Georgia Supreme Court Upholds Six-Week Abortion Ban

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state’s six-week abortion ban should remain in place, refuting a lower court’s argument that the law was unconstitutional, according to court documents.

A group of pro-abortion organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, filed a lawsuit in July 2022 and a trial court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, saying that the 2019 law was signed prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center and was, ultimately, unconstitutional, according to NPR. The state’s Supreme Court, however, dismissed the lower court’s decision and said that the previous ruling “rests on a faulty premise” that the Dobbs decision changed the meaning of the Constitution, itself, according to WABE, a local media outlet.

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North Carolina Governor Signs Amendment to 12 Week Abortion Ban into Law

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina signed an amendment to the state’s 12-week abortion ban into law late Thursday evening.

The legislation is currently under review by a federal judge after a lawsuit was filed by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, who argued that the law was vague and potentially violated women’s constitutional rights, according to CNN. Republicans introduced and passed an amendment Tuesday to the bill to clarify some of the language, which Roy signed before the new abortion law takes effect on July 1.

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North Carolina Lawmakers Override Governor’s Veto of 12-Week Abortion Ban

North Carolina lawmakers on Tuesday overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to enshrine into law a ban on most abortions in the state after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Both chambers of the legislature have Republican supermajorities, though the governor had hoped at least one Republican lawmaker would vote to uphold his veto and traveled the state last week to convince a lawmaker to take that stance, the Associated Press reported.

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Planned Parenthood Plots Attack to Roll Back DeSantis’ Abortion Ban

Planned Parenthood is planning on launching a ballot measure initiative to roll back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ newly-signed six-week abortion ban, according to Politico.

DeSantis signed a bill April 16 to protect the lives of the unborn after six weeks gestation with exceptions in cases of rape, incest and human trafficking, or when the mother’s life is in danger. Planned Parenthood, a pro-abortion advocacy group, is attempting to curb the governor’s efforts by attempting to create a ballot initiative allowing for abortions until fetal viability, according to Politico.

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Tennessee Human Life Protection Act Remains Strong with Narrow Abortion Exception for Saving Life of the Mother

Both the Tennessee Senate and House have now passed the state’s Human Life Protection Act (HLPA), legislation that bans abortion, with only one change – an exception for saving the life of the mother – one that the pro-life community says will continue to protect the right to life of all unborn children in the state.

Gov. Bill Lee (R) is expected to sign the legislation.

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Judge Rules State Legislative Leaders Can Intervene in Lawsuit to Protect Arizona Abortion Ban

U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes released an order Wednesday stating that Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) may intervene in a court case involving an abortion ban law enacted in 2021.

“When it became clear that Attorney General [Kris] Mayes [D] would not defend Arizona’s law prohibiting discriminatory abortions, the Legislature had to step in. I applaud the federal court’s order recognizing our legislative authority and granting our motion to intervene to defend the constitutionality of this law,” Toma said in a statement emailed to The Sun Times.

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South Carolina Supreme Court Axes State’s Abortion Ban

South Carolina’s Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the state law restricting abortions at around six weeks, finding that it violated the state constitution.

Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill into law in February 2021 barring abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can happen at around six weeks into a pregnancy. The state can limit a woman’s privacy rights with regard to abortion decisions, but only after she’s been given “reasonable” time to pursue an abortion legally, the court found.

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Florida Considers Lowering Abortion Ban from 15 Weeks to 12 Weeks

Changes could be coming to Florida’s abortion laws after the incoming senate president, Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, said she would like to see Florida’s abortion ban go from 15 weeks’ gestation to 12 weeks’ gestation.

The state of Florida banned abortion in 1900, but that ban was overturned in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case. That ruling itself was overturned by the Supreme Court in June. Anticipating that decision, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moved to ban abortions from 15 weeks’ gestation, with the law making no exceptions for cases pertaining to rape and incest.

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Center for Arizona Policy’s Cathi Herrod: Abortion Clinics Are Reportedly Getting Around Arizona’s Abortion Law

After the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich declared that Arizona’s old law banning almost all abortions was back in effect. Some abortion doctors and clinics have been finding ways around it, even though legal challenges successfully got an injunction put in place temporarily halting the 1901 law last Friday. Arizona’s new law banning abortions after 16 weeks, which went into effect this month, has survived requests for injunctions.

Cathi Herrod, the president of the Center for Arizona Policy, posted a statement on the local conservative tipsheet Republican Briefs about what has been reported occurring. “At least one Arizona abortion ‘clinic’ is now reportedly giving pregnant women ultrasounds to determine gestational age, then facilitating a telehealth appointment with a California doctor, who then sends the abortion pills to a post office in a California/Arizona border town to be picked up by the expectant woman,” she said. “Another abortion ‘clinic’ reportedly has been referring women to a doctor in another country with the abortion pills then being mailed to an Arizona woman from India. Still, others are raising funds to pay for women to travel to other states for abortions. One abortionist sends women to his facility in Las Vegas for abortions.”

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‘Satanic Temple’ Sues Indiana over Abortion Ban

A group called “The Satanic Temple” has sued the State of Indiana to block its near-complete ban on abortions, per a lawsuit filed in federal court on Sept. 21.

