Tag Archives: TRAP

Kansas Supreme Court Affirms Abortion Rights, Strikes Down Restrictions

“This is an immense victory for the health, safety, and dignity of people in Kansas and the entire Midwestern region, where millions have been cut off from abortion access,” said one advocate.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 7-5-2024 by Common Dreams

Women’s March in Topeka, KS, 2017. Photo: mmrogne/flickr/CC

Reproductive rights defenders on Friday cheered a pair of Kansas Supreme Court decisions reaffirming the right to abortion and striking down various restrictions—rulings expected to impact people beyond the Midwestern state, given how many patients must now travel for care.

“The state devoted much of its brief to inviting us to reverse our earlier ruling in this case that the Kansas Constitution protects a right to abortion. We decline the invitation,” Justice Eric Rosen wrote in the decision against Senate Bill 95, which outlawed a common abortion procedure for second-trimester pregnancies called dilation and evacuation (D&E).

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Study Ties Abortion Restrictions to ‘Significant’ Jump in Suicide Rates for Young Women

“This association is robust—and it has nothing to do with politics,” said one co-author. “It’s all backed by the data.”

By Jessica Corbett.  Published 12-28-2022 by Common Dreams.

Over 10,000 abortion rights protesters marched on the Minnesota Capitol to demand that abortion remain legal in Minnesota in July 2022 Photo: Fibonacci Blue/flickr/CC

With abortion currently inaccessible in over a quarter of U.S. states, peer-reviewed research published Wednesday highlights the impact of cutting off care, revealing that restricted access is linked to increased suicide risk in young women.

Published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, the analysis of targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws was conducted by four experts at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Continue reading

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48 Years After Landmark Ruling, Advocates Push to #ReimagineRoe and Build Abortion Justice

Roe is the floor. We want an end to Hyde. We want people to access abortion care, when they need it, without discrimination, stigma, or harm.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams.  Published 1-22-2021

Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt Pro-choice demonstration in front of SCOTUS. in June 2016. Photo: Jordan Uhl/flickr/CC

Nearly a half-century after the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that access to safe, legal abortion is a constitutional right, advocates are now pushing the Biden administration and Congress to

urgently and aggressively pursue a bold reproductive justice agenda.

While advocates have fought to protect Roe v. Wade since 1973, 48 years later to the day—with a new pro-choice administration and Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress—calls are building to #ReimagineRoe and treat the high court’s landmark ruling as a floor rather than a ceiling for reproductive rights and healthcare. Continue reading

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Federal Court Strikes Down Trump’s ACA Rule Amounting to ‘Intentional, Targeted Attack on Abortion Access’

“It would have created a logistical nightmare for health insurers and individual enrollees and pushed abortion even further out of reach in the midst of a global pandemic that has upended our economy.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-11-2020

Photo: Charlotte Cooper/flickr/CC

A federal court late Friday struck down the Trump administration’s attempt to erect new barriers to abortion care, this time using the for-profit insurance industry.

US District Judge Catherine Blake in Maryland blocked the administration from implementing the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Exchange Program Integrity rule, after Planned Parenthood of Maryland joined several individual plaintiffs in suing the Department of Health and Human Services over the regulation. Continue reading

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After Supreme Court Agrees to Hear First Abortion Case With Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, Warnings Right-Wingers Could ‘Decimate’ Access in Louisiana

“We are counting on the court to follow its precedent; otherwise, clinics will needlessly close.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 10-4-2019

A contested Louisiana law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals resembles a Texas law the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in 2016. (Photo: Jordan Uhl/Flickr/cc)

Reproductive rights groups on Friday emphasized the importance of legal precedent after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging an anti-choice Louisiana law—the court’s first abortion rights case since President Donald Trump’s appointees, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, joined the bench and shifted the court to the right.

