An estimated 19 million women of reproductive age are now living in so-called contraceptive deserts, counties where people have trouble accessing a range of birth control options, according to data from the reproductive rights nonprofit Power to Decide. The right to contraception is protected by two landmark Supreme Court cases. Some Supreme Court justices have … Read more
Free or low-cost contraceptives are becoming increasingly difficult for women to access as clinics close or struggle with funding problems and policy restrictions. Read more at NBC News
In addition to cutting funding for the Office on Women’s Health, this year’s Republican budget would fully eliminate the Title X Family Planning Program, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, and Healthy Start, the federal program meant to address infant mortality. Read more at Rolling Stone
“It’s enormously disappointing to see the bipartisan bill that we passed out of committee 57-1 become overrun with partisan amendments that restrict reproductive freedoms, attack LGBTQ+ service members, leave our NATO allies behind, ignore the threat of climate change, and more,” Houlahan said in a statement. “Our military families deserve better than this political theatre.” … Read more
A primary reason for the trend, the study posits, is that abortion bans enacted after the Dobbs decision in June 2022 led abortion and family planning clinics in those states — facilities where many women accessed birth control prescriptions — to close. The new laws also created confusion over whether emergency contraceptives, including Plan B, remained legal … Read more
Louisiana is not a great place to get pregnant. If you need an abortion, a near-total ban means it’s almost impossible to get one, even in cases of rape or incest – anyone who provides an abortion deemed illegal can go to jail for 15 years. And if you plan on having the baby, you … Read more
Thomas wrote in a separate opinion on the case that overturned Roe that the court “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” including the rulings that affirmed access to contraceptives and protected gay marriage. Read more at The Hill
Still, a growing number of Republican lawmakers — including Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Mike Braun — have recently declared that Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 Supreme Court decision establishing a constitutional right to birth control, was wrongly decided. Griswold relies on the same legal right to privacy that underpinned Roe, and in his concurring Dobbs … Read more
How states giving rights to fetuses could set up a national case on abortion Ziegler said each new law passed creates a cumulative effect. The more times a state recognizes a fetus as a person in one area of law, the easier it will be for lawyers to make the argument that it’s inconsistent that … Read more
Let’s be clear. This decision and its very obvious fallout are a victory for an extremist wing of the anti-abortion movement I’ve been covering for the last two years. These particular activists believe in the radical idea of “fetal personhood,” meaning they want to endow fetuses (and embryos) with full human rights and legal protection. … Read more
