Abortion Policy
Turning pain into purpose: Tennessee House candidate talks to voters about her abortion
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Candidates for political office often have personal reasons motivating them to run, even if those reasons don’t always end up as part of a stump speech or a talking point of the campaign platform. But when Allie Phillips knocks on the doors of strangers in Tennessee, she is leading with the story […]
Hundreds protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court to keep abortion medication accessible
WASHINGTON—As the enormous yellow banner unfurled in front of the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday morning, Laura Clime-Coates turned to her 9-year-old daughter and said, “Those are the names of people who agree with us.” On the sign, titled “We the People Support Medication Abortion,” were what activists estimated to be half-a-million signatures […]
U.S. Supreme Court justices seem skeptical of limits on access to abortion medication
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. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, speaking on behalf […]
Self-managed abortions increased by about 26,000 after Dobbs decision, study shows
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. Researchers determined that an increase of approximately 27,838 online orders of abortion pills between July and December 2022 corresponded […]
As legislature heads into home stretch, here’s some of what remains to be done
FRANKFORT — With eight days left in this session and a slew of decisions pending, the Kentucky House and Senate reconvene Thursday afternoon after a three-day break. High on lawmakers’ to-do list will be finalizing the next two-year state budget. The Senate also must consider changes to the tax code approved with little public notice […]
Medication abortion rates grew 10% over the last few years, report shows
Researchers found that 63% of all abortions provided in the U.S. last year were medication abortions. There were an estimated 1,026,690 abortions — the most in over a decade — performed in the formal health care system in 2023, according to a report released Tuesday by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization. The […]
Planned Parenthood affiliates train abortion doulas to reduce stress for patients
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. The upside of not telling anyone about her abortion was that she wasn’t going to have to explain herself. The downside was that she couldn’t […]
Kentucky attorney general among those warning Maine not to enact medical shield law
Kentucky’s Russell Coleman is among 16 state attorneys general threatening legal action if Maine enacts a law shielding its medical providers from penalties for providing reproductive and gender-affirming care to residents of other states. The Republican attorneys general assert such a law would be “extraterritorial bullying” and “could also trigger a rapid tit-for-tat escalation that […]
Both of these women needed to end their pregnancies. Only one got to do it on her terms.
Jennifer Vollstedt and Ariel Cavanaugh-Okhah have never met, but they are connected by fatal chromosomal abnormalities that affected their wanted pregnancies, and the stress and heartbreak that come with it. Their experiences of needing to terminate their pregnancies were quite different. One took place before the Dobbs ruling overturned Roe and the federal right to […]
IVF controversy echoes memorable debate in Kentucky House 40 years ago
Veteran Kentucky lawmakers call it one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the state’s General Assembly.? Memory of it has revived this spring as the nation — and Kentucky lawmakers — weigh a controversy over in vitro fertilization, a way to help infertile couples have a baby. “What happened back in the […]