Biden hopes abortion will keep him in the White House. But has he done enough to protect rights?

The president has made big promises and held the line against legal challenges, but activists say he could be doing more

Carter Sherman
Fri 26 Jan 2024

Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has made a big bet that outrage over abortion will keep the president in the White House come November.

Over the last several days, the Biden administration has unleashed a blitz of ads and events to spotlight the devastation wrought by the overturning of Roe v Wade. Biden met with a reproductive health task force, while his vice-president, Kamala Harris – who he has entrusted to lead this effort – embarked on a national tour to talk about abortion. They even devoted their first joint campaign stop of 2024 to the issue.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/26/biden-abortion-rights-expand-protections


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


Title X advocates worry that birth control may go the same way as abortion

August 16, 2022
BEN PAVIOUR

When the Supreme Court issued its ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion that the court "should reconsider" its past rulings related to contraception.

Thomas' words highlighted a new battle over reproductive rights in the U.S., advocacy groups say. Republican lawmakers in some states have pushed for new restrictions on contraceptive access, and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation last month to protect the right to contraception.

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/16/1117615628/abortion-birth-control-title-x-supreme-court-family-planning-planned-parenthood


Black Women Activists Warn Democrats After Abortion Failure: ‘Don’t Count on Our Votes’

Reproductive rights advocates of color wrote a scathing letter to Congress after it failed to end a federal ban on abortion coverage.

By Kylie Cheung
March 10, 2022

For the time being, reproductive rights advocates’ long-time dream of ending the Hyde Amendment, a half-century-old budget rider that prohibits federal funding of most abortions, is dead in Congress, despite President Joe Biden’s campaign promise to get rid of it.

Since Hyde disproportionately affects pregnant people of color, and particularly Black and Indigenous people, Black reproductive justice advocates have responded to the failure with a resounding warning to Democratic members: “Defend Black women’s rights or don’t count on our votes.”

Continued: https://jezebel.com/black-women-activists-warn-democrats-after-abortion-fai-1848635664


Biden rolls back Trump’s anti-abortion curbs on family planning funds

The proposed overhaul erases restrictions on abortion providers that Democrats derided as a "gag rule."

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
04/14/2021

The Biden administration on Wednesday moved
to unwind former President Donald Trump’s anti-abortion restrictions on federal
family planning funds.

New rules proposed Wednesday would largely return the Title X program to its
pre-Trump formation, allowing more abortion clinics to participate in a program
that provides free or subsidized contraception and other health services to
about 4 million low-income Americans each year.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/14/biden-trump-anti-abortion-family-planning-481395


Trump’s ‘conscience rule’ for health providers blocked by federal judge

Trump’s ‘conscience rule’ for health providers blocked by federal judge

By Yasmeen Abutaleb
November 6, 2019

A federal judge on Wednesday voided the Trump administration’s “conscience rule” that would have allowed health-care providers to refuse to participate in abortions, sterilizations or other types of care they disagree with on religious or moral grounds.

U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan declared the so-called “conscience rule” unconstitutional in a 147-page decision stemming from a lawsuit brought by New York and nearly two dozen other mostly Democratic states and municipalities. The rule had been set to go into effect later this month.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/trumps-conscience-rule-for-health-providers-voided-by-federal-judge/2019/11/06/39aa9b74-00b1-11ea-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html


USA – Family planning clinics watch their safety nets vanish

Family planning clinics watch their safety nets vanish
Cutbacks have hit health clinics that lost federal dollars over Trump abortion rules.

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and RACHEL ROUBEIN
09/01/2019

Some health clinics that quit the federal family planning program over Trump anti-abortion policies are cutting staff, charging for services that had been free and making other austerity moves to avert a major hollowing out of reproductive health care for poor women.

At least four state health departments, hundreds of Planned Parenthood clinics and dozens of independent providers have withdrawn from the more than $250 million Title X program. Some have literally had to box up and return unused supplies bought with a government discount. They’re leaning on emergency funds, private donations and in some instances, state assistance.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/01/family-planning-trump-abortion-1479239


Trump abortion ‘gag’ rule blocked by federal judge

Trump abortion ‘gag’ rule blocked by federal judge

By Fred Barbash
April 25

A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction Thursday, temporarily blocking the Trump administration from imposing new antiabortion restrictions on the use of federal family planning funds designed to assist 4 million low-income women.

The rule, promulgated in March by the Department of Health and Human Services, would have barred programs receiving the money from saying or doing anything to advise or assist a patient about securing an abortion. Critics called it a “gag rule.”

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-abortion-gag-rule-blocked-by-federal-judge/2019/04/25/c147359a-67ac-11e9-a1b6-b29b90efa879_story.html?utm_term=.bf7cd8dc6de0


Trump family-planning abortion rule risks ‘national public health crisis,’ AMA says

Trump family-planning abortion rule risks 'national public health crisis,' AMA says
The rule, which changes criteria for family-planning grants in ways sought by anti-abortion activists, would cause a health crisis "in short order,' the AMA said.

March 6, 2019
By Associated Press

The American Medical Association and Planned Parenthood filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new Trump administration rule changing criteria for family-planning grant money in ways sought by anti-abortion activists.

The new rule, announced last week by the Department of Health and Human Services, would prohibit family planning clinics funded by the federal Title X program from making abortion referrals — a provision that critics denounce as a "gag rule."

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-family-planning-abortion-rule-risks-national-public-health-crisis-n979726


USA – Reproductive Rights Groups Ready to Sue Trump Over Abortion Rule

Reproductive Rights Groups Ready to Sue Trump Over Abortion Rule
The administration’s measure would effectively ban Planned Parenthood and other providers from getting Title X federal family planning fund.

Emily Shugerman
02.25.19

Reproductive rights groups were outraged when the Trump administration announced plans to cut off family planning funds for healthcare providers that offer abortions. Now they’re headed to court to battle the new rule.

At least three groups have announced plans to sue over the measure, which would effectively ban providers like Planned Parenthood from receiving funds through Title X—a federal program to help low-income Americans access family planning services.

Continued: https://www.thedailybeast.com/reproductive-rights-groups-ready-to-sue-trump-over-abortion-rule