Abortion | Latest News & Updates

FILE - People gather in the parking lot of the Hamilton County Board of Elections as people arrive for early in-person voting in Cincinnati, Nov. 2, 2023. Ohio’s new constitutional projections for abortion access are supposed to take effect Dec. 7. But existing abortion-related lawsuits are moving again now that voters have decided the question, creating uncertainty about how and when the amendment will be implemented. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Ohio voters just passed abortion protections. When and how they take effect is before the courts

Ohio’s new constitutional protections for abortion access and other reproductive rights take effect Dec. 7, a month after voters resoundingly passed them.

FILE - Volunteer escorts and others stand outside the Red River Women's Clinic in Moorhead, Minn., Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022. The clinic has operated since 1998 in Fargo, where it was North Dakota's only abortion clinic. Physicians and the former, sole abortion provider in North Dakota on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, asked a state district court judge for a preliminary injunction to temporarily block the state's revised abortion laws. (AP Photo/Dave Kolpack, File)

Physicians, clinic ask judge to block enforcement of part of a North Dakota abortion law

FILE - Abortion rights protesters attend a rally outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich., June 24, 2022, following the United States Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Two key pieces of legislation that would have repealed a 24-hour wait period required for patients receiving an abortion and also allowed state Medicaid dollars to pay for abortions were left out of a package signed Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023, by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

Democratic division blocks effort to end Michigan’s 24-hour wait for an abortion

FILE - Missouri's Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft speaks, Nov. 7, 2017, in Valley Park, Mo. The Missouri Supreme Court on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 let stand a ruling by lower courts against Republican-written summaries of abortion-rights ballot measures that described several proposed amendments as allowing “dangerous and unregulated abortions until live birth.” (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

Missouri Supreme Court deals a blow to secretary of state’s ballot language on abortion

FILE - Damage is seen in the interior of Madison's Wisconsin Family Action headquarters in Madison, Wis., May 8, 2022. Hridindu Roychowdhury, the man accused of firebombing an anti-abortion office last year has decided to plead guilty to a federal charge of damaging property with explosives. Online court records show Roychowdhury entered the plea Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in the Western District of Wisconsin. (Alex Shur/Wisconsin State Journal via AP, File)

Man agrees to plead guilty to firebombing Wisconsin anti-abortion group office in 2022

Nevada judge rejects attempt to get abortion protections on 2024 ballot

A judge has struck down an effort to enshrine reproductive rights, including abortion, in Nevada’s constitution. Carson City District Court Judge James T.

Presidential hopeful Eduardo Verastegui flashes a thumbs up at supporters during a rally to collect signatures to enable him to run as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election, in San Bartolo del Valle, Mexico, Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. Rallying all over the country to fulfill the task of gathering 1 million signatures by early January, the 49-year-old right-wing activist has ignited controversy in this deeply Catholic nation, where abortion activists and the LGBTQ+ community lead advocacy campaigns of their own.(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Christian conservatives flock to former telenovela star in Mexico’s presidential race

While most Mexican politicians refrain from clarifying where they stand on religion, abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, former telenovela actor and right-wing activist Eduardo Verástegui prays on TikTok and claims that getting closer to God changed the course of his life.

Ohio State Rep. Jennifer Gross, R-West Chester, holding a "Choose Life" sign, center, joined by Ohio State Rep. Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, left, and Ohio State Rep. Thomas Hall, R-Madison Township, right, stand together on stage during the Ohio March for Life rally at the Ohio State House in Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 6, 2023. The statewide battles over abortion rights that have erupted since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to the procedure have exposed another fault line: commitment to democracy. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Voters back abortion rights, but some opponents won’t relent. Is the commitment to democracy in question?

The statewide battles over abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to abortion have exposed another fault line across the country.

FILE - District Judge K. Christopher Jayaram follows arguments from attorneys as they argue over a new state law on how providers dispense abortion medications, Aug. 8, 2023, in Johnson County District Court in Olathe, Kan. On Monday, Oct. 30, Jayaram blocked enforcement of the new law and older restrictions. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)

Kansas to appeal ruling blocking abortion rules, including a medication restriction

The Republican attorney general in Kansas is appealing a state judge’s ruling that has blocked enforcement of multiple abortion restrictions.

