Abortion:<br
In the News

A number of state legislatures and organizations put barriers between women and abortion care by directly interfering with a woman's medical care. Waiting period requirements make abortion care more difficult to get, especially for rural and low-income women. They require that a woman wait a specified amount of time before obtaining an abortion after her initial consultation. These laws insult women by presuming that they have not considered their decision carefully, and they impose real obstacles on getting abortion care. They may require two trips to the clinic, which may be hundreds of miles away, and each trip may require getting child care, transportation, and time off of work. Most waiting periods are 24 hours, but some are as long as 72 hours.

Texas Lawmakers Broker Quiet Agreement on Women's Health Funds; House Panel Approves 20-Week Ban
Monday, May 6, 2013
Democrats and Republicans in the Texas Legislature are "quietly" working together to restore women's health funding, marking a sharp contrast from the "high-octane drama" over cuts to women's health services in recent years, the Texas Tribune/New York Times reports.

N.H. House Rejects Bill Requiring Waiting Period, Signed Consent Before Abortions
Friday, March 15, 2013
The New Hampshire House on Wednesday rejected a bill (HB 483) that would have required women to wait 24 hours before obtaining an abortion, the AP/Boston Globe reports.

S.D. Gov. Signs Bill To Lengthen Waiting Period Requirement
Monday, March 11, 2013
South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) on Friday signed into law a bill that excludes weekends and holidays from the state's 72-hour waiting period before abortions, which would extend the wait to six days for a woman who seeks an abortion the Friday before a three-day weekend, Reuters reports.

Tenn. Lawmakers Drop Ultrasound Bill, Focus on Ballot Measure Instead
Friday, March 8, 2013
Tennessee Sen. Jim Tracy (R) and Rep. Rick Womick (R) announced on Wednesday that they will no longer pursue legislation (HB 984, SB 632) that would require abortion providers to perform an ultrasound and describe the image to the woman before an abortion, the AP/ Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

Texas Lawmaker Plans Bill To Overturn Pre-Abortion Waiting Period Law in Light of New Research
Thursday, March 7, 2013
A 2011 Texas law mandating a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion is emotionally harmful to some women, but it has not led women seeking abortions to change their minds about wanting the procedure, according to a study presented on Wednesday by a lawmaker seeking to overturn the restrictions, the AP/San Antonio Express-News reports.

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IN THE COURTS

This section provides a brief overview of significant cases impacting reproductive rights and health related to Abortion:<br.

Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Carol E. Ball, M.D. v. Daugaard
Challenge to a South Dakota law that would require a woman to wait seventy-two hours between her initial physician consultation and the abortion, force her to visit a crisis pregnancy center before abortion care, and require abortion providers to tell patients about any possible risk factor that have been published in any medical or psychological journal since 1972, including risks that have been roundly rejected by mainstream medicine.

MORE INFORMATION

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AT-A-GLANCE

Issues

State by State

ABOUT REPRO WATCH

Repro Health Watch — an exciting new edition of the Women’s Health Policy Report — compiles and distributes media coverage of proposed and enacted state laws and ballot initiatives affecting women's access to comprehensive reproductive health care, as well as litigation in response to those provisions.