U.S. Repro Watch, August 8

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.

Some progress in defending and advancing reproductive rights and health . . .

1. Utah’s abortion ban remains blocked after state supreme court ruling.

• On August 1, the court agreed with a 2022 lower court decision that temporarily blocked the total ban.
• The ban will remain blocked until a lower court can assess its constitutionality. Abortion is currently available up to 18 weeks of pregnancy in Utah.

2. Native Hawaiian midwives can resume providing pregnancy and birth care in their communities after a state court blocked part of the state’s midwifery restriction law.

• The July 23 ruling came in Kahoʻohanohano v. State of Hawaiʻi, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners. Filed on behalf of Native Hawaiian midwives and others, the lawsuit challenges a state law that prevented pregnant people in Hawai‘i from using midwives trained through traditional and apprentice-based pathways.
• Thanks to the ruling, “we are once again able to stand in our own ancestral knowledge and serve our community with skills and traditions passed down through generations,” said Makalani Franco-Francis, a plaintiff in the case.
• Pregnant people in Hawai‘i are already facing a shortage of care in their communities—and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander people have the highest pregnancy-related mortality ratio (PMR) among all women of all races nationwide.

3. A federal appeals court rejected a bid by anti-abortion states to restrict access to an abortion drug.

• The Ninth Circuit unanimously ruled on July 24 that seven states—Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and Utah—do not have legal standing to seek restrictions on mifepristone.
• The move comes a month after the U.S. Supreme Court similarly ruled that anti-abortion advocates do not have the right to sue the FDA over mifepristone’s approval and distribution.

4. In other abortion-related state news:

• A federal judge in North Carolina struck down part of the state’s 12-week ban that required doctors to document the location of a pregnancy in the uterus before prescribing medication abortion. At the same time, the judge upheld another provision requiring abortions after 12 weeks to be performed in hospitals.
• An Arizona judge rejected biased language proposed by anti-abortion lawmakers to describe a ballot measure to protect abortion rights.

. . . but setbacks continue.

5. Iowa’s six-week abortion ban took effect.

• After the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in June the ban was constitutional, it took effect July 29.
• The ban makes Iowa one of 18 states that either ban abortion entirely or after six weeks of pregnancy.

6. Texas state officials sued the Biden Administration to limit teens’ access to birth control.

• Texas attorney general Ken Paxton sued over a longstanding federal program that provides teenagers access to contraception without parental consent. According to a 2021 rule, Title X providers can’t require parental consent for their services.
• In conflict with the rule, Texas requires Title X-funded clinics to mandate parental consent before granting teens birth control.
• Project Vida, a Title X provider in El Paso, said it saw a 50% drop in teens making appointments for contraception after Texas began requiring parental consent.

7. Florida’s new abortion ban is forcing far more Floridians to travel out of state for abortion care.

• Since Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect May 1, the number of Floridians needing support to travel out of state increased by 575% compared to the same time last year.
• The new data is from the National Abortion Hotline, which assists people seeking abortions.
• This November, Florida voters will weigh in on the state’s citizen-led ballot initiative, which would create a constitutional amendment to protect Floridians’ freedom to access abortion.

Where a woman lives matters to her health.

U.S. states vary widely in access to care, quality of care, and health outcomes for women, according to the Commonwealth Fund’s new 2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care. The report ranks states based on 32 measures of health care access, quality, and health outcomes.

Its five lowest-ranked states overall are Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Arkansas—four of which have complete abortion bans—and its highest are Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, where abortion is legal.

Overall, U.S. women’s life expectancy is at its lowest since 2006, and mortality rates are even more dire for women of color, according to the report. It found that deaths among women of reproductive age were highest in the southeastern states—a region that has become an abortion desert—with the highest rates of maternal mortality occurring in the Mississippi Delta region. Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana, all of which ban abortion, show the highest maternal death rates.

August 14: Hearing on Kansas abortion restrictions

• A state appeals court will hear arguments over multiple burdensome restrictions that make it harder to access abortion care.
• The Center is arguing on behalf of abortion providers that the requirements violate the state constitution, including the rights to abortion and free speech.
• The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. CT / 11 a.m. ET.

August 16: Hearing on Montana regulations targeting abortion providers

• Abortion providers, represented by the Center, are challenging a set of medically unnecessary requirements for abortion clinics, arguing that they single out abortion clinics with regulations that don’t apply to other healthcare facilities.