With Roe Gone, Some House Republicans Back Away From National Abortion Ban

Nearly three dozen House Republicans who supported a federal abortion ban in the last Congress have yet to sign on this year, reflecting a shifting political calculus after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

By Annie Karni
Jan. 12, 2024

In 2021, Representative Michelle Steel, a California Republican whose district President Biden won in 2020, cosponsored the Life at Conception Act, a bill to recognize a fertilized egg as a person with equal protections under the 14th Amendment.

It was a year before the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade. Ms. Steel was one of 166 House Republicans — then roughly three-quarters of the conference — who would ultimately sign on to the legislation, which amounted to a nationwide abortion ban. She did so just weeks after it was introduced.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/12/us/politics/house-republicans-abortion-ban.html

A Year After Dobbs, Advocates Push in the States for a Right to Birth Control

After Justice Clarence Thomas cast doubt on the Supreme Court decision that established a right to contraception, reproductive rights advocates are pressing for new protections at the state level.

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
June 17, 2023

One year after Justice Clarence Thomas said the Supreme Court should reconsider whether the Constitution affords Americans a right to birth control, Democrats and reproductive rights advocates are laying the groundwork for state-by-state battles over access to contraception — an issue they hope to turn against Republicans in 2024.

The justice’s argument in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that overturned Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion, galvanized the reproductive rights movement. House Democrats, joined by eight Republicans, promptly passed legislation that would have created a national right to contraception. Republicans blocked a companion bill in the Senate.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/17/us/politics/birth-control-dobbs-clarence-thomas.html

USA – Kavanaugh drama: high stakes for rivals in abortion debate

Kavanaugh drama: high stakes for rivals in abortion debate

The Associated Press
Updated: September 26, 2018

NEW YORK — Among those riveted by the drama of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination are the rival sides in America’s abortion debate, each convinced that the nationwide right to abortion is at stake.

During his Senate confirmation hearing in early September, Kavanaugh deflected questions about whether he might favour overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established that right in all 50 states. However, anti-abortion activists and abortion-rights supporters — divided on so many matters — share a belief that Kavanaugh would be open to upholding state laws that would weaken Roe by further restricting abortion access.

Continued: https://vancouversun.com/pmn/news-pmn/kavanaugh-drama-high-stakes-for-rivals-in-abortion-debate/wcm/94fdfa23-28a4-4a45-8f19-18aa8af67696