Reproductive Rights Today

WASHINGTON — The future of medication abortion access in the United States went in front of the U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday, where several justices appeared somewhat skeptical as anti-abortion organizations argued use of the pharmaceutical should be moved back to what was in place before 2016.

Self-managed abortions rose by more than 26,000 in the six months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago, according to a peer-reviewed study published Monday in JAMA, the American Medical Association’s journal. 

The same U.S. Supreme Court that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion will hear oral arguments Tuesday over access to mifepristone, a pharmaceutical used in both medication abortion and miscarriage care. 

Doctors in Arkansas joined a national network that’s calling for in vitro fertilization legal protections following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that temporarily halted IVF services in the state last month. 

Legislation that would repeal Michigan’s ban on paid surrogacy contracts is on the governor’s desk. 

Democratic Sen. Eva Burch urged her Republican colleagues to consider loosening Arizona’s abortion laws, but they walked out as she said she will terminate her unviable pregnancy, Arizona Mirror reported. 

Researchers found that 63% of all abortions provided in the U.S. last year were medication abortions. 

Doulas — holistic birth workers who help mothers navigate pregnancy — in Missouri are not guaranteed Medicaid reimbursements. As a result, some doulas offer a sliding-scale fee to families who cannot afford the full cost of their services. 

A 39-year-old single mother of two got up extra early on a recent Wednesday morning, hoping to be one of the first outside the Planned Parenthood clinic near Phoenix, Arizona. 

House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, the same Alabama Democrat who sponsored a constitutional amendment to protect IVF, is pushing a bill that would protect access to contraception. Daniels’ proposal would also allow providers to distribute contraceptives and advise their patients, Alabama Reflector reported. 

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, tried to pass a bill Tuesday that would expand in vitro fertilization access for veterans and military service members, but Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford blocked the legislation. 

The Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said embryos are “unborn children” drew bipartisan condemnation and caused lawmakers in several states to introduce bills protecting in vitro fertilization, including Georgia, South Carolina and Kentucky, where debate over assisted reproductive technology goes back decades.