U.S. Repro Watch, May 2

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. Arizona lawmakers voted to repeal the state’s 1864 near-total abortion ban—but the state’s 15-week ban remains.

• While Gov. Katie Hobbs is expected to soon sign the bill, the repeal of the Civil War-era law won’t take effect until 90 days after the end of the Arizona legislative session this summer.
• Once the repeal kicks in, Arizona’s 15-week ban will once again be the abortion law in the state.

2. Florida’s six-week abortion ban took effect May 1, further expanding the South’s vast abortion desert.

• The Florida Supreme Court’s April 1 ruling cleared the way for the six-week abortion ban to take effect.
• Floridians will have the chance to get this right back in November, when they’ll vote on a ballot measure to protect abortion rights in the state constitution.
• For now, the ban closes the door on the last major abortion access state in the U.S. South.

3. HIPAA is being updated to protect the medical records of abortion patients.

• The update to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA’s) privacy rule will prevent law enforcement from obtaining a patient’s reproductive health records—including data on pregnancy, abortion, and contraception—from their doctors.
• The new rule—which takes effect June 25—is designed to protect people in states where abortion is banned from prosecution, especially those who travel to another state to get abortion care.
• The Center submitted a comment on the Privacy Rule when changes were proposed.

4. A new federal rule entitles employees to unpaid time off for pregnancy-related reasons, including abortion.

• The final rule and guidance to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) entitles workers to a range of pregnancy related accommodations—including time off for childbirth, abortion, miscarriage, and fertility treatments.
• The rule—which takes effect June 18—also includes pregnancy accommodations like temporary exemptions from lifting duties and considerations for managing morning sickness.

5. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that will determine whether hospital emergency rooms are obligated to stabilize pregnant people who need an abortion.

• In the April 24 hearing in Idaho v. United States and Moyle et al. v. United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that Idaho’s near-total abortion ban violates the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)—a federal law requiring hospital emergency departments to stabilize patients, which in some cases may require abortion care.
• The Center had submitted an amicus brief in the case in support of the DOJ.
• An audio replay and transcript of the arguments are available on the Supreme Court’s website.

Lengthy travel times are putting abortion care out of reach for people across the U.S.—particularly for those who are already marginalized—according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP). Using data from the Abortion Access Dashboard, CAP’s analysis includes an interactive map showing the average travel time to the nearest abortion clinic from any congressional district in the contiguous U.S.

States that ban abortion—such as Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi—have some of the longest average travel times in the country, according to the map.

The CAP analysis did not, however, address people further along in pregnancy who would need to travel much greater distances to reach states with later gestational limits.