Reproductive Rights Prof Blog

Arizona Senate Sends Abortion Restrictions To Governor's Desk

The Arizona Republic: Senate OKs abortion restrictions, by Casey Newton:

Arizona, North Carolina Legislatures Take Action on Abortion, Sex Education

Daily Women's Health Policy Report: Arizona, North Carolina Legislatures Take Action on Abortion, Sex Education Measures:

The following summarizes news coverage on women's health-related legislation in Arizona and North Carolina.

~ Arizona: The Arizona Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee on Wednesday voted 4-3 to approve a bill (S.B. 1206) that would place several restrictions on abortion rights and allow pharmacists or other health care providers to refuse to distribute emergency contraception based on religious or moral objections. . . .

~ North Carolina: The North Carolina Senate Mental Health and Youth Services Committee this week approved a bill (S. 221) that would require all public school systems to offer information on the use of contraceptives to students in grades seven through nine, the AP/Raleigh News & Observer reports. The information would be presented as part of a larger reproductive health education program that would maintain the abstinence-only education curricula currently taught at nearly all of the state's 115 school districts. . . .

Antiabortion Efforts Move to the State Level

Wash. Post: Antiabortion Efforts Move to the State Level, by Peter Slevin:

JACKSON, Miss. -- Twelve women sat gloomily in a windowless conference room as Joseph Booker, M.D., recited the instructions required by the state of Mississippi before he can perform an abortion.

"Try to bear with us," Booker began. "This is something we have to do."

Prenatal benefits may be available, prospective fathers are legally liable for support and a list of adoption agencies can be provided, he said, ticking through a list worn into his memory. He offered the women a packet that included a brochure containing color photos of tiny fetuses inside the womb.

Booker's clinic is the only place left in Mississippi to obtain a legal abortion. Access is no longer simple at a time when the biggest battles over reproductive rights are taking place not in Washington but in Jackson and Bismarck, Little Rock and Helena. In 2008 alone, state legislatures nationwide considered about 400 measures to restrict abortion. . . .

NH Gov. Signs Same-Sex Marriage Bill

Boston Globe: N.H. ties gay-marriage knot, by Eric Moskowitz:

CONCORD - New Hampshire became the fifth state in New England yesterday and the sixth in the country to allow same-sex marriage, as lawmakers approved and the governor signed revised legislation designed to balance personal and religious freedom.

Hang-ups over the wording had threatened to kill the bill multiple times this spring, but in a flurry of activity yesterday, Senate and House lawmakers approved a final version acceptable to Governor John Lynch.

NH Senate Approves Amended Same-Sex Marriage Bill

NY Times: Gay-Marriage Bill Advances in N.H., by Abby Goodnough:

 The New Hampshire Senate approved revisions to a same-sex marriage bill on Wednesday morning, paving the way for an afternoon vote in the less-predictable House of Representatives.

Lawmakers have been working on the bill for months; gay-rights supporters hope the latest changes will ensure it becomes law. The changes further emphasize that by legalizing gay marriage, the state will not impinge on the religious freedom of those who do not believe in it.

Mr. Lynch, a Democrat, has indicated he approves of the latest revisions. If he signs the bill into law, New Hampshire will become the fifth state in New England and the sixth nationally to allow same-sex marriage.

Missouri Senate Passes Abortion Bill

Kansas City Star: Abortion bill passes Senate; House will consider in final days of session, by Jason Noble:

Legislation approved early Thursday morning in the Missouri Senate would require women seeking abortions to hear health warnings and descriptions of the unborn child before undergoing the procedure.

The bill goes further than present law by expanding the information women must hear prior to an abortion and requiring them to hear it in person. It represents a compromise between pro-abortion rights Democrats and anti-abortion lawmakers, who initially proposed criminal penalties for coercing a woman to have an abortion.

The bill now moves to the House, where it has until 6 p.m. Friday to be approved and passed to the governor.

NH Legislature Passes Same-Sex Marriage Bill

CNN: New Hampshire lawmakers approve same-sex marriage:

New Hampshire lawmakers on Wednesday passed a same-sex marriage bill, now headed to Gov. John Lynch.

The state House passed the bill in a 178-167 vote. The Senate last week approved the legislation in a 13-11 vote.

