Reproductive health and rights were once again the subject of extensive debate in state capitols in 2012. Over the course of the year, 42 states and the District of Columbia enacted 122 provisions related to reproductive health and rights. One-third of these new provisions, 43 in 19 states, sought to restrict access to abortion services.
The state may soon join Utah in having a three day long waiting period prior to obtaining an abortion.
It is an outrage that not only may it be difficult to physically access Plan B but also lack of information regarding emergency contraceptives can serve as an obstacle for young women who have been sexually assaulted.
It will be hard for women to see any legislative gains in a state that can literally rewrite bills.
On Tuesday, high-profile political coverage in the national media was mainly focused on the US presidential election, some Senate and House races, and a few state ballot measures. Yet there were a seemingly endless number of smaller, less-publicized elections for city- and state-level positions, votes on state initiatives that flew under the radar, and city and county decisions that were only covered in local news.
In 2005, Brittany Wilson said in federal court that her boyfriend had forced her to have an abortion she didn’t want. She blamed Planned Parenthood for letting it happen. Now, Brittany’s story is again being used in federal court — this time to defend a South Dakota law that addresses the issue of coerced abortion.
Numerous anti-choice laws—like South Dakota’s—exploit informed consent doctrine to further goals antithetical to the notion of autonomy that these laws pretend to promote.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals gave constitutional protection to misleading women seeking abortion care. Now it will almost certainly rest on Justice Kennedy to address challenges to informed consent laws, problems with which can be traced back to him in the first place.
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“Research” and “findings” on which the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals relied for evidence in considering a law mandating that doctors tell women abortion is linked to higher rates of suicide has been found by a large number of researchers and medical bodies to be “an outright lie.”
Despite ample evidence that there is no link between abortion and suicide, a federal appeals court decides its okay for South Dakota to require doctors to lie to women.
