Fourteen States Deny Abortions to Over 65,000 Rape Victims Since Dobbs

Abortion bans are having a devastating effect on rape survivors who become pregnant. In the 18 months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, there were more than 500,000 reported and unreported rapes in the 14 states that have outlawed abortion throughout pregnancy, resulting in 65,000 rape-related pregnancies.

Of all the states, Texas had the highest number of rape-related pregnancies: 26,313—which was 45 percent of the total rape-related pregnancies in the 14 states evaluated.

Democracy and Women’s Rights in 2024

One reason women are losing the right to abortion is that men who do not support women’s rights have supermajority control of most state legislatures and Congress.

If we as a society want to address critical, life-affirming issues like healthcare, housing, education, childcare and anti-poverty programs, we must elect more women—because the men clearly aren’t going to do it.

Indigenous Leader Deb Haaland Is Creating a ‘Road to Healing’ for Survivors of Indian Boarding Schools

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has traveled across the country on a “Road to Healing” tour to hear the stories of Indigenous survivors of the federal Indian boarding school system and connect communities with trauma-informed support.

“I know that this process will be long and difficult,” said Haaland. “I know that this process will be painful. It won’t undo the heartbreak and loss we feel. But only by acknowledging the past can we work toward a future that we’re all proud to embrace.”  

Female Athletes Sue University of Oregon for ‘Hurtful, Outrageous Sex Discrimination’

Thirty-two current and former female student athletes at the University of Oregon filed a Title IX class-action lawsuit, alleging sex discrimination in athletic participation opportunities, financial aid, benefits and publicity.

“Title IX has been the law for more than 50 years. Oregon needs to comply with it, now,” said Arthur Bryant of the law firm Bailey & Glasser, which represents the plaintiffs. “The history of Title IX has shown: If women want equality, they need to fight for it. So that’s what the women at Oregon are doing.”

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Abortion Pill Case—Setting up an Abortion Ruling Before the 2024 Elections

The Supreme Court granted a request by the Department of Justice and the abortion pill maker Danco Laboratories to review a Fifth Circuit Court decision drastically limiting access to the abortion pill mifepristone. At the same time, the Supreme Court denied a request by the anti-abortion group Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine to reinstate a Texas district court decision staying the 2000 approval of mifepristone.

The case will be heard this term, with a decision likely by summer—just months before the next election, where voters will decide on the next U.S. president and who will represent them in Congress. While the Supreme Court considers the case, the medication will remain available as it has been. 

GenBioPro Appeals to Federal Court to Block West Virginia Abortion Ban 

GenBioPro, the nation’s only generic manufacturer of the abortion pill mifepristone, appealed the dismissal of a federal lawsuit challenging a West Virginia abortion ban that restricts access to the FDA-approved abortion medication mifepristone.

If successful, GenBioPro’s lawsuit could prevent states from banning mifepristone and could also protect access to other FDA-approved medications that have significant health benefits, such as vaccines.

The West Virginia court’s ruling could be helpful to people in states that still allow some abortions but block telemedicine abortion, such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin. 

United Nations Condemns U.S. Failure to Address Discrimination Against Women, Directs U.S. to Ratify ERA and CEDAW

The United Nations Human Rights Committee directed the U.S. to address rampant discrimination against women in American law and society, including epidemic rates of violence against women and girls as well as violations of their sexual and reproductive rights.

The committee specifically directed the U.S. government to recognize the fully ratified Equal Rights Amendment.

There’s Been a Major Increase in Abortion Pill Access—Thanks to COVID-19 and Dobbs

Over the last several years, in anticipation of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and in response to the COVID pandemic, activists developed interstate telemedicine abortion services and community support networks that are now providing abortion pills to people living in all 50 states, including states with bans.

As a result, abortion pills are now more accessible and affordable than ever before.

Diverse Stakeholders Implore Supreme Court to Preserve Abortion Pill Access

On Thursday, Oct. 12, a wide range of organizations filed 14 amicus curiae briefs supporting a Justice Department petition asking the United States Supreme Court to overturn a Fifth Circuit decision imposing nationwide limits on access to the abortion pill mifepristone. 

The opposition has until Nov. 9 to file response briefs in the case. If the justices take up the case, they could hear oral arguments early next year and issue a decision by late June 2024, which would likely factor into the fall elections.

Brick-and-Mortar Pharmacies Begin Dispensing Abortion Pills Across the U.S.

In January of 2023, the FDA announced the new certification process for pharmacies to dispense mifepristone. Last week, the pharmaceutical company GenBioPro announced the names of 18 brick-and-mortar pharmacies that are now dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone.

They are the first pharmacies to publicly acknowledge doing so after the FDA in late 2021 finally loosened medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone that blocked pharmacy distribution for decades.