Tag Archives: Abortion Law

Missouri governor calls special session on abortion

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens seen at an industrial site in this undated photo from his social media site made available May 30, 2017. Office of the Missouri Governor/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. MANDATORY CREDIT.

By Chris Kenning

(Reuters) – Missouri’s Republican governor on Wednesday said he will convene a special legislative session next week to consider new abortion regulations and counter a local St. Louis law he said made it an “abortion sanctuary city.”

The session, set to start on Monday, will seek stricter regulations on abortion clinics, including requiring annual inspections and that clinics adopt plans for potential medical complications, Governor Eric Greitens said in a statement.

That came in response to a federal judge’s ruling in April that blocked requirements for clinics to meet standards for surgical centers and for doctors to have hospital privileges.

Greitens said he also wants to target an ordinance approved by St. Louis aldermen in February banning employers and landlords from discriminating against women who have had an abortion, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.

The Missouri legislative session ended in May without approving a proposal to nullify the ordinance, which critics said would force groups that oppose abortion to sanction it and could threaten the work of anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis in late May sued to overturn the ordinance.

“Politicians are trying to make it illegal, for example, for pro-life organizations to say that they just want to hire pro-life Missourians,” Greitens said in a statement.

Allison Dreith, executive director of the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri, denounced the governor’s move.

“Make no mistake about it. The intent behind the governor’s actions is to shame women for their personal medical decisions and make basic reproductive health care harder to access,” she said in a statement.

(Reporting by Chris Kenning; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Delaware House votes to guarantee abortion rights, in stance against Trump

FILE PHOTO -- A woman holds a sign in the rain as abortion rights protestors arrive to prepare for a counter protest against March for Life anti-abortion demonstrators on the 39th anniversary of the Roe vs Wade decision, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, January 23, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoFILE PHOTO -- A woman holds a sign in the rain as abortion rights protestors arrive to prepare for a counter protest against March for Life anti-abortion demonstrators on the 39th anniversary of the Roe vs Wade decision, in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, January 23, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

By Barbara Goldberg

(Reuters) – The Delaware legislature on Tuesday approved a bill that would guarantee abortion access, taking the stance after President Donald Trump pledged to upend the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows the procedure nationally.

Delaware’s legislation aims to codify at the state level the provisions of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that protects a woman’s right to abortion.

Trump, a Republican whose election was backed by anti-abortion groups, has promised to appoint justices to the nation’s top court who would overturn Roe v. Wade and let states decide whether to legalize abortion.

The Delaware state House, after more than five hours of debate and discussion, voted 22 to 16 on Tuesday to approve the measure, according to the website for the state legislature. The measure had already passed in the state Senate.

Both chambers of the Delaware legislature are controlled by Democrats, and Governor John Carney Jr. also is a Democrat.

Passage of the bill through the House positions Delaware to potentially become the first state to guarantee access to abortion since Trump was elected president.

Carney, who has been following debate on the bill, has not yet said if he will sign it into law, his spokeswoman Jessica Borcky said.

“But the governor supports the rights and protections afforded women under Roe v. Wade,” Borcky said.

Abortion opponents lobbied against the legislation, concerned it could turn Delaware into “a late-term abortion haven,” said Delaware Right to Life spokeswoman Moira Sheridan. Her group plans to take its fight to the governor’s office.

“We will exert the same pressure upon Governor Carney, a Catholic, to uphold the sanctity of life for those innocent unborn children whose lives depend upon his vetoing this radical bill,” Sheridan said.

A bill to support abortion rights was approved by the Illinois legislature in May but the state’s Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, has vowed to veto it. In January, New York’s Assembly adopted legislation similar to Delaware’s, but it has stalled in the Senate.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown)

Delaware House set for final vote on abortion rights

By Barbara Goldberg

(Reuters) – The Delaware House of Representatives was poised to vote on Tuesday on a Senate-approved bill that would guarantee abortion access after U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to upend the ruling that legalizes the procedure nationally.

