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:

Center defends CA doctor

1. The Center for Reproductive Rights is defending a California doctor sued under Texas’ abortion pill bounty hunter law.

• Texas’ new abortion law, H.B. 7, allows private citizens to sue anyone who allegedly provides or mails abortion pills into Texas.
• This is the first lawsuit brought under H.B. 7 and is part of a coordinated national strategy to cut off access to abortion pills.
• This case will determine if the doctor can mail abortion pills into Texas in the future, as well as if the doctor can countersue under California’s shield law.

States advance restrictive legislation

2. Multiple states are considering similar restrictions on abortion pills.

• There are currently fourteen H.B. 7 copycat bills being considered across the country.
• Indiana, South Carolina, and West Virginia are among the states that have advanced legislation to prohibit the mailing of abortion pills into their states.
• In South Carolina, lawmakers are also seeking to punish anyone who provides “funding or assistance” for unlawful access to abortion pills.

Trump sends detained pregnant girls to TX

3. The Trump administration is sending pregnant girls detained by ICE to an ill-equipped detention center in Texas, where abortion is illegal.

• More than a dozen pregnant unaccompanied minors–some as young as 13–have been transferred to a federal shelter in south Texas. At least half of the minors reportedly became pregnant as a result of rape, and many face high-risk pregnancies.
• The move marks a sharp departure from longstanding federal practice, which placed pregnant, unaccompanied migrant children in foster homes or refugee resettlement shelters that are equipped to handle high-risk pregnancies.
• Many see this as a way to cut off abortion access by concentrating all the pregnant minors in a state where it’s banned.

AZ strikes down abortion restrictions

4. An Arizona state court struck down multiple abortion restrictions as unconstitutional.

• The blocked restrictions include forcing patients to visit a clinic twice and wait at least 24 hours for care, as well as a ban on the use of telemedicine for abortion.
• The court ruled that the restrictions violate the state constitutional right to abortion, which voters approved in 2024.

WY & IA introduce abortion bans

5. Lawmakers in Wyoming and Iowa introduced abortion bans.

• Just one month after the Wyoming Supreme Court struck down the state’s total abortion ban as unconstitutional, lawmakers are pushing a new bill to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy — before many people know they are pregnant.
• Iowa legislators introduced a bill that would charge women with murder for having an abortion at any stage of pregnancy.

MI anti-abortion group challenges civil rights law

6. Anti-abortion groups in Michigan are asking a federal court to let employers discriminate against people who’ve had abortions.

• Michigan anti-abortion groups are seeking to block the state’s civil rights law, which states that employers must treat employees and applicants “affected…by the termination of a pregnancy” the same as any others.
• The groups argue the law violates their religious freedom and free speech rights.

Did you know?

Did you know?

Most voters (67%) say health insurance plans, whether paid for by individuals or employers, should cover the full range of pregnancy-related care, including abortion. This finding comes as anti-abortion lawmakers push to ban abortion coverage in Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, despite broad public support for comprehensive reproductive health coverage.

Pregnant people in ICE detention centers are facing alarming neglect and abuse, according to recent reports. Detainees are being denied prenatal care and left to miscarry without timely medical intervention. Fear of detention is also preventing people from getting pregnancy care at all, putting their health at serious risk. In Minnesota, health care providers have reported the presence of ICE agents around medical centers. This has forced pregnant women to limit their prenatal visits and even reconsider going to a hospital to give birth.

Coming up

Coming up

February 20: Hearing on abortion pill ads in South Dakota

• A South Dakota state court will decide whether the state can force organizations to remove ads with information about abortion pills.
• The case is part of a broader effort by anti-abortion politicians to censor public information about how to safely access abortion pills.

February 24: Hearing on whether to reinstate federal restrictions on abortion pills

• A federal court will hear a case brought by Louisiana seeking to reinstate a ban on the use of telemedicine for abortion.
• Using telemedicine to get abortion pills has become a lifeline for many, especially those trapped in states that ban abortion. This case is designed to cut off that lifeline.

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