Maine Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

Reuters: Maine governor signs gay-marriage bill, by Jason Szep:

Maine's governor signed a bill on Wednesday legalizing same-sex marriage, clearing the way for the northeastern U.S. state to become the fifth in the nation to allow same-sex marriage.

"I have read many of the notes and letters sent to my office, and I have weighed my decision carefully," Democratic Governor John Baldacci said in a statement. "I did not come to this decision lightly or in haste."

Gay marriage has made big inroads in the United States this year. In a single week last month, Iowa and Vermont joined Massachusetts and Connecticut in allowing gay couples to legally wed. Legislation is also advancing in New Hampshire.

Gov. Sebelius Vetoes Abortion Legislation

Kansas City Star editorial: The (mis)labeling of Kathleen Sebelius, by Barb Shelly:

This year's anti-abortion bill sent to her by the GOP-dominated Legislature had the same problems as a similar measure that Sebelius vetoed last year.

The only thing different was the red-hot spotlight on Sebelius as she awaits U.S. Senate confirmation as health and human services secretary. With the heat on and anti-abortion groups calling for her head, she did the right thing and vetoed this year's flawed bill.

The proposed legislation presented a clear threat to women's privacy by enabling family members to sue if they believed an abortion provider had violated the law. How could you prove a claim like that without airing the women's situation and medical details in legal documents and possibly open court?

See also: NYT/AP: Kansas: Governor Vetoes Abortion Bill

NY Gov. Paterson To Introduce Same-Sex Marriage Bill

NY Times: Paterson Will Introduce Same-Sex Marriage Bill, by Jeremy W. Peters:

Gov. David A. Paterson on Thursday will announce plans to introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, according to people with knowledge of the governor’s plans.

Mr. Paterson’s move, which he first signaled last week after Vermont became the fourth state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, reflects the governor’s desire to press the issue with lawmakers in Albany as other states move ahead with efforts to grant more civil rights to homosexuals....

Mr. Paterson has said in recent days that the State Legislature should move ahead now with the legislation regardless of whether it can muster enough votes. His reasoning, which some gay rights advocates have challenged, is that New York should make a statement that it is committed to treating same-sex couples the same way it treats opposite-sex couples.

Support the NY Reproductive Health Act

Via the NYCLU:

The Reproductive Health Act:

• Guarantees a woman’s right to control her reproductive health;
• Ensures that a woman will be able to have an abortion if her health is endangered;
• Treats the regulation of abortion as an issue of public health and medical practice, rather than as a potential crime; and
• Guarantees everyone the right to use or refuse contraception.

I was honored to be interviewed in this video about the Act, produced by the NYCLU:

VT Legislature Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

NY Times: Vermont Legislature Makes Same-Sex Marriage Legal, by Abby Goodnough & Anahad O'Connor:

The Vermont Legislature on Tuesday overrode Gov. Jim Douglas’s veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry, mustering one more vote than needed to preserve the measure.

The step makes Vermont the first state to allow same-sex marriage through legislative action instead of a court ruling. The law goes into effect Sept. 1.

Approval had been expected in the Senate, where the vote was 23 to 5.

But the outcome in the House of Representatives was not clear until the final moments of a long roll call, when Rep. Jeff Young, a Democrat who voted against the bill last week, reversed his position. In the end the vote was 100 to 49, just slightly more than the required two-thirds majority of members present.

ND Senate Rejects Embryonic Personhood Bill, Passes Other Abortion Measures

KFYT-TV: Abortion Bill Defeated, by Amanda Tetlak:

...The bill that establishes that human life begins at conception with the intent to challenge Roe Versus Wade failed by a final vote of 29-16....

Senators voted in favor of a bill that would require abortion clinics to offer a woman an ultrasound of their baby before they have an abortion.

They also passed a bill that would require a clinic to tell a woman that she is killing a human being before having an abortion.

Georgia Bill That Attempts To Grant Embryonic Rights And Increase IVF Oversight Advances

The Atlanta Journal Constitution: Embryo Rights go too far in Senate (Editorial), by Maureen Downey:

Senate Bill 169 —- the Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act —- declares: “A living in vitro human embryo is a biological human being who is not the property of any person or entity.” Should that bill become law, it will halt the embryonic stem cell research in Georgia that offers the promise of curing Alzheimer’s and repairing spinal cord injuries.

