How Hobby Lobby Could Be Trump’s Reproductive Rights Wrecking Ball

The 2014 Supreme Court ruling is even more consequential as we stare down the possibility of Trump’s reelection—and a revival of the Comstock Act.

Susan Rinkunas
March 25, 2024

When Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion in Hobby Lobby v. Burwell 10 years ago, he provided answers to questions that no one had asked—at least, officially. The plaintiffs, two businesses owned by Christians, objected to a mandate in the Affordable Care Act requiring health insurance providers to cover types of birth control known as emergency contraception, or E.C. Colloquially known as the “morning-after pill,” E.C. works after sex to prevent pregnancy by blocking sperm from fertilizing an egg or by preventing the release of an egg in the first place. But anti-abortion activists believe that morning-after pills and IUDs prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus, which they say is tantamount to an abortion.

Continued: https://newrepublic.com/article/179622/hobby-lobby-comstock-alito-contraception


‘The justices were kidding themselves’: Supreme Court takes up abortion after saying lawmakers should decide

The court is expected to rule by Wednesday on whether to allow an earlier decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to take effect, sharply limiting access to a commonly used abortion pill nationwide.

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
04/18/2023

Abortion is back before the Supreme Court just 10 months after conservative justices said they were washing their hands of the issue.

The court is expected to rule by Wednesday on whether to allow an earlier decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to take effect, sharply limiting access to a commonly used abortion pill nationwide. The lower court ruling, which the Biden administration wants paused while the legal battle plays out, would prohibit telemedicine prescriptions, mail delivery and retail pharmacy dispensing of the drug.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/18/supreme-court-abortion-pill-00092529


Some major pharmacies are planning to dispense abortion pills, but not in every state

By Jacqueline Howard, CNN
Thu January 5, 2023

After a change to US Food and Drug Administration rules, major pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens say they plan to seek certification to distribute abortion pills where legally allowed.

The FDA said on its website Tuesday that pharmacies that become certified to dispense mifepristone, which may be used in a medication abortion, can do so directly to someone who has a prescription from a certified prescriber.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/04/health/fda-abortion-pills-pharmacies-xpn/index.html


The nightmarish reality of the GOP’s hope for a total abortion ban

Would Republicans really pursue a national abortion ban? Many advocates for abortion rights believe so.

July 4, 2022
By Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

The Supreme Court’s elimination of the constitutional right to an abortion in America marked the shocking fulfillment of a decadeslong lobbying effort by the American anti-abortion movement and the GOP agenda to radicalize the court to the point where it would overturn what appeared to be settled legal rights. But just hours after the decision came out, top Republicans already had their eye on something else.

Until very recently, the possibility that millions of women around the country would lose their abortion rights seemed remote. Now we’re looking at the nontrivial possibility that Republicans attempt legislation stripping them from the whole country.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/national-abortion-ban-could-be-next-republicans-list-n1296696


USA – A so-called victory shows how the Supreme Court will kill ‘Roe v. Wade’

A so-called victory shows how the Supreme Court will kill ‘Roe v. Wade’

By Leah Litman
February 8 2019

The Supreme Court gave reproductive justice advocates an unexpected win on Thursday night when it voted 5 to 4 to stay a court of appeals’ decision that could have closed abortion clinics in Louisiana. The chief justice joined the four more liberal justices in voting to prevent the Louisiana law from going into effect. That small achievement underscores how much progressives stand to lose with the new court and how low our standards for victory have become.

At issue in June Medical Services v. Gee is a Louisiana law that requires abortion providers to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where the providers perform abortions. Just two and a half years ago, the Supreme Court held that very same requirement unconstitutional when Texas enacted it.

Continued; https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-so-called-victory-shows-how-the-supreme-court-will-kill-roe-v-wade/2019/02/08/9229852a-2bd3-11e9-b2fc-721718903bfc_story.html