USA – The power and limits of using executive orders to protect abortion rights

President Biden is mulling over what he can do in response to a looming Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

By Ellen Ioanes
Jun 11, 2022

As a decision looms in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the landmark Supreme Court case that would effectively eliminate the constitutionally-protected right to a legal abortion, pressure on President Joe Biden to take action to protect that right is mounting — so much so that Biden directly addressed it on late-night TV this week, telling Jimmy Kimmel that, while he urged legislative action, the White House is also mulling executive orders protecting abortion access.

Post-Dobbs executive orders were on the table before Biden’s Wednesday appearance, although the White House has kept quiet about what those actions could look like. His interview with Kimmel was no different; after encouraging a legislative approach to enacting abortion rights protections, Biden told Kimmel, “I think what we’re going to have to do... There’s some executive orders I could employ, we believe — we’re looking at that right now.”

Continued: https://www.vox.com/2022/6/11/23163781/roe-v-wade-scotus-biden-abortion-executive-orders

Senate blocks bill to codify right to abortion

Women’s Health Protection Act failed as expected, but Democrats say the move is about mobilizing voters, not passing legislation

By Mike DeBonis and Rachel Roubein , Washington Post
May 11, 2022

The Senate on Wednesday did not advance legislation that would write a constitutional right to abortion into federal law — a symbolic gesture that Democrats cast as a first step in a larger strategy to mobilize Americans around reproductive rights as the Supreme Court considers overturning Roe v. Wade and related decisions.

Wednesday’s vote was 51 to 49 and well short
of the 60 votes necessary under Senate rules. It was largely a reprise of a
failed February vote staged by Senate Democratic leaders, but the issue has new
resonance after last week’s leak of a draft opinion from Justice Samuel A.
Alito Jr. suggesting that the high court is poised to overturn Roe and curtail
guaranteed nationwide access to abortions.

Continued, Unblocked: https://wapo.st/3suVKwC https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/11/abortion-senate-vote/

11.05.2022

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Abortion Refugees Across America

Republican state legislatures are creating abortion refugees across America, many writing legislation that ends all abortions in their states,

SONALI KOLHATKAR
APR 18, 2022

Republican state legislatures are creating abortion refugees across America. After Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a draconian bill, SB 8, into law last year, empowering bounty hunters to sue abortion providers, those seeking care fled to the neighboring states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

But GOP leaders were ready for them. Oklahoma’s Republican Governor Kevin Stitt on April 12 signed the nation’s strictest abortion ban into law, ending all abortions in his state except in cases of danger to the pregnant person’s life. Now, reports are emerging of Oklahomans turning to the neighboring state of Kansas for abortions.

Continued: https://www.laprogressive.com/progressive-issues/abortion-refugees-across-america

USA – Why the Senate is taking a doomed vote on abortion rights

Democrats want to show voters they tried on abortion rights.

By Li Zhouli@vox.com
Feb 28, 2022

The Senate on Monday will take its first vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill aimed at codifying the right to an abortion.

Democrats hope to use the vote to show support for abortion rights as they come under attack in numerous states, and as they face a challenge in the Supreme Court. The vote, however, is widely expected to fail: Republicans are broadly opposed to the legislation and will likely filibuster it. Once filibustered, the bill would need 60 votes to advance, support it doesn’t currently have in a 50-50 Senate.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/2022/2/28/22946299/womens-health-protection-act-senate-vote-abortion-rights

Senate rejects Democratic bill to codify abortion rights

The vote failed as the Supreme Court considers the fate of Roe v. Wade.

Feb. 28, 2022
By Sahil Kapur and Ali Vitali

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 46-48 Monday to block a bill pushed by Democrats to codify abortion rights into federal law ahead of an expected Supreme Court decision that could limit access to the procedure.

The legislation, the Women’s Health Protection Act, failed to garner the needed 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and would have fallen short of the 50 votes needed for passage after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., joined Republicans in opposition.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-rejects-democratic-bill-codify-abortion-rights-rcna17968

USA – Dems, despite their control, all but concede on federal abortion spending

By ALICE MIRANDA OLLSTEIN and JENNIFER SCHOLTES, Politico
02/15/2022

Though Democrats won’t publicly admit it, they’re soon set to concede defeat on federal funding for abortion.

After months of tense negotiations, the two parties joined together last week on a government spending framework they insist will swiftly lead to a massive deal to boost agency bottom lines into the fall. Officially, they’re agreeing to save specific policy disputes for later, including the longtime debate over the half-century ban on federal funding for abortions, known as the Hyde amendment. But Republicans are already declaring victory in that battle.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/15/ban-federal-funds-abortion-democrats-00008761

USA – The EACH Act would overturn a “blatantly racist” abortion rule. Will it pass?

By Clare Busch
May 12, 2021

When Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro was 17, she found out she was pregnant. Loraine Piñeiro decided to have an abortion, but because she was Medicaid recipient — like more than 72 million other Americans — her insurance wouldn’t cover the costs of the procedure. So, Loraine Piñeiro picked up extra shifts at her restaurant job, earning $2.17 per hour in base pay, to earn the necessary $450. She was still in high school.

She was in that position thanks to the Hyde Amendment, a policy dating back to 1976 that prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for abortion, except in the case of rape, incest, or if the pregnant person’s life is in danger. “When I learned about the Hyde Amendment, I realized how much it affected my life,” Loraine Piñeiro tells Mic. “I had no idea how I would figure out how to pay for an abortion. Those types of resources aren't easily available.”

Continued: https://www.mic.com/p/the-each-act-would-overturn-a-blatantly-racist-abortion-rule-will-it-pass-77726691