�鶹Ů��

House Republicans are teeing up two measures that signal their opposition to abortion ahead of the annual March for Life, but for the second year in a row are focusing not on abortion bans but on issues related to unwanted pregnancies in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. (Raman, 1/16)

Abortion news from Texas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Missouri, and North Carolina —

Two attorneys have asked the Texas Medical Board to clarify what qualifies as a medical exception to the state’s abortion laws, following the Texas Supreme Court’s rejection last month of a Dallas woman’s attempt to terminate her nonviable pregnancy. (Rubin, 1/16)

The American legal system has a message for women concerned about their abortion rights: Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your pharmacist is your friend. Thanks to a gaping loophole in federal health care regulations, some of our leading drug store chains turn over customers’ most sensitive private health care information to law enforcement agencies, even without a warrant. (Hiltzik, 1/16)

An Oklahoma lawmaker wants voters to enshrine into the state Constitution that personhood begins at conception. Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, said House Joint Resolution 1046 would make it more difficult for the Oklahoma Supreme Court justices to “ignore the rights of the unborn” in their rulings. “The justices have this habit of when that issue comes before them, they consider the rights of the woman, which is proper, but they do not consider that the baby also has a right to life,” Olsen said. (Stecklein, 1/16)

After coming up short at the Capitol for more than a decade, backers of a Minnesota equal rights amendment view 2024 as their moment. Ahead of the 2024 legislative session, they’re tweaking a proposed addition to Minnesota’s Constitution to address new concerns around equality. That has meant explicitly spelling out rights to pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, though authoring groups have not formally agreed to the final draft. (Ferguson, 1/16)

Reproductive rights activists in Missouri agree they want to get a ballot measure before voters this fall to roll back one of the strictest abortion bans in the country and ensure access. The sticking point is how far they should go. The groups have been at odds over whether to include a provision that would allow the state to regulate abortions after the fetus is viable, a concession supporters of the language say will be needed to persuade voters in the conservative state. It’s a divide that’s not limited to Missouri. (Fernando and Ballentine, 1/16)

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the state’s second highest-ranking elected official and its leading Republican candidate for governor in 2024, once hailed banning abortion as his top priority, advocating for its complete ban without exceptions. “For me, there is no compromise on abortion. It makes no difference to me why or how that child ended up in that womb,” he said in July 2020 while campaigning for lieutenant governor. ... Now, as the 2024 GOP front-runner for governor, Robinson avoids mentioning abortion on the campaign trail, claiming recently that he stopped using what he calls the “a-word,” preferring instead to use the word “life.” (Kaczynski and Steck, 1/17)

On postpartum depression and fertility —

The first pill for postpartum depression approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is now available, but experts worry that minority and low-income people, who are disproportionately affected by the condition, won’t have easy access to the new medication. (Hassanein, 1/16)

At a time when increased abortion restrictions are stoking the demand for shared responsibility, Bill Prentice wants to reinvent the vasectomy. Prentice, 58, a Wall Street trader-turned-entrepreneur, has received regulatory clearance for his five-year-old company, Signati Medical, to test a device he says will bring “a new level of comfort, safety, and speed” to a procedure that’s seen little innovation in the past century. ... If the Food and Drug Administration green-lights Signati’s device, Prentice, the CEO, wants to broadcast the first approved use of the company’s procedure — on himself — on live television. (Weisman, 1/16)

Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine say a new method can better predict the quality of embryos used for in vitro fertilization, potentially raising the odds of a successful pregnancy for those relying on assisted reproductive technology. (Balthazar, 1/17)