Reproductive Rights, Women's Health, and Freedom of Choice
Embedded Files
Next Meeting: 01/12/26, 7 PM, Ozark-Dale Library
Focus On the Issues: Women's Reproductive Health, Abortion Denial Versus Pro Choice (Post 2024 Election)
Anti-abortion group warns against forcing vote to expand Obamacare subsidies
Comment: "The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is warning Republicans against signing onto a new effort to force a floor vote on extending Obamacare subsidies — upping the stakes of a push by GOP moderates to make an end run around leadership on the issue."
"A letter from the influential group landed Wednesday evening, soon after Rep. Brain Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) filed a discharge petition that would compel a vote on his legislation that would extend a modified version of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for two years."
Comment: One might hope that this anti-abortion group cared as much about the currently living as it does about the unborn. Don't these folks realize that without the subsidies a large number of people will lose health coverage, leading to more deaths.
Mike Johnson strips military IVF coverage from defense bill – report
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/08/military-ivf-coverage-defense-bill-mike-johnson
Comment: "A huge defense policy bill, revealed by US lawmakers on Sunday, does not include a provision that would have provided broad healthcare coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF) for active-duty members of the military, despite Donald Trump's pledge to strengthen access to the procedure."
"Both the House and Senate previously approved the provision, which was added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as an amendment earlier this year. But Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House and a diehard anti-abortion Republican, worked behind the scenes to strip the provision from the new version of the NDAA, MS Now reported last week."
"Although IVF is extremely popular with the American public, abortion foes often oppose it on the grounds that it creates unused or discarded embryos, which they see as people."
"Advocates for IVF, including Danielle Melfi, the CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Association, have spoken out about the exclusion."
" 'Failing to include IVF coverage in the NDAA is a dishonor to our servicemembers who make extraordinary sacrifices for our freedoms,' she said in a statement. 'There was bipartisan support for this coverage, and its exclusion fails to advance President Trump’s call to expand IVF access. Military families have waited far too long to access the full range of medical care needed to build their families.' "
Judge blocks Trump from cutting Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood in 22 states
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/02/trump-planned-parenthood-medicaid-funding
Comment: "A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing in 22 states a provision of Donald Trump’s signature tax and domestic policy bill that would deprive Planned Parenthood and local affiliates that perform abortions of Medicaid funding."
"US district court judge Indira Talwani in Boston said a group of Democratic state attorneys general who had challenged the provision were likely to succeed in establishing that the law constitutes an unconstitutional retroactive condition on their participation in the Medicaid healthcare program. The judge, who was appointed by the Democratic president Barack Obama, put her preliminary injunction on hold for seven days to allow the administration to appeal."
The big sticking point in the White House’s health care proposal
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/25/republicans-trump-obamacare-abortion-00669389
Comment: "The White House’s silence on how its health care plan deals with abortion is causing a headache for Republicans on Capitol Hill."
"For many GOP members, an expansion of abortion restrictions in Obamacare is a must-have. But the White House’s decision to leave the issue out of its tentative framework caught Republicans off guard, leaving them in the dark about whether the president would ultimately stake out a position publicly, according to two aides granted anonymity to disclose private discussions."
"The fight over the Hyde amendment, which bars federal funding for abortion, is just one of many landmines that need to be cleared before any health care deal to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies can be reached. It also comes on top of GOP backlash to other aspects of the White House’s health policy framework that leaked Sunday."
" 'No Republican has voted for Obamacare or an Obamacare extension or expansion,' said a senior Senate Republican aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly. 'Asking members to do that and not including Hyde would be impossible for many.' "
Comment: Is this a significant "sticking point," or just an excuse to oppose any viable health care solution.
Report ranks Alabama among worst states for maternal, infant health
How 'defund Planned Parenthood' came to threaten primary care in rural Maine
Abortion is on the ballot in three US states, from supreme court to governor
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/03/abortion-election-state-explainer
NY judge dismisses legal challenge from Texas in early test of abortion shield law
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ny-judge-dismisses-legal-challenge-texas-early-test-127075873
Comment: "A New York judge dismissed a legal challenge Friday from Texas seeking to enforce a more than $100,000 civil judgement against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman in an early test of the state's 'shield law' designed to protect providers."
"Republican Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton wanted a New York court to enforce a civil decision from Texas against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices north of New York City in Ulster County, for allegedly prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine."
"But acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck refused to file the judgment, saying he was a government employee who had to comply with New York's shield law, which protects providers from other states’ reach."
