Are Blue States Ready To Relax Their Bans On Later Abortions?

By Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
JAN. 30, 2023

You hear people say the term “third rail” all the time in politics, usually in reference to an issue that is too volatile — too charged — to touch. For decades, abortion later in pregnancy has been one of those issues. As recently as four years ago, a proposal to loosen restrictions on third-trimester abortions went down in flames in Virginia after Republicans accused Democratic lawmakers of advocating for infanticide — an attack that was misleading but effective.

But the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, has changed the current running through the abortion debate. And now Democratic legislators may have new opportunities to try and expand abortion rights — including abortions in the late second and early third trimester of pregnancy.

Continued: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/are-blue-states-ready-to-relax-their-bans-on-later-abortions/

USA – 2019 Was a Banner Year for Abortion Laws—and Not the Kind You Think

2019 Was a Banner Year for Abortion Laws—and Not the Kind You Think
Anti-abortion legislation got the headlines, but there was an even bigger surge in state-level abortion protections.

December 22, 2019
Jessica Washington

This year will be remembered for an unprecedented red-state assault on reproductive rights. From a wave of early-term abortion bans in the South and Midwest to a host of policies aimed at preventing providers from having open conversations with patients about abortion, conservative state legislators have done everything in their power to limit the right to abortion. But out of the headlines, 2019 was actually a banner year for abortion protections, as progressives in blue states started to fight back and win major legislative battles to protect the rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade. In 2019, more legislation was passed by Democratic statehouses to protect the right to abortion than in the entire previous decade.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/12/2019-was-a-banner-year-for-abortion-laws-and-not-the-kind-you-think/

USA – States Lead the Way in Promoting Coverage of Abortion in Medicaid and Private Insurance

States Lead the Way in Promoting Coverage of Abortion in Medicaid and Private Insurance

Adam Sonfield, Guttmacher Institute
Elizabeth Nash, Guttmacher Institute
First published online: June 24, 2019

Advocates and policymakers working to ensure that everyone can afford an abortion scored a number of important victories within just a few days of each other: On June 13, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed a law expanding abortion coverage in private insurance and Medicaid. Just one day earlier, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker had signed a law expanding private insurance coverage of abortion as part of a broader abortion rights law. The same week, New York City allocated $250,000 to a nonprofit abortion fund to directly assist patients, including patients traveling from other states.

This burst of action builds on a nationwide push to overturn the Hyde Amendment, which currently bans abortion coverage under Medicaid and other federal health coverage programs. Expanding coverage will help people overcome one substantial barrier to abortion—the cost of abortion services—and will be particularly important for people with low incomes, people of color and people with disabilities.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/06/states-lead-way-promoting-coverage-abortion-medicaid-and-private-insurance