Reproductive Rights News Roundup

How A Spending Bill Without The Hyde Amendment Could Reshape Abortion Access
By Lydia O’Connor
Huffington Post
A House subcommittee just advanced a spending bill without the controversial policy in it for the first time in more than 40 years.

Controlling Women: With Roe v. Wade in Peril, Authors Say Move Past Court to Save Reproductive Rights
By Amy Goodman
Democracy Now
The Supreme Court is set to review a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy that intends to challenge Roe v. Wade, raising concern for advocates about how reproductive rights can be preserved without the landmark ruling. “I think it’s very, very likely that the court will either eradicate the right to choose abortion as we now know it completely or so undermine it to make it meaningless for most of American women,” says Kathryn Kolbert, longtime public interest attorney who argued the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey before the Supreme Court in 1992, which is credited with saving Roe v. Wade. 

State Legislatures Matter In the Fight for Justice—Now More Than Ever
By Gaby Goldstein and Jennifer Driver
Ms.
We cannot rely on the courts alone to protect our reproductive freedoms. Our first and best line of defense are state houses.

Appeals Court Again Backs Transgender Student, But on Narrower Grounds Amid Signs of Rift
By Mark Walsh
Education Week
A federal appeals court panel issued a revised opinion Wednesday that again rules for a Florida transgender student but on narrower grounds than a decision released last year. The new opinion suggests some behind-the-scenes wrangling on whether the full appeals court would reconsider the case and reveals a deep rift over the issue of legal protections for transgender students.

The U.S. Had A Record Year For New Anti-Abortion Laws. Here’s What You Need To Know.
By Ashleigh Carter
NowThis
Just six months into 2021, 90 new laws that place restrictions on abortion access have been enacted in several states — which is more than any year since Roe v. Wade.

My Body, My Choice? The Paradox of Republican Anti-vaxxers
By Molly Jong-Fast
Vogue
The first time I saw a photo of an anti-vaxxer with a sign that read “My Body My Choice,” I was sort of puzzled. I thought perhaps the photo editor had used the wrong image to accompany the story—but then I saw that the sign also included a picture of a mask with a red line across it. 

Contraceptive Access May Not Be as Life-Changing for the World’s Poorest Women as Previously Thought, According to a New Study
By Belinda Luscombe
Time
At the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in early July, the U.N. attracted political and business leaders from across the globe to talk about gender equality, and also invited them to put their moneys where their mouths were. Among the Forum’s seven key platforms were a push for more economic justice for women—meaning equal access to education and jobs and caregiving support—and a greater ability for women to control their “bodily autonomy”—meaning more access to sex education, contraception and abortion services.