"New York is among at least eight states with shield laws. Opponents of the laws argue they violate a constitutional requirement that states respect the laws and legal judgments of other states."
"Justice David Gandin ruled that Bruck followed New York law and granted his motion to dismiss the petition from Texas. The judge, sitting in Kingston, wrote that the medical services Carpenter rendered are legal in New York and that they fall 'squarely within the definition of ‘legally protected health activity' ' under the state's shield law."
Missouri appeals court rules against attorney general, allows abortions to continue
AP News: Abortion providers say Missouri’s attorney general is trying to get patient records
Comment: "Missouri’s Republican attorney general is trying to get the medical records of Planned Parenthood patients who’ve had abortions, officials who oversee clinics in Kansas City and St. Louis said in legal filings."
"The fight over the subpoenas is playing out in a lawsuit filed last year by Planned Parenthood Great Plains, the abortion provider’s affiliate for Kansas City, and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, the affiliate for St. Louis. Planned Parenthood officials argue that the state’s restrictions violate an amendment to the Missouri Constitution narrowly approved by voters in November to protect abortion rights."
"The Missouri attorney general’s office issued subpoenas starting in late August to two employees of the Kansas City Planned Parenthood affiliate, a physician contracting with it, and two former board members of the St. Louis-area Planned Parenthood affiliate, according to Planned Parenthood court filings last month. One filing seeking to quash the subpoenas said the attorney general demanded patient records, reports on adverse events and communications about patient care, along with clinical protocols, equipment maintenance records, contract documents and records related to compliance with state requirements."
" 'Despite the Missouri Attorney General’s blatant attempts to overturn the will of the people, all patients expect and have the right for their medical records to be private,' the two affiliates said in a joint statement Tuesday. 'Politicians have no place in the exam room with patients and their medical providers.' ”
Missouri Independent: Missouri attorney general subpoenas Planned Parenthood for patient abortion records
Comment: " ‘This is nothing more than an attempt to harass (Planned Parenthood) and should not be permitted by the court,’ attorneys for the clinics wrote in a court filing opposing the subpoena"
F.D.A. Approves Generic Abortion Pill as Opponents Push Trump for New Restrictions
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/health/abortion-pill-generic-fda.html
Comment: "The Food and Drug Administration has approved a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, expanding its supply at a time when the Trump administration is under pressure from abortion opponents to sharply restrict access to abortion medication."
"The approval, issued on Tuesday without a public announcement, means that three American companies can now produce mifepristone for abortion. The F.D.A. approved the original pill 25 years ago and in 2019 approved the first generic version."
"The decision comes as anti-abortion activists have been urging the F.D.A. and the Department of Health and Human Services to curtail access to abortion pills, which have been prescribed in increasing numbers in the years since the Supreme Court overturned the national right to abortion in 2022."
"Currently, nearly two-thirds of abortions in the country are carried out with medication. Access to abortion pills, especially through telemedicine, is a major reason that the number of abortions in the United States has not decreased since the Supreme Court decision."
Comment: "A spokesman for H.H.S., Andrew Nixon, said in a statement that 'the F.D.A. has very limited discretion in deciding whether to approve a generic drug. By law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services must approve an application if it demonstrates that the generic drug is identical to the brand-name drug.' ”
Mother Jones: Fiercely Anti-Abortion Judge Has Bowed Out of Blockbuster Mifepristone Case
Comment: "US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has transferred the case formerly known as FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine out of his Amarillo, Texas, court, where he is the sole federal judge, to a Missouri federal court packed with his fellow Trump appointees. The Missouri court will decide whether to allow the case to continue."
Comment: "Kacsmaryk’s hand was more or less forced after the US Supreme Court ruled 9-0 last year that the plaintiffs who first brought the Alliance lawsuit—a coalition of anti-abortion medical organizations and doctors opposed to mifepristone—didn’t have the right, or standing, to sue. The lawsuit argued that the FDA exceeded its authority when it approved mifepristone in 2000, and then again during the Obama and Biden administrations, when the agency loosened key rules and greatly expanded access to abortion drugs. But the justices ruled that the medical groups could not show that the FDA regulations caused them or their members any direct harm."
"The justices, however, left open the possibility that Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas—which intervened in the case in 2023—might have standing to sue the FDA on their own."
"After that ruling, the anti-abortion attorneys general of those three states sought to continue the case, now retitled Missouri v. FDA. They also argued it should remain before Kacsmaryk, a former counsel for a Christian law firm who is known for his religion-infused rulings on abortion, contraception, and health privacy."
