Reproductive Rights News Roundup

Florida

DeSantis snaps back at Trump over Florida’s 6-week abortion ban
By Gary Fineout
Politico
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday took a swipe at Donald Trump over abortion, chiding the GOP presidential frontrunner for failing to take a stance on what type of abortion restrictions he would be willing to support.

Baby died soon after birth for Lakeland woman denied abortion despite fetal abnormality
By Gary White
The Ledger
A Lakeland woman who gained national attention after being denied an abortion endured the expected death of her baby shortly after delivery.

Political committee on abortion initiative raises nearly $1.9M
Staff Report
News Service of Florida
A political committee spearheading a new ballot initiative on abortion rights in Florida raised nearly $1.87 million in late April, according to a newly filed finance report.

Florida Young Democrats ponder the future
By Mitch Perry
States Newsroom
Florida Democrats, who haven’t even managed yet to find someone to run against Rick Scott for re-election to the U.S. Senate next year, are finding recruitment of candidates for down-ballot races difficult, too.

Donald Trump says new Florida abortion law viewed as ‘too harsh’
By A.G. Gancarski
Florida Politics
Related: Donald Trump claims Ron DeSantis ‘losing women’ with hardline abortion position
Former President Donald Trump is deriding Florida’s new abortion restrictions.

“We just never found out that early”: Republican Mike Caruso on his no-vote on abortion
By Stephany Matat
Palm Beach Post
Republican state Rep. Mike Caruso is the father of seven children, and he said that he and his wife were not aware of of each of those pregnancies within six weeks of conception.

The Week in Abortion: Crisis in the South
By Jessica Valenti
Abortion Every Day
Abortion access in the South continues to hold on by a thread: Florida has passed a 6-week ban, which could go into effect as soon as this summer.

Reproductive rights top Twitter impressions during 2023 Legislative Session
By Peter Schorsch
Florida Politics
Reproductive rights was the most viral topic discussed during the 2023 Legislative Session, according to a Twitter data analysis by Moore Public Affairs.

Identical triplet sisters all became OB-GYN doctors … and work with their mom!
By Rachel Paula Abrahamson and Jen Long
Today
Identical triplets Joanna, Vicky and Sarah Bedell were 8 years old the first time they saw their mom, Dr. Janet Gersten, deliver a baby.

Florida doesn’t care that voters back abortion. Citizens have to take back their power
Editorial
Miami Herald
With abortion all but outlawed in Florida, a coalition of pro-choice groups is trying to do what lawmakers refused to do: Listen to voters.

National

Federal Appeals Court Appears Likely To Restrict Mifepristone
By Shruti Rajkumar
HuffPost
Related AP story: Abortion pill case moves to appeals court, on track for Supreme Court
Amid the legal battles surrounding access to the abortion pill mifepristone, a federal appeals court seems to be leaning toward restricting access to the drug after hearing arguments on Wednesday, multiple news outlets reported.

Judge in abortion pill case asks if Mother’s Day is ‘celebrating illness’
By Julia Shapero
The Hill
A federal appeals court judge on Wednesday questioned a lawyer for Danco, the manufacturer of the brand name abortion pill mifepristone, about whether Mother’s Day is “celebrating illness,” during oral arguments over the drug’s approval.

South Carolina moves closer to abortion ban, a Southern trend that puts pressure on Virginia
By Kimberlee Kruesi, Sarah Rankin and Denise Lavoie
Associated Press
South Carolina became the latest state to move toward a near total abortion ban Wednesday with legislation that if enacted would leave Virginia an outlier in the South as a place where women have unrestricted access to abortions amid a rapid rise in restrictions in the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

North Carolina Legislature Bans Abortion After 12 Weeks, Overriding Governor’s Veto
By Hannah Schoenbaum, Gary D. Robertson and Denise Lavoie
NBC South Florida
Legislation banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy will become law in North Carolina after the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly successfully overrode the Democratic governor’s veto late Tuesday.

What North Carolina’s proposed abortion ban does — and why it matters
By Zack Beauchamp
Vox
On Tuesday afternoon, the North Carolina legislature is set to take a hugely consequential vote: whether to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a new 12-week abortion ban. Republicans control a supermajority in both the Senate and the House, but only by a single vote in each chamber — meaning that they’re expected to have enough votes, but just one defection could doom the effort.

North Carolina abortion providers face closures under new law
By Shamarria Morrison
WCNC Charlotte
North Carolina abortion providers are facing the possibility of closure under the new abortion law that goes into effect on July 1st.

Report: Abortion bans led to life-threatening health complications
By Oriana González
Axios
State abortion bans enacted in the months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade led to life-threatening health complications for dozens of patients and forced providers to find workarounds, according to a new report.

Planned Parenthood calls for Supreme Court expansion
By Olafimihan Oshin
The Hill
Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and CEO of nonprofit organization Planned Parenthood, called for the expansion of the Supreme Court bench amid the ongoing revelations of ethics issues surrounding certain justices.

Democrats eye a new approach to rein in crisis pregnancy centers
By Adam Edelman
NBC News
For years — even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and abortion clinics shuttered across the country — Democratic state legislators have attempted to regulate crisis pregnancy centers.

Why Won’t the CDC Kick “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” Out of Its Directories?
By Garnet Henderson
Rewire
Danielle Lambert is a researcher focused on “crisis pregnancy centers,” or anti-abortion centers. Imagine her frustration when she searches a federal government directory of sexual health services and the top hit is… a crisis pregnancy center (CPC).

Lawmakers debate violence against abortion clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy centers
By Jennifer Shutt
Florida Phoenix
Republicans at a U.S. House hearing aired frustration with the Department of Justice this week for what they contended is a lack of enforcement of a Clinton-era law that protects access to reproductive health care at anti-abortion pregnancy centers and abortion clinics.

Dems split on whether parents must know their child is having an abortion
By Megan Messerly and Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
Democrats have been eager to present a united front in support of abortion rights in the post-Roe era.

GOP state lawmakers try to restrict ballot initiatives, partly to thwart abortion protections
By Julie Carr Smyth
Associated Press
With other state lawmakers seated around her in the Ohio House, Democratic state Rep. Tavia Galonski got to her feet and began to loudly chant, “One person, one vote!”

What happened to the GOP’s promises to support women and families after Roe?
By Dylan Scott
Vox
Last summer, after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned the federal right to have an abortion, much ink was spilled on the possibility that Republicans, eager to pass a new round of abortion bans, would feel compelled at the same time to improve the social safety net to help the women and children their new laws would affect.

U.S. Marshals spied on abortion protesters using Dataminr
By Sam Biddle
The Intercept
Dataminr, an “official partner” of Twitter, alerted a federal law enforcement agency to pro-abortion protests and rallies in the wake of the reversal of Roe v. Wade, according to documents obtained by The Intercept through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Abortion access advocacy groups slam bill allowing women to be charged with homicide
By Jacob Holmes
Alabama Political Reporter
When Alabama passed legislation in 2019 to criminalize abortions in the state, Republicans were clear: the women receiving abortions were not to be criminalized.