott, who is expected to sign it into law soon. The bill itself, an overt attack on women’s physical and psychological health, requires fetal remains to be buried or cremated, prohibits donations of fetal tissue, and implements sweeping bans on certain types of second trimester abortions.
FACE Act Anniversary Prompts Concerns of Enforcement Under Trump Administration
On the anniversary of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, advocates for abortion access fear that an increase in anti-abortion violence will be met with limited enforcement by the Trump administration, which has shown unprecedented support for restricting abortion access. Signed into law by President Bill Clinton on May 26, 1994, […]
Last Clinic in Kentucky Blockaded by Anti-Abortion Extremists
The doors to the last remaining abortion clinic in Kentucky were blockaded on Saturday by a group of anti-abortion extremists, leading to the arrest of ten people outside the EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville. Under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance (FACE) Act, it is a federal crime to block access to a reproductive healthcare center because of the services offered there.
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IL House Votes to Expand Abortion Access as Hundreds of Women March on Springfield
The Illinois House yesterday voted 62-55 in favor of access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion. The vote on HB 40 came on the same day as the Illinois Women March on Springfield where over a thousand women turned out in support of a large progressive agenda that included women’s equality, immigration, homelessness, criminal legal reform, the environment, LGBTQ rights, healthcare, disability rights, economics, education, and more.
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Latest Republican Plan to Repeal ACA is Even Worse for Women
Earlier this week, House Republicans released a new plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and this proposal is even worse for women’s health than before.
Anti-Abortion Group Files Lawsuit Against Removal of Virginia Abortion Restriction
Last week the Family Foundation filed a lawsuit opposing amendments to Virginia’s “Regulations for Licensure of Abortion Facilities” that removed unconstitutional outpatient surgical center building requirements imposed on clinics that perform abortions.
Women’s Health Protection Act Introduced in Congress
The bill seeks to enforce the decision from the 2016 Supreme Court case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, in which two provisions of a Texas law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital were ruled an unconstitutional undue burden on women seeking an abortion.
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Trump Administration Cuts Off All UNFPA Funding
Earlier this month—right after the Republican-controlled Congress approved a repeal of an Obama-era regulation that reinforced protections for healthcare access under the Title X family planning program—the Trump Administration officially cut off all US funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the main UN agency working to advance family planning worldwide.
Planned Parenthood Medicaid Cuts Blocked by Texas Judge
U.S District Judge Sam Sparks ruled that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission provided no tangible evidence to warrant the funding ban.
Abortion Ship Detained By Guatemalan Government
Women on Waves brings women who are up to ten weeks pregnant on board the boat and carries them 12 miles into international water where they take the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol, which are more than 90 percent effective for women early in pregnancy.
House Moves to Rescind Protection for Women’s Health Centers
This week the House Rules Committee sent legislation to the House floor that would rescind an Obama administration rule, finalized in December, that is meant to block states from cutting off federal funding to organizations that offer abortion care, ensuring that women’s health centers continue to receive Title X funds for other health services including STI/STD testing, cancer screenings and birth control access.
Planned Parenthood Supporters Appear in Thousands to Counter-Protest Anti-Abortion Groups
Nearly 150 collections of Planned Parenthood supporters turned out, ranging in size from dozens to thousands at parks, government buildings, and clinics in 45 states, and oftentimes even outnumbered the amount of anti-abortion protesters.
Threats and Violence Against Abortion Providers Has Skyrocketed, According to FMF Survey
The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) has released the results of the 2016 National Clinic Violence Survey, an analysis of the anti-abortion violence, intimidation and harassment that occurred at women’s health clinics across the country in the first six months of 2016.
Arizona May Soon Require Abortion Providers to Check for “Evidence of Life”
Abortion providers and advocates are concerned that this bill will further the undue burdens placed on providers, preventing safe and legal access to abortion services.
Arkansas Governor Signs Offensive and Dangerous Anti-Abortion Bill
Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas recently signed into law a bill that allows the husband of a woman seeking an abortion to sue his wife’s doctor, either for monetary gain or in order to place an injunction on the procedure, essentially allowing a man to refuse his partner access to an abortion.
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Neil Gorsuch, Dangerous for Women, Nominated to Supreme Court
Thought to be even more conservative than Scalia, Gorsuch considers himself to be an originalist, meaning he attempts to interpret the Constitution as it was written by the founders, a fact that leaves many women’s rights activists concerned, as the 19th amendment granting the right to vote is the only explicit Constitutional protection for women.
EACH Woman Act Reintroduced in Congress
The EACH Woman Act would prohibit federal, state and local governments from passing laws that restrict private health insurance companies from offering abortion care, and restore abortion insurance coverage to the 28 million women who receive health insurance through the federal government and are currently denied coverage for an abortion procedure through the 1976 Hyde Amendment.
Trump Reinstates and Expands the Global Gag Rule
In one of his first acts as President, Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday to reinstate and expand the Global Gag Rule, which restricts women’s abortion access worldwide.
Tennessee Woman Pleads Guilty to Attempted Procurement of a Miscarriage
This week, Anna Yocca, the 32 year old Tennessee woman who has been in jail a year waiting trial over allegations that she attempted to induce her own abortion, was released after pleading guilty to attempted procurement of a miscarriage.
