Reproductive Rights, Women's Health, and Freedom of Choice
Embedded Files
NEXT MEETING: 04/13/26, 7 PM, OZARK-DALE LIBRARY
Focus On the Issues: Women's Reproductive Health, Abortion Denial Versus Pro Choice (Post 2024 Election)
These states voted to protect abortion rights. Conservative lawmakers are not standing down
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/02/abortion-rights-conservative-lawmakers
Comment: "A trial in Missouri illustrates how hard it is to restore abortion rights, even when voters demand it"
Comment: " 'A ballot measure changes the constitution and it says that the voters want receptive rights and freedom to be protected, but the amendments don’t make everything go away on their own,' said Amy Myrick, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is involved in several post-measure legal battles. 'The courts and the legislatures have to follow through to strike down restrictions when they’re unconstitutional. And even when there’s a right in the constitution, burdensome restrictions can stay on the books and make it difficult or even impossible for people to get care.' "
"While advocates have successfully used the measures to strike down sweeping abortion bans, they hoped to use the measures to also eliminate the hundreds of restrictions that had gnawed away at access to abortion in the decades before the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade. Missouri’s history, in particular, offers a snapshot of these restrictions’ power. Onerous rules around abortion clinics’ operation – such as a requirement that providers perform two pelvic exams on patients – nearly forced the state’s last abortion clinic to close in 2019. The number of abortions performed in Missouri plunged: just 167 abortions were recorded in 2020. That marked a 97% decrease from 2010, far more than the national average."
"During the trial earlier this month, Missouri abortion providers argued that the measure rendered many of the state’s restrictions unconstitutional . Among the restrictions they hope to remove are a ban on prescribing abortion pills through telehealth, a requirement that physicians develop an in-depth complications plan and a mandate that abortion patients wait 72 hours after an initial consultation before undergoing the procedure."
"These laws, they argued, constituted 'targeted regulations of abortion providers' (Trap) laws, leading abortion to be policed unlike any other medical procedure."
‘I was violated and put in extreme danger’: women denied abortions sue over Arkansas ban
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/28/arkansas-lawsuit-abortion-ban-miscarriage
Virginia voters to decide on amendment to protect abortion rights
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/16/virginia-vote-abortion-rights
Comment: "The Virginia state senate voted on Friday to let voters decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to protect abortion rights, in a move that will make Virginia at least the third state in 2026 to vote on the controversial topic."
"The state legislature first approved the proposed amendment in early 2025, but Virginia law dictates that suggested constitutional amendments must pass in two consecutive state legislatures. The state house of delegates approved the 2026 version of the amendment earlier this week."
"Democrats control both chambers of the legislature. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, flipped the governor’s mansion in November, in part due to her stalwart support for abortion rights."
"After the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, unleashing a wave of state-level abortion bans, Virginia has become a critical source of abortion access – especially for people fleeing southern bans. Before Roe’s fall, Virginia-based providers performed fewer than 2,500 abortion per month, according to data from #WeCount, a research project that tracks abortion provision. By June 2025, providers in Virginia were performing closer to 3,500 abortions each month."
Abortion threatens to derail Senate ObamaCare deal
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5689744-abortion-senate-obamacare-deal/
Comment: "A push by Senate negotiators to strike a deal on extending enhanced ObamaCare subsidies is running into a brick wall as they struggle to clear a key hurdle on abortion."
"Members have been engaged in talks for about a month on a potential extension. But the subsidies expired at the end of last year and Congress left town for Christmas and New Year’s without an agreement, chilling any momentum."
"The two sides were hoping to unveil draft legislative text earlier this week, but lawmakers are now aiming for an end-of-January accord.
Comment: "House and Senate Republicans, as well as dozens of anti-abortion groups that have spent months lobbying Congress and the White House, oppose any revival and extension of the subsidies that doesn’t bar all Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance plans from covering abortion."
"Democrats don’t think there need to be any changes to the current policy."
"Since its inception, the ACA has barred federal subsidies from paying for abortions, but left it up to the states to decide if ACA health insurance plans could cover abortion using state or private funds."
"Half of states have opted to ban all coverage of abortion on their ObamaCare markets, including some where abortion is legal. On the flip side, 12 states have laws that require all group and individual plans to include abortion coverage."
" 'There are a number of anti-choice groups who view this as an opportunity to try and further restrict women’s access,' said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), a top Democratic negotiator."
Comment: Do you suppose the so called "pro-life" groups realize that folks may die if they can't afford health insurance?
Republican lawmakers call for FDA to review abortion pill restrictions at Senate hearing
Comment: "The Senate’s health committee convened its first hearing of the year on the efficacy of the chemical abortion drug mifepristone, which requires a prescription, amid a growing push from conservatives to restrict abortion access across the country."
"Mifepristone is an oral drug typically used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, to induce an abortion or to help manage an early miscarriage. In 2019, the Food and Drug Administration approved a generic version of the drug."
"The two-hour committee hearing on Wednesday centered around measures to outlaw telehealth practices for women seeking abortions. Republican lawmakers on the committee decried the use of the drug as Democrats accused them of attempting to control women’s bodies."
