States break out new tactics to thwart abortion ballot measures

In nearly every state where the question of abortion rights could be put to a popular vote this November, conservatives are deploying several strategies — from suing to have signatures thrown out in Montana and South Dakota to refusing to count signatures in Arkansas — as they attempt to block ballot initiatives that would restore … Read more

Project 2025 is twisting disability rights law to attack abortion

Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s guidebook for Republican control of the presidency and Congress, is, unsurprisingly, coming for abortion rights. But in a new twist, they want to use a key disability rights law to do it. In Project 2025’s plan for the Department of Health and Human Services, Roger Severino, a former Trump administration … Read more

Here’s the latest example of how conservatives have gamed state supreme courts to restrict abortion

In Ohio, for instance, Republican lawmakers threatened to strip state courts of their jurisdiction to hear abortion law challenges after voters constitutionally protected access to the procedure last November. In 2023 alone, the Brennan Center identified 124 bills undermining judicial independence introduced in 29 states, with legislation passing in Utah, Idaho, and Mississippi. Both parties … Read more

Kamala Harris is the worst nightmare of America’s far right | opinion

What’s the underlying goal here? The same as in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale – authoritarian fascism organized around male dominance. In this worldview, anything that challenges the traditional male roles of protector, provider and controller of the family threatens the social order. Strong women and LGBTQ+ people also weaken the heroic male warrior. Brutality, force … Read more

Alarm Bells Over JD Vance’s Support for Tracking Women Who Have Abortions

Citing reporting from The Lever, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow warned viewers about Vance’s endorsement of a request by at least 19 Republican attorneys general who asked the Biden administration to allow them access to the medical records of people who travel across state lines, including to states that allow abortion care. “They want the right … Read more

Nebraska top court upholds law combining abortion and gender-affirming care restrictions

A Nebraska law that combined abortion restrictions with another measure to limit gender-affirming healthcare for minors does not violate a state constitutional amendment requiring bills to stick to a single subject, the state supreme court ruled on Friday. Read more at The Guardian  

The Republican party remains the party of denying women human rights | opinion

In other words, the revision would protect women’s right to privacy around pregnancy and birth control-related healthcare, and Vance was having none of it. As Talking Points Memo put it: “The news has been filled with proposed or actual laws which would attempt to restrict travel to receive abortions in other states, charge those who … Read more

Iowa’s ban on abortions after 6 weeks will go into effect next week

A district court judge for Polk County said the law can be fully enforced starting July 29 at 8 a.m. CT, to allow time for medical providers to receive notice of the change. The ACLU of Iowa tried earlier this month to petition the Iowa Supreme Court to rehear the case, but the court denied that … Read more

Why do abortion “exceptions” rarely include mental health?

“It’s one stigma on top of another: abortion is stigmatized, mental health is stigmatized — and [if] you need an abortion for a mental health issue, you’re just adding stigma on stigma,” Sobel told Salon. “So it’s most challenging for people in that situation to access care, and as we’ve already said, most of the … Read more