Act 620, a 2014 Louisiana law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at local hospitals, is similar to a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016. Such measures—which critics call “TRAP” (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws—have become popular among right-wing legislatures trying to circumvent Roe v. Wade and restrict access to abortion care. Continue reading

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With Women’s Rights on the Line, Groups Demand Supreme Court #StoptheSham

Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt is widely believed to be the most consequential abortion rights case since Roe v. Wade

By Lauren McCauley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 3-2-2016

Women protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday against "sham" abortion laws that have threatened their health and autonomy. (Photo: NARAL Pro-choice NC/Twitter)

Women protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday against “sham” abortion laws that have threatened their health and autonomy. (Photo: NARAL Pro-choice NC/Twitter)

The U.S. Supreme Court, with one vacant seat, heard oral arguments on Wednesday in what is widely believed to be the most consequential reproductive rights case since Roe v. Wade, one which observers warn could dramatically alter abortion access for women across the country.

The case, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, questions whether a Texas law that set stringent requirements for abortion clinics, with the intention of forcing the shutdown of women’s health providers, is actually legal. Observers say that a high court ruling on the law could set a binding precedent as similar Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers, or TRAP, laws have been implemented by Republican governments in a number of states. Continue reading

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Despite Soaring Support for Abortion Rights, Anti-Choice Crusade Continues

New poll conducted in wake of deadly attack on Planned Parenthood clinic finds public support for abortion rights at highest point in two years

Written by Sarah Lazare, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 12-22-15.

 

(Photo: citizenbobnyc/Flickr)

(Photo: citizenbobnyc/Flickr)

Public support for legal abortion in the United States is at its highest point in two years, with nearly six out of ten people backing the reproductive right, according to a new poll (pdf) conducted in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic that killed three people.

The Associated Press and GfK, which jointly conducted the survey, found that 58 percent of respondents say abortion should be legal in “most or all” cases. This marks a jump from 51 percent at the beginning of the year. The poll is based on surveys of 1,007 adults conducted in early December, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points. Continue reading

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Supreme Court to Hear ‘Most Important Abortion Rights Case in 25 Years’

Draconian law already ‘causing real harm to women across the state of Texas,’ says women’s health advocate

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 11-13-2015

The court has not heard a major abortion case since 2007. (Photo: ian mcwilliams/flickr/cc)

The court has not heard a major abortion case since 2007. (Photo: ian mcwilliams/flickr/cc)

Setting the stage for what a leading women’s health advocate said will be “the most important abortion rights case in almost 25 years,” the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed (pdf) to review a “draconian” Texas law designed to shut down clinics that provide safe, legal abortion services.

“Today the Supreme Court took an important step toward restoring the constitutional rights of millions of women, which Texas politicians have spent years dismantling through deceptive laws and regulatory red tape,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the case on behalf of a coalition of women’s health providers. “We are confident the Court will recognize that these laws are a sham and stop these political attacks on women’s rights, dignity, and access to safe, legal essential health care.” Continue reading

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Latest Tally Shows Raging Assault on Reproductive Rights Nationwide

Since start of year, state legislatures have enacted no fewer than 51 anti-choice measures

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published July 3, 2015

A protest against Focus on the Family's "Stand for the Family" event at the Xcel Energy Center, planned by OutFront Minnesota. Photo by Tony Webster from Portland, Oregon, United States [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

A protest against Focus on the Family’s “Stand for the Family” event at the Xcel Energy Center, planned by OutFront Minnesota. Photo by Tony Webster from Portland, Oregon, United States [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The right-wing assault on women’s health and reproductive rights continues to rage in state legislatures across the United States, with a new report showing that in the first half of 2015 alone, states enacted no fewer than 51 wide-ranging abortion restrictions.

According to the New York-based research non-profit the Guttmacher Institute, many of the new laws focused on four areas: waiting periods, abortions after the first trimestermedication abortion, and so-called TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) provisions such as ambulatory surgical center requirements.

However, the report notes: “Even as states continue to pass new abortion restrictions, the Supreme Court is poised to hear one, and maybe two, major abortion cases in the coming year.” Continue reading

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