The group, naming the state’s Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb and Attorney Gen. Todd Rokita, as respondents, filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. It claims to be filing the suit on behalf of a female member of the group that became “involuntarily pregnant” and wishes to terminate the pregnancy.

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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich Cheers Pima County Judge Ruling Which Reinstates Territorial-Era Law

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) applauded the ruling from a Pima County judge Friday, which reinstated Arizona’s law prohibiting abortions.

“A Pima County judge lifted an injunction that was placed on Arizona’s abortion statute,” said Brnovich. “We applaud the court for upholding the will of the legislature and providing clarity and uniformity on this important issue. I have and will continue to protect the most vulnerable Arizonans.”

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Michigan Sen. Gary Peters Opposes 15-Week Abortion Ban Bill

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) federal abortion ban proposal after 15 weeks has the backing of the majority of Americans, according to a recent poll.  

Graham’s abortion ban proposal would “bring U.S. abortion policy in line with other nations,” according to a press release from his website. The bill would restrict abortions after the 15-week gestation period, except in the cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother. According to the release, it “puts the United States in line with other modern societies – 47 out of 50 European nations limit elective abortion prior to 15 weeks gestation.”

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Court Allows Arizona’s Near-Total Abortion Ban to Go into Effect

Arizona’s Pima County Superior Court lifted an injunction Friday that had prevented enforcement of a state ban on abortion unless necessary to save a mother’s life, allowing the law to go into effect.

The court declared the state measure, now called Arizona Criminal Code § 13-3603, unconstitutional within weeks of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. After Roe v. Wade’s June reversal, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich motioned the Pima County Superior Court to remove the decades-old injunction against enforcing the statute.

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General Assembly Leaves Vacancy on State Corporation Commission, Senate Republicans Object to Judge with Ties to Loudoun Prosecutor

RICHMOND, Virginia — The General Assembly reconvened for one day on Wednesday to elect four judges to circuit, district, and juvenile courts, but didn’t fill a vacancy on the three-member State Corporation Commission. Senate Republicans abstained on one vote to appoint current District Court Judge Matthew Parke Snow to the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court. Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham) criticized Snow’s links to Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj.

Snow and Biberaj used to practice criminal defense and civil law together in Leesburg. Biberaj has come under fire from Republicans for embracing a progressive prosecutorial philosophy.

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South Carolina Supreme Court Temporarily Halts Heartbeat Law

The South Carolina Supreme Court has temporarily blocked continued enforcement of the state’s Heartbeat law, which bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

The court’s order Wednesday grants abortion providers an emergency motion that will halt enforcement of the law which has been in effect since June 27, several days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

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Youngkin Pushes Back on Call for Executive Action on Abortion

Delegate Dave LaRock (R-Loudoun) is suggesting that Governor Glenn Youngkin could condition funding for Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia on if their medical centers stop providing abortions, but Youngkin has said that he can’t do that.

At a recent rally at the Virginia Capitol, LaRock said, “Here’s what I’m asking him to do: direct UVA and VCU medical centers to immediately cease these abortion proceedings. He needs to direct that state grants and other funds will not be distributed to entities who in any way promote, facilitate, or engage in taking the life of pre-born babies. A number of measures have passed through the legislature to this effect, very often to be vetoed by a hostile governor.”

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Court Rules Georgia Heartbeat Law May Take Effect

A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled unanimously Wednesday that Georgia’s 2019 Heartbeat law that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected may take effect.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled the Georgia law (HB 481), known as the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act may proceed to take effect after a federal judge blocked it in a decision that found the law violated the right to abortion created by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade in 1973.

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Mark Brnovich Files Motion to Fully Reinstate Arizona Abortion Law Which Aims to Ban the Procedure

Mark Brnovich

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a motion in Pima County Wednesday, which seeks to lift a 50-year-old injunction that puts Arizona’s law banning abortions on hold following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision.

“We believe this is the best and most accurate state of the law,” Brnovich said in a press release. “We know this is an important issue to so many Arizonans, and our hope is that the court will provide clarity and uniformity for our state.”

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Tennessee Attorney General Asks Court to Allow State’s Heartbeat Law to Be Enforced Sooner While Awaiting Near-Total Abortion Ban to Become Effective

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Friday that overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III announced his office has asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to lift the district court’s injunction and allow the state’s heartbeat law to go into effect as soon as possible.

The attorney general’s request to allow the state’s law banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected – generally at six weeks’ gestation – is a temporary measure until, in 30 days, the state’s 2019 Human Life Protection Act, a law that bans most abortions at any time, except those to save the life of the mother, can be enforced.

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Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt Signs Bill Banning Nearly All Abortions

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) signed a bill into law Wednesday that bans nearly all abortions in the state and allows private citizens to sue anyone who “aids or abets” a woman seeking an abortion.

According to HB4327, abortions are prohibited in Oklahoma unless it is “necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency,” or the pregnancy “is the result of rape, sexual assault, or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.”

