Jul 16, 2019

Planned Parenthood ousts president Leana Wen

Leana Wen, former President of Planned Parenthood, on May 23, 2019. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Planned Parenthood's board voted to oust and replace its president on Tuesday, the New York Times reports.

Driving the news: Alexis McGill Johnson, co-founder of the anti-bias research group Perception Institute, was unanimously voted as Dr. Leana Wen's temporary replacement, per the Times.

The big picture: The Trump administration enforced a rule overnight Monday restricting "taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions," including Planned Parenthood, per AP. Some of the most restrictive abortion laws in generations are currently spreading across America's red states.

Details: Wen, a former emergency room doctor and Baltimore City health commissioner, reacted publicly on Tuesday and released a statement claiming that Planned Parenthood ended her employment "at a secret meeting." She had only been in the position for 8 months, writes the Washington Post.

Wen said she was engaged "in good faith negotiations" with the organization about her departure "based on philosophical differences over the direction and future of Planned Parenthood."

Go deeper: State abortion restrictions spark a renewed culture war

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Rebecca Falconer, Orion Rummler

Trump abortion restrictions in effect for taxpayer-funded clinics

Photo: Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty Images

Taxpayer-funded family planning clinics must immediately stop referring women for abortions, the Trump administration said Monday.

Driving the news: The Department of Health and Human Services issued a notice to clinics ahead of a planned conference with them Tuesday, saying it would begin enforcing the ban on abortion referrals, per CBS News. HHS will also require that clinics maintain separate finances from facilities that provide abortions, AP notes.

Go deeperUpdated Jul 16, 2019

Rebecca Falconer

Trump administration delays enforcing new abortion restriction rule

Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

The Trump administration has postponed its plan to enforce a new rule preventing taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions, AP reports.

The big picture: The Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that the ban was effective immediately. But it sent a notice Saturday night to clinics saying it would give them more time to comply with the rule, according to AP, which reviewed the notice.

What they're saying: The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, which represents the clinics and which has filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the abortion restrictions, issued a statement calling the memo "wholly insufficient."

Go deeper: The states that have passed abortion restriction laws

Keep ReadingJul 22, 2019

Axios

Where abortion restrictions stand: The states that have passed laws

Anti-abortion protest. Photo: SAUL LOEB/Getty Images

The most restrictive abortion laws in generations are being challenged in courts across America's red states, setting up what could be a precedent-smashing Supreme Court challenge to the abortion status quo.

Driving the news: Mississippi's fetal heartbeat law was struck down on Friday, after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the 15-week abortion ban was unconstitutional, per AP. The Center for Reproductive Rights, who challenged the ban in court, called the ruling "the first of the recent bans to reach a federal appellate court."

Go deeperUpdated Dec 14, 2019