U.S. Repro Watch, August 9

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

1. A ruling in Zurawski v. State of Texas allowing abortions for severe pregnancy complications and fatal fetal diagnoses has been blocked while appeals proceed.

• Texas immediately appealed an August 4 ruling by Judge Jessica Mangrum that clarified the state’s abortion bans’ medical exception. Judge Mangrum’s ruling allowed physicians to use their “good faith judgment,” in consultation with their pregnant patients, to determine when they need an abortion to preserve their health or their life. The ruling also found S.B. 8, Texas’s vigilante abortion ban, unconstitutional.
• The state’s appeal to the Texas Supreme Court puts the injunction on hold while appeals proceed.
• Zurawski v. State of Texas was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of 13 Texas women denied abortions and two obstetrician gynecologists.

2. Ohio voters rejected a proposal that would have made it more difficult to protect abortion rights.

• Voters weighed in Aug. 8 on the controversial measure, which would have required constitutional amendments to pass with at least 60% of votes instead of a simple majority. The proposal’s resounding defeat means the simple majority threshold will remain in place.
• The measure went to voters just three months before a proposal to protect abortion rights will appear on the ballot. Two anti-abortion advocates, including a former state representative, have filed a lawsuit asking the Ohio Supreme Court to stop the ballot measure from going to voters in November.

3. Abortion rights advocates sued Alabama to prevent the prosecution of people facilitating out-of-state travel for abortion care.

• Healthcare providers and an abortion group filed two separate federal lawsuits July 31 arguing that such prosecutions would violate the U.S. Constitution, including the right to travel between states.
• State Attorney General Steve Marshall previously threatened healthcare providers with criminal charges for helping Alabamians travel across state lines to access abortion care. This threat has prevented advocates from providing critical information and resources to help patients get out-of-state abortions.

4. More abortion-related updates in the states:

• In Idaho, a federal judge blocked the state Attorney General Raúl Labrador from prosecuting doctors who refer patients out of state for an abortion. Earlier this year, Labrador interpreted the state’s total ban to allow such charges, but the court ruled that the guidance would violate healthcare providers’ right to free speech.
• In Indiana, abortion providers asked the state Supreme Court to pause its order allowing a total ban to take effect while they ask a lower court to block part of the ban. Meanwhile, Indiana’s six abortion clinics stopped providing abortions last week.
• A Kansas state court heard arguments Aug. 8 on whether to block several burdensome restrictions that make it harder to access abortion care. Abortion providers, represented by the Center, argue that the requirements violate the state constitution, including the rights to abortion and free speech.

5. A federal court reinstated a law that will make it more difficult to access abortion care in Guam.

• The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a law Aug. 1 that forces patients to meet with a doctor in person before they are able to obtain an abortion, including medication abortion, that had been available via telemedicine. The law, which has been blocked since 2021, takes effect at the end of August.
• Abortion care is already difficult to access in the U.S. territory, where the last remaining abortion provider retired in 2018. Two Hawaii-based doctors have been providing abortion care via telemedicine to those living in Guam.
• If Guam residents lose access to telehealth abortion care entirely, they will be forced to travel 4,000 miles each way to Hawaii to obtain these services.

The March of Dimes’ new report “Nowhere to Go: Maternity Care Deserts Across the U.S.” found that the number of counties without a hospital or birth center offering obstetric care is on the rise. According to the report, areas where there is low or no access affect up to 6.9 million women and almost 500,000 births across the U.S.

Many of the states that have expansive maternity care deserts are also ones that now restrict abortion. In Texas and Idaho, where abortion is illegal, about 46% and 30% of each state, respectively, are considered maternity care deserts. Idaho alone saw several labor and delivery units close this year, including one hospital that pointed to the state’s total abortion ban as a reason for the shutdown in obstetrical services.

Check out the report’s “maternity care desert map” here.