" 'My goal of the hearing is to inform people that this is not just taking Tylenol,' Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, told ABC News. 'It's more than that, and therefore to emphasize that there should be an in-patient visit and some human contact,' he said."
Louisiana wants a California doctor extradited to face abortion charges. Newsom isn't having it.
Comment: "The case is a test of abortion protections California has passed."
Trump administration restores federal funding for family planning after ACLU lawsuit
https://apnews.com/article/family-planning-trump-grants-134884db0bfd42da72601f4a77e1677e
Comment: "Reproductive rights advocates say they have dropped a legal challenge against the Trump administration for withholding millions of dollars in federal funding for family planning, contraception and other services after officials agreed to restore the money."
"Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after federal officials alerted 16 organizations, including Planned Parenthood affiliates, that the department was pausing $27.5 million to investigate whether they’re complying with the law."
"At the time, HHS didn’t specify which laws or executive orders the groups were suspected of violating. However, in a Dec. 19 letter to the organizations, HHS officials cited 'federal civil rights laws' and that the groups had taken actions to show they were in compliance."
Comment: HHS finally released the money, but it took an ACLU lawsuit to force them to do it.
Lawsuit dismissed after Trump admin quietly restored tens of millions to Planned Parenthood
Comment: "The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday dropped its lawsuit against the Trump administration over tens of millions in Title X family planning funds that federal officials had withheld from Planned Parenthood from Planned Parenthood and some other health clinics since last spring, after HHS quietly released the money in December."
"Though the Trump administration is still defending in court for bigger federal cuts to Planned Parenthood that Congress approved last summer, the release of the Title X funds gives the clinics a crucial lifeline. It is also likely to inflame existing tensions between the administration and anti-abortion conservatives who will rally in Washington later this month for the annual March for Life."
Abortion stays legal in Wyoming after state's top court strikes down bans
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwywp4zxd9yo
Comment: "In Wyoming, the case against the state was brought by four women, including two obstetricians, an abortion advocacy group, and the state's only abortion provider, Wellspring Health Access in the city of Casper."
"The state's Supreme Court looked at two laws - one banning abortion in all cases except to protect a pregnant woman's life or in cases involving rape or incest, and another banning abortion pills explicitly. Both laws were quashed on Tuesday."
US woman charged with fetal homicide after allegedly inducing own abortion
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/02/kentucky-woman-arrest-abortion
Comment: "Kentucky state police arrested the woman, Melinda S Spencer, 35, on charges of fetal homicide in the first degree, abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence, according to a local Kentucky news outlet. Spencer reportedly ordered medication online to end her pregnancy, then buried the remains of her pregnancy in her backyard."
"It is not clear how far along Spencer’s pregnancy was at the time of her alleged abortion, although police described the fetus as 'developed', the Lexington Herald Leader reported."
Comment: "Kentucky bans doctors from performing abortions any time after conception. However, like the vast majority of states, Kentucky does not outlaw people from inducing – or 'self-managing' – their own abortions. Medical experts widely agree that it is safe to self-manage an abortion using pills in the first trimester of pregnancy."
"The text of Kentucky’s fetal homicide statute also explicitly says the law cannot be used to criminalize 'any acts of a pregnant woman that caused the death of her unborn child'."
Comment: This case seems to pose difficult legal and moral questions. Many citizens have serious moral qualms about aborting a fetus in later stages of a pregnancy, if that was the situation in this case.
Court allows White House to end Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood in 22 states
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/31/planned-parenthood-medicaid-funding-ends
Comment: "A US appeals court agreed on Tuesday to allow the Trump administration to strip Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood health centers in 22 states and Washington DC."
"The order from the three-judge panel of the Boston-based first US circuit court of appeals puts on hold an injunction issued by US district judge Indira Talwani. Talwani’s injunction had blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a provision of its massive tax-and-spending bill that blocks Planned Parenthood from receiving reimbursements from Medicaid, the US government’s health insurance program for low-income people, in the 22 states."
"The panel’s decision is only the latest legal volley in the months-long war over the Trump administration’s provision. The appeals court previously lifted another order by Talwani in a separate case, brought by Planned Parenthood, that had also blocked the measure’s enforcement."
Military families hit with bitter blow after Congress strips fertility treatment funding from defense bill | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/30/politics/military-families-congress-fertility-treatment
‘Trojan horse moment’: anti-rights groups seize chance to fill void left by US aid cuts
Comment: "Ultra-conservative Christian organisations look to reshape global health landscape as new aid agreements open door to demands restricting family planning services"
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
For News Articles links from before November 1st, 2025, please go to one of the following, depending on the article date:
https://sites.google.com/view/dem3oldnews/home/old3-reproductive-rights
https://sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/old2-reproductive-rights
OR
https://sites.google.com/view/demoldnews/home/old-reproductive-rights
There you will find a continuation of the news links & comments from the period prior to November 1, 2025. The article history can be viewed as follows:
www.dalecodemocrats.com (latest)
sites.google.com/view/dem3oldnews/home/ (May 1, 2025 - October 31, 2025)
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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