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NEWS: Moms of Black babies more likely flagged over alleged pregnancy drug use

| Jul 16, 2026

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Moms of Black Babies More Likely To Be Flagged to Police Over Alleged Pregnancy Drug Use

CBS News, July 16, 2026

The mothers of Black newborns are more likely than those of White newborns to be referred to law enforcement over allegations of substance use during pregnancy, according to The Marshall Project’s new analysis of child welfare data from eight states. The referrals are often the result of unreliable hospital drug tests performed at childbirth that are easily misinterpreted and produce false positive results as much as half of the time, which can prompt incorrect reporting to child welfare and law enforcement authorities. 

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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Commits to Ending Abortion Pills by Mail

HuffPost, July 15, 2026

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche committed to ending abortion pills by mail during a Wednesday Senate hearing to confirm him as head of the Department of Justice … Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), an anti-abortion champion, used her time to criticize the Biden administration for making it easier to obtain the abortion pill mifepristone in the mail, and claimed that mailing abortion pills has been dangerous for women … “Can you commit to me today that this administration and DOJ will prioritize taking meaningful and thoughtful action to address the dangers that occurred in the current status quo to women all over this country?” Britt asked Blanche. “Absolutely, Senator,” Blanche responded. 

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Abortion Rights Are on the Ballot in Four States. Here’s What To Know

ABC News, July 13, 2026

Idaho voters will decide whether to roll back the state’s abortion ban, the secretary of state told the group behind the initiative in a letter Monday, joining three other states where abortion will be directly on the ballot on Nov. 3. Voters in Virginia and Nevada – both states where abortion is already legal through at least 24 weeks of pregnancy – are considering state constitutional amendments to create a right to abortion. And in Missouri, which in 2024 became the first state to use a constitutional amendment to undo an abortion ban, voters are being asked to override that to bring back an abortion ban, with limited exceptions, and to write into the state constitution a ban on some gender-affirming care for minors.

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What Trump’s Proposal To Ban Pregnant Tourists Could Look Like

Mother Jones, July 15, 2026

In the days after the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship as the law of the land, an enraged Trump administration has been rigorously investigating new ways to crack down on “birth tourism,” a practice that refers to pregnant women who come to the United States solely to give birth and obtain US citizenship for their children. And to do so, they have floated an alarming option: a potential ban on pregnant foreigners … But in targeting pregnant foreigners, they omit a key detail: A 2020 federal regulation that denies travel visas to pregnant people and gives border agents wide latitude to deny entry to women suspected of birth tourism already exists – thanks to the first Trump administration.

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The Trump Administration Is Overhauling Birth Control Access for the Pronatalist Movement

The Intercept, July 10, 2026

The Trump administration is quietly turning a federal program designed to help lower-income Americans access birth control and other reproductive health services into an engine for pronationalism, a far-right movement with roots in eugenics that pushes people to have more babies. On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs published an updated “notice of funding opportunity,” first announced in April, for service providers to apply for grants through Title X, a federal program that provides low and no-cost birth control and other sexual and reproductive health services to roughly 2.8 million people every year.

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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It

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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.

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Repro Health Watch

Repro Health Watch

Repro Health Watch is a weekly email digest compiled by our Health Justice team and designed to give you the most important reproductive health news of the week.

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.