Dobbs Has Triggered Widespread Discrimination in Non-Reproductive Health Care
Ms. Magazine, November 18, 2025
Physicians for Reproductive Health issued a groundbreaking research brief, “Cascading Harms: How Abortion Bans Lead to Discriminatory Care Across Medical Specialties.” The study found that abortion bans “have hindered the ability of providers in diverse medical fields to follow evidence-based practices and standards of care, creating a pervasive chilling effect that results in substandard care and discriminatory treatment for reproductive-age women and pregnant patients.” Reproductive age women are being sorted into deserving and non-deserving groupings based upon an often-subjective assessment of their contraceptive reliability, and prescribed medications accordingly.
Fight Over Abortion Could Doom Congress’s Health Care Plans
The Washington Post, November 17, 2025
Democrats emerged from the longest government shutdown in U.S. history with a hard-won promise from Republicans: The Senate will vote next month on legislation to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies that Democrats desperately want to preserve before they expire at the end of the year. Republicans, under pressure from antiabortion advocates, have insisted that any extension should include additional restrictions on abortion coverage for plans that get government subsidies. If Republicans’ proposal became law, residents of the 12 states that require abortion coverage who get health coverage under the ACA – around 3.7 million people in 2023, according to KFF – could not use federal subsidies for marketplace plans.
‘Why Won’t You Help Me?’ Pregnant Women and Their Babies Endure Inhumane Conditions in Jails
NBC News, November 20, 2025
In a first-of-its-kind analysis of federal civil rights lawsuits from 2017 to 2024, reporters found at least 54 pregnant women or their families have alleged severe mistreatment or medical neglect in jails. There is no comprehensive data on pregnancies in jail, even when a baby dies, because the federal government does not require it. At least 22 states said they don’t track pregnancy outcomes in jail. Six women delivered babies who were born alive but died within days. Six endured stillbirths. Sixteen had miscarriages. Four survived ectopic pregnancies, which can be fatal. Some women required liters of blood transfusions after hemorrhaging for days. Some can never have children again. Two women died.
Trump’s New HHS Watchdog Could Have a Major Conflict of Interest on Abortion
HuffPost, November 19, 2025
President Donald Trump’s pick for lead watchdog at the Health and Human Services Department is likely to have a major conflict of interest when it comes to abortion. Thomas March Bell, a former Justice Department attorney who served in Trump’s first administration, has worked for anti-abortion Republicans for decades and boasts deep ties to anti-abortion groups like Operation Rescue. As HHS inspector general, Bell would be tasked with overseeing investigations into the Medicare and Medicaid programs – the latter being the largest funder of reproductive health services in the country, the Center for Reproductive Rights notes.
South Carolina’s Abortion Bill Is so Extreme Even Anti-Abortion Groups Have Doubts
Mother Jones, November 18, 2025
Senate Bill 323, also known as the Unborn Child Protection Act, may be the most draconian abortion legislation to advance in the post–Roe v. Wade era. The bill would equate abortion with homicide and allow patients to be prosecuted with sentences of up to 30 years in prison – a first in the country. The bill also takes aim at contraceptives, defining “human embryo” as a fertilized egg or zygote and redefining “contraceptive” to exclude anything that prevents ovulation or implantation of an embryo – in other words, hormonal birth control such as the Pill and IUDs. It would repeal existing exceptions for victims of rape or incest as well as for pregnancies involving fatal fetal diagnoses. The bill failed to advance out of a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
A recent report from the National Partnership for Women and Families found that 18 states across the country – the majority of which are in the South – fail to guarantee that workers can earn paid sick days.
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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.
