U.S. Repro Watch, July 11

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:

SCOTUS “dawdles” on emergency abortion care.

1. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to say whether hospitals must provide stabilizing abortion care.

• The case involved a challenge by the U.S. Department of Justice to Idaho’s near-total abortion ban, which conflicts with the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act (EMTALA)—a longstanding federal law requiring hospitals to provide “stabilizing treatment,” including emergency abortion care.
• In its decision, released June 27, the Court dismissed the case and reinstated a lower court ruling blocking Idaho’s abortion ban to the extent that it conflicts with EMTALA.
• “Today’s decision is not a victory for pregnant patients in Idaho. It is delay,” wrote Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. “While this court dawdles and the country waits, pregnant people experiencing emergency medical conditions remain in a precarious position, as their doctors are kept in the dark about what the law requires.”
• The Center for Reproductive Rights had submitted an amicus brief on behalf of pregnant patients in the case, Idaho v. United States and Moyle et al. v. United States.

Some states make progress on abortion rights and protections. . .

2. The Kansas Supreme Court reaffirmed the right to abortion under the state constitution.

• The July 5 ruling struck down several abortion restrictions challenged by the Center on behalf of Kansas abortion providers.
• The decision comes more than four years after the Kansas Supreme Court recognized that the state constitution protects the right to abortion—and nearly two years after Kansans voted overwhelmingly to protect that right.

3. Rhode Island’s governor signed into law a shield law protecting abortion providers, patients and helpers from out-of-state legal actions. 

• Types of care covered by the law’s protections include abortion, miscarriage care, assisted reproduction, and gender-affirming care.  
• The new law makes Rhode Island the 18th state to enact shield protections. 

4. A Michigan judge temporarily blocked several burdensome restrictions that would have made it more difficult to access abortion care.

• Among the restrictions blocked June 25 are a forced 24-hour waiting period for patients seeking abortions and a law that severely limits which types of clinicians can provide abortion care.
• The Center is representing the abortion providers and medical students in the case, arguing that the restrictions violate Michigan’s Reproductive Freedom for All constitutional amendment that voters approved in 2022. The amendment is one of the broadest guarantees of reproductive freedom in the nation.

. . . while others continue to restrict access.

5. Iowa Supreme Court allows six-week abortion ban to take effect.

• The June 28 ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court puts Iowa among 18 states that either ban abortion entirely or after six weeks of pregnancy. 
• In a dissent, Chief Justice Susan Christensen said the ruling “strips Iowa women of their bodily autonomy.” 
•  The ban is expected to take effect in the coming weeks.  

6. Tennessee’s law designed to stop young people from leaving the state for abortion care was challenged in court by abortion rights advocates.

• Under the law, which went into effect on July 1, a person could face a misdemeanor or 11 months in jail for taking a young person to get an abortion either within or beyond state lines.

Infant Death Rates Spiked in Texas After Restrictive Abortion Law

According to a new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and published in JAMA Pediatrics, infant mortality rates in Texas rose significantly after the state’s abortion ban (S.B. 8) took effect in 2021. The study is the latest research indicating higher rates of infant mortality in states with restrictive abortion laws. The study reported a 13% increase in infant deaths in 2022 and a 23% increase in infant deaths from fetal abnormalities, even though that rate fell by 3.1 percent for the rest of the country.

The findings come just weeks after the Texas Supreme Court reaffirmed that abortions are not allowed for fetal conditions, even lethal ones—meaning people are being forced to continue doomed pregnancies against their will.

U.S. Maternal Mortality Rate Is the Highest Among Wealthy Countries

The U.S. continues to have the highest rate of maternal deaths of any high-income nation, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund. At 22.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, childbirth is deadlier in the U.S. by multiples when compared to other wealthy countries. For example, maternal mortality rates are 8.4 in Canada, 7.6 in France, 5.5 in the U.K., 3.4 in Japan, 2.6 in Sweden, and 0 in Norway. The rate for Black people was more than double that of whites in the U.S., at 49.5. 

Over 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. are likely preventable, according to the report.

July 23: Hearing on North Dakota Abortion Ban

• The Center challenged the state’s trigger ban on behalf of abortion providers and physicians, arguing that it violates a North Dakota Supreme Court ruling recognizing a fundamental right to abortion in life and health-threatening situations.