Idaho’s Strict Abortion Ban Faces Scrutiny in Federal Appeals Court Hearing
ABC News, December 10, 2024
A federal appeals court scrutinized the impact of Idaho’s strict abortion ban on emergency medical care on Tuesday, weighing whether the ban criminalizing abortions should be enforceable in life- and health-threatening situations. John Bursch, an attorney with the Alliance Defending Freedom representing Idaho, asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel of 11 judges to urgently lift the injunction preventing the state from enforcing its abortion ban in emergency room settings, saying it “harms Idaho sovereignty, harms women, (and) harms unborn children.” Idaho’s law makes it a felony to perform an abortion unless the procedure is necessary to prevent the death of the patient. President Joe Biden’s administration sued Idaho two years ago, contending the law violates a federal rule called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, because it prevents doctors from performing abortions that save their patients from serious infections, organ loss or other major medical issues. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case earlier this year but bounced it back to the lower court on a procedural issue, leaving unanswered questions about the legality of the state abortion ban. That will be determined at a later date, but the 9th Circuit’s ruling could decide whether the law can be enforced while the lawsuit is still working its way through court.
State High Court Schedules Hearing on Case That Challenges Timing of SC’s Abortion Ban
SC Gazette, December 9, 2024
The [South Carolina] state Supreme Court will hear arguments in February as to whether a 2023 law actually bans abortions in South Carolina at six weeks – or whether the legal cutoff should be at nine weeks instead. Arguments are set for 10:30 a.m. Feb. 12. It will be the third time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 that South Carolina’s highest court will consider a challenge to the state’s so-called “fetal heartbeat” law. This time, instead of considering whether the law violates the state constitution’s ban against unreasonable invasions of privacy, the justices will decide at what point in a pregnancy abortions become illegal. The law itself does not set the ban by weeks of gestation. Instead, it bans abortions, with limited exceptions, once an ultrasound detects sounds of “cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac.” At six weeks, an ultrasound can detect cardiac activity. But that activity is not steady, repetitive or rhythmic, attorneys for Planned Parenthood argued in front of a Circuit Court judge in May.
What To Know About Abortion Access in Missouri
ABC News, December 6, 2024
Planned Parenthood wanted to resume offering abortions in several Missouri clinics on Friday, immediately after a newly passed constitutional amendment rolling back the state’s near-total ban took effect, but they remain on hold as a complicated court battle drags on. The issue is that the amendment does not specifically override any state laws. And even before the end of Roe v. Wade enabled Missouri’s legislature to approve a near-total ban, the state’s numerous restrictions left it with just one abortion clinic, in St. Louis. Missouri is one of five states where voters approved ballot measures in November adding the right to an abortion to their state constitutions. Ultimately approved by almost 52% of voters, it guarantees people’s right to make decisions about their reproductive health, such as whether to get an abortion, take birth control or get in vitro fertilization. While the amendment is widely understood to prevent the state from restricting abortions up to the point of viability, abortion-rights advocates must persuade judges to prevent old regulations from being enforced. Attorney General Andrew Bailey has already conceded that most abortions are now legal. But his office is still fighting to keep a 72-hour waiting period before an abortion can be performed; bans on abortions based on race, sex or a possible Down syndrome diagnosis; and a requirement that medical facilities that provide abortions be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers, among other regulations. This patchwork of old laws is a big problem for abortion providers. They say those restrictions had effectively blocked abortions across most of the state even before Missouri enacted a law banning all abortions except in cases of medical emergency, minutes after Roe was toppled.
Most Women in the U.S. Aren’t Accessing Family Planning Services, Even as Abortion Restrictions Grow
CNN, December 11, 2024
Most women in the United States haven’t received birth control prescriptions or other family planning services in recent years, a new report suggests, even as abortion restrictions have grown. Family planning – including birth control, emergency contraception, sterilization and counseling for these services – is an important part of health care, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These visits are sometimes the only interaction women have with the health care system, and inadequate access can lead to poor health outcomes. Some research also suggests that family planning services help prevent more than 1.5 million unintended pregnancies in the US each year. But in 2022 and 2023, only about a third of women of reproductive age – 35.7% – had received family planning services in the previous 12 months, according to survey data published in a report by the CDC on Wednesday. It was during this time, in June 2022, that the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision revoked the federal right to an abortion. [N]ew CDC report shows vast inequities among women who receive family planning services, particularly by race and income. Nearly 40% of White women had received any family planning services in the year before they were surveyed, compared with about 35% of Black women and 32% of Hispanic women, according to the survey data from 2022 and 2023. About 27% of White women said they had gotten some form of birth control in the previous year, compared with 21% of Black women and 20% of Hispanic women.
New Tennessee Bill Seeks $5M Civil Liability for Mailing, Delivering Abortion Pills
The Tennessean, December 11, 2024
Tennessee already has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country. Now, one lawmaker wants to allow family members of women who end a pregnancy via abortion pills to sue drug distributors – and anyone who helps them access the drugs – for up to $5 million. House Bill 26, sponsored by Rep. Gino Bulso, would lay the groundwork for civil lawsuits against abortion drug manufacturers, distributors, and delivery services – even volunteers or family members who help a woman access abortion-inducing medications from out-of-state. State law already prohibits sending and receiving abortion pills by mail in Tennessee. Bulso’s proposal would make liability for abortion pill delivery wide open – indicating drug manufacturers, delivery services, abortion access volunteer networks and even cooperating family members open to civil liability. The bill would take aim at organizations that help women access drugs they’re seeking, including Planned Parenthood, and the informational website Plan C, a comprehensive directory of sources of abortion pills by mail in the U.S. Friends or family members who pick up and deliver prescription pills from outside the state could be sued by other family members – or anyone – under the bill.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
We are proud to announce that with @MomsRising & @BlkMamasMatter we will be producing a nationwide initiative to hear directly from mothers about being pregnant, giving birth, and supporting themselves and their babies postpartum: Listening to Mothers IV. https://t.co/qVtjB3ZDkM
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Note: The information contained in this publication reflects media coverage of women’s health issues and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Partnership for Women & Families.