Comment: This article is very detailed and a bit confusing. In summary, the Texas judge, Kacsmaryk, could not continue with the case in his Amarillo TX jurisdiction. However, he transferred the case to a jurisdiction in Missouri that was sympathetic to his anti-abortion stance.
Comment: "Instead of dismissing the case, he decided to transfer it to Missouri, which has two federal court districts. Federal law 'only requires transfer to ‘any district’ where the case ‘could have been brought’,' Kacsmaryk stressed in his order."
"He chose the Eastern District, based in St. Louis, where eight out of the nine active judges are Republican appointees—including four named by President Donald Trump since his return to office in January and three appointed during his first term. (By contrast, the Western District of Missouri is dominated by Obama appointees.)"
"All four of the new Trump judges in the Eastern District previously worked for the Missouri attorney general’s office, and two of those new judges worked directly on the mifepristone case while they were on the AG’s staff. 'Clearly this district was chosen for a very specific reason and outcome,' said Kirsten Moore, director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project. 'It’s very hard to imagine the Eastern District of Missouri not granting standing to the attorney general of Missouri' to pursue the case against the FDA."
Comment: "The FDA has repeatedly found mifepristone is safe and effective. Despite the end of Roe v. Wade, medication abortion now accounts for more than 60 percent of all abortions nationwide; one in four abortions now happen via telehealth-prescribed pills. That is why, 25 years after mifepristone’s approval by the FDA, the anti-abortion movement is ramping up its attacks on the drug. Just a week ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced that HHS would conduct a new review of mifepristone’s safety."
CBS News: Planned Parenthood clinics in Louisiana close
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/planned-parenthood-clinics-louisiana-close/
Comment: "Planned Parenthood's two clinics in Louisiana closed on Tuesday over challenges that the organization said made it unfeasible to operate there."
Comment: "The president of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast said the closures were forced by 'compounding political attacks that have dismantled public health infrastructure, (and) blocked patients from care.' "
"The closures follow a court ruling last month that affected the clinics' ability to accept Medicaid reimbursements for providing patient care, by clearing the way for a provision of President Trump's tax and spending bill to be implemented."
" 'A federal court has allowed the Trump administration's 'defunding' of Planned Parenthood to take effect, blocking patients with Medicaid from accessing care in our health centers,' the organization said in mid-September."
RFK Jr. launches FDA review of abortion pill
https://abcnews.go.com/US/health-secretary-rfk-jr-launches-review-abortion-pill/story?id=125908299
Comment: "Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Republican states this week that the FDA would conduct a new review of abortion pills, a move that abortion rights advocates say could lead to significant restrictions on the most common abortion method nationwide."
"Medication abortion is used in nearly two-thirds of abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group focusing on sexual and reproductive health. It is also the primary way that abortions continue in states where abortion is banned, largely because of telehealth appointments and shield laws, which allow some providers in other states to mail abortion pills to women in states with bans without fear of prosecution."
"Republicans and anti-abortion advocates have been pressing the Trump administration to change the FDA's rules around mifepristone, an oral drug typically used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, to induce an abortion or to help manage an early miscarriage."
Comment: "Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, in their letter to 22 Republican attorneys general who had requested the FDA review mifepristone's safety, said the FDA would conduct 'its own review of the evidence, including real-world outcomes and evidence, relating to the safety and efficacy of the drug.' "
""The concerns you have raised in your letter merit close examination. This Administration will ensure that women's health is properly protected by thoroughly investigating the circumstances under which mifepristone can be safely dispensed," Makary and Kennedy wrote."
"A key study cited by Republicans in their effort, and Kennedy and Makary in their response letter, was conducted by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think-tank whose president formerly worked at the Heritage Foundation, which published Project 2025."
"The study was not peer-reviewed and was published by the center on its website, not in a scientific journal. It found that almost 11% of women experienced a 'serious adverse event,' which is much higher than the 0.5% rate found in clinical studies and listed by the FDA on the medication label."
Comment: Read the entire linked article and decide whether you think RFK JR's "review of the evidence" will be anything more than an unscientific denial of mifepristone to satisfy the political desires of MAGA and the anti-choice contingency. We note that as RFK Jr. takes widespread criticism for some of his controversial efforts to limit vaccine access, he has suddenly decided to make these anti-abortion efforts to appeal to Trump and the MAGA base that put him into the HHS Secretary role.
Court greenlights Planned Parenthood defunding
https://www.axios.com/2025/09/12/planned-parenthood-defunding-court
Comment: "The Trump administration can move ahead with plans to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood affiliates, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.