Delaware’s legislation aims to codify at the state level the provisions of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that protects a woman’s right to abortion.

Trump, a Republican whose election was backed by anti-abortion groups, has promised to appoint justices to the nation’s top court who would overturn Roe v. Wade and let states decide whether to legalize abortion.

Both chambers of the Delaware legislature are controlled by Democrats, and Governor John Carney Jr. also is a Democrat.

Passage of the bill through the House could position Delaware to become the first state to guarantee access to abortion since Trump was elected president.

A bill to support abortion rights was approved by the Illinois legislature in May but the state’s Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, has vowed to veto it. In January, New York’s Assembly adopted legislation similar to Delaware’s, but it has stalled in the Senate.

Carney has been following debate on the bill and has not yet said if he will sign it into law, said his spokeswoman Jessica Borcky.

“But the governor supports the rights and protections afforded women under Roe v. Wade,” Borcky said.

If the bill clears the House and is sent to the governor, he must sign or veto it within 10 days, or the measure automatically becomes law.

Abortion opponents lobbied against the legislation, concerned it could turn Delaware into “a late-term abortion haven,” said Delaware Right to Life spokeswoman Moira Sheridan. If it passes, the group will take its fight to the governor’s office, she said.

“We will exert the same pressure upon Governor Carney, a Catholic, to uphold the sanctity of life for those innocent unborn children whose lives depend upon his vetoing this radical bill,” Sheridan said.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Delaware legislature moves to guarantee abortion access in Trump era

An exam room at the Planned Parenthood South Austin Health Center is shown following the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down a Texas law imposing strict regulations on abortion doctors and facilities in Austin, Texas, U.S. June 27, 2016. REUTERS/Ilana Panich-Linsman

By Barbara Goldberg

(Reuters) – The Delaware state Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would keep abortion legal in the state if a future U.S. Supreme Court shaped by President Donald Trump overturns the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized it nationally.

The measure was approved by a vote of 11-7 but needs to be passed by the House and signed by Democratic Governor John Carney Jr. to take effect.

Democrats control both houses of the Delaware legislature but are facing a June 30 end to this year’s session.

Carney “supports the rights and protections afforded women under Roe v. Wade” but has not yet said whether he will sign the bill into law, said his spokeswoman Jessica Borcky.

Trump has promised to appoint justices to the nation’s top court, including recent appointee Neil Gorsuch, who would overturn the Roe v. Wade ruling and leave it up to the individual states to decide whether to legalize abortion. Trump received strong support from anti-abortion groups in the election campaign.

Delaware is one of 11 states with a pre-Roe abortion ban still on the books, according to the Guttmacher Institute which tracks reproductive policy.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion would be almost immediately illegal in four states – Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota, according to Guttmacher and the Center for Reproductive Rights. In the other 46 states, abortion would remain legal but in at least 10 states – including Delaware – it could become illegal with a step as simple and swift as a state attorney general’s opinion, Guttmacher said.

“There wasn’t a sense of urgency until President Trump got elected,” said Kathleen MacRae, executive director of the ACLU of Delaware. The ACLU and Planned Parenthood of Delaware formed the “She Decides Delaware” campaign to lobby for legislation to keep abortion legal.

“We don’t want to leave the women of Delaware in a vulnerable position,” MacRae said. “It’s up to the woman and the family to decide when she would like to become a parent.”

Momentum for the bill grew in April when a coalition of state religious leaders including Jewish, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and Unitarian clergy publicly declared “acceptance” of abortion in a show of support for Planned Parenthood. The state’s Catholic leader, Bishop Francis Malooly of the Diocese of Wilmington, immediately denounced the statement.

MINIMALIST DESIGN

The bill itself has a minimalist design. It aims to keep the provisions of Roe v. Wade rather than repeal the 1953 state ban.

“This bill simply seeks to codify the framework in place for a very long time – that a woman has a right to choose,” Senator Bryan Townsend, a Democrat who is the bill’s sponsor, told colleagues before the vote.

