We recently received a long-awaited decision from #SCOTUS in our case challenging Louisiana's abortion clinic shutdown law.
While we are thrilled that #SCOTUS ruled in our favor and struck down the law, there is still so much more work to do to protect abortion access.
Our President and CEO, Nancy Northup explains what comes next in the fight to protect abortion access in the United States in her op-ed for the @washingtonpost:
"This insidious campaign against abortion access hurts communities of color, young people, rural communities and people living in poverty the most."
"These restrictions mean that bc there are fewer clinics & patients may have to travel considerable distances to reach them, a person’s ability to access abortion care often depends on where they happen to live, how much money they have & whether they can take time off work."
"This is just wrong. A right is not a right if you can’t exercise it. It’s time to end this grinding, wasteful state of uncertainty. The Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) is the answer."
⚠️With the abortion pill case going before the US Supreme Court today, here are some important reminders about mifepristone, the medication in question.
Mifepristone is extremely safe. In addition to a 20+ year track record of use in the US, the medication’s safety is documented in more than 100 peer-reviewed articles.
Leading medical and scientific organizations recognize mifepristone as safe and effective including the American Medical Association and the American Congress of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG). It is also classified as an essential medicine by the World Health Organization.
NEWS OUT OF TEXAS: Today, the Texas Medical Board announced that they are publishing proposed rules to purportedly ‘clarify’ exceptions to the state’s harsh abortion bans. However, these rules fall seriously short of the clarity needed.
“The rules Texas Medical Board proposed today contain more of the same rhetoric we have been hearing for years: that physicians should just read the language of the exception and exercise their reasonable medical judgment.” -Molly Duane, @ReproRights Senior Staff Attorney
Further, these rules create a burdensome documentation system physicians must use when providing an abortion, including documenting whether there was ‘adequate time to transfer the patient’ ‘by any means available’ to a different facility to avoid having to perform an abortion.
🔴LIVE: The @SenateBudget Committee is hosting a hearing on the devastating economic impacts of abortion bans. The committee will hear from @ReproRights' Tennessee plaintiff Allie Phillips and other experts. Tune in now and follow our live coverage: budget.senate.gov/hearings/no-ri…
@SenateBudget "Reproductive rights, it turns out, are intrinsically tied to economic opportunity. Reproductive justice is economic justice. Restricting one restricts the other." -@SenWhitehouse
“[The] freedom to decide if and when to have a child affects a women’s life trajectory and her family’s financial security. Women denied an abortion who had to carry a pregnancy to term were 4x more likely to live in poverty." -@SenWhitehouse
BREAKING: Idaho court rejected the state’s attempt to throw out our case brought by women denied abortions. Our case seeking to expand the medical exceptions in Idaho’s abortion bans will proceed despite the state’s attempt to dismiss the case. dropbox.com/scl/fi/3huvsbd…
“We’re grateful the court saw through the State’s callous attempt to ignore the pain and suffering their laws are causing Idahoans. Now the State of Idaho will be forced to answer to these women in a court of law.” -Gail Deady, Senior Staff Attorney at @reprorights
After hearing what our plaintiffs have gone through, the State of Idaho filed paperwork to dismiss them and throw them out of court.
BREAKING: The US Supreme Court says it will hear a case that could eliminate access to mifepristone—one of two drugs used in medication abortion. The case was filed by an anti-abortion group seeking to undo FDA approval of the drug and remove it from the market nationwide.
The case reached SCOTUS after an appellate court partially upheld a district court ruling granting the anti-abortion group's request, which attempted to reinstate restrictions on mifepristone that limit access. The Court will likely hear arguments on the case in spring.
The district court's order limiting mifepristone access is currently blocked and will remain blocked until the Supreme Court rules, likely in June of 2024.
UPDATE: After a week of legal whiplash and threats of prosecution from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, our client Kate Cox has been forced to flee her home state of Texas to get the time-sensitive abortion care needed to protect her health and future fertility.
Kate has been unable to get an abortion in Texas, even though her fetus has a fatal condition and continuing the pregnancy threatens her future fertility. Last week, a state court ruled in Kate's favor, but within hours, TX AG Paxton asked SCOTX to block the order immediately.
The Supreme Court of Texas temporarily blocked the order on Friday and has yet to issue a final ruling on this time-sensitive matter.