National

An Arizona appeals court blocked the enforcement of a nearly 150-year-old abortion ban Friday, per court documents.

Driving the news: A three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals granted Planned Parenthood's request for an emergency stay of a Sept. 23 ruling that lifted an injunction on the state’s abortion ban, which includes a 15-week ban.

The stay temporarily blocks enforcement of the ban while an appeal continues. 

This will allow abortion care to resume immediately, per Planned Parenthood.

Details: The panel found that the judge who allowed for the abortion ban should have considered a number of laws restricting abortions that were passed after the original injunction following the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, per AP.

What they're saying: "Our office understands this is an emotional issue, and we will carefully review the court’s ruling before determining the next step," Brittni Thomason, a spokesperson for the Arizona Attorney General's office, said.

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Arizona abortion ban halted by appeals court order

This will allow abortion care in the state to resume immediately.

Abortion rights activist protests in Tucson, Arizona on July 4, 2022. Photo: SANDY HUFFAKER / AFP via Getty Images

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Axios Explains: Abortion

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

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An Ohio court granted a preliminary injunction Friday against the state's six-week abortion ban.

Driving the news: Abortion will remain legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy in the state while litigation continues.

The six-week ban in Ohio had been enacted after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June, but it was temporarily blocked after abortion providers filed a lawsuit to challenge the law arguing that the "fundamental right to an abortion" was guaranteed under the Ohio Constitution.

The Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas' temporary restraining order issued in September allowed abortion services to resume in the state.

What they're saying: "Today we will celebrate this win in the battle for bodily autonomy and health care for all, but our work is far from over," Iris Harvey, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, said in a statement.

"The preliminary injunction will be in place for the duration of our case, which means abortions will be legal in Ohio for a period much, much longer than the temporary restraining order granted," Planned Parenthood said in a news release.

State of play: This is the latest development in an uncertain, years-long saga regarding abortion access in Ohio, per Axios' Mary Jane Sanese.

A 2019 law, dubbed the "Heartbeat Bill" and signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, banned abortions once embryonic cardiac activity is detected via ultrasound — typically around six weeks of pregnancy.

What's next: The court has asked for written findings of fact and conclusions of law to be submitted by the parties and then will issue a written order.

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Ohio 6-week abortion ban indefinitely blocked as suit continues

Abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy will remain legal in Ohio while litigation continues.

Peoplle protest abortion in Ohio. Photo: Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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Dozens of clinics stopped offering abortions after Dobbs decision

Over 80% of clinics in anti-abortion states have stopped offering abortions.

Abortion

A graphic showing the status of abortion clinics in 15 states with strict bans.

Fallout from the demise of Roe v. Wade is forcing college administrators to weigh how reproductive health services offered on campus may conflict with state abortion bans and if their employees could face prosecution.

Why it matters: The University of Idaho this week issued guidance that it could stop offering birth control, citing a section of the Idaho penal code dating back to the 1970s.

The potential for other colleges to consider cutbacks is something "we are very concerned about," said Rachel Mack, director of marketing and communications for the American College Health Association.

The big picture: Abortion rights advocates say that state bans are designed to prevent people from not only getting an abortion, but from accessing other reproductive health care services.

The language of the laws varies in matters like when life begins, creating a host of legal ambiguities, according to experts.

"We're seeing a rush to hunker down and unfortunately cut people off from the information and care they need, likely at the behest of overly cautious legal counsel, in efforts to shield the institutions or their employees from this prospect of criminal prosecution," said Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, which advocates for access to abortion care.

Driving the news: The University of Idaho said that due to an "unclear and untested" 1972 anti-abortion law, the university will stop providing access to nearly all types of birth control.

The memo sent to university employees cites language that a health provider who "publishes any notice or advertisement of any medicine or means ... for the prevention of conception" is guilty of a felony.

"Since violation is considered a felony, we are advising a conservative approach here, that the university not provide standard birth control itself," according to the memo obtained by Axios.

The enforceability of the 1972 law remains unclear. But since states can enforce abortion restrictions as they see fit, University of Idaho officials are being cautious with this particular statute — which they call "not a model of clarity."

While university employees are not allowed to offer birth control, students can access counseling on contraception at locations that are run by Moscow Family Medicine, a medical network that is not associated with the university.

What they're saying: "While abortion can be discussed as a policy issue in the classroom, we highly recommend employees in charge of the classroom remain neutral or risk violating this law," said Jodi Walker, a spokesperson for the University of Idaho.