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Florida Officials React to SCOTUS Leak

In the wake of the national news that an initial draft of a United States Supreme Court decision had been leaked to the public indicating the high court’s intentions to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade case, Florida officials have both been chanting and jeering the news. Florida’s anti-abortion politicians have said this could be a good indicator, while pro-abortionists are worried this will lead to more restrictive abortion laws.

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Florida Judge Expected to Uphold Pro-Life Law

A Leon County, Fla. circuit judge, Angela Dempsey, is expected to uphold a 2015 Florida law requiring women seeking an abortion to wait 24 hours before going through the procedure. Dempsey indicated her decision earlier this week on Wednesday.

The order would be another indicator of a trend, nationally, of pro-life judicial and legislative victories. Even in predominately left-leaning states like Connecticut, its first ever March for Life garnered thousands of attendants.

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Texas Supreme Court Strikes Major Blow to Abortion Providers’ Lawsuit Against Heartbeat Abortion Ban

Infant with stuffed animal

The Supreme Court of Texas recommended Friday a lawsuit challenging the state’s “heartbeat” abortion ban should be dismissed since it is enforced by “private civil action,” and not state officials.

Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd concluded in the decision regarding the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, that state officials, such as medical licensing boards, cannot enforce the law that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected

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Florida State House Approves 15-Week Abortion Ban

The Florida State House approved a ban on abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy Thursday morning, adding to the list of Republican-led states that have modeled legislation after the Mississippi law that has been challenged and is now awaiting a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

HB 5, titled “Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality,” which prohibits physicians from performing abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, passed the Florida House by a vote of 78-39 following hours of debate.

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Ohio Legislature to Consider Texas-Style Abortion Ban

Ohio legislators introduced a bill Tuesday which would effectively ban abortions at all stages. This rule would be enforced through private litigation in the same manner as Texas’ Heartbeat Act.

The Ohio law would allow individuals to file civil lawsuits against anyone in Ohio who performs abortions or knowingly aids or abets abortions, including paying for abortions through insurance, Cleveland.com reported. Awards in such lawsuits are a minimum of $10,000 per abortion.

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Archbishop Slams Catholics Biden, Pelosi for Condemning Texas Abortion Law

Joe Biden, Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and Nancy Pelosi

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone emphasized Sunday that Catholics have a duty to challenge pro-abortion politicians like President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Late Wednesday night, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to deny abortion providers’ requests to block Texas’ new law banning abortion after 6 weeks. Both Biden and Pelosi issued statements condemning the Supreme Court ruling and the Texas law and promising to take action to reverse the pro-life legislation.

“This summer, we provoked an uproar by discussing whether public officials who support abortion should receive the sacrament of the Eucharist,” Cordileone wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “We were accused of inappropriately injecting religion into politics, of butting in where we didn’t belong.”

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Arizona Governor Doug Ducey Files Amicus Brief to Ask Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade

Doug Ducey

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Thursday joined 11 other Republican governors and filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to ask the court to overturn Roe v. Wade — which created a federal ban on preventing abortions.

“Every single life has immeasurable value. That includes children who are preborn — and I believe it’s each state’s responsibility to protect them. It is time for the U.S. Supreme Court to fix their mistake and return this authority to the individual states as the democratic process intends,” Governor Ducey said in a statement.

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Tennessee House Health Subcommittee Punts Bill Banning Abortion to 2022

After deferring action last week on a bill banning abortion completely, the Tennessee House Health Subcommittee decided to push their decision off until 2022. The “Rule of Law Life Act” was sponsored by State Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) initially, and taken up in the House by State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster).

As The Tennessee Star reported in early February, the bill saw movement quickly following its introduction. It declared that the Fourteenth Amendment extends the right to life to the unborn, and that life begins at conception.

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Judge Temporarily Blocks South Carolina Abortion Ban

A federal judge temporarily blocked South Carolina’s near total abortion ban Friday barely a day after the governor signed it into law.

Republican South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed the South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act into law Thursday after it overwhelmingly passed the state’s house Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis put a 14-day temporary restraining order on the law Friday, the Associated Press reported.

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Tennessee Star EXCLUSIVE: State Rep. Micah Van Huss Introduces Bill to Protect the Unborn through a ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Ban

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – State Representative Micah Van Huss (R-Jonesborough) is bringing forward a bill that will protect the unborn by banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Van Huss told The Tennessee Star that his bill, HB 0077 – carried by Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) in the Senate as SB 1236 – defines a viable pregnancy as opposed to a viable fetus. According to Van Huss’s amendment that makes the bill, the terms “viable” and “viability” mean the presence of an intrauterine fetus with a heartbeat. Van Huss explained to The Star, “After a viable pregnancy, there cannot be an abortion, and a viable pregnancy is after the heartbeat is detected.” As the sponsor of the bill, Van Huss said he believes the bill to be constitutional and added that the Supreme Court has only ever heard and argued a viable fetus – being able to live outside the womb – not a viable pregnancy. Should it be challenged after the bill passes, Van Huss said he is hopeful that the court “will err on the side of life, that they will see the rights that our unborn have.” Van Huss brought a Heartbeat Bill during the 110th Tennessee General Assembly…

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