"Why it matters: Planned Parenthood previously warned such a move could lead to the closure of hundreds of clinics nationwide."
Comment: "The appeals court didn't provide an explanation for the 3-0 decision."
"The GOP budget law ended Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, without mentioning Planned Parenthood by name."
"But the reproductive health group said the provision took direct aim at its operations, and that patients would likely suffer adverse health consequences if care is disrupted, including an increase in unintended pregnancies and untreated STIs."
Axios: Texas Legislature approves ban on mail-order abortion pills
https://www.axios.com/local/austin/2025/09/04/texas-abortion-pills-ban
Comment: "The Texas Legislature on Wednesday passed a sweeping measure aimed at restricting mail-order abortion medications and allowing private citizens to sue those mailing, delivering or distributing abortion pills to or from Texas."
"Why it matters: Republicans hope the new law shuts down medication abortion in Texas and provides a blueprint for red states in the ongoing battle over abortion access."
"Nearly two-thirds of abortions in the U.S. are via medications."
Comment: "The new legislation would allow anyone to sue manufacturers and people — like doctors, shipping companies and pharmaceutical companies —sending the drugs to Texans."
"The bill also allows successful plaintiffs to be awarded at least $100,000 in damages."
"Those taking the medication to end a pregnancy can't be sued, but Rep. Jeff Leach, a North Texas Republican and author of the House version of the bill, said during House debate that a parent of a pregnant minor could be sued for calling a clinic outside of Texas to inquire about mail-order abortion pills."
Comment: "Doctors in blue states prescribing abortion pills like mifepristone through the mail are protected by shield laws in those states. The Supreme Court could ultimately decide which state law prevails."
Comment: Could making a phone call cost a person $100,000? Has Texas gone Insane? Do Republicans really want to use this law as a blueprint for other states?
Dallas News: Texas Senate approves bill allowing citizens to sue abortion pill providers
The Guardian: Texas threatens to sue organizations and doctor for increasing abortion pill access
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/20/texas-abortion-pills
Appeals court overturns order that stripped some protections from pregnant Texas state workers | AP News
Comment: "A federal appeals court has upheld a law strengthening the rights of pregnant workers, vacating a judge’s earlier order that had stripped those protections from Texas state employees."
"The ruling was a victory for advocates of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, a law that passed with bipartisan support in 2022 but quickly became embroiled in controversy over whether it covers workers seeking abortions and fertility treatments."
"A federal judge last year blocked enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act for Texas state employees, ruling that its passage was unconstitutional because a majority of House members were not physically present to approve the law as part of spending package in December 2022."
"In a 2-1 decision, the Fifth Circuit appeals court disagreed, finding that the law was properly passed under a COVID-19 pandemic-era Congressional rule allowing members to vote by proxy to meet the quorum requirement."
Comment: Does this mean that Texas makes the choice to abort a baby illegal, while at the same time, it removes protections for those female state employees who choose to have their babies?
Texas Senate passes bill targeting makers of abortion-inducing drugs
Comment: "Senate Bill 6, which aims to 'protect unborn children,' passed the Texas Senate on Tuesday."
"SB 6 would prohibit the manufacture, distribution, mailing, transporting, delivery and prescribing of abortion-inducing pills, as well as allow private citizens in Texas to file suit against people or companies that manufacture or distribute abortion-inducing pills in the state. Abortion is already almost totally banned in Texas."
"The bill was filed by Sen. Brian Hughes, R-Tyler. A similar bill passed the Senate during the regular session; however, it died in the House."
Comment: With missing Democrats keeping the Texas House from meeting in special session, drugs like Mifepristone are not yet banned in Texas. Is this yet another reason to keep the Texas House from meeting? Do you think perhaps it is time for the rest of America to start to "Mess with Texas?"
Axios: Supreme Court ruling on patients rights' could devastate Planned Parenthood
https://www.axios.com/2025/06/26/planned-parenthood-scotus-decision-trump
NPR: Supreme Court upholds South Carolina’s ban on Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood
https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/nx-s1-5435021/scotus-planned-parenthood
House Democrats reintroduce abortion rights bill on Dobbs anniversary
The Hill: Gender gap on abortion rights hit record high: Gallup
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5340439-gender-gap-on-abortion-rights-hit-record-high-gallup/
The Guardian: Women and men diverge more than ever on support for abortion rights, poll shows
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/09/women-men-abortion-rights-poll
Planned Parenthood provides basic health care. If clinics close, where will many women go?