“It’s a decision that belongs with the woman, her doctor and her family,” said Senator Stephanie Hansen, a Democrat and bill co-sponsor.

Opponents denounced the move. “Any civilized society restricts an individual’s right to choose when it would affect an innocent person. I can think of no more innocent person than an unborn child,” said Senator Bryant Richardson, a Republican.

“You can codify abortion all you want but you are still codifying the murder of an unborn child,” said Delaware Right to Life spokeswoman Moira Sheridan.

Under the 1950s’ Delaware ban, terminating a pregnancy is a felony for the provider and a misdemeanor for the woman, except when it is deemed a “therapeutic abortion” in either case.

Dr. Larry Glazerman, medical director at Planned Parenthood Delaware, said he is confident the bill is enough to protect him and other doctors who provide abortion from prosecution.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Iowa Supreme Court blocks portion of 20-week abortion ban

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad testifies before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to China at Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., U.S. on May 2, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

By Timothy Mclaughlin

(Reuters) – The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday granted an emergency temporary injunction halting a portion of a 20-week abortion ban that was signed into law by Republican Governor Terry Branstad just hours earlier.

The law, passed by Iowa’s Republican-controlled House and Senate last month, bans abortions once a pregnancy reaches 20 weeks and stipulates a three-day waiting period before women can undergo any abortion.

The law does not make exceptions for instances of rape or incest but does allow for abortions if the mother’s life or health is at risk.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood, a group that provides family planning services, including abortions, challenged the waiting-period part of the legislation in court as well as the requirement for an additional clinical visit women must make before an abortion.

The state Supreme Court on Friday issued the injunction after it was denied Thursday by a district judge.

“We are pleased that the court granted the temporary injunction, ruling on the side of Iowa women who need access to, and have a constitutional right, to safe, legal abortion,” Suzanna de Baca, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said in a statement.

The state will have an opportunity to respond to the court’s decision on Monday.

“This is all part of the process and we’re confident that the stay will be lifted very shortly,” said Ben Hammes, a spokesman for the Republican governor.

Women in the United States have the right under the Constitution to end a pregnancy, but abortion opponents have pushed for tougher regulations, particularly in conservative states.

There are 24 states that impose prohibitions on abortions after a certain number of weeks, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive policy.

Seventeen of these states ban abortion at about 20 weeks and after.

Iowa’s law, Hammes said after the signing, marked a “return to a culture that once again respects human life.”

In Tennessee, a bill similar to the Iowa measure was sent to the desk of that state’s Republican governor on Wednesday to possibly be signed into law.

(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Tennessee, Iowa close to banning abortions after 20 weeks

ultrasound machine

By Tim Ghianni

NASHVILLE, Tenn (Reuters) – Two U.S. states drew closer on Wednesday to legislating tougher restrictions on abortion with both Iowa and Tennessee seeking governors’ signatures that would ban the procedure after 20 weeks.

Women in the United States have the right under the Constitution to end a pregnancy, but abortion opponents have pushed for tougher regulations, particularly in conservative states.

A Tennessee bill banning abortions after 20 weeks was sent to the desk of Governor Bill Haslam after it was passed by the state’s Republican-controlled House on Wednesday.

Haslam, a Republican, has not made a decision on whether he will sign the measure into law and will discuss the bill with the state’s attorney general, his spokeswoman Jennifer Donnals said.

Attorney General Herbert Slatery could not be reached for comment.

Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, also a Republican, said he would sign on Friday a 20-week abortion ban. The bill was passed by the Republican-controlled House and Senate last month.

There are 24 states that impose prohibitions on abortions after a certain number of weeks, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive policy.

Seventeen of these states ban abortion at about 20 weeks.

The Tennessee bill would require women to undergo a test of viability and gestational age before a doctor performed an abortion. Doctors who violate the law could face felony charges. The bill does not make exceptions for rape or incest. It does allow for abortions if the mother’s life or health is at risk.

“We’ve made significant progress as a legislative body in recent years to give a voice to the unborn,” Republican representative Matthew Hill said in a statement.