"We support our students and employees, as well as academic freedom, but understand the need to work within the laws set out by our state," Walker added.

Yes, but: The university has drawn backlash from abortion rights advocates.

"I don't think there's ever a strong enough reason for restricting health care and access to essential health care, which includes abortion and birth control. I understand the fear. But I don't think that any institution should be restricting access in any way," said Tamara Marzouk, director of abortion access at Advocates for Youth, a nonprofit that supports abortion rights.

Zoom out: Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe in June, other universities have staked out positions to ensure that their students can access reproductive health care.

In Michigan, where a 1931 pre-Roe abortion ban has been struck down, the president of the University of Michigan said, "I will do everything in my power as president to ensure we continue to provide this critically important care."

In Ohio, where a ban took effect shortly after Roe's fall, the president of Oberlin College said that the university "will continue to support the reproductive health needs of our students, faculty, and staff, even as the state and federal climate has made this more difficult."

The other side: Abortion foes say that it is not their goal to restrict access to contraceptives.

"In regard to the University of Idaho's new policy, we need to know more about their reasoning for the change. No organization I'm aware of ... has called for such a policy change," said Kristi Hamrick, chief media and policy strategist for Students for Life for America, one of the largest anti-abortion organizations in the U.S.

Worth noting: Students could potentially be dissuaded from attending colleges that have similar guidance.

"Are you going to be at an institution that is going to put your health and well being at the forefront, or are you going to be at an institution that ... may take as an exceedingly and overly cautious approach that further denies access even to the basic information you might need?," the National Institute for Reproductive Health's Miller told Axios.

Lack of reproductive health care will lead to "negative outcomes for higher ed enrollment, retention, and persistence to degree," Mack said.

By the numbers: Young people already face challenges accessing birth control. 

88% of young people faced at least one barrier to obtaining a prescription for oral contraceptives, according to a recent poll from Advocates for Youth. 

Around 55% of respondents said that they faced so many barriers that they were unable to access birth control.

Go deeper: Dems fear red states banning abortion will zero in on birth control next

Editor's note: This story originally published on Sept. 30. 

Post-Dobbs birth control fight heads to college campuses

Universities in the post-Roe era are struggling to offer students the full range of reproductive health care.

Illustration of a collage of the Supreme Court, birth control pills and a person's silhouette. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) continued his pledge to protect abortion access for people both in and outside of California with a new slate of bills signed into law Tuesday.

The big picture: California is one of several blue states that have rushed to expand abortion access and prepare for an influx in patients following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Ensure that pregnancy loss is not criminalized.

Protect people from criminal and civil liabilities in cases of miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion or perinatal death due to causes that occurred in utero.

Prohibits a health care provider from releasing abortion seekers' medical records in response to a subpoena or out-of-state request.

Bars law enforcement and California corporations from cooperating with out-of-state entities in regard to abortion in the state.

Requires health plans to cover certain over-the-counter birth control without cost sharing.

Prohibits employment-related discrimination based on reproductive health decisions.

Expands training options for abortion care.

What he's saying: "An alarming number of states continue to outlaw abortion and criminalize women, and it’s more important than ever to fight like hell for those who need these essential services," Newsom said in a statement that praised the state legislature for being "on the frontlines of this fight."

"We’re doing everything we can to protect people from any retaliation for accessing abortion care while also making it more affordable to get contraceptives," he added.

Worth noting: Newsom previously signed into law a bill to protect abortion providers and patients from bans, lawsuits and penalties in other states.

He recently announced that the state has launched a website to help people access information about abortions, their legal rights and where to find providers.

Go deeper: Abortion looms over 2022 state ballots

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Newsom signs another slate of abortion protections into law

The new laws ensure medical records stay private and prevent law enforcement from working with out-of-state entities on abortion.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during the United Nations Climate Action: Race to Zero and Resilience Forum in New York on Sept. 21. Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

Republican Sen. Mike Rounds joined several other prominent Republicans in saying he won't support Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-S.C.) new bill that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks, the South Dakota senator said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

Why it matters: Although the bill doesn't have a chance of passing in a Democratic-controlled Congress, some Republican lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have distanced themselves from the proposal ahead of the midterms.

Graham's plan comes less than two months out from the election, with abortion expected to be an important issue for voters following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Republican candidates across the U.S. have moved to disappear hard-line anti-abortion stances they took during their primaries, particularly in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Arizona and North Carolina.

