U.S. Repro Watch, June 14

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

1. The Center for Reproductive Rights has launched a new map-based digital tool that explores the promise of state courts and constitutions for protecting gender and reproductive equity.

• By providing an overview of the relevant precedent in each state, the tool, “State Constitutions and Sex Discrimination,” looks at each state’s constitutional doctrine on sex discrimination and draws attention to how state courts can secure more robust reproductive autonomy rights.
• This research comes at a critical moment, nearly one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo the federal constitutional liberty right to abortion—and its suggestion that state criminalization of pregnancy care is not a form of sex discrimination or a threat to gender equality.
• Explore the new resource here.

2. New York’s attorney general filed a federal lawsuit against an anti-abortion group for blocking access to abortion clinics.

• New York Attorney General Letitia James said that the anti-abortion group Red Rose Rescue has “made it their mission to terrorize reproductive health care providers and the patients they serve.”
• James argues that the group has repeatedly trespassed and blocked access to abortion clinics in violation of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and the New York State Clinic Access Act.
• The lawsuit, filed June 8, seeks to prohibit members of the anti-abortion group from coming within 30 feet of any reproductive health care facility in New York.

3. Kansas abortion providers, represented by the Center, challenged several burdensome restrictions that make it harder to access abortion care in the state.

• Their lawsuit, filed June 6, seeks to strike down a set of biased counseling requirements that violate the state constitution, specifically the right to abortion and free speech.
• One of the most recently enacted requirements forces providers to falsely tell their patients that a medication abortion can be “reversed,” a false and potentially dangerous claim. That law is set to take effect on July 1.

4. More developments in abortion-related litigation in the states.

• The South Carolina Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments over a new six-week abortion ban, setting arguments for June 27 and keeping the law blocked in the meantime. The Court already struck down another six-week ban earlier this year.
• The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a ballot initiative aimed at enshrining abortion rights into the state’s constitution can proceed as is. Abortion advocates have until July to gather enough signatures to place the measure on the November ballot.
• In Colorado, an anti-abortion protestor is challenging a 30-year-old state law that prohibits anyone from approaching people within 100 feet of a healthcare facility, including abortion clinics. The lawsuit seeks to overturn a U.S. Supreme Court decision from 2000 upholding the same law.

A new analysis, “Training Location Preferences of U.S. Medical School Graduates Post Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Decision,” indicates that doctors are avoiding applying to medical residency programs in states with abortion bans. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges shows that states with abortion bans saw a 10.5% decrease in OB-GYN applicants in 2023 compared to last year. This trend will only worsen the public health crisis in those states.

June 24: One year without Roe.

• June 24 will mark one year since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, unleashing a public health crisis across the U.S. Abortion is now illegal in 13 states and counting.

June 27: South Carolina Supreme Court hearing on the state’s new six-week ban.

• The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. ET on June 27. (See #4 above for more information.)