States are reigniting legal battles against each other on the issue of abortion, with Nebraska, South Carolina and GOP-controlled states seeking to enforce stricter bans on the procedure. Most Republican-dominated states have enacted tighter restrictions on abortions since the Dobbs ruling last year. However, Virginia has maintained the status quo, while Vermont has adopted a constitutional amendment to preserve access to abortion. Montana has also signed a bill banning dilation and evacuation abortions, with legal action again expected. An anti-abortion case could also reach the US Supreme Court after a hearing in the New Orleans-based 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals over the use of mifepristone.
Donald Trump has claimed that he got rid of Roe v. Wade and stated he should be given more credit for his pro-life work by pro-life supporters. Trump compared his anti-abortion action to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ recent move to sign a six-week ban that prevents anyone from seeking an abortion after six weeks of gestation, with some exceptions. “First of all, I’m the one that got rid of Roe v. Wade and everybody said that was an impossible thing to do,” Trump commented. In summer 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the legality of abortions to individual states.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has criticised former President Donald Trump's recent comments about Florida's new six-week abortion ban. Trump had suggested the ban was "too harsh". DeSantis countered that it had widespread support among opponents of abortion and noted that Trump had not given his opinion on the matter. Anti-abortion measures have emerged as an early campaign issue in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential candidate. Trump's three Supreme Court nominations laid the groundwork for the end of nationwide legalised abortion.
North Carolina's Republican-controlled Legislature has successfully overturned the Democratic governor's veto of a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, a major win for Republican legislators. The new limits will take effect on July 1, and state law currently bans nearly all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape or incest. The Carolinas, Florida, and Virginia are now the primary destinations in the region for those seeking legal abortions. This move is one of several recent efforts to limit access to abortion throughout the US. This week, lawmakers in South Carolina and Nebraska considered similar bills that would create further restrictions on abortion. Nationally, bans on abortion throughout pregnancy are in effect in 14 states since the Supreme Court last year struck down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which established a nationwide right to abortion. Farther west, women often travel to Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico or Colorado.
A federal appeals court is considering restricting access to a key abortion medication, which was first approved over two decades ago and has since become part of more than half of US abortions. The three judges on the panel questioned lawyers for the government and the drug manufacturer about why mifepristone could be prescribed by medical professionals other than doctors and why the drug could be sent by mail instead of being dispensed in person. The judges also appeared to accept the suggestion that new restrictions on mifepristone could result in fewer women requiring emergency care following medication-induced abortions. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a Christian conservative group of anti-abortion doctors and others, filed a lawsuit arguing that the FDA improperly cleared the medication for use and later allowed the drug to be mailed, violating federal law. The legal fight around abortion has moved away from laws like Roe v Wade towards questions around medical access to mifepristone, with lawmakers in multiple states limiting and banning the procedure.
New legislation approved in Illinois could protect access to abortion for individuals who face penalties in their own state for seeking the procedure. Measures passed by the General Assembly include penalties for pregnancy centres that distribute inaccurate information, requiring colleges to provide emergency contraception in dispensers at a reduced price and demanding Illinois insurers cover abortion-inducing drugs. Another measure approved by the House would insist that interstate agreements to share number plate recognition technology be accompanied by promises that it would not be used to track patients arriving from other states for an abortion.
Mark Gietzen, abortion foe who forced recount of Kansas vote, dies in plane crash at 69
The Toronto Star
23-05-17 19:56
Kansas anti-abortion activist Mark Gietzen has died in a plane crash. Gietzen, who was aged 69, was the driving force behind a recount of a state vote on abortion rights last year. The Republican hoped to reverse the final decision of the vote, which backed the right to choose whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. In addition to campaigning, Gietzen had a long career in the aerospace industry. He reportedly died in Nebraska while flying to see his mother.
Confidence in the US Supreme Court dipped to its lowest level in over 50 years following the Dobbs ruling that has resulted in several state-level restrictions on abortion, according to the General Social Survey. Among the 3,544 respondents to the survey run by NORC at the University of Chicago, just 18% said they had a great deal of confidence in the court. The split between the level of support for abortion rights across Democratic and Republican party lines was the largest ever recorded, with the majority of Republicans against the right to abortion and the vast majority of Democrats in favor of it.
Illinois politicians have passed legislation that aims to extend access to abortions in the state and protect patients seeking the procedure from being tracked by license-plate reading technology. The law would require companies selling accident or health insurance to provide coverage for abortifacients, such as hormonal therapies or immunodeficiency virus prevention drugs. Crisis pregnancy centres that distribute misinformation about abortions would also potentially face fines of up to $50,000. Pro-choice groups in Illinois said their actions were intended to send a message that even if abortion rights are curtailed in other states, the Illinois judiciary would protect the practice.
Canadian health officials have issued a public safety alert after spotting unauthorized abortion and emergency contraception drugs for sale at two "Dr Pooja" clinics in Toronto and Laval, Quebec. The medications allegedly sold from the website bears no regulation from Health Canada, it warned. The use of mifepristone and misoprostol, for instance, can be life-threatening if used in pregnant women that have an ectopic pregnancy, have a bleeding disorder or who are more than nine weeks pregnant. The health authority urged patients to return any of the prescribed medication to local shops for safe disposal.
