The Week in Abortion

1.13.25 - 1.17.25

I know we’re all still reeling from the news of Cecile Richards’ death. I wrote a few words about her legacy earlier today:

Everything We Could

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Criminalizing Pregnancy

Per usual, there was a ton happening last week in abortion rights news. But there was one issue that kept coming up again and again: criminalization.

On Thursday, I broke the news that four states—South Carolina, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Indiana—are considering legislation that would punish abortion patients as murderers. (Three of those states have the death penalty.) What’s more, a dozen Texas legislators have pledged to bring forward similar legislation. This aligns with my 2025 predictions about the normalization of so-called abortion ‘abolitionists,’ who push for ‘equal protection’ for fetuses and embryos under criminal law. Full story here.

In better criminalization news, Brittany Watts—the Ohio woman wrongfully prosecuted for ‘abuse of a corpse’ after miscarrying—has brought a lawsuit against the hospital where she was ‘treated,’ the police officer who interrogated her as she awaited surgery, the doctor who denied her care, and the nurses who turned her in despite having done nothing illegal. What’s more, Watts’ lawyers allege that the police and nurses conspired to fabricate evidence against her. Full story here.

Unfortunately, stories like Watts’ are not uncommon. Since Roe was overturned, there’s been a marked increase in pregnancy-related arrests. I updated you last week, for example, on an Idaho teenager arrested for placing a deceased newborn in a ‘baby box.’ The teen wasn’t charged with anything suggesting that she caused her baby’s death, but with the seemingly unrelated charge of ‘failing to report a death.’ (As this 2024 report from If/When/How lays out, this is a common tactic.) Full story here.

It’s not just abortion patients that Republicans are after: On Monday, I told you about new legislation in Mississippi that would punish anyone who helped a minor get an abortion with twenty years to life in prison. Under this bill, even a grandmother who gives her 17-year-old granddaughter gas money to seek care out-of-state could face life in prison. Similar laws that passed in Tennessee and Idaho have faced legal challenges and been blocked; the Republican behind Mississippi’s bill crafted it using lessons from those court battles. Full story here.

Legislation Watch

• A new Nebraska bill would prohibit prosecutions based on pregnancy outcomes—whether it’s abortion, miscarriage, or stillbirth.

• A Wyoming Republican introduced legislation that would mandate women view ultrasounds and hear the fetal ‘heartbeat’ before being allowed to use abortion medication.

• Kentucky lawmakers are trying to add ‘exceptions’ to the state’s abortion ban, with two different bills—one from a Democrat and one from a Republican.

• And in Texas, Republicans introduced multiple bills targeting abortion medication: one classifying the pills as a ‘controlled substance,’ another labeling mailing abortion medication as a ‘deceptive trade practice,’ and one that bans pro-choice websites.

In the Courts

We had two major updates on repro rights cases last week:

First, I reported that the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that health plans cover preventive care—including birth control. In their filing, the plaintiffs claim the ACA forces them to cover “all F.D.A.-approved contraceptive methods, including methods that some regard as abortifacients.” Full story here.

And on Thursday, ultra-conservative Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that the Attorneys General of Kansas, Missouri, and Idaho can have their anti-mifepristone case heard in Texas—despite the fact that none of those states, obviously, are Texas! But the Republican AGs wanted to get their case in front of Texas-based Kacsmaryk because of his anti-abortion extremism. Full story here, but also read Abortion, Every Day’s explainer on the suit below:

The GOP's Attack on Abortion Pills is Here