What he's saying: "I think a better approach probably will be to allow the states to work through this and to find the appropriate language on a state-by-state basis," Rounds told CNN's Jake Tapper.

"I think there will be a consensus over a period of years," he added. "But at this point, to have Congress step back and tell all the states that we know better than them how to handle this, is probably not the right direction to go."

GOP Sen. Mike Rounds says he doesn't support Graham's abortion bill

Some Republican lawmakers have distanced themselves from the proposal ahead of the midterms.

CNN’s “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper, left, interviews Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) on Sept. 18.

A crush of out-of-state patients at abortion clinics is causing backlogs in care and forcing some to have the procedure later in their pregnancies, when treatment is more intensive and costs are higher. 

The big picture: It's a byproduct of more people traveling across state lines in the post-Roe landscape and testing reproductive health providers in states that don't have abortion bans.

Experts believe that as clinics struggle with demand, the number of abortions performed after the 13th week of pregnancy — which is around the end of the first trimester — might increase.

The procedures can be harder to obtain, because "as pregnancy progresses, the number of people who are skilled to provide that care further goes down," Colleen McNicholas, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, told Axios.

By the numbers: About 93% of reported abortions in 2019 were performed at or before 13 weeks of pregnancy, 6% were conducted between 14 and 20 weeks and 1% were performed at or after 21 weeks, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At an Illinois clinic, patients from states other than Missouri and Illinois have risen to 40% of cases, compared to 5% before the federal right to abortion was struck down. 

Wait times for an abortion appointment increased from two to three days to two to three weeks.

McNicholas said an increase in abortion patients who are further along than the first trimester could also be related to longer wait times, adding that the clinic tries to attend to as many patients "as quickly as we possibly can."

In Colorado, Michael Belmonte, a Denver OB-GYN, told Axios that the clinic he works in had already been overwhelmed with out-of-state patients since Texas' six-week abortion ban took effect.

Wait times for the clinic are around two to three weeks. While Belmonte said it's "certainly possible" that could grow to five to six weeks with higher demand, the clinic has recruited additional providers and made other contingencies.

The clinic has seen more out-of-state patients who are further along in their second trimester with severe fetal conditions who are unable to access abortion care in their states.

At the Trust Women clinic in Wichita, Kansas, the number of abortions performed increased from 800 in the first six months of 2021 to over 1,300 during the same period in 2022, and the number of out-of-state patients grew sevenfold, clinic staff told NPR.

The clinic's director, Ashley Brink, said that as a result of out-of-state demand, wait times are at around two or three weeks, meaning patients might be later on in their pregnancies and need more complex abortions.

Worth noting: Funds that give financial and logistical support to people seeking the procedure are also feeling the shift.

The Colorado-based Cobalt Abortion Fund saw a major increase in the financial help it provided to out-of-state patients seeking abortion: Between June 24 — the day the Dobbs decision overturning Roe was released — and Aug. 14, travel-related costs amounted to $103,081. There were no such costs for the comparable period in 2021.

Costs covering the procedures rose from $17,839 during that June-August period in 2021 to $51,355 in 2022.

The Chicago Abortion Fund saw its weekly service budget increase from approximately $16,000 to $25,000 after a draft of the Roe decision leaked in May, and then to between $40,000 and $45,000 in the post-Roe era, according to the clinic's director, Megan Jeyifo.

Jeyifo said that as wait times for appointments get longer, potentially pushing pregnant people into a different trimester, they might need more financial help to cover more complex abortions. 

Clinics forced to push abortions later in pregnancy amid state bans

Experts believe that as clinics struggle with demand, the number of abortions performed after the first trimester might increase.

Illustration of a red suitcase with a medical cross on the side

Latinos are facing an onslaught of Spanish-language misinformation about abortion in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade,  health experts and reproductive rights advocates say. 

Why it matters: Groups working to counter these campaigns warn that the surge in false claims will have real health consequences for Latinos, who already face barriers to prenatal resources and reproductive health care.

Driving the news: These misinformation and disinformation campaigns often revolve around false claims that abortion is now illegal across the entire U.S. and misleading details about the procedure, including discredited statements that it can lead to infertility or breast cancer.

The flood of misinformation has increased fears about the possible criminalization of abortion amid claims it could affect immigration status, said Dina Montemarano, the research director of the nonprofit NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Advocates say they've also seen more Spanish-language misinformation coming out of crisis pregnancy centers — led by anti-abortion activists — that appear to offer medical services but often share false claims about the operation's illegality in bids to dissuade pregnant people.

