Federal Court Dismisses Attempt to Revive Guam Abortion Ban

ACLU
Case: Guam Society of OBGYNs v. Guerrero
April 28, 2025

HAGÅTÑA, Guam — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order today dismissing a request from Guam Attorney General Douglas Moylan to continue his case seeking to lift a permanent injunction against a 1990 total abortion ban. The Ninth Circuit held the case was now moot in light of a decision by the Guam Supreme Court that the ban has been legislatively repealed. The ban had previously been permanently blocked in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Anita Arriola shortly after it was passed 30 years ago.

Attorney General Moylan’s separate request that the U.S. Supreme Court review the Guam Supreme Court decision that the ban had since been repealed was denied in October.

Continued: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/federal-court-dismisses-attempt-to-revive-guam-abortion-ban

USA – ‘No one’s coming to save us’: Abortion campaigns scramble for limited cash

From deep-red Arkansas and Missouri to purple Arizona and Nevada, activists are already competing with each other.

By MEGAN MESSERLY and ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN
02/19/2024

Abortion rights could be on the ballot in nearly a quarter of states this November, raising concerns among supporters about the ability to fund major campaign efforts in all of them.

From deep-red Arkansas and Missouri to purple Arizona and Nevada, activists are already competing with each other for a limited pool of cash and auditioning for the national progressive groups they need to fund their efforts to enshrine protections in state constitutions.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/19/abortion-access-map-funding-00141436

Pregnant woman sues Kentucky for right to have abortion

Woman, who is eight weeks pregnant, wants to have abortion in Kentucky but cannot legally do so because of near-total ban

Associated Press in Louisville and Ava Sasani
Fri 8 Dec 2023

A pregnant woman in Kentucky filed a lawsuit on Friday demanding the right to an abortion, the second legal challenge in days to sweeping abortion bans that have taken hold in more than a dozen US states since Roe v Wade was overturned last year.

The suit, filed in state court in Louisville, says Kentucky’s near-total prohibition against abortion violates the plaintiff’s rights to privacy and self-determination under the state constitution.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/08/kentucky-woman-abortion-ban-lawsuit

08.12.2023

News

ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project

American Civil Liberties Union

Brigitte Amiri

Daniel Cameron

Kentucky abortion ban

Opposing parties answer AG in case on Guam abortion ban

John O'Connor | The Guam Daily Post
Oct 30, 2023

Parties opposed to the attorney general's attempt at reviving a decades-old abortion ban on Guam argue that the AG is essentially looking to reset the field at this stage because he failed to lay down specific arguments earlier at a lower court. Additional arguments from the opposition bring up free speech issues imposed by the ban, and comment further that recent changes in the U.S. Supreme Court's position on abortion do nothing to change the unconstitutionality of such provisions.

Guam's abortion ban is found in Public Law 20-134. The ban prohibits abortions at all stages of pregnancy with limited exceptions related to medical intervention and ectopic pregnancies. Victims of rape and incest, for example, are not exempt under the ban unless they meet those limited exceptions. The ban also contains a referendum provision, allowing voters to determine if the ban should stay, but the election date has long passed.

Continued: https://www.postguam.com/news/local/opposing-parties-answer-ag-in-case-on-guam-abortion-ban/article_77bec528-76b6-11ee-9d63-9bf2dc9a7396.html

USA – ‘Conscience’ bills let medical providers opt out of providing a wide range of care

Carly Graf, KFF Health News
July 31, 2023

A new Montana law will provide sweeping legal protections to health care practitioners who refuse to prescribe marijuana or participate in procedures and treatments such as abortion, medically assisted death, gender-affirming care, or others that run afoul of their ethical, moral, or religious beliefs or principles.

The law, which goes into effect in October, will gut patients’ ability to take legal action if they believe they didn’t receive proper care due to a conscientious objection by a provider or an institution, such as a hospital.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/31/conscience-bills-healthcare-providers-not-give-medical-care/70470186007/

How Meta Created a Wild West for Abortion Misinformation

New cases from Meta’s Oversight Board highlight Meta’s haphazard approach to reproductive health.

BY JENNIFER NEDA JOHN
JULY 31, 2023

In March, a member of an anti-abortion Facebook group shared a post describing what it claimed was “pro-abortion logic”: “We don’t want you to be poor, starved or unwanted. So we’ll just kill you instead.”

That same month, another Facebook user shared a link to a news article covering a South Carolina bill that would have criminalized abortion as homicide, thus making it eligible for the death penalty. In the caption, the user criticized lawmakers’ logic that “it’s wrong to kill so we are going to kill you.” On Instagram, another post struck the same tone, criticizing the idea of being “so pro-life” that “we’ll kill you dead if you get an abortion.”

Continued: https://slate.com/technology/2023/07/abortion-misinformation-meta-oversight-board.html

Ohio abortion rights ballot measure receives nearly double the needed signatures

Jul 5, 2023

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Groups hoping to enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s constitution delivered nearly double the number of signatures needed to place an amendment on the fall statewide ballot, aiming to signal sweeping widespread support for an issue that still faces the threat of needing a significantly increased victory margin.

Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights said they dropped off more than 700,000 petition signatures on Wednesday to Republican Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s office in downtown Columbus. LaRose now will work with local election boards to determine that at least 413,446 are valid, which would get the proposal onto the Nov. 7 ballot.

Continued: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/ohio-abortion-rights-ballot-measure-receives-nearly-double-the-needed-signatures

05.07.2023

News

American Civil Liberties Union

Frank LaRose

Kellie Copeland

Lauren Blauvelt

Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights

Lawmakers in blue states are linking protections for abortion and gender-affirming care

The push for “shield” bills reflects a growing recognition that the concept of bodily autonomy and the ability of doctors to make decisions with their patients links the two issues.

By Grace Panetta, Orion Rummler
June 9, 2023

Blue states are crafting a new kind of legislation to respond to a dramatic wave of restrictions on abortion access and gender-affirming care across the country. Democrats are invoking the fall of Roe v. Wade as a reason to protect both areas of health care simultaneously — while aiming to create safe havens for those fleeing surrounding Republican-controlled states.

Lawmakers in five states — Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington state and Vermont, which has a Republican governor although Democrats control the state legislature — plus the District of Columbia have enacted such “shield” laws so far this year.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2023/06/abortion-trans-health-care-shield-laws/

How GOP efforts to restrict trans rights take a page from the antiabortion playbook

BY ARIT JOHN
JUNE 7, 2023

WASHINGTON — Bans on treatment. New laws threatening doctors with malpractice suits and criminal charges. Praise from lawmakers who say their legislation is meant to protect minors, even as the new policies infringe on the rights of adults.

As state legislatures wind down and the 2024 election cycle kicks off, the similarities between the fights for abortion access and transgender rights have come into stark focus. Republican lawmakers have introduced a record number of bills at the state level and in Congress that would restrict the rights of transgender people and the healthcare they receive.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-06-07/wave-of-anti-trans-laws-reminds-advocates-of-another-struggle-abortion-rights

US supreme court blocks ruling limiting access to abortion pill

Federal judge in Texas ruled in early April to suspend FDA-approved mifepristone used in more than half of abortions in US

Poppy Noor and agencies
Sat 22 Apr 2023

The supreme court decided on Friday to temporarily block a lower court ruling that had placed significant restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone.

The justices granted emergency requests by the justice department and the pill’s manufacturer, Danco Laboratories, to halt a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Texas. The judge’s order would significantly limit the availability of the medication as litigation proceeds in a challenge by anti-abortion groups.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/21/abortion-pill-ruling-latest-news-supreme-court-decision

22.04.2023