U.S. Repro Watch: Four Updates You Won’t Want to Miss, 04.24.25

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. An Idaho judge broadened the medical exception to the state’s strict abortion bans.

• A court ruling April 11 broadened the medical exception under Idaho’s strict abortion bans—meaning patients facing pregnancy complications and health conditions that endanger their lives can obtain abortion care in the state, and doctors won’t face prosecution for providing that care. The judge stated that the medical exception should be interpreted broadly by doctors and could apply to numerous serious health conditions. 
• The court’s ruling, however, fails to broaden the medical exception to include fatal fetal conditions, unless the fetal condition also poses a risk to the mother’s life. It also excludes mental health conditions, even if the person is at risk of death from self-harm.
• The Center for Reproductive Rights brought the lawsuit, Adkins v. State of Idaho, on behalf of Idaho women denied medically necessary abortion care, Idaho physicians who provide obstetrical care, and a professional medical association.
• While the ruling is limited, it is significant because the Trump administration had dismissed a separate case, originally filed under the Biden administration, that sought to ensure that people could obtain emergency abortion care at Idaho hospitals despite the state’s abortion bans.

2. The Center joined other prominent legal organizations to urge the court to throw out President Trump’s orders targeting law firms.

• After the president issued executive orders attacking several law firms for past work he viewed as antagonistic, 23 legal nonprofits filed amicus briefs supporting Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale—firms that are challenging the orders.
• The briefs argue that the orders violate the First Amendment and threaten the rule of law.

3. State legislatures across the country are considering ways to make abortion bans more extreme.

• In North Carolina—where abortion is currently banned after 12 weeks of pregnancy—lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Medical providers would face up to life in prison and loss of their medical license for violating the ban.
• An Alabama legislator introduced a bill that would charge people who have abortions with homicide—making it the 12th state to consider such a law. Homicide is punishable by death in Alabama, meaning people could receive the death penalty for having abortions if the bill passes.
• The West Virginia Senate passed a bill that makes it a felony for out-of-state medical providers to prescribe or send abortion pills to state residents. It is now being considered by the House.

4. Abortion bans are driving workers away—and business leaders must respond, writes Center President and CEO Nancy Northup.

• In an op-ed for Katie Couric Media, Northup explains how protecting health care for employees is a smart business move.
• “Businesses thrive by attracting top talent, but in states with abortion restrictions, the pool may shrink, innovation may be limited, and recruiting top-tier employees is increasingly difficult,” writes Northup. “To remain competitive, companies must show employees they have their back.”

Two-thirds of American girls aged 13 to 17 live in states with abortion bans, severe restrictions, or laws that require parents to be involved in order to obtain abortion care.

The finding is from “Implications of Abortion Restrictions for Adolescents,” a new study by Rutgers University published in JAMA Pediatrics. The study is the first to examine the impact of abortion restrictions on adolescent girls since the U.S. Supreme Court revoked the federal constitutional right to abortion.

“Minors are often targeted by restrictive policies and less able to use routes to abortion care common for adults—traveling to another state or using telehealth—leaving them disproportionately impacted,” said Laura Lindberg, a professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and author of the study. “Without access to abortion, these girls have lost the ability to control their lives and their futures.”