Latinos who aren't native English speakers are particularly vulnerable because they lack easy access to fact-checking resources — especially on social media and messaging platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, which host a large swath of Latino users.

State of play: Melissa Simon, vice chair of research at Northwestern University's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said these claims don't simply influence viewpoints; they can worsen Latinos' maternal mortality rate, which has increased "alarmingly" in the last few years.

Maternal health complications "will be amplified in negative ways if this disinformation and fear persist and spread," warned Simon, who added she's had to debunk a lot of misinformation among patients who travel to Illinois for abortions. 

The big picture: Several groups are taking a multipronged approach to combat the surge.

The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice has cultivated a network of trusted local leaders who hold in-person workshops and educational sessions to counter misinformation in their communities in Texas, Virginia, Florida and New York, executive director Lupe M. Rodríguez told Axios. 

"We're working to interrupt those kinds of threats ... and trying to work on these algorithms [on social media] to get the right information out there," Rodríguez said. 

The advocacy group has hosted livestreams to share accurate updates on abortion news more widely.

Organizers have also prepared written materials in Spanish to share with abortion funds and clinics and are working on legislation in New York to regulate misinformation coming out of crisis pregnancy centers.

Factchequeado, a Spanish-language fact-checking service focused on U.S. news, launched earlier this year with the specific purpose of identifying and debunking dangerous claims circulating on social media — such as herbal methods for abortion.

It has partnered with organizations including PolitiFact and Telemundo’s T-Verifica to republish its explainers and reach broader audiences.

Health experts like the Illinois Medical Professional Action Collaborative Team have also taken to social media to amplify accurate information in both English and Spanish, which NARAL says plays a critical role in promoting non-ideological medical information. 

Until tech companies take a more active role in regulating and removing false claims from their platforms, the goal is to "balance the information ecosystem," Montemarano said.

Between the lines: Sinsi Hernández-Cancio, vice president for health justice at the nonpartisan nonprofit National Partnership for Women & Families, noted that Latinos often distrust medical institutions due to histories of maltreatment, like forced sterilizations. 

That's where trusted messengers can play an important role, she said.

The bottom line: The efforts to combat misinformation are "super important," but "trying to scale them is really critical," Simon said.

Abortion misinformation surges in Latino communities

Groups working to counter these campaigns warn the surge in false claims will have real health consequences for Latinos.

Illustration of a computer mouse's wire as a fuse. 

Latin America and Latinos

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

Data: National Partnership for Women and Families; Map: Jacque Schrag and Skye Witley/Axios

States that have enacted abortion restrictions or bans also have "systemic" barriers in place that impede "the health and economic security of pregnant and birthing people and their families," according to a new report from the nonpartisan and nonprofit National Partnership for Women & Families first shared with Axios.

Driving the news: The report, which comes as three states are poised to enact trigger bans, shows that gaps in policies remain.

Details: Every state that has failed to adopt Medicaid expansion — 12 in total — has implemented some form of restriction on abortion, the report notes. This leaves 2.2 million adults uninsured, the majority of whom are women of color.

Several states that have abortion restrictions in place also lack postpartum Medicaid coverage beyond 60 days after birth, which the report calls a critical gap given that 33% of pregnancy-related deaths occur in the postpartum period.

Black women are especially vulnerable as they are 3.5 times more likely to suffer a late maternal death compared to white women.

But only 11 states and D.C. offer paid leave, including paid parental, family and medical leave, per the report. Most of the states that do not are somewhat or very restrictive on abortion.

Many of these states also lack workplace protections like fair scheduling and pregnancy accommodations, notes the report, which points to Latina, Black and immigrant workers who are more likely to hold inflexible jobs and be denied requests to have a bottle of water on hand or sit instead of stand.

State of play: "The systemic failure to enact policies that protect abortion access, promote high-quality health​ ​care, and advance economic justice leave pregnant and parenting people caught in an​ ​impossible bind, with their health and economic security threatened at nearly every turn," the report states. 

"These barriers are further compounded by lost wages due to a lack of paid leave or sick days, the cost of accommodations and child care, and a lack of personal transportation."

Report: Pregnant people face "systemic" barriers in states with abortion restrictions

The report comes as three states are poised to enact trigger bans.

All Axios Explains: Abortion stories