Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States, Like Texas, With Abortion Bans
ProPublica, September 9, 2026
The number of women who died after an ectopic pregnancy has spiked in recent years. With prompt and appropriate medical care, maternal health experts say, women should not die. Yet ProPublica analysis found a stark and baffling increase: Almost 200 women with the condition died from 2020 to 2025, compared with about 100 in the previous six years. To treat an ectopic pregnancy, which is almost never viable, doctors must terminate it. But lawsuits and federal complaints have alleged that some medical providers are hesitating or flat-out refusing to do that in states where they face criminal penalties for performing an abortion.”
U.S. Appeals Court Skeptical of Bid To Curtail Abortion Pill Access
Reuters, September 9, 2026
A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday appeared skeptical of a bid by the Republican-led state of Louisiana to curtail access to the abortion drug mifepristone by blocking a 2023 rule that has allowed the medication to be prescribed via telemedicine and dispensed by mail nationwide. Restricting access to mifepristone, including its availability through telehealth appointments with out-of-state providers, has been a top priority for Republican-led states that implemented abortion bans. Should the panel rule against Louisiana, the state could either appeal to the Supreme Court or ask the full 5th Circuit, which has a supermajority of Republican appointees, to reconsider the case, one of several pending challenging the regulation.
Texas’ First Study of Maternal Deaths Since Banning Abortion Won’t Be Ready by the Midterms
Houston Chronicle, September 2, 2026
Health officials say they need more time to complete a report on maternal deaths — likely punting the fullest accounting of pregnancy-related deaths since the state’s abortion ban took effect until after the midterms. The biennial report has historically been released on Sept. 1, but lawmakers were informed last week that it would not be completed by then. The Department of State Health Services said the report will be finished by Dec. 1 under a new deadline the state Legislature approved last year. This year’s report would look at 2024, the first full-year look since the state’s abortion ban took place in 2022. Advocates have expected maternal deaths to increase as more women carry pregnancies to term.
Religious Freedom for All on Trial as Abortion Ban Case Begins
Bloomberg Law, September 9, 2026
Indiana’s top court is about to become the first in the nation to decide whether there’s a religious right to abortion. In oral arguments set for Sept. 10, Hoosier Jews for Choice and two Jewish women will tell the Indiana Supreme Court they’re entitled to an exemption from the state’s near-total abortion ban because it interferes with their exercise of a religion that permits &nash; and sometimes compels – terminating a pregnancy. Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act prohibits the state from enacting a provision that substantially burdens a person’s exercise of religion unless it’s the least restrictive means of serving a compelling state interest.
Gloria Steinem in Her Own Words: On Trump, Roe v. Wade, and the Birth of the Modern Women’s Rights Movement
Ms., September 4, 2026
As we grieve the passing of Gloria Steinem, Ms.‘s co-founder and feminist visionary, we’re looking back at some of our favorite quotes from her 50+ years of speaking and activism across the U.S. and around the world. Steinem was sharp, funny and infinitely quotable, and many of her interviews from over the years combine deep feminist insight with some snappy one-liners. On Reproductive Freedom: “We know sexism is not inevitable. It’s only about controlling reproduction and therefore controlling women. If we have reproductive freedom, that is the ability to decide for ourselves when and whether to have children and what happens to our bodies, it can be reversed.”
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
“Personhood” laws are dangerous laws that seek to give fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses the same legal rights as people. By doing so, they devalue the legal rights of pregnant women and in some cases, even put pregnant people’s lives at risk. Anti-abortion politicians in some states have been pushing personhood language for decades. But after the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, states and the federal government pushed new, extreme efforts to codify fetal personhood language in legislation.
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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.