Iowa’s bill bans abortions once a pregnancy reaches 20 weeks and stipulates a three-day waiting period before a woman can undergo any abortion. It does not make exceptions for instances of rape or incest. It does allow for abortions if the mother’s life or health is at risk.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, a group that provides family planning services, including abortions, filed a lawsuit challenging Iowa’s waiting period.

“The governor, lieutenant governor and Iowa legislators have waged an outright war on women’s access to safe and legal abortions,” said Suzanna de Baca, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.

(Additional reporting and writing by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; editing by Grant McCool)

Trump signs resolution allowing U.S. states to block family planning funds

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington, U.S., before traveling to Palm Beach, Florida for the Good Friday holiday/Easter weekend, April 13, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

By Lisa Lambert

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a resolution that will allow U.S. states to restrict how federal funds for contraception and reproductive health are spent, a move cheered by anti-abortion campaigners.

“This is a major pro-life victory,” said the most powerful Republican in the House of Representatives, Speaker Paul Ryan, adding that a regulation enacted under Democratic former President Barack Obama had forced states to fund Planned Parenthood, a national non-profit that provides contraception, health screenings, and abortions.

Under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to repeal newly minted rules, both the House and Senate had passed a resolution killing Obama’s regulation that had protected federal grants for clinics in states wanting to block the funding.

States such as Texas in recent years have kept the grants from going to clinics as part of the country’s longstanding fight over abortion. Broadly, many Republicans seek to restrict abortion or make it illegal while Democrats have fought to keep abortion legal.

The resolution had narrowly passed the U.S. Congress, with Vice President Mike Pence called to the Senate on March 30 to break a tie vote in the chamber, where Republicans hold a slim majority. The federal government can never again create a “substantially similar” regulation under the review law.

The grants, known as “Title X” funds, were already barred from going directly to abortion services but under the now-null regulation Planned Parenthood clinics were assured they could receive money even in the face of state objections.

“Allowing states to withhold Title X funding from family planning clinics won’t make anyone safer or healthier – it will instead place essential services out of reach,” said Diane Horvath-Cosper, a medical doctor and fellow at Physicians for Reproductive Health, adding that for many people the clinics are the only place where they can receive affordable health services such as disease testing.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Abortion rights activists rally at Texas Capitol against restrictions

Claire Contreras, 30, reacts as she listens to Former State Senator Wendy Davis speak during a Planned Parenthood rally outside the State Capitol in Austin, Texas, U.S., April 5, 2017. REUTERS/Ilana Panich-Linsman

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Hundreds of abortion rights activists rallied at the Texas Capitol on Wednesday, saying a raft of proposed legislation placing restrictions on the procedure in the most populous Republican-controlled state would endanger millions of women.

Lawmakers in Texas, which vaulted to the forefront of the national abortion debate when the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 struck down a previous set of the state’s restrictions, are looking in the current session to pass bills that include a ban on a common form of second-trimester abortions.

Last month, the Texas Senate also approved a so-called wrongful birth bill. The measure shields doctors from lawsuits if they withhold information about potential fetal abnormalities if they believe the information may prompt the parents to seek an abortion. Supporters say the measure protects the sanctity of life.

Former Texas state Senator Wendy Davis, a Democrat who gained fame for her 2013 filibuster against the state’s abortion restrictions, told the rally that social conservatives have been emboldened by the election of Republican Donald Trump as president and “hell-bent” on holding women back.

“Now, we are facing the worst political attacks on women’s health in a generation,” she said on the Capitol steps in front of supporters holding pink signs reading “Don’t take away our care.”

Other proposed restrictions include a bill to halt insurance coverage for abortions and make women pay a separate premium if they wanted coverage. The bill won initial approval in the state Senate last month.

Supporters said the measure allows those who oppose abortion to prevent their money from subsidizing the procedure while critics said it would hurt poorer women who could not afford the coverage.

“Texas is one of the most active states in the current legislative session in terms of abortion restrictions,” said Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues associate for the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights group.

