“State constitutions provide no protection whatsoever against Comstock Act, against the Trump national abortion ban, against fetal personhood within the 14th Amendment,” Cohen explained. “Which is why there were many of us who were trying to get the word out before the election, that if you really do care about reproductive freedom and vote accordingly … Read more
Whether or not abortion rights are directly on the ballot, voters in the 33 states with state supreme court elections will shape the future of abortion access. These justices, as the ultimate arbiters of state constitutional law, will decide on medical exceptions, state constitutional protections for abortion and the possibility of future ballot initiatives. Read … Read more
A federal judge on Saturday blocked two portions of North Carolina’s new abortion law from taking effect while a lawsuit continues. But nearly all of the restrictions approved by the legislature this year, including a near-ban after 12 weeks of pregnancy, aren’t being specifically challenged and remain intact. Read more at Politico
Now, this fall and in next year’s election, national liberal groups are planning to invest more heavily in ballot measure campaigns, seeing them as vehicles both to protect access to abortion care and to amplify their broader political message that abortion bans are out of step with voters. ** Anti-abortion activists, in turn, have vowed … Read more
A year after the Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to abortion, individual states continue to grapple with ways to restrict abortion access, do away with it altogether — or in some cases, enshrine its protection in their own state constitutions. Read more at Vox
If Republican senators deny a quorum for the rest of the legislative session, which doesn’t end until late June, they could theoretically kill the bills on gun control, abortion rights and gender-affirming care. Read more at the Los Angeles Times
