U.S. Repro Watch: Three Updates You Won’t Want to Miss, 05.06.25

U.S. Repro Watch provides periodic updates of news of interest on U.S. reproductive rights. Here are three recent updates you won’t want to miss.

1. A top DOJ official said that a longstanding law created to protect abortion clinics from violent protestors will now be used to target pro-abortion advocates.

• The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act was passed in 1994 in direct response to extreme acts of violence against abortion providers and clinic staff, including the murder of Dr. David Gunn.
• Harmeet Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the Department of Justice (DOJ), said in a recent interview that the agency will be enforcing the FACE Act—but not against violent anti-abortion activists. Instead, DOJ will be going after pro-choice advocates.
• Dhillon’s statement comes after President Trump pardoned 23 people convicted under the FACE Act for harassing and attacking abortion patients and clinics and DOJ’s announcement that it would stop enforcing the FACE Act against people who attack abortion clinics. Read more about the Trump administration’s actions on the FACE Act.

2. The U.S. maternal mortality rate inched up in 2024.

• The maternal mortality rate reached 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024, up slightly over 2023’s rate of 18.6, according to data released April 30 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• Experts attribute the uptick to several factors, including the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the federal right to abortion and the subsequent closure of rural hospitals. These developments have made many providers feel constrained in providing care during pregnancy-related medical emergencies, worsening maternal health outcomes.
• Black women continue to experience maternal deaths at a significantly higher rate than white women. In 2024, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 49.1, compared to 14.7 for white women.

3. Wyoming’s only full-service abortion clinic can begin providing care again as its case proceeds in court.

• A Wyoming judge temporarily blocked two state abortion restrictions, allowing care at the state’s only full-service abortion clinic to resume while legal challenges proceed.
• The suspended laws imposed burdensome, medically unnecessary requirements on patients and providers, such as ultrasound requirements for medication abortions.

Living in an abortion ban state could double your risk of pregnancy-related death, according to a new study from the Gender Equity Policy Institute.

In states with abortion bans, pregnant people are nearly twice as likely to die during or shortly after pregnancy compared to those in states where abortion is protected. For example, Texas—the largest and most populous state to ban abortion—experienced a 56% increase in pregnancy-related deaths in 2022 alone. Black women in “ban states” are 3.3 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women in the same states.

“Mothers in banned states [are] more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after giving birth.”

Gender Equity Policy Institute

Wednesday, May 7: Center for Reproductive Rights Action Call—“What Trump’s Second Term Means for Reproductive Rights”

• Join the Center for an “Action Call” this Wednesday, May 7 at 2:00 p.m. ET/11:00 a.m. PT to hear from Center experts about the Trump administration’s first 100 days, its impact on reproductive rights, and what the Center is doing to fight back.
• Watch the replay here.