Florida governor signs bill banning abortions after 15 weeks
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Thursday signed into law a bill that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, providing no exemptions for rape, incest, or human trafficking. The bill, CS/HB 5, bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and allows only minimal exceptions, such as if the abortion would save the life of a pregnant [...]
Murder charge dropped against Texas woman for alleged 'self-induced abortion'
The district attorney for Starr County, Texas, Sunday announced that a murder charge would be dismissed against a woman in connection with a “self-induced abortion.” “In reviewing applicable Texas law, it is clear that Ms. Herrera cannot and should not be prosecuted for the allegation against her,” District Attorney Gocha Allen Ramirez said in a [...]
California legislature passes bill empowering private citizens to sue over gun violence
The California Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday passed a bill that will empower private citizens to sue those who traffic illegal weapons into the state. The bill has been passed in response to the deadly mass shooting which occurred Sunday just blocks from the state Capitol building. Senate Bill (SB) 1327 was authored by Senator Robert Hertzberg [...]
Idaho Governor Brad Little Wednesday signed a new abortion bill into law, despite expressing grave concerns about the wisdom and constitutionality of the measure and warning that it could re-traumatize victims of sexual assault. Senate Bill 1309 bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and allows family members of what it calls “a preborn child” [...]
Texas Supreme Court ends federal challenge to six-week abortion ban
The Texas Supreme Court Friday ruled against abortion providers’ federal challenge to a state abortion ban, holding that certain state officials do not have the authority to enforce the law. Senate Bill 8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, was passed last year. It bans all abortions after six weeks. Rather than being enforced [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 Thursday in Cameron v. EMW Women’s Surgical Center that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron can defend the state’s controversial law restriction abortion. HB 454 bans dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion procedures, the most common method of abortion in the second trimester. The law was challenged by EMW Women’s Surgical [...]
An Arizona Senate committee voted in favor of a bill Thursday that prohibits abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The bill comes amidst the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision on Mississippi’s abortion law, which has the potential to drastically transform abortion rights in the US. The Republican-led committee passed Senate Bill 1164 with a vote of [...]
JURIST is launching a new series of dispatches from major US states written by JURIST correspondents “on the ground” in those jurisdictions. JURIST Operations Director Ram Eachambadi files this report from Los Angeles. Earlier this month, Los Angeles County filed a petition in California Superior Court to hold Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva in [...]
A judge for the US District for the District South Dakota Wednesday blocked an executive order that would have restricted medication abortions. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem issued the order in September, which would have prevented people from accessing abortion pills through telemedicine appointments by requiring the pills to be taken at an abortion provider [...]
US Supreme Court again rejects attempt to block Texas abortion ban
The US Supreme Court Thursday denied Texas abortion providers’ request to send their challenge to the nation’s most restrictive abortion law to the federal district court as was previously ordered, instead permitting it to languish in the Fifth Circuit where resolution will likely take several more months. After the Supreme Court allowed a portion of [...]