More immediately, it will so complicate legal questions around frozen embryos that it could drive in vitro fertilization clinics out of the state, forcing desperate Georgia couples to go out of state as well.

The law’s real intent is to outlaw abortion, a goal its proponents acknowledge. At the hearing, testimony in favor of SB 169 came from Georgia Right to Life, the Georgia Baptist Convention and the Georgia Catholic Conference. While stem cell research may potentially save many lives, those opponents argued it deals a death blow to the embryo itself, which they see as an unconscionable trade-off.

UT Senate Passes Abortion Measure Requiring Information About Fetal Anethesia

Salt Lake Tribune: Senate passes bill mandating 'fetal pain' abortion warnings, by Sheena McFarland:

A bill that would require doctors to inform a woman about fetal anesthesia for abortions performed after 20 weeks passed the Senate Thursday.

HB222, sponsored by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, would not require the information to be given during an emergency. Also, the person giving the information could inform the woman of his or her opinion about administering anesthesia.

The bill moves back to the House for a vote on an amendment.

For an analysis of fetal pain legislation, see Harper Jean Tobin, CONFRONTING MISINFORMATION ON ABORTION: INFORMED CONSENT, DEFERENCE, AND FETAL PAIN LAWS, 17 Colum. J. Gender & L. 111 (2008).

Kansas House Passes Abortion Restrictions

Kansas City Star: Kansas House approves two abortion bills, by David Klepper:

Women seeking abortions would get the option of seeing a fetal sonogram under legislation passed Wednesday by the Kansas House.

The House also passed a second bill that would require providers to give state health officials the diagnoses used to justify late-term abortions.

Gov. Palin Supports AK Parental Consent for Abortion Bill

Anchorage Daily News Editorial: Our view: Parental consent? Teens seeking abortions must make their own decisions:

Gov. Sarah Palin and some conservative legislators are pushing a bill to require teenagers to get their parent's consent before having an abortion. We've been here before. The Alaska Supreme Court in 2007 declared such a law unconstitutional. It's still unconstitutional. Parents do not have the right to compel a daughter to abort a pregnancy. Neither do they have the right to compel a pregnant daughter to give birth. Pregnant teens should have ultimate control over the decision to bear a child or abort a pregnancy, just as much as any woman.

What has changed since the court's ruling only 16 months ago? One member of the Supreme Court left the job, and Gov. Palin appointed a replacement. She and other backers of HB 35, the abortion consent bill, are clearly hoping the court will disregard the earlier decision.

"Courts change their positions all the time," Palin said.

South Carolina House Passes 2-Visit Requirement for Abortions

Via the Daily Women's Health Policy Report: South Carolina House Passes Bill Requiring Mandatory Waiting Period for Abortions

South Carolina's House on Tuesday voted 83-28 to approve a bill (H. 3245) requiring women to wait at least 24 hours after an ultrasound before receiving an abortion, the AP/Rock Hill Herald reports. The bill, called the "two-visit bill" by critics, increases the state's mandatory waiting period from one hour. Advocates for the measure said it will give women time to reflect on their decision, as well as put South Carolina in line with a majority of states that have similar laws. Some Democrats noted that other states do not connect the waiting period with an ultrasound. Rep. Steve Parker (R) said the bill "will save lives" and that "[i]f we save one life, I think it's worthwhile."

According to the AP/Herald, Republicans defeated efforts to include provisions in the bill exempting rape survivors and protecting the jobs of women who make the two-day trip. Critics of the bill who proposed the amendments said requiring two trips creates a burden for low-income women living in rural areas because they have to take two days off work and arrange travel to one of three clinics in the state that offer abortion services.

State Legislative News

The North Dakota Senate has approved a measure that would require clinics offering abortion to post signs telling patients that no one can force them to have an abortion (AP story here).  The Arkansas Senate has passed a bill that parallels the federal "Partial-Birth Abortion" Ban Act, banning abortion procedures with no health exception (NY Times story here).

State Legislatures Consider Ultrasound Legislation

The Associated Press published an article yesterday listing twelve states currently considering bills to offer or mandate ultrasounds before abortion.  The article is available here.