LA Times: Antiabortion measures flooding state legislatures
By Robin Abcarian
“Energized by Republican gains in the last election and still stinging from the passage of President Obama’s healthcare overhaul, conservative lawmakers in statehouses around the country have put forward a torrent of measures aimed at restricting abortion. The measures now under consideration in dozens of states reflect advances in technology and a political cycle that has reempowered a reliably antiabortion bloc — conservative Republicans — on the state and federal levels. ‘We are always monitoring a huge number of anti-choice laws,’ said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which challenges antiabortion laws. ‘But what we are seeing this year is some of the most extreme restrictions, and they are passing at a rather sharp clip.’ That is probably because of several factors, including the prominence of the abortion issue in last year’s healthcare debate, as well as gains by Republicans, both at the state and national level, in November’s election, advocates on both sides say.”