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

1. Planned Parenthood secured a key victory in its Medicaid defunding case.

• A federal judge ruled July 28 that all Planned Parenthood health centers must continue to receive Medicaid reimbursement while the case continues.
• The judge stated that President Trump’s recently-enacted “big beautiful bill,” which would deprive Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funding, is likely unconstitutional.

2. Part of a Tennessee law that makes it a crime to help minors access out-of-state abortion care has been struck down, for now.

• On July 18, a federal judge struck down a section of Tennessee’s so-called “abortion trafficking” law that prohibits adults from advising or encouraging minors to seek lawful abortion care. The judge’s ruling says the prohibition violates the First Amendment.
• Other parts of the law—banning transportation of a minor or sheltering a minor seeking abortion—remain in effect.
• The state has appealed this case, and a hearing will take place this Friday, July 31, to determine whether the law will stay blocked.

3. Minors in Nevada must now get parental consent to have an abortion.

• A 40-year-old Nevada law preventing minors from having an abortion without parental consent is now in effect for the first time, after a federal court lifted a decades-old injunction July 22.
• Planned Parenthood swiftly filed a new lawsuit in state court, arguing that the law is unconstitutional because it lacks exceptions for minors in abusive homes or foster care and could severely delay or deny access to care.
• 36 states currently have parental consent or parental notification requirements for abortion.

4. In other state news…

• In West Virginia, a federal appeals court upheld the state’s near-total abortion ban in a case brought by GenBioPro—a manufacturer of the abortion pill mifepristone. The court ruled that the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill doesn’t prevent states from banning it.
• In Ohio, a state law banning nurse practitioners from providing abortions has once again been blocked by a court, which ruled that it likely violates the constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2023 protecting reproductive rights. The case will likely go up to the Ohio Supreme Court.
• In a test of New York’s shield law, an Ulster County clerk rejected Texas’s attempt to enforce a civil judgment against a NY-based doctor who allegedly prescribed abortion pills to a patient in Texas. The clerk cited New York’s shield laws protecting abortion providers from out-of-state legal action.
• Missouri is suing Planned Parenthood, claiming it violated the state’s consumer protection law in saying the abortion pill mifepristone is safer than penicillin and Tylenol. Decades of research prove the safety and efficacy of mifepristone.

Did you know?

Abortion bans are making pregnancy more dangerous in a country that is already experiencing a maternal health crisis. A study conducted in Texas found that 72% of women forced to continue carrying pregnancies with fatal fetal diagnoses experienced health complications, compared to 15% who were able to access abortion care out of state. The U.S. continues to have the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy nations, and abortion restrictions are exacerbating these disparities.

Anti-abortion pregnancy centers are gathering private health and religious data from patients—even though they are not subject to HIPAA and are not required to protect such data, an investigation by NBC found. These deceptive centers often pose as abortion clinics, aiming to dissuade people from having abortions. In a recent letter, the Center for Reproductive Rights urged Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to investigate the “Woman to Woman Pregnancy Resource Center” for deceptive data practices.