The Texas legislature meets once every two years and with the current session set to finish at the end of May, analysts are unsure how many of the restrictions might be enacted by the Republican-dominated body, where attention is now focused on passing a two-year budget.

Many at the rally were critical of the plans of national and state Republican leaders including calls to defund Planned Parenthood.

A U.S. judge in Austin issued a preliminary injunction in February halting Texas’ plan to cut Medicaid funding, saying the state did not present evidence of a program violation that would warrant termination.

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)

U.S. judge blocks Texas plan to cut Planned Parenthood Medicaid funds

FILE PHOTO - Planned Parenthood South Austin Health Center is seen in Austin, Texas, U.S. on June 27, 2016. REUTERS/Ilana Panich-Linsman/File Photo

By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A U.S. judge in Austin issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday halting Texas’ plan to cut Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, saying the state did not present evidence of a program violation that would warrant termination.

U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said state health officials “likely acted to disenroll qualified health care providers from Medicaid without cause.” He said the preliminary injunction will preserve the court’s ability to render a meaningful decision on the case’s merits.

“Such action would deprive Medicaid patients of their statutory right to obtain health care from their chosen qualified provider,” wrote the judge who was appointed by Republican former President George H.W. Bush.

The reproductive healthcare group has said the threatened funding cut, by terminating Planned Parenthood’s enrollment in the state-funded healthcare system for the poor, could affect nearly 11,000 patients across Texas as they try to access services such as HIV and cancer screenings.

Texas and several other Republican-controlled states have pushed to cut the organization’s funding since an anti-abortion group released videos it said showed Planned Parenthood officials negotiating prices for fetal tissue collected from abortions.

Texas investigated Planned Parenthood over the videos and a grand jury last January cleared it of any wrongdoing. The grand jury indicted two anti-abortion activists who made the videos for document fraud but the charges were dismissed.

The state took no further criminal action against Planned Parenthood after that but has repeated its accusations that the abortion provider may have violated state law.

Planned Parenthood has denied any wrongdoing and sued the anti-abortion activists who made the videos.

Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said his office would appeal.

“Today’s decision is disappointing and flies in the face of basic human decency,” he said in a statement.

In fiscal 2015, Planned Parenthood affiliates across Texas received about $4.2 million in Medicaid funding, the state’s Health and Human Services Commission said. Planned Parenthood said the amount for 2016 was estimated at around $3 million.

None of the money that the group received went for abortions, plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Texas and the Medicaid defunding plan have said.

Planned Parenthood has 34 health centers in Texas, serving more than 120,000 patients, 11,000 of whom are Medicaid patients, it said.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Grant McCool and James Dalgleish)

Eight countries sign up to counter Trump’s global anti-abortion move

Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Eight countries have joined an initiative to raise millions of dollars to replace shortfalls caused by President Donald Trump’s ban on U.S.-funded groups around the world providing information on abortion, Sweden’s deputy prime minister said.

Isabella Lovin told Reuters a conference would be held on March 2 in Brussels to kick-start the funding initiative to help non-governmental organizations whose family planning projects could be affected.

The Netherlands announced in January the launch of a global fund to help women access abortion services, saying Trump’s “global gag rule” would cause a funding shortfall of $600 million over the next four years.

Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Luxemburg, Finland, Canada and Cape Verde have all lent their support, Lovin said.

“(The gag order) could be so dangerous for so many women,” said Lovin who posed for a photograph this month with seven other female officials signing an environmental bill, in what was seen a response to a photograph of Trump signing the gag order in the White House with five male advisors.

The global gag rule, which affects U.S. non-governmental organizations working abroad, is one that incoming presidents have used to signal their positions on abortion rights. It was created under U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Trump signed it at a ceremony in the White House on his fourth day in office. Barack Obama lifted the gag rule in 2009 when he took office.

“If women don’t have control over their bodies and their own fate it can have very serious consequences for global goals of gender rights and global poverty eradication,” Lovin said.

(Reporting by Alistair Scrutton; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)