Tag Archives: abortion rights

Axios reports: New doctors applying to medical residency programs were likelier to avoid practicing in states with the most stringent abortion restrictions, an analysis from the Association of American Medical Colleges found. The drop in applications, particularly for OB-GYN residencies, could exacerbate the lack of maternal health care in those states, which already have the highest maternal mortality rates in …

Axios reports: In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the state “secured an emergency stockpile” of up to 2 million doses of misoprostol. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) requested the University of Massachusetts purchase around 15,000 doses of mifepristone which the state says will “ensure sufficient coverage for more than a year.” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) stockpiled 150,000 …

The New York Times reports: Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a temporary stay on Friday ensuring that a common abortion pill would remain widely available while the Supreme Court decides whether to grant a formal stay. The interim stay will expire at midnight on Wednesday. Such a stay is meant to preserve the status quo while the justices study …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: In the medieval ages, mothers would emerge under the cover of night, head to the church, and place their unwanted newborns in turntables embedded in the walls, where, on the other side, a nun would take them. A version of the practice may soon return in Florida. A bill passed unanimously in the House and advancing …

NBC News reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed legislation Thursday that would ban most abortions after six weeks in Florida, a move that will weigh on his likely 2024 presidential bid. DeSantis signed the measure just hours after the Legislature passed it Thursday afternoon. But he didn’t announce publicly that he did so until after 11 p.m. Just two of …

The New York Times reports: A federal appeals court ruled late Wednesday that the abortion pill mifepristone could remain available, but the judges blocked the drug from being sent to patients through the mail and rolled back other steps the government had taken to ease access in recent years. In its order, a three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit partly …

Politico reports: The Biden administration is updating the nation’s main health privacy law to offer stronger legal protections to people who obtain abortions in their state or who cross state lines for the procedure, as well as their doctors and loved ones. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights on Wednesday will issue a Notice of …

Mediaite reports: Republicans and Democrats “overwhelmingly” do not want the abortion drug mifepristone pulled from the market, but a federal judge in Texas is aiming to do just that some 23 years after it first received FDA approval. According to an IPSOS poll, 82% of Democrats and 53% of Republicans oppose the ruling. “Americans overwhelmingly do not want this abortion …

CNN reports: The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court on Monday to put on hold a judge’s ruling that could make a medication abortion drug unavailable nationwide starting Friday at midnight. The request, filed on Monday before the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, is seeking a short-term administrative stay as well as a long-term stay pending appeal on …

Reuters reports: Over 300 biotech and pharmaceutical industry executives, including Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, signed an open letter on Monday seeking the reversal of a federal judge’s decision to suspend sales of the abortion pill mifepristone. A U.S. judge on Friday suspended the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of the drug. Last week’s ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk undermines the FDA’s authority, …

NBC News reports: Democratic lawmakers are mobilizing in the wake of the decision in Texas that threw access to the so-called abortion pill into flux Friday, introducing legislation Monday to protect access to the most widely used form of abortion in the U.S. Reps. Pat Ryan of New York and Lizzie Fletcher of Texas will introduce the Protecting Reproductive Freedom …

The Hill reports: HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra said the move by a federal judge in Texas to block the approval of a type of abortion medication could have far-reaching effects on the status of other federally-approved medications and vaccinations. “When you turn upside down the entire FDA approval process, you’re not talking about just mifepristone,” Becerra said on CNN. “You’re …

The Washington Post reports: Since Kacsmaryk joined the federal bench in 2019, many of his decisions have been wins for the right. In a practice known as “judge shopping,” conservative groups have zeroed in on the Amarillo division of the Northern District of Texas as a go-to place to challenge a wide range of Biden administration policies. Because Amarillo is …

From the president of the America Medical Association: Today’s court decision from a federal district court in Texas staying longstanding approval of mifepristone flies in the face of science and evidence and threatens to upend access to a safe and effective drug that has been used by millions of people for more than 20 years. The court’s disregard for well-established …

Reuters reports: A federal judge on Friday stayed federal regulators’ approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, partially granting a request by anti-abortion groups and dealing another setback to abortion rights in the United States. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, allows the Biden administration one week to appeal the decision. The Hill reports: The FDA …

Boise Public Radio reports: Idaho is poised to become the first state in the country to make it a crime to help a minor get an abortion without their parent’s consent after Gov. Brad Little signed the bill into law Wednesday. That’s according to Planned Parenthood, the pro-abortion rights group which has said it intends to challenge the law. Barring …

The Detroit News reports: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, surrounded by a packed room of pink-wearing lawmakers, advocates, doctors and others, on Wednesday signed legislation to repeal Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban. “Who would like to see me slay a zombie?” Whitmer exclaimed before signing the legislation, calling the ban a “threat coming back to haunt us all.” The Michigan House voted 58-50 …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: Wisconsin voters on Tuesday gave control of the state’s highest court to liberals for the first time in 15 years, instantly reshaping politics in the Badger State by putting the state laws most celebrated by conservatives at risk of being overturned — including a 19th Century-era ban on abortions. Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated former …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book and nine others were released from jail after being arrested Monday night on trespassing charges for protesting a six-week abortion ban that’s poised to pass the Legislature. “We know what we’re fighting for,” Fried said in an interview Tuesday. “If it takes us getting arrested …

The Associated Press reports: The Florida Senate on Monday approved a bill to ban abortions after six weeks, a measure supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis as the Republican prepares to launch his expected presidential candidacy. The proposal must still be approved by the House before it reaches the governor’s desk. Florida currently prohibits abortions after 15 weeks. A six-week ban …