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One year after FDA approves over-the-counter birth control pill, advocates push for more access
Sriha Srinivasan remembers how surprised her mom was two years ago when she learned that birth control pills weren’t sold in stores without a prescription in the United States. “My parents are immigrants from India, and it’s been over the counter there since my mom can remember,” said Srinivasan, a recent graduate of University of […]
Supreme Court justices appear split over whether to protect abortion care during emergencies
U.S. Supreme Court justices spent two hours Wednesday debating whether a federal law about emergency treatment encompasses abortion care even in states with strict abortion bans, with no clear indication of how they may ultimately rule. A decision could come as soon as the end of June to decide whether Idaho’s near-total abortion ban means […]
Health and Human Services increases loan forgiveness for OBs, midwives who practice in rural areas
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday a $25,000 increase in loan forgiveness available to primary care providers in designated underserved areas. That means qualifying individuals are eligible for up to $75,000 in forgiveness if they commit to two full-time years of service. The amount is available to medical and osteopathic doctors, […]
Child care costs far outpace wages, but dependent care tax credit stuck at 2001 rate
The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly last week to assist low-income families through an expansion of the child tax credit and the bill now awaits approval in the Senate. But some organizations are also highlighting a separate tax credit for child and dependent care, which they say is not providing adequate assistance to families […]
Legislators in 49 states ask SCOTUS to preserve access to abortion pill
A group of more than 600 Democratic legislators from 49 states have signed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court urging the justices to overturn an appellate court decision that would roll back access to mifepristone, one of two drugs used to safely terminate early pregnancies and treat miscarriages. The amicus brief, also called […]
Anti-abortion ‘abolitionists’ take slavery rhetoric to the next level
The first time Tina Marshall heard anti-abortion protesters call themselves “abolitionists,’” she said she burst out laughing. Marshall, a Black woman who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, was counter protesting at an abortion clinic when a mostly white group — save one Black woman — surrounded her and told her they were abolitionists. “I rolled […]
Male anti-abortion religious leaders mull murder charges for pregnant people at national event
An all-male panel of anti-abortion religious leaders from around the country met Friday night to discuss the strategies that should be used to end abortion in every state at any stage of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape and incest, and with criminal punishment for the pregnant person in line with existing criminal penalties for murder, […]
FDA approves first over-the-counter oral contraceptive
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday it has approved the country’s first daily birth control pill that can be used without a prescription, a move that reproductive health advocates celebrated after more than 20 years of advocating for an over-the-counter option. The contraceptive, called Opill, is a progestin-only oral pill that could soon become available […]
Echoing history, reliance upon travel rises for abortion care post-Dobbs
Editor’s note: This report is part of a special States Newsroom series on abortion access one year after the U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down the federal right to abortion. When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision one year ago, people of childbearing age in states across the country suddenly faced what seemed […]
Appeals court judges embrace anti-abortion speculation
America’s major medical institutions and drug policy scholars have roundly denounced as “pseudoscience” many of the claims brought by anti-abortion groups in a high-profile federal lawsuit asking the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its 23-year-old approval of mifepristone, one half of a two-drug regimen that has become the most common form of pregnancy termination […]
Post-Roe abortion bans force pregnant people with life-threatening complications to travel
Jennifer Adkins’ first pregnancy was near-perfect. She sailed through her appointments and screenings with no complications, ticking every box and making lists of all the right questions to ask her medical professionals. By the time her unmedicated labor was over and the nurses placed her newborn son on her chest, Adkins felt like a superhero. […]
Ending a pregnancy in 14 states leaves few options. Some are looking to Europe and India for help.
The pills came in a dark salmon-colored envelope sealed with a plastic covering that traveled more than 7,000 miles, over a dozen time zones from Nagpur, India, in almost exactly one week. They were placed partially under the doormat of a home in a state with one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the […]