Reproductive Rights News Roundup – August 18th 2023

Florida

Abortion rights ballot referendum effort claims 600,000 signatures collected
By Anne Geggis
Florida Politics
Facing a deadline 169 days from now, abortion rights proponents say they’ve collected nearly three-fourths of the signatures needed to get a referendum on the 2024 ballot that could guarantee abortion rights in Florida.

Ohio’s clear message: Abortion choice is ours to make, not politicians’
By Lillian Tamayo
Palm Beach Post
For those of you who missed the headlines, this past week, Ohio’s ham-fisted referendum to make it harder to amend the State Constitution went down in flames.

Black women leaders unite for abortion rights
By Kevin Deutsch
Miami Times
A panel of Black female leaders spoke up for bodily autonomy and the right to choose at Florida Memorial University Saturday, telling a crowd of around 120 Black women that they must fight to enshrine abortion access in Florida’s constitution.

Ohio’s defiant embrace of democracy gives Floridians a reason to hope
By Diane Roberts
Florida Phoenix
Let’s talk about Ohio. No, really.

The math isn’t mathing on Florida abortion amendment
By J. J. Whitson
City & State
What if I told you the proposed citizen initiative titled, “Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion (23-07),” will most likely qualify for the ballot by petition before the Feb. 1, 2024 deadline? Would you believe me?

Appeals court backs limits on access to abortion pill mifepristone. What does that mean for Florida?
By C. A. Bridges
USA Today Network-Florida
The battle against the abortion pill continues as an appeals court Wednesday sided with part of a U.S. District Court’s ruling from April that blocked a move by the FDA to allow the drugs to be dispensed through the mail.

Redfin Survey: Roughly 40% of Respondents Who Reside in Texas, Florida Would Prefer Living By Dana Anderson
Redfin
Roughly two of every five respondents to a recent Redfin survey who live in Texas or Florida would prefer to live in a place where abortion is legal.

Florida fines abortion clinic $193K, nearly 3 times judge’s recommendation
By Jim Saunders
News Service of Florida
Health regulators Monday ordered an Orlando abortion clinic to pay a $193,000 fine for violating a law that requires women to wait 24 hours before having abortions, nearly three times the fine recommended by an administrative law judge.

Abortion rights advocates launch fundraiser to benefit Orlando clinic fined by the state
By McKenna Schueler
Orlando Weekly
When news broke that one of Orlando’s only two abortion clinics had been hit with a steep $193,000 fine by a state agency for violating a Republican-backed waiting period law, local abortion right advocates didn’t just yell online about it — they strategized.

Florida Republicans’ New Plan Is to Fine Abortion Clinics Into Bankruptcy
By Tori Otten
The New Republic
Florida health regulators have fined an Orlando abortion clinic nearly $200,000, a move that is purportedly for violating a state abortion law and would likely bankrupt the health center into closing.

National

Abortion pill to stay on the market until U.S. Supreme Court ruling after appeals court order
By Jennifer Shutt
States Newsroom
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday the abortion pill can stay on the market, but it agreed with a lower court that ultimately use should revert to prescribing and dosage instructions that were in place before 2016.

‘Pro-Life’ Propaganda Wants to Fool You About Abortion Pills
By Erin Matson
Rewire
As we enter year two of a post-Roe v. Wade world, it would be easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of attacks anti-abortion activists have launched since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned abortion rights.

She Wasn’t Able to Get an Abortion. Now She’s a Mom. Soon She’ll Start 7th Grade.
By Charlotte Alter
Time
Ashley just had a baby. She’s sitting on the couch in a relative’s apartment in Clarksdale, Miss., wearing camo-print leggings and fiddling with the plastic hospital bracelets still on her wrists.

Hospitals block much-needed birth centers in the South
By Anna Claire Vollers
States Newsroom
When Katie Chubb announced in 2021 she was planning to open a freestanding birth center in Augusta, Georgia, it seemed like everybody in town was excited about it.

Pence signals debate plan to attack Trump and DeSantis for not pushing national abortion ban
By Thomas Beaumont
Associated Press
Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday he expected to call out former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during this month’s Republican presidential debate for not insisting on a national abortion ban, an issue Pence says requires federal action.