U.S. Repro Watch, October 11

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:

News in the states. . .

1. New York City public hospitals will offer abortion care via telehealth in a measure signed by Mayor Eric Adams.

• Measures signed by Mayor Adams on October 2 also include one making abortion medication free at all of New York’s department of health and mental hygiene clinics.

2. A federal judge in North Carolina blocked portions of the state’s 12-week abortion ban.

• One of the blocked provisions required abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy to take place at a hospital. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles wrote that there is no “rational medical basis” for the requirement and blocked it on September 30 while the case proceeds. She also extended an order blocking a rule requiring doctors to document the location of a pregnancy in the uterus before prescribing medication abortion. 
• The state ban was enacted in May after GOP legislators overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. 

3. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs urged the state Supreme Court not to reinstate an 1864 abortion ban.

• Gov. Hobbs’ brief, filed October 4 in a case brought by Planned Parenthood against the state, details the stories of six women who have directly benefited from access to abortion care. Their stories “help illustrate how access to abortion is critical for the health, safety, and well-being of Arizonans,” states the brief.

4. Siding with midwives and doctors, an Alabama court halted a state law that effectively shut down birth centers in the state.

• The September 30 order by Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Greg Griffin blocked the state health department’s regulations requiring birth centers to be licensed as hospitals. The regulations made it difficult for birth centers to obtain a license in the first place. 
• Birth centers and midwifery care play important roles in addressing disparities in access to maternity care, especially as the country’s maternal health crisis grows. 

5. In Wisconsin, anti-abortion groups are targeting abortion providers by filing medical license complaints against doctors who support abortion care in the state.

• The move comes just weeks after some Wisconsin abortion providers resumed services.

A new report from the National Partnership for Women & Families found that around 6.7 million Latinas—making up 43% of all Latinas aged 15-49—live in 26 states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion. The state of Texas, for instance, where abortion is banned, is home to 2.9 million Latinas of reproductive age.

Across the country, the impacts of abortion restrictions have fallen hardest on communities of color—most of whom already face discriminatory obstacles in accessing health care—and Latinas are the largest group of women of color impacted by current or likely state bans. 

October 30 – November 10: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Public Hearings, Washington, D.C.  

• The purpose of the IACHR’s general public hearings is to receive information on human rights situations in connection with specific topics or issues in countries throughout the Americas, and to issue recommendations regarding respect for and enjoyment of human rights. The hearings will be held in person and virtually.