In reproductive rights news, Congressmember Cori Bush of Missouri and Minnesota Democratic Senator Tina Smith have introduced a bill that would codify into federal law access to medical abortion. This comes as Republican states across the country are attempting to restrict the distribution of abortion pills.
In related news, the Mississippi abortion clinic at the center of the Supreme Court case that gutted Roe v. Wade has been sold and has no plans to reopen in the state. This comes after the Jackson Women’s Health Organization announced it would move its abortion care to a clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was Mississippi’s last abortion clinic.
In West Virginia, a judge has blocked the state’s 150-year-old abortion ban. Lawyers for the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia argued the statute, which dates back to the 1800s, was void because it hadn’t been enforced in over 50 years, and the state has since enacted other laws that allow abortions.
Meanwhile, in Idaho, the state’s Republican Party rejected adding language to their abortion platform that states the procedure should be allowed to save the pregnant person’s life.