Supreme Court To Hear Arguments Over Whether States May Subpoena Faith-Based Pregnancy Centers
CNN, June 16, 2025
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to take up a First Amendment appeal from a faith-based nonprofit that runs five “crisis pregnancy centers” in New Jersey and that is fighting a subpoena from the state’s Democratic attorney general. First Choice Women’s Resource Centers had urged the conservative court to throw out a decision from the Philadelphia-based 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals siding with the state. That decision required the nonprofit to continue litigating its objections to the subpoena in state court. New Jersey officials subpoenaed the center in 2023 as part of investigation into whether the organization violated consumer fraud laws. Pregnancy centers are opposed to abortion, but New Jersey officials said their marketing may have left some patients with the impression that they could receive abortions at the facilities. The subpoena was aimed at evaluating whether the center “or its staff engaged in misrepresentations and other prohibited conduct,” according to the state. It sought advertisements, donor solicitations and the identification of licensed medical personnel. The center framed the subpoena as a demand for donor names. If that view of the subpoena prevails, New Jersey’s actions may conflict with a 2021 Supreme Court decision in which a majority found unconstitutional a California law requiring the conservative Americans for Prosperity Foundation to disclose its donors.
Supreme Court Gives Religious Organizations New Chance To Challenge New York Abortion Rule
Associated Press, June 16, 2025
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a New York court to take a new look at whether some religious organizations should be excluded from a state regulation requiring health insurance plans to cover abortions. The justices acted after the court unanimously ruled earlier in June that Wisconsin discriminated against a Catholic charity by forcing it to pay state unemployment taxes. The New York case poses a similar issue because the state exempts religious employers if their purpose is to spread religious values and they primarily employ and serve people of their faith. But religious groups that serve and employ people regardless of their beliefs don’t qualify for the exemption. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and other church groups challenged the rule. It’s the second time the nation’s highest court has sent the case back to New York courts. Last year, the New York Court of Appeals upheld the regulation after taking into account the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in 2021 in favor of a Catholic foster care agency in Philadelphia that refused to work with same-sex couples because of its religious opposition to same-sex marriage.
Abortion Clinics Are Closing, Even in States Where Abortion Is Legal
Associated Press, June 17, 2025
The abortion funding system across the U.S. is battered three years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to enforce bans. An initial surge of donations has subsided, scores of clinics have closed and advocates fear that federal policy changes will result in more shutting down. Bans in some states mean travel has become a bigger part of obtaining an abortion, bring a host of costs. A mitigating factor is that most abortions are now done with medications. They can be prescribed by telehealth, including to women in states where abortion is banned. But they can’t be used in every case, some women prefer procedures, and there are challenges to the legality of pills and how they’re prescribed. Not all private insurance plans cover abortions. Federal taxpayer funds cannot be used for abortions, but state Medicaid funds cover them in some places. And a network of private funding helps cover procedures or travel and other costs. The increase in contributions that followed the 2022 Supreme Court ruling has declined for most funds and clinics. With bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy now being enforced in 12 states and bans at about six weeks’ gestation being enforced in four others, travel for abortion has become more frequent. Costs for each trip can include plane tickets or gas for long drives, meals, hotels and child care — all on top of clinic fees
A Brain-Dead Georgia Woman Is Set To Be Taken off of Life Support After Her Baby Was Delivered
The 19th, June 17, 2025
Adriana Smith, the pregnant Georgia woman who has been brain-dead since February, gave birth by emergency Caesarean section Friday and is set to be taken off life support this week, her family told a local NBC News affiliate. The case made national headlines. Smith’s mother said her daughter had to stay on life support until she gave birth because of Georgia’s six-week abortion ban, which has narrow exceptions for rape, incest, or the life or health of the pregnant person. Smith was nine weeks pregnant when she was declared brain-dead. Emory Hospital, where Smith has been kept, has declined to comment on the case beyond telling the Associated Press that they considered “Georgia’s abortion laws and all other applicable laws.” The Georgia law holds that after six weeks of pregnancy, embryos and fetuses deserve the same legal protections as people. The case has sparked broad outcry, with national Democrats denouncing the Georgia law and some state lawmakers calling for clarifications about what is permitted under the law. State Attorney General Chris Carr has said he does not believe that the abortion ban compels health providers to keep a pregnant person on life support until they can give birth. Still, he has not issued a legal opinion asserting as much, despite calls from Democratic state lawmakers.
Abortion Bans Worsen Violence in Relationships, Study Finds
TIME, June 17, 2025
In the days and months after the Supreme Court rendered a 2022 decision gutting the U.S. constitutional protection for abortion, advocates predicted many negative impacts to come for women and their families. At least one such prediction has come true: there has been an increase in intimate partner violence in places with a near-total ban on abortion. Intimate partner violence, which occurs between two people in a romantic relationship, increased by about 7-10% in U.S. counties where people had to travel further for abortion care in 2023 than in 2017, according to a new study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research. This led to an estimated 9,000 additional incidents of intimate partner violence in states that limit abortion rights, according to the study, which is one of the first to examine data on how restrictions to abortion access are linked to violence. That adds up to $1.24 billion in additional social costs, the study finds. There are a few reasons why restrictions to abortion could lead to increased intimate partner violence, the study’s authors say. Restrictions often cause more financial strain because women have to take time off from work and travel farther away to seek abortion care. (The average person seeking care in such a state had to travel 241 miles farther for abortion care than women in states without these laws.) Restrictions limit people’s options, which could worsen the mental and physical health of women and men, leading to abuse.
Minnesota Shooter’s List Reportedly Included Abortion Providers and Advocates
Mother Jones, June 15, 2025
The Minnesota shooter who killed a state lawmaker and her husband and wounded another legislator and his wife reportedly had a list containing dozens of other names, including abortion providers and advocates. Multiple news outlets, including CNN, ABC, and the Minnesota Star Tribune, have reported that the alleged shooter—57-year-old Vance Luther Boelter—left a list of names behind in his car that included abortion providers and advocates and figures with ties to Planned Parenthood, along with Democratic politicians. Much is still unknown about the suspect’s motivations. A longtime friend of Boelter told CNN on Saturday that the alleged shooter was a staunch opponent of abortion rights. On Meet the Press Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said, “There clearly was some through line with abortion because of the groups that were on the list and other things that I’ve heard were in this manifesto.” A spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety told Mother Jones on Sunday that the contents of the list, which he said he had not seen, are “investigative information.” The spokesperson said that anyone who was named on the list will be, or already has been, contacted by law enforcement. The National Abortion Federation (NAF), a professional organization of abortion providers and supporters, said in a statement that it is working with its members in Minnesota “to provide additional security support while the suspect is still at large.” While Boelter’s motives remain unclear, the reports that abortion providers and supporters were named on the list come amid a wave of threats and violence since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
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More than 14 million women of color live in states where abortion is banned or under threat, or where there are bills to criminalize people for having an abortion.
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