Comment: "Citing deep funding cuts, at least 200 Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide are at risk."
Nearly 100 House Democrats urge RFK Jr. to restore millions in family planning grants
Comment: "Nearly 100 House Democrats are calling on Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to restore tens of millions of dollars in federal family planning grants to more than a dozen organizations that have been frozen for more than two months."
A West Virginia prosecutor is warning women that a miscarriage could lead to criminal charges
https://www.aol.com/west-virginia-prosecutor-warning-women-103024367.html
She Got an Abortion. So A Texas Cop Used 83,000 Cameras to Track Her Down.
Comment: Do you think this is the 'Deep State' that Trump keeps talking about?
Mother Jones: Forget Dobbs—The Personhood Movement Wants Much More
AL.com: Controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling ignites AG’s race: ‘Without IVF, I wouldn’t be a mother’
Comment: "The Alabama Supreme Court ruling that that temporarily stopped in vitro fertilization services in Alabama last year has emerged as an issue in the race for state attorney general."
"Former Associate Justice Jay Mitchell, who wrote the opinion, resigned from the court Monday and is expected to announce he will run for AG."
"Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey, who announced her candidacy for attorney general in January, has two children by IVF."
Mother Jones: Republicans Snuck Two Devastating Health Care Measures Into Trump’s Megabill
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/05/trump-bill-planned-parenthood-gender-affirming-care/
Comment: "Among them is a plan seeking to defund Planned Parenthood, which the organization warns will affect its ability to provide critical services, including pap smears, cancer screenings, and birth control."
Comment: "The reconciliation bill that was passed now seeks to ban Affordable Care Act health care plans from covering abortion and gender-affirming care for all Medicaid patients, including adults, after initially proposing to ban care for just minors."
AP News: Judge vacates federal rules requiring employers to provide accommodations for abortions
https://apnews.com/article/abortion-workers-pregnancy-civil-rights-eb4bcc821c4932728fcd961757b50552
The Hill: Reproductive-rights groups push against Kennedy’s mifepristone review
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5304436-fda-mifepristone-review-abortion-rights-advocates/
NBC News: How shoddy science is fueling a charge to restrict abortion pill access
Pregnant US woman declared brain dead is being kept alive under state abortion law | Georgia | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/15/pregnant-georgia-woman-brain-dead-abortion-law
A bipartisan group in Texas wants to clarify when doctors can perform abortions : Shots - Health News : NPR
AP News: South Carolina Supreme Court decides heartbeat definition allows six-week abortion ban
The Seattle Times: Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment
The Guardian: RFK Jr orders mifepristone review as anti-abortion groups push for ban
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/14/rfk-jr-fda-abortion-pill-mifepristone
The Guardian: Conservatives are trumpeting a new abortion-pill study. One problem: it’s bogus | Moira Donegan
Comment: "Dr Stella Dantas, the president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, called the paper 'seriously flawed' and said that it 'manipulates data to drive a myth that medication abortion isn’t safe'."
Alabama’s war on abortion help exposed in new reporting
https://www.alreporter.com/2025/05/09/alabamas-war-on-abortion-help-exposed-in-new-reporting/
‘Dismantling one of the strongest tools we have’: Conservatives fret HHS cuts - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/09/hhs-cuts-pregnancy-data-00336938
Josh Hawley Introduces Law To Ban Mailing Of Abortion Pills, Citing Junk Science Report
https://www.yahoo.com/news/josh-hawley-introduces-law-ban-165304492.html
The Trump administration is defending abortion pill access in court. What? | Trump administration | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/06/abortion-pill-trump-administration
Comment: "It may seem a victory to some, but experts worry a win will allow the government to be coy about future attacks"
The 19th News: Missouri’s voters restored abortion rights. Their leaders are trying to overrule them.
https://19thnews.org/2025/05/missouri-abortion-rights-laws-protections/
Alabama Can’t Prosecute Groups Helping Patients Get Abortions Elsewhere, Judge Rules - KFF Health News
For News Articles links from before May 1st, 2025, please go to:
https://sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/old2-reproductive-rights
There you will find a continuation of the news links & comments from the period prior to May 1, 2025 (Including article links prior to the November 2024 election, found by clicking a second google sites website link at the end of the site referenced immediately above). The article history can be viewed as follows:
www.dalecodemocrats.com (latest)
sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/ (Nov 2024 election - April 30, 2025)
sites.google.com/view/demoldnews/home/ (Prior to 2024 election)
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