Abortion

President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Biden administration proposes to strengthen patient privacy for those seeking abortions

BY: - April 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is trying to enhance the federal law that guards patient privacy to further protect those who seek legal abortion care and other reproductive health care services.  The announcement comes amid two major ongoing federal court cases dealing with access to the abortion pill and fears that the pill’s U.S. Food […]

The U.S. Capitol on April 4, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

Democratic leaders warn abortion pill ruling could endanger other FDA-approved drugs

BY: - April 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democratic leaders vowed to defend reproductive rights and abortion access Saturday, less than a day after a federal judge in Texas ruled the federal government needs to pull the abortion pill off the market within a week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, of New York, and Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the […]

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Biden administration appeals judge’s ruling ordering abortion pill off U.S. market

BY: - April 7, 2023

UPDATED 9 p.m. Central, 4/7/23 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice launched an appeals process Friday that will likely put a landmark decision about access to medication abortion in front of the Supreme Court.  The notice of appeal was filed less than three hours after a federal judge in Texas revoked the U.S. Food […]

The U.S. Capitol on April 4, 2023. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)

As future of abortion pill is weighed, Democrats in Congress see little they can do

BY: - April 5, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats appear lukewarm about pursuing reproductive rights legislation in a divided Congress, even as a federal judge in Texas considers overturning access to abortion pills nationwide. Interviews by States Newsroom with Democrats who control the Senate by a narrow margin found little optimism they could counter a ruling that could potentially […]

Grace Larson, former licensed practical nurse with Planned Parenthood North Central States and bargaining member of SEIU Healthcare MN & IA, poses for a portrait outside of the SEIU offices of St. Paul on March 30, 2023. Larson is challenging her termination from Planned Parenthood. (Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)

Planned Parenthood affiliate fires two union leaders, disciplines entire bargaining team

BY: - March 31, 2023

Planned Parenthood North Central States has fired two members of the elected bargaining team in charge of negotiating wages, benefits and working conditions for hundreds of newly unionized employees across five states, including South Dakota. The other 11 bargaining team members have received “final written warnings,” which says they can be terminated immediately if they […]

COMMENTARY
Gov. Kristi Noem speaks at a January 2022 event in the state Capitol at Pierre. (Twitter/Governor Kristi Noem)

A state that’s ‘pro-birth’ should also be truly ‘pro-life’

BY: - March 26, 2023

No matter where you fit on the political spectrum, the news on June 24, 2022, was staggering: The Supreme Court had overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that guaranteed women the right to an abortion. Polls indicate that two-thirds of the country saw this as a crippling blow to the rights of women. For […]

Abortion rights activist Rachel Bailey, center, chants during an International Women's Day abortion rights demonstration at the Texas State Capitol on March 8, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

What plaintiffs targeting abortion pill want might not even be possible

BY: - March 21, 2023

At the center of the federal anti-abortion lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is the abortion drug mifepristone and the regimen that reportedly accounts for the majority of abortions in post-Roe America. That’s why the whole country is bracing itself for a ruling from a notoriously anti-abortion judge in Amarillo, Texas.  The attention […]

Doctor Rebecca Gomperts addresses supporters as the abortion rights campaign group ROSA, Reproductive Rights Against Oppression, Sexism and Austerity, holds a rally at Guildhall square on May 31, 2018, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

Ending a pregnancy in 14 states leaves few options. Some are looking to Europe and India for help.

BY: - March 20, 2023

The pills came in a dark salmon-colored envelope sealed with a plastic covering that traveled more than 7,000 miles, over a dozen time zones from Nagpur, India, in almost exactly one week. They were placed partially under the doormat of a home in a state with one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the […]

Members of Congress protest in support of abortion rights ahead of an arrest at the U.S. Capitol on July 19, 2022. Members left to right are Cori Bush of Missouri (in black shirt), Nydia Velazquez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Jackie Speier of California, Carolyn Maloney of New York, Alma Adams of North Carolina and Barbara Lee of California.

This International Women’s Day, U.S. anti-abortion laws violate human rights, groups say

BY: - March 8, 2023

Ahead of International Women’s Day, hundreds of U.S. and global human rights groups, doctors, and attorneys have asked the United Nations to intervene on behalf of the millions of women in the U.S. who have been left without access to legal abortion and vital forms of reproductive health care in the wake of last summer’s […]

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Wyoming Legislature passes bills to ban medication abortion and exempt abortion as health care

BY: - March 3, 2023

Wyoming legislators approved two bills related to abortion this week, including a ban on medication abortion and a bill stating abortion is not health care, as a means of skirting the Wyoming Constitution in a court challenge to its abortion ban. Voters in Wyoming approved adding a new section to the state’s constitution in 2012 […]

A building once housing the Jackson Women’s Health Organization — otherwise known as the Pink House for its iconic pink walls — was recently the only abortion clinic in the state of Mississippi and the heart of the Supreme Court case that overturned the federal right to abortion. Now its walls have been painted white and a new owner plans to turn it into a luxury consignment store. (Photo by Shalina Chatlani/States Newsroom)

Remaining abortion clinics face more challenges if abortion pill limited by Texas judge

BY: - March 2, 2023

JACKSON, MISS. — The Pink House — otherwise known as Jackson Women’s Health Organization — was the center of the U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned the federal right to abortion in June. Today, the clinic, the only abortion clinic to serve Mississippi and the greater area for years, is shuttered. On a hot day […]

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How the judge who could ban the abortion pill won confirmation in the U.S. Senate

BY: - February 28, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. District Court judge who could end more than two decades of legal access to medication abortion underwent extensive questioning about LGBTQ equality at his December 2017 confirmation hearing — and very little about his views on abortion. Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Donald Trump earlier in 2017, spent much […]