Page 2 - Abortion Issues News Today

In their lone debate, Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal, and Daniel Kelly, a conservative, unleashed searing attacks on each other. At stake is a crucial seat on the battleground state’s Supreme Court.

Medication abortion providers could serve six months in prison under the law, one of a growing number of efforts by conservative states to target the pills.

The judge said he would decide soon whether to issue a preliminary injunction ordering the F.D.A. to withdraw its approval of the drug or wait for the full trial.

Saying he wanted safe and orderly proceedings, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk asked lawyers not to disclose the hearing and planned to add it to the public case file only the evening before.

The women, backed by an abortion-rights group, say they were denied abortions under state law despite risks to themselves and their fetuses that made the procedure a medical necessity.

The state, surrounded by neighbors with abortion bans and restrictions, has had a 37 percent rise in abortions since the constitutional right to abortion was overturned.

Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal, and Daniel Kelly, a conservative, will face off on April 4 in a race that could tilt the balance of the court, with abortion rights, gerrymandered maps and more in the balance.

Responding to concerns about student privacy, high school athletics officials voted to remove questions about menstruation history from a medical form.

The vice president said the Biden administration was “fighting back” against reproductive health restrictions by directing several federal agencies to explore how to support access to the abortion pill.

The justices found that the state’s Constitution does not include a right to the procedure, bringing an end to a monthslong legal battle.