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

Texas ban leaves woman dead

1. Another woman has died because of Texas’s abortion ban.

• Tierra Walker, a 37-year-old dental assistant with a high-risk pregnancy, died from preeclampsia after repeatedly being denied an abortion—despite persistent seizures, a blood clot, soaring blood pressure, and her medical records describing a high risk of death.
• Texas’s abortion ban provides an exception for “life-threatening” conditions, but extreme threats of prosecution and penalties for violating the ban leave doctors fearful of legal repercussions. Those who provide an abortion in violation of the ban could face up to 99 years in prison, the loss of their medical license, and at least $100,000 in fines.

Texas attacks abortion pill access

2. A Texas law designed to cut off abortion pill access took effect.

• Texas House Bill 7 (HB7) allows Texas citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes, mails, or provides abortion pills into Texas, for up to $100,000.
• The first-of-its-kind law is an attempt to control providers outside of the state from providing abortion pills via telemedicine, the last remaining lifeline for many Texans who can’t travel for an abortion.

Judge blocks Medicaid cuts

4. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts in 22 states.

• In July, a group of 22 states sued the Trump administration over its move to defund certain abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning, by preventing them from receiving reimbursement for non-abortion services provided to Medicaid patients.
• In her decision to block the cuts, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote that the law is “impermissibly ambiguous” and that leaving patients without access to birth control and preventative screenings could lead to an “increase in states’ healthcare costs.”

Abortion ban fails in South Carolina

3. South Carolina’s dangerous abortion ban bill failed to advance.

• SB 323 would have criminalized abortion, with penalties of up to 30 years in prison for the pregnant person, including in cases of rape, incest or fatal fetal conditions.
• While the bill was voted down by a subcommittee this week, it could be revived during the 2026 legislative session.

Anti-abortion centers evade regulation

5. A federal appeals court allowed anti-abortion centers to continue dangerously endorsing so-called medication abortion “reversal.”

• Some anti-abortion centers (also known as crisis pregnancy centers) have been promoting an unproven and potentially dangerous treatment to reverse the effects of the abortion pill mifepristone, which New York’s attorney general sought to bar under the state’s false advertising laws.
• An anti-abortion group sued the attorney general in response, arguing that the promotion of the treatment was protected by the right to free speech. The court ruled this week in its favor, stating that the centers’ medically unsupported claims are protected by the right to free speech. 

States push abortion restrictions

6. States continued to push abortion restrictions despite legal protections.

• In Ohio, lawmakers are advancing multiple anti-abortion bills, despite a voter-approved constitutional right to abortion. These bills include a ban on abortion pills via telemedicine, and a mandate that students be shown anti-abortion videos in school.
• Wisconsin legislators passed a bill excluding ectopic pregnancy treatment and other emergencies from the legal definition of abortion, despite similar definitions elsewhere delaying urgent care. They also proposed requiring abortion providers to distribute unnecessary “catch kits,” echoing baseless claims about abortion pills contaminating wastewater.

Did you know?

Did you know?

Anti-abortion centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) have rapidly expanded since Roe v. Wade was overturned. These groups, which masquerade as abortion clinics to trick patients and dissuade them from getting abortions, received over $500 million in public funding nationwide between 2022-2024. There are now more than 2,600 anti-abortion centers and only 765 abortion clinics across the U.S. These centers are not medical clinics, leaving them largely unregulated. They often provide health care services without a license, and they are not required to comply with HIPAA, which leaves patients’ private information vulnerable. Despite mounting investigations and nationwide scrutiny, many lawmakers continue to bolster funding to these groups.

Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho have asked a federal judge in Missouri to allow them to challenge the FDA’s recent approval of a new generic version of mifepristone, in an effort to restrict access to the pill. The request was made in the states’ existing lawsuit that challenges the FDA’s regulation of mifepristone, including the FDA’s policy permitting mifepristone to be mailed. Mifepristone has been FDA-approved since 2000. It is a safe and effective form of reproductive health care. Medication abortion has accounted for more than 60% of all abortions in the U.S. health care system in recent years.

Coming up

Coming up

January 12: Closing arguments in Arizona trial challenging abortion restrictions

• An Arizona state court will hear closing arguments in a case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, challenging several burdensome abortion restrictions in the state. The restrictions include a law forcing patients to wait at least 24 hours before getting care and a ban on the use of telemedicine for medication abortion.
• Abortion providers argue that these medically unnecessary restrictions have long impeded abortion access and violate the voter-approved constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion.
• The hearing will begin at 1.30PM MST / 3.30PM ET on January 12, 2026.

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