U.S. Repro Watch provides periodic updates on news of interest on U.S. reproductive rights. Here are a few recent items you won’t want to miss.

After some state courts rule for reproductive rights, anti-abortion officials try to block them.

Many state courts and constitutions offer strong legal grounds for protecting abortion rights. In recent weeks, state courts in North Dakota and Georgia ruled to strike down abortion bans based on protections in their state constitutions.

North Dakota

A North Dakota state court struck down the state’s near-total abortion ban as unconstitutional—making abortion again legal in the state. . .

• The opinion by Judge Bruce Romanick stated, “The North Dakota Constitution guarantees each individual, including women, the fundamental right to make medical judgments affecting his or her bodily integrity, health, and autonomy, in consultation with a chosen health care provider free from government interference. This section necessarily and more specifically protects a woman’s right to procreative autonomy—including to seek and obtain a pre-viability abortion.” 
• The ruling came September 12 in a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners challenging the ban.
• Because there are no abortion clinics left in the state, abortion will remain largely unavailable, but this ruling will ensure that people facing pregnancy complications can get abortion care at hospitals and that doctors can practice medicine without fear of prosecution. 

. . . but the state is attempting to reinstate the abortion ban. Hearing on the motion is scheduled for October 10.

• The North Dakota Attorney General’s Office filed a motion asking Romanick to keep the abortion ban on the books until the North Dakota Supreme Court makes a final decision on the case. 
• Judge Romanick will hear arguments on the motion at 9 a.m. CT in Bismarck.

Also in North Dakota, a federal court allowed Catholic employers to flout the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. 

• The court ruled on September 23 that the Act—which requires workplace accommodations for those seeking abortion and fertility care—likely violates religious freedom.  The accommodations include time off for childbirth, abortion, fertility treatments, and other pregnancy-related medical conditions.
• The court also blocked the government from enforcing new harassment guidance around gender identity and gender expression. 

Georgia

A Georgia state court struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban as unconstitutional. . .

• The court ruled on September 30 that abortion is protected under the Georgia constitution’s fundamental right to privacy. 
• “Women are not some piece of collectively owned community property the disposition of which is decided by majority vote,” said Judge Robert McBurney, writing for the majority. “Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted, not-yet-viable fetus to term violates her constitutional rights to liberty and privacy.”
• The ruling came in the Center’s case SisterSong v. State of Georgia on September 30.

but the Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the ban. . . 

• After the state’s attorney general quickly appealed the ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the ban on October 7. 
• Center staff attorney Alice Wang, commenting about the ban’s reinstatement, said, “This ruling will surely be a death sentence for some, and we won’t back down from fighting to ensure every Georgian’s right to decide what is best for their bodies, health, and family lives.” 

. . . despite reports that two Georgia women died because of it. 

• Politico reported on the deaths of two Georgia women, Amber Thurman and Candi Miller—the first confirmed deaths resulting from a state abortion ban.  

The U.S. Senate fails to act.

The U.S. Senate blocked a resolution that would have affirmed the right to abortion care in emergency situations. 

• The resolution was introduced September 20 in response to ProPublica’s report on Amber Thurman’s death. 

The Senate also blocked efforts to protect IVF.  

• For the second time this year, on September 17, the Senate voted against legislation that would have protected in vitro fertilization (IVF) access nationwide. 
• The threats to IVF have escalated since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that frozen embryos are considered “children” under the state’s wrongful death law. 

Attacks on medication abortion continue.

In Louisiana, abortion drugs are now considered “controlled, dangerous substances”—the same category as opioids. 

• The state law, effective October 1, reclassified the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol, threatening those possessing the drugs without a valid prescription with up to 5 years in prison.
• Beyond abortion, misoprostol is used to treat various conditions including stomach ulcers and postpartum hemorrhage.

More anti-abortion laws were blocked by the courts.

A federal judge blocked a Tennessee law designed to stop young people from leaving the state for abortion care.  

• The law makes it a crime to help people under the age of 18 leave the state for an abortion.  
• The court agreed with abortion rights advocates that the law is vague and violates the right to free speech, with the judge declaring in the September 20 ruling that the state can’t “make it a crime to communicate freely” about legal abortion options.  
• A similar law passed in Idaho was also blocked by another federal court last year.

An Ohio court blocked two restrictions related to medication abortion. 

• One of the restrictions banned telemedicine for medication abortion, while the other restricted which healthcare practitioners can provide the medication. 
• The judge ruled that the laws violate Ohioans’ constitutional right to abortion, which was enshrined into the state constitution in 2023.

Did you know?

More pregnant women are going without prenatal care since the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the constitutional right to abortion.

The percentage of pregnant women that aren’t receiving any prenatal care increased by 5% in 2023, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This reflects a growing trend of women unable to access maternal healthcare as OB/GYNs flee states that ban abortion, exacerbating the expanding maternity care deserts.

There’s been a rise in pregnancy-related prosecutions. 

A new report from Pregnancy Justice, Pregnancy as a Crime: A Preliminary Report on the First Year After Dobbs, found the highest number of pregnancy-related prosecutions ever recorded in a single year. 

At least 210 pregnant people across the U.S. were charged with crimes related to their pregnancies between 2022–2023. Prosecutions in Alabama represented nearly half of the documented prosecutions and Oklahoma represented nearly a third. Several women who faced serious health conditions and devastating pregnancy losses were threatened with punishment, and in some of the cases, law enforcement argued that pregnant people’s failure to obtain prenatal care was evidence of a crime.