Leaders from the Group of 7 (G7) countries are to meet and discuss the global economy this week at the annual G7 summit in Japan. However, the US’ nearing debt default of two weeks may be cause for concern. President Joe Biden hopes to promote an optimistic tone after the White House sent two special aids to negotiate with Republicans to raise the debt. Upcoming discussions are also set to focus on Ukraine and China. European allies are pressing the US administration to give American-made F-16 jets to Ukraine after gaining territory around the city of Bakhmut. Nevertheless, the Biden administration is worried about escalating the situation and the potential costs and time issues that would arise. Discussions on China will focus on handling the threat of its economic, technological and military rise. The summit will also include talks on how to stabilise the global economy and limit devaluations of currencies.
Republicans in the South Carolina House of Representatives have passed a bill which would ban abortions at about six weeks, before most people know they are pregnant. It is a heavily amended version of a previous bill which had failed, as it proposed a near-total ban on abortion. There are concerns that the new bill could face opposition from some Senators who previously supported the earlier version. Several US states are currently considering abortion restrictions which have been strongly opposed by Democrats. So far, near-total bans on abortion have been introduced in 14 states, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Anti-abortion campaigners and pro-life religious groups are moving to the forefront of the battle over abortion, hoping that the new wave of laws in Republican states will trump state laws. Activists who sway legal opinions warn that any effort to retreat from national abortion restrictions would be a serious mistake, and Kellyanne Conway believes a 15-week limit on abortion is an effective way to put Democrats on defense on the issue. Two-thirds of Americans say they oppose the decision to eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, and despite abortion restrictions becoming more prevalent, the pro-choice lobby is seen as powerful and a key issue for many voters in the Democratic party. Trump, as a candidate, has not yet given his opinion on where he will draw the line on federal legislation concerning abortion since the Supreme Court ruling overturning the right to an abortion.
Former US President Donald Trump has used his social media platform Truth Social to attack Florida governor Ron DeSantis, his biggest rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Trump posted stories from The New York Times and Newsweek to undermine DeSantis after two of the latter's endorsements lost in key races in Kentucky and Jacksonville on Tuesday evening. Trump said that "Ron's magic is GONE!" Trump also took "credit" for the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade, claiming that without his three nominees to the court, abortion bans would not be possible, and questioned DeSantis's six-week ban on abortions, claiming it was too harsh and was damaging his image among women voters.
Key attorney Timothy Paraltore, who was in charge of the legal team representing Trump in the investigation by Jack Smith, the special counsel of the Justice Department, into classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate, announced that he would be leaving the team. The investigation shows signs of nearing its conclusion. A Republican poll suggests that President Joe Biden would, if Donald Trump faces further criminal charges from the federal and state criminal investigations into his conduct, be vaulted to a massive lead over Trump.
The nomination of Michael Delaney for the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to be withdrawn due to his inability to secure the necessary votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Delaney faced opposition from Democrats over a legal brief on abortion that he signed as deputy attorney general in New Hampshire, which defended a parental notification law in the state. He also represented a private boarding school in New Hampshire that was sued in connection with a sexual assault. Although New Hampshire's Democratic senators supported Delaney, other Democrats expressed concerns, with some indicating that they were undecided.
The Ohio Ballot Board has cleared a “constitutional protection” ballot question that would make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution by raising the required threshold from a simple majority to a 60% supermajority. On August’s ballot, Ohioans will be asked if they support the higher bar. Republicans are expected to characterize the ballot question as “a constitutional protection act aimed at keeping deep-pocketed special interests out of Ohio’s foundational documents”, while Democrats argue the 60% threshold is an assault on the state’s long history of direct democracy.
The Republican-led majority in North Carolina passed a bill that prohibits abortions after 12 weeks, defying Governor Roy Cooper's orders, the day before Florida's governor signed several bills into law attempting to restrict access to gender-affirming treatment and drag shows for minors. These two legislative efforts, fueled by right-wing politics, have become common in the US. The Washington Post has been monitoring abortion and anti-transgender restrictions in each state. The majority of blue states are consistent in preserving abortion rights, although they are more versatile in their views on legislation targeting transgender individuals.
Montana District Court Judge Mike Menahan has issued a temporary restraining order against a new law banning dilation and evacuation abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. The legislation, which Republican governor Greg Gianforte signed into law earlier this week, will cause “immediate and irreparable harm and damage to Planned Parenthood and its patients” if left in place while a challenge is heard, said Menahan. The state claimed that the measure did not prohibit the abortions entirely, as it permitted injection of a lethal drug or saline solution before the procedure. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists believes that fetuses only become capable of experiencing pain after 24 weeks.
New measures that severely curtail access to abortions in North and South Carolina are expected to force more women to seek terminations in Virginia, placing more pressure on the state's already strained abortion providers. Meanwhile, Republican-controlled legislatures in Florida and South Carolina are seeking to ban almost all abortions after six weeks. Whole Woman's Health, which operates two clinics in the area and a telehealth facility that provides abortion pills by mail, was seeing more women cross state lines prior to last June's Supreme Court decision.
Conservative Nebraska lawmakers look set to pass a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors and imposing a 12-week abortion ban, after a single-vote advance this week. The combination legislation prompted volatile reactions in the state Capitol and triggered ongoing protests. Lawmakers have engaged in a bitter exchange of insults and retaliatory threats. Even those who support elements of the legislation have joined an effort to filibuster any bills this session to protest the ban. The unconventional legislative move emerged after conservatives failed to pass a bill banning abortion once cardiac activity has been detected, which was already banned at 20 weeks of pregnancy.
