Idaho Banned Abortion. Then It Turned Down Supports for Pregnancies and Births.

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, the state’s GOP-led Legislature has disbanded a maternal mortality committee, failed to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage and turned down federal grants for child care.

by Audrey Dutton
Oct. 3, 2023

When the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned Roe v. Wade, it greenlighted the kind of near-universal abortion restrictions that Idaho lawmakers had spent the previous two years crafting. Gov. Brad Little said the state should turn to helping women who might otherwise have terminated pregnancies.

“We absolutely must come together like never before to support women and teens facing unexpected or unwanted pregnancies,” said Little, a Republican who supports the abortion ban.

Continued: https://www.propublica.org/article/idaho-banned-abortion-support-pregnancies-families


Women, doctors announce legal action against abortion bans in 3 states

The women allege they were denied abortions despite dangerous complications.

By Nadine El-Bawab
September 12, 2023

Women in Idaho, Oklahoma and Tennessee filed legal actions against their states over abortion bans, saying they were denied abortions despite having dangerous pregnancy complications.

Four women in Idaho -- Jennifer Adkins, Jillaine St.Michel, Kayla Smith and Rebecca Vincen-Brown -- and abortion providers filed a suit against the state, Gov. Brad Little, attorney general and the state's board of medicine, claiming the state's ban has "sown confusion, fear and chaos among the medical community, resulting in grave harms to pregnant patients whose health and safety hang in the balance across the state," according to a copy of the lawsuit shared with ABC News.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/women-doctors-announce-legal-action-abortion-bans-3/story?id=103055654


Medical professionals describe a world of uncertainty a year after the Roe v. Wade reversal

Jul 23, 2023
Maureen Chowdhury, CNN

It's been over a year since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion nationwide. The opinion was one of the most consequential Supreme Court decisions in decades and paved the way for states to pass laws to limit or ban access to the procedure.

Abortion has already become one of the defining issues of the 2024 campaign and is expected to continue to be a key topic as candidates face questions about whether they support banning the procedure on the local and national level.

Continued: https://www.kcra.com/article/medical-professionals-uncertainty-year-after-roe-v-wade-reversal/44619065#


Meet Republicans’ New Boogeyman: So-Called ‘Abortion Trafficking’

Restrictions on abortion travel are simply meant to stop people from red states from crossing into blue states to access care safely and legally.

By Kylie Cheung
Apr 3, 2023

For years now, Kiki Council, an attorney in Colorado, has helped minors obtain judicial bypass to get abortion care. Council, who works as legal counsel for pro bono initiatives at the Lawyering Project, has often supported teens traveling out-of-state for the health service without parental consent.

“The minors who can’t tell their parents about their choice are in very precarious, vulnerable positions at home,” Council told Jezebel. “They’re experiencing emotional, verbal, or physical abuse. They’re living with parents or guardians who are extremely religious, or have extreme views that make them feel like they can’t safely share that choice with them.”

Continued: https://jezebel.com/meet-republicans-new-boogeyman-so-called-abortion-tr-1850293302


USA – We Are Not Prepared for the Coming Surge of Babies

The post-Roe rise in births in the U.S. will be concentrated in some of the worst states for infant and maternal health. Plans to improve these outcomes are staggeringly thin.

By Melissa Jeltsen
DECEMBER 16, 2022

A typical pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks. Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that created a constitutional right to abortion, was reversed less than six months ago. This means the U.S. is currently at a unique inflection point in the history of reproductive rights: early enough to see the immediate effects of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—closed clinics, a rapidly shifting map of abortion access—but too soon to measure the rise in babies born to mothers who did not wish to have them. Many of these babies will be born in states that already have the worst maternal- and child-health outcomes in the nation. Although the existence of these children is the goal of the anti-abortion movement, America is unprepared to adequately care for them and the people who give birth to them.

Continued: https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/12/abortion-post-roe-rise-in-births-baby-care/672479/


USA – A roundup of controversial red-state actions restricting abortion, LGBTQ rights and more

Compiled by Jon Passantino, CNN
Wed April 6, 2022

(CNN)Republican-led states around the country have enacted a flurry of new restrictions on abortion, LGBTQ and transgender youth rights, and discussion of critical race theory.

Here's a look at some of the legislation that has passed this session, what's next for the bills and what else is under consideration. The wave of activity on the state level comes ahead of a highly anticipated ruling by the US Supreme Court expected later this year that could have major implications for abortion.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/politics/red-states-abortion-lgbtq-critical-race-theory/index.html


USA – While red states restrict abortion, blue states are voting to protect access

March 28, 2022
JACLYN DIAZ

As the country awaits the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, Democrat-led states are proposing laws to shore up abortion rights at the local level.

The effort is in direct response to the organized campaign to make abortion illegal. Dozens of states have enacted laws, or are considering them, to restrict access to abortion as the country awaits the Supreme Court's decision.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2022/03/28/1088238619/legislation-abortion-bans


Are women’s bodies private property? In Idaho, apparently they are

Governor Brad Little signed SB1309, banning all abortions after six weeks’ gestational age – and it is enforced not through state action, but private lawsuits

Moira Donegan, The Guardian
Fri 25 Mar 2022

If there was any doubt that Roe v Wade has been nullified, Idaho’s governor, Brad Little, put an end to it on Wednesday, when he signed SB1309, known officially as the Fetal Heartbeat Preborn Child Protection Act, into law. Like Texas’ SB8, Idaho’s new law bans all abortions after six weeks’ gestational age, in plain violation of Roe. But like SB8, the law may well be able to go into effect as scheduled next month, because it is enforced not through state action, but through private lawsuits.

The supreme court is likely to overturn Roe this summer anyway, in the widely anticipated Dobbs v Jackson ruling. But almost all abortions have been illegal in Texas since September, when the court gave its blessing to SB8’s private enforcement provision and allowed the law to go into effect. Since the court gave the nod to SB8, other Republican-controlled states have rushed to pass copycat bills, eager to outlaw abortion within their borders even before the downfall of Roe in a few months.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/25/idaho-abortion-ban-roe-v-wade


Idaho Governor Calls Abortion Law ‘Unwise’ but Signs It Anyway

The law, modeled after one in Texas, bans abortions after about six weeks and allows some people — including relatives of rapists — to sue abortion providers.

By Mike Baker
March 23, 2022

Gov. Brad Little of Idaho signed a strict new abortion bill into law on Wednesday, even as he expressed grave concerns about the wisdom and constitutionality of the measure and warned that it could retraumatize victims of sexual assault.

Modeled after a new law in Texas, the Idaho legislation bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy — before many women are aware they are pregnant — and allows family members of what it calls “a preborn child” to sue the abortion provider. Mr. Little, a Republican, said the law could conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, which established a constitutional right to abortion.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/us/idaho-abortion-brad-little.html


Idaho copies extreme Texas law and bans abortion after six weeks

Outrage as state becomes first in US to pass ban modelled on Texas law that allows family members to sue abortion providers

Gloria Oladipo
Tue 15 Mar 2022

Idaho has become the first US state to pass an abortion ban modeled after a controversial Texas law that prohibits abortions after about six weeks or when a heartbeat is detected.

The news comes with abortion rights under assault across the US – despite clear majority support for such rights. The conservative-dominated US supreme court is thought likely to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling which established the right, later this year.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/15/idaho-abortion-ban-texas-law-six-weeks