FILE - Clergy who filed suit seeking to overturn Missouri's abortion law and other opponents of the law hold a March through downtown St. Louis on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. A St. Louis judge on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023 will hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging Missouri's abortion ban on the grounds that lawmakers who passed the measure imposed their own religious beliefs on others who don't share them. The lawsuit was filed in January on behalf of 13 Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion rights. (AP Photo/Jim Salter, File)

Lawyers for religious leaders challenging Missouri abortion ban say law imposes beliefs on everyone

Lawyers for a group of religious leaders who support abortion rights said during a hearing that Missouri lawmakers intended to “impose their religious beliefs on everyone” in the state when they passed a restrictive abortion ban.

Pennsylvania House passes ‘shield law’ to protect providers, out-of-staters seeking abortions

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has passed a measure seeking to protect those who come to Pennsylvania to get abortions.

FILE - Protesters line the street around the front of the Nebraska State Capitol during an Abortion Rights Rally held on July 4, 2022, in Lincoln, Neb. A petition referendum effort is being launched to establish abortion rights in Nebraska, following on the heels of similar successful efforts in other reds states. Documents released by the Nebraska Secretary of State's office Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023 show that a coalition of civil rights and advocacy groups is leading the effort to enshrine abortion rights within the Nebraska Constitution. (Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP, File)

Emboldened by success in other red states, effort launched to protect abortion rights in Nebraska

A petition referendum effort is being launched to establish abortion rights in Nebraska, following on the heels of similar successful efforts in other reds states.

FILE - Zoe Staires protests against the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, June 24, 2022, in Tulsa, Okla. The Oklahoma Supreme Court reiterated its position on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023, in a 5-4 opinion that the Oklahoma Constitution guarantees a woman's right to an abortion when necessary to preserve her life, although the procedure remains illegal in virtually all other cases. (Mike Simons/Tulsa World via AP, File)

Oklahoma Supreme Court keeps anti-abortion laws on hold while challenge is pending

The Oklahoma Supreme Court is reiterating its position that the state constitution guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion when necessary to preserve her life.

The nation’s Catholic bishops gather for their annual fall meeting in at the Marriott Waterfront hotel in Baltimore on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023. On Tuesday, the Catholic leaders called for peace in a war-torn world and unity amid strife within their own clerical ranks. (AP Photo/Tiffany Stanley)

US Catholic bishops meet; leaders call for unity and peace amid internal strife and global conflict

Catholic leaders called for peace in a war-torn world and unity amid strife within their own ranks as U.S. bishops gather in Baltimore.

A woman bows her head during a prayer at a watch party for opponents of Issue 1 at the Center for Christian Virtue in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Republican faction seeks to keep courts from interpreting Ohio’s new abortion rights amendment

Four Ohio Republican state lawmakers are seeking to strip judges of their power to interpret an abortion rights amendment after voters opted to enshrine those rights in the state’s constitution this week.

FILE - An attendee at Planned Parenthood's Bans Off Our Bodies rally for abortion rights holds a sign reading outside of the Idaho Statehouse in downtown Boise, Idaho, on May 14, 2022. A federal judge and the U.S. Department of Justice this week of Nov. 10, 2023 said that states are going too far by trying to block people from helping others cross state lines for abortion. (Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman via AP, File)

Things to know about efforts to block people from crossing state lines for abortion

A federal judge and the U.S. Justice Department said this week that states are going too far with threats to prosecute those who help others cross state lines for abortion.

Federal judge puts Idaho’s ‘abortion trafficking’ law on hold during lawsuit

A federal judge has temporarily blocked Idaho’s “abortion trafficking” law from being enforced while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality is underway. U.S.

Alabama can’t prosecute people who help women leave the state for abortions, Justice Department says

The U.S. Department of Justice says Alabama cannot use conspiracy laws to prosecute people and groups who help women leave the state to obtain an abortion.

Abortion providers seek to broaden access to the procedure in Indiana

Abortion providers and a pregnancy resource center are seeking a preliminary injunction to broaden the scope of a health or life exception to Indiana’s near-total abortion ban.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a midnight Mass on Russian Orthodox Christmas in the village of Turginovo, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northwest of Turginovo, Russia on Jan. 7, 2016. As Putin has formed a closer alliance with the Orthodox Church, the country has embraced what officials call “traditional values,” and Russia has sought to put more restrictions on abortion. Russia’s health minister has condemned women for prioritizing careers over childbearing. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Officials in Russia-annexed Crimea say private clinics have stopped providing abortions

Russian-installed health officials in Crimea say private clinics on the Moscow-annexed peninsula have “voluntarily” stopped providing abortions, which means that the procedure is now only available there in state-run medical facilities.

