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Articles on Abortion rights

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Pro-abortion rights activists rally in front of the Supreme Court on March 26, 2024, the day justices heard oral arguments about the use of mifepristone. Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images

Abortion drug access could be limited by Supreme Court − if the court decides anti-abortion doctors can, in fact, challenge the FDA

Two legal scholars who study abortion-related laws explain what happened at the Supreme Court in a case that could make it harder to get an abortion.
A protester marks the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision anniversary outside the Supreme Court building on June 23, 2023. Associated Press/Nathan Howard

Biden cannot easily make Roe v. Wade federal law, but he could still make it easier to get an abortion

While both Congress and the president have extensive legal powers, they cannot easily change the law to protect abortions under federal law.
Women who were denied abortions, despite serious pregnancy complications, appear outside the Texas Supreme Court in November 2023, following arguments in a lawsuit they brought against the state. Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images

Most state abortion bans have limited exceptions − but it’s hard to understand what they mean

Women in Texas and in other states with abortion bans are suing, asking for clarification on when medical exceptions could actually be granted.
Abortion rights supporters celebrate Issue 1 passing in Ohio on Nov. 7, 2023. Megan Jelinger/AFP via Getty Images

Abortion rights victories show this issue is unlikely to fade in 2024 elections − 3 things to know

The new constitutional amendment to protect the right to abortion in Ohio − as well as other wins for Democrats − shows the importance of ballot initiatives and focusing on abortion in elections.
U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, a Democrat from Missouri, after participating in an abortion rights sit-in on July 19, 2022, in Washington. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

White men have controlled women’s reproductive rights throughout American history – the post-Dobbs era is no different

In the US, white men have long had the power to make decisions about women’s reproductive health care. Those decisions have often been especially harmful to Black women.
People gather at the Marion County Republican Party headquarters after discussing Issue 1 on July 13, 2023, in Marion, Ohio. Maddie McGarvey/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

Ohio voters kept it easy to pass a constitutional amendment protecting abortion − but also for the majority to someday limit other rights

The recent push in Ohio to pass a constitutional amendment was seen as a move to curb abortion rights. It failed. Two scholars say the ballot measure was really about minority rights in a democracy.
Anti-abortion activists gather outside the Supreme Court building on April 15, 2023. Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post via Getty Images

An obscure 1800s law is shaping up to be the center of the next abortion battle – legal scholars explain what’s behind the Victorian-era Comstock Act

The 1873 Comstock Act makes it a crime to mail abortion drugs or medicine – raising legal questions about the law’s potential revival and influence over nationwide abortion laws.
Abortion rights protesters attend a rally outside the Michigan capitol building on June 24, 2022, following the United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Pro-choice crowdfunding has surged in the U.S. — but donating that way has risks

Crowdfunding campaigns are well-intentioned and have done a great deal of good on the abortion rights front, but there are less compromised venues for support available.
People volunteer at a Native Alaskan voting station on Nov. 2, 2022 in Anchorage. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

What’s at stake this Election Day – 7 essential reads

Voter demographics and policy priorities are two recurrent, big issues on Election Day – but shifts in election administration and voting laws are new challenges influencing the midterms.
A sign at a July 2022 abortion-rights protest in Santa Monica, California, recalls the country’s long history of trying to restrict access to reproductive health care. David McNew/Getty Images

Proposed federal abortion ban evokes 19th-century Comstock Act – a law so unpopular it triggered the centurylong backlash that led to Roe

US history suggests that Republican efforts to restrict reproductive rights will be difficult to enforce and widely reviled, undermining their effectiveness – and ultimately causing their demise.

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