The Quickie: Arizona Supreme Court to Rule on Near-Total Abortion Ban Today

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: AZ Supreme Court will rule on near-total abortion ban and a state fights round up. 

ARIZONA SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON NEAR-TOTAL ABORTION BAN TODAY: 

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ARIZONA PRESS CALL AT 1:30 PM ET 

RSVP BY EMAIL HERE

Today at 1 PM ET, the Arizona Supreme Court will rule on the status of Arizona’s abortion laws and decide whether the state’s 15-week abortion ban stands, or whether the state’s Civil War-era, near-total ban on abortion can be enforced. 

At 1:30 PM ET, Planned Parenthood Arizona will hold a press call to share reactions to the ruling. PPAZ President and CEO Angela Florez and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jill Gibson will provide remarks, and a member of PPAZ’s legal team will be available for questions from the media. 

Reporters can RSVP by email here

 

STATE FIGHTS ROUND UP: As state legislative sessions wrap up, several bills are headed to governors’ desks for veto or approval. 

• Iowa: Gov. Kim Reynolds signed SF 2095, a state-level version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The federal and state RFRAs have been used to protect discriminatory actions or deny individual rights based on religious beliefs.
• Kansas: Several anti-sexual and reproductive health bills are headed to the desk of Gov. Kelly. These include SB 233, which bans gender-affirming care for trans and nonbinary young people; HB 2749, an onerous anti-abortion reporting bill; and HB 2436, which creates the crime of coercion to obtain an abortion. Measures bolstering anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers are also still under consideration. 
• Maine: Senate Republicans reject LD 780, a measure to enshrine the right to an abortion in the state constitution. The bill required supermajority approval in the Senate and the House to advance to the November ballot.
• Mississippi: In good news, two harmful parental consent bills died in the state legislature last week. HB 1100 would have blocked health care providers from providing care to a young person without parental consent, and HB 900 would have prohibited the state or government entities from substantially burdening a parent’s fundamental rights to direct the upbringing of their child.
• Missouri: Several bills attacking the initiative petition process continue to move forward. 
  • The House passed HJR 86, which among other provisions, would require the secretary of state to conduct a public forum for initiative petitions and mandate that those proposing initiative petitions be U.S. citizens. 
  • The House Elections and Elected Officials Committee approved SJR74 which would increase the threshold for a constitutional initiative to a majority vote in a majority of Congressional Districts — as opposed to a simple majority — and allow for the governor to call a special election for this initiative to go to the polls. 
  • The Senate Local Government and Elections Committee also advanced HB 1749 which requires signatures to be disqualified if the courts alter the summary statement and gives the attorney general and secretary of state the unprecedented authority to determine if the proposed language is constitutional.  
• Tennessee: Lawmakers passed HB 2435, a measure that would require schools to show a three-minute ultrasound or computer animation of a developing fetus as part of their “family life” curriculum and explicitly lists the video created by the anti-abortion group Live Action as an example of a compliant video. It now heads to the desk of Gov. Lee.
• Virginia: Gov. Youngkin vetoed four reproductive health care bills on Friday. SB 716 and HB 519 would have protected abortion care providers’ licenses. SB15 and HB 1539 would have protected those assisting with abortion from extradition.
• New Hampshire: Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an amendment, SB 461, that for the first time, would require abortion providers to tell the state where and when they’ve performed abortions, and share statistics about patients, medications used, and more. Several anti-LGBTQ+ bills are also moving including SB 371 which bans trans girls from playing on girls' sports teams; SB 421 which would require that teachers disclose confidential conversations with students to parents upon written request; SB 523 which allows a parent to challenge any school materials; and SB 562 which rolls back protections from 2018, allowing businesses and schools to discriminate against transgender Granite Staters.