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Abortion and race, two of America’s most volatile topics, have intersected in recent flare-ups related to the disproportionately high rate of abortion among black women. In Congress, Rep. Sean Duffy, a white Republican from rural Wisconsin, lambasted black members of Congress for failing to decry these high abortion numbers. The next day, Rep. Gwen Moore, a black Democrat from Milwaukee, fired back — accusing Duffy and his GOP colleagues of caring about black children only before they are born. In Missouri, a white GOP state legislator, Rep. Mike Moon, introduced a “personhood” bill that would effectively outlaw all abortions, and titled it the All Lives Matter Act. (Crary, 1/20)

Wisconsin Republicans took another step Wednesday in their push to defund Planned Parenthood, with the state Senate passing two bills that would cost the organization millions of dollars every year. One bill would require abortion providers to bill Medicaid only for the actual acquisition costs and dispensing fees for birth control drugs, a change that would cost Planned Parenthood an estimated $4.5 million per year. The other would take away about $3 million in federal grant money the organization receives every year. (Richmond, 1/20)

Republicans in the Wisconsin Senate on Wednesday approved bills overhauling the state's century-old hiring process and cutting funding for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. The Senate took up the bills reducing government payments to Planned Parenthood as a separate measure backed by abortion opponents remained stalled. The legislation that isn't advancing — at least for now — would ban research on aborted fetal tissue. (Marley and Stein, 1/20)

Some abortion clinics say they may have to close if the state establishes tough new standards that scored their first approval in the Florida House on Tuesday. Under the legislation (HB 233), abortion clinics in Florida would be held to the same or more stringent licensing standards than surgical centers, including staffing levels and building construction requirements. Supporters say the regulations, which would be determined by the Agency for Health Care Administration, would help protect women who seek out abortions. (Auslen, 1/19)

A Democratic-backed bill in the Iowa Senate designed to improve access to contraceptives, especially in rural Iowa, passed a first hurdle at the statehouse Wednesday. Under the bill, women on Medicaid, the government health care program for low-income Iowans, would receive a full year of birth control pills, instead of the current limit of three months. (Russell, 1/20)