U.S. Repro Watch, November 21

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.

Four Idaho women gave gripping testimony in court this week after being denied abortion care, saying they felt like “medical refugees.”

• The women—all plaintiffs in the case brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Adkins v. State of Idaho—were forced to leave Idaho for abortion care despite lethal fetal conditions and risks to their health. Physician plaintiffs also testified, saying it’s unclear how near death a patient must be for them to qualify for an abortion under the state’s medical exceptions.
• Idaho’s abortion ban doesn’t include exceptions to preserve a patient’s health or for lethal fetal conditions. This lawsuit seeks to change that and get clarity on what situations fall under the exception.
• “All four of these women were overjoyed to be pregnant with their second child and all four of them received the worst news a mother can imagine,” said Center attorney Gail Deady in her opening arguments. All of them sought abortions “to protect their health, to spare their babies from pain and suffering, and to remain alive and healthy to protect their young children.”

Voters in seven states approved constitutional amendments to protect abortion rights.

• Amendments enshrining abortion rights were approved in seven of 10 states where measures were on the ballot: AZ, CO, MD, MO, MT, NY and NV. Initiatives failed in FL, NE and SD.
• Since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion, in 14 of 17 states, voters have come out in favor of abortion rights.

Anti-abortion groups have released a post-election “road map” to undo federal and state protections for abortion.

• Led by Students for Life and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, the strategy focuses primarily on eliminating access to abortion pills, which are now used for about two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S.
• They also plan to undermine just-passed ballot measures, ban the use of telehealth for abortions, limit campus health services, and reverse Biden-era policies that expanded abortion access, such as allowing pharmacies to dispense abortion pills.

The vote in Missouri to protect abortion rights marked the first time voters in a state with a total abortion ban successfully amended their constitution to protect reproductive freedom. The win could provide an important Midwest abortion access point.

Following the election, retailers have seen a major boost in sales for birth control and Plan B. People have begun to stockpile these medications out of fear that they will become less accessible during a Trump presidency. Additionally, online abuse and misogynistic harassment targeting women has surged on platforms like X and TikTok.