U.S. Repro Watch, December 8

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:

1. A Texas judge has issued a temporary restraining order allowing a pregnant woman to access emergency abortion care in the state.

• The order in Cox v. Texas on December 7 blocked enforcement of Texas’s abortion bans as they apply to the plaintiff, Kate Cox, who needed urgent abortion care to protect her life, health and future fertility.  “The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice,” said Judge Maya Guerra Gamble when issuing the order from the bench.
• Cox recently received a fatal fetal diagnosis, and since she already had two C-sections and would need a third if she was forced to remain pregnant, she was warned by her OB-GYN and MFM specialist that continuing to carry the pregnancy to term could jeopardize her health and future fertility.
• The lawsuit was filed December 5 by the Center for Reproductive Rights.

2. Idaho asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let it enforce a near-total abortion ban even in emergency room settings.

• Idaho’s Attorney General asked the high court November 27 to reverse a lower court ruling narrowly blocking the near-total ban while an appeal proceeds in a lower court.

3. A federal appeals court reinstated abortion-related rules on the Title X family planning program.

• The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals restored a Trump-era restriction November 30 that could force clinics to stop performing abortions altogether or lose their funding for other services like cancer screenings. The ruling only applies to Ohio.

In several states, initiatives are in progress to ensure state constitutional protections for abortion:

4. In Montana, reproductive rights advocates are seeking to codify the existing right to abortion by amending the state constitution.

• The state Supreme Court has recognized that the state constitution protects the right to abortion.

5. A Nevada judge struck down a ballot proposal to enshrine reproductive rights, including abortion, into the state constitution.

• Nevadans for Reproductive Rights, which filed the petition, is considering its next steps, including a possible appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

6. The Arkansas Attorney General rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow access to abortion before 18 weeks of pregnancy and in certain exceptions.

• The Attorney General claimed that several aspects of the ballot language needed clarity or other improvements before he would consider it worthy of approval. A revised amendment is now being drafted.

7. Virginia lawmakers proposed a bill to ensure state constitutional protections for abortion.

• Virginia is the southernmost state that has not widely banned or restricted abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, but state law currently does not include express protections for abortion.

Travel for abortion care on the rise: Since 2020, the number of U.S. abortion patients traveling across state lines for care has doubled, according to Guttmacher Institute’s Monthly Abortion Provision Study. The study found that nearly one in five patients traveled out of state for abortion care in the first half of 2023—up from one in 10 in 2020. The surge has been driven by post-Roe v. Wade abortion bans and restrictions.

December 8: U.S. Supreme Court to consider taking up abortion pill case.

• SCOTUS will convene today to decide whether to take up a case threatening access to medication abortion nationwide. If it agrees to hear the case, it will be the first abortion case heard by SCOTUS since Roe was overturned.

December 10: 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

• This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 and set out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Watch a replay of a Center webinar honoring the anniversary.

December 12: Hearing on Arizona’s 150-year-old abortion ban.

• The Arizona Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine whether an abortion ban dating back to 1864 can be blocked.