Abortion providers and patients are struggling to navigate the evolving legal landscape around abortion laws and access nationwide since last week the US Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade was reversed.
In Florida, a law banning abortion after 15 weeks went into effect Friday, the day a judge called it a violation of the state’s constitution and said he would sign an order temporarily blocking the law next week.
The ban could have wider implications in the south, where the state has wider access to the process than its neighbours.
Abortion rights have been lost and returned in the span of a few days in Kentucky.
A so-called trigger law placing an almost complete ban on the procedure went into effect Sunday, but a judge blocked the law on Thursday, meaning only two abortion providers can now resume seeing patients.
In Texas, some clinics resumed abortions up to six weeks after a Houston judge said patients still had that right, at least until a new ban on nearly all abortions goes into effect in the coming weeks. go.
But the state has asked the Texas Supreme Court to block that order and allow prosecutors to ban abortions now, adding to the uncertainty.
Legal wrangling is almost certain to continue to cause chaos for Americans seeking abortions in the near future, with court rulings able to increase access at a moment’s notice and an influx of new patients from state-heavy providers.
Some cases include trigger laws specifically designed to prohibit abortion if the cry were to fall, while other laws were pending Supreme Court decisions and are now being enforced.
Many legal challenges to abortion restrictions argue that their state’s constitution guarantees access to the procedure.
Even when women travel to out-of-state states with abortion restrictions, they may have fewer options for terminating their pregnancies because prosecution likely follows them.
Planned Parenthood of Montana this week stopped providing drug abortions to patients living in states including South Dakota, Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
The move shows how seriously it is taking the prospect of prosecution even for abortion providers in states that have protected abortion rights.
Planned Parenthood North Central State, which offers the procedure in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, is telling its patients that they must take both pills in the diet in a state that allows abortions.
Emily Bisek, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood North Central States, said that in an unknown and unclear legal environment, she decided to let patients know that they should be in a position where it is legal to complete a drug abortion – which requires taking 24 pills. is required. 48 hours apart.
Most patients from states with restrictions are expected to opt for surgical abortion, he said.
The use of abortion pills has been the most common way to terminate a pregnancy since 2000, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone, the main drug used in drug abortion.
When taken with misoprostol, a medicine that causes womb emptying spasms, it makes the abortion pill.
Access to the pills has become a key battle in abortion rights, with the Biden administration preparing to argue that states cannot ban the FDA-approved drug.
Kim Floran, who operates an abortion fund in South Dakota called the Justice Empowerment Network, said the development would further limit women’s options and mean more travel to Colorado for abortions.
These laws are intended to scare people anyway, Floran said, adding that states have banned abortions and offered telemedicine counseling for drug abortions.
The logistics of actually implementing these are a nightmare, but they rely on the fact that people are going to be scared.
A South Dakota law went into effect Friday that threatens a severe penalty for anyone prescribing medication for abortion without a license from the South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners.
Republican Gov. Christie Noem, an ardent opponent of abortion, said in a statement that doctors who intentionally break the law and prescribe these drugs to end human lives will be prosecuted.
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