Woman charged with threatening federal judge in abortion pill case arrested in Florida

Records show that a woman accused of threatening to kill a federal judge who suspended approval of the abortion drug mifepristone earlier this year has been arrested in Florida.

From left, Sandra Feihrer, Lauren Angler, Shannon Gallagher and Tina Gasbarra Larsen celebrate with other supporters at an Issue 1 watch party Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Columbus Ohio. Ohio voters have approved a constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. The outcome of Tuesday’s intense, off-year election was the latest blow for abortion opponents. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Democrats see abortion wins as a springboard for 2024 as GOP struggles to find a winning message

Voters have thrown their support behind abortion rights in races in Ohio, Virginia and elsewhere. And now, Democrats look to springboard off those wins by using the issue to drive turnout and shape next year’s races for the White House, Congress and other elections.

Supporters of Issue 1 cheer at a watch party, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Columbus Ohio. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

After Ohio vote, advocates in a dozen states are trying to put abortion on 2024 ballots

After voters in Ohio approved a constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care, advocates in at least a dozen states are hoping to take abortion questions to voters in 2024.

Issue 1 supporters cheer as they watch election results come in, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Columbus Ohio. Ohio voters have approved a constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. The outcome of Tuesday’s intense, off-year election was the latest blow for abortion opponents. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Voters in Ohio backed a measure protecting abortion rights. Here’s how Republicans helped

Tuesday’s result followed a similar path as an August ballot measure election that would have raised the threshold to amend the state Constitution from a simple majority to 60% of the statewide vote.

Issue 1 supporters celebrate as Rhiannon Carnes, executive director, Ohio Women's Alliance, speaks at a watch party, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, in Columbus Ohio. Ohio voters have approved a constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care. The outcome of Tuesday’s intense, off-year election was the latest blow for abortion opponents. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Democrats won big on abortion rights Tuesday. Here’s what the results say for the US going into 2024

Abortion rights supporters won big in an Ohio ballot measure. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was reelected in Kentucky after running television ads painting his challenger as extremist on abortion.

FILE - People wait in line to enter the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Jan. 9, 2019. Members of a three-judge panel at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, heard an appeal by the Biden administration to a lower court ruling in Texas last year that blocked the use of the government's abortion guidance. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Biden administration guidance on abortion to save mother’s life argued at appeals court

The Biden administration has asked a federal appeals court to uphold health care guidance issued last year that says hospitals must provide abortions for women whose lives are at risk due to pregnancy.

Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg, left, is greeted by a supporter at an election party Tuesday Nov. 7, 2023, in Glenn Allen, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Virginia Democrats sweep legislative elections after campaigning on abortion rights

Virginia Democrats who campaigned on protecting abortion rights have swept this year’s legislative elections, retaking full control of the General Assembly after two years of divided power.

Ohio voters enshrine abortion access in constitution in latest statewide win for reproductive rights

Ohio voters have approved a constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to abortion and other forms of reproductive health care.

People gather in the parking lot of the Hamilton County Board of Elections as people arrive for early in-person voting in Cincinnati, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. They urge a vote for or against the measure known as Issue 1. Issue 1 is the only abortion question on any state ballot this year. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Today’s elections will be shaped by the politics of abortion. Here are the major races to watch

Several states will participate in Tuesday’s off-year general election. Voters in Kentucky will decide whether to give a second term to Gov.

FILE - Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin addresses the crowd during an early voting rally Sept. 21, 2023, in Petersburg, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Gov. Youngkin aims for a GOP sweep in Virginia’s legislative elections. Democrats have other ideas

Voters are set to make a critical decision in next week’s Virginia legislative elections. They’ll decide on Tuesday whether to give the GOP full state government control for the first time in a decade or empower Democratic legislators to keep serving as a check on Republican Gov.

People gather and say the Pledge of Allegiance during the Ohio March for Life rally at the Ohio State House in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023. As campaigning escalates in Ohio’s fall fight over abortion rights, a new line of attack from opponents suggests “partial-birth” abortions would be revived if a proposed constitutional amendment passes. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)