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The Arizona State Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments Tuesday over whether a centuries-old near-total abortion ban will be reinstated. Currently, abortion is banned at 15 weeks or later in Arizona. Patients are required to make two appointments, the first for an in-person counseling session and the second at least 24 hours later for the abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that focuses on sexual and reproductive health. (Kekatos, 12/12)

Arizona is poised to take center stage in state-level battles over abortion this week when its highest court weighs whether to allow a near-total ban on the procedure to take effect. The case will kick off an election-year showdown over reproductive rights that is expected to heavily influence the outcomes of Arizona’s hypercompetitive 2024 races, including contests for Congress and the White House. Activists are gearing up to put an abortion-rights measure on the ballot in Arizona next year. (Collins and Kusisto, 12/10)

A pregnant Texas woman seeking an abortion after doctors confirmed her fetus has a deadly genetic condition has left Texas for the procedure after the state Supreme Court blocked her from receiving one, attorneys said Monday. Kate Cox, a mother of two from Dallas, is in her 21st week of pregnancy and doctors diagnosed her fetus with trisomy 18, a fatal disorder. They recommended an abortion to preserve her reproductive health – a procedure largely prohibited under several Texas laws. "She’s been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn’t wait any longer," said Nancy Northup, chief executive of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Cox in a lawsuit challenging the Texas abortion bans. (Villagran, Wagner and Jimenez, 12/11)

The Texas Supreme Court on Monday ruled doctors must use their “reasonable medical judgment” to determine when a patient qualifies for an abortion and called on the state’s medical board to issue more guidance. The high court’s decision struck down a lower court ruling allowing Kate Cox, the 31-year-old Dallas woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a typically fatal disorder, to get an abortion. It came hours after Cox’s lawyers announced she would leave the state for the procedure. (Goldenstein, 12/11)

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge to a precedent enabling states to enact laws prohibiting anti-abortion activists from approaching someone entering an abortion clinic. In 2000, the high court ruled that the First Amendment did not prohibit such a law in Colorado. Several of the Supreme Court’s conservatives have publicly cast doubt on the decision’s viability, concerns they again raised in the majority opinion overturning the constitutional right to abortion last year. Backed by anti-abortion and religious interests, a Catholic “sidewalk counselor” sought to have the precedent overturned by appealing her challenge to a Westchester County, N.Y., law to the high court. But in a brief order, the justices declined to hear the dispute. (Schonfeld, 12/11)

State lawmakers are fighting a proposal that would ban abortions in New Hampshire after 15 days gestation, and said Monday they plan to introduce a constitutional amendment protecting the right to abortion in the Granite State. The proposal would enshrine the right to abortion up to 24 weeks in the state constitution, allowing only abortions deemed “necessary” by a doctor after that point. The state’s current law allows abortions up to 24 weeks, with exceptions to protect the life of the mother or if the fetus receives a fatal diagnosis. (Gokee, 12/11)

Some South Dakota abortion rights groups do not support a potential ballot measure that aims to restore those rights. The groups say they have concerns about the measure’s language and the way it was drafted. “We are not telling people to donate, or volunteer,” said Samantha Chapman, advocacy manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota. “We are staying out of it. We’re not telling people to vote no or yes.” (Haiar, 12/11)

Indigenous Women Rising, a nonprofit organization that runs the only abortion fund catering to Native and Indigenous women, reported a 116% jump in the number of clients seeking financial help for the procedure, from 277 in 2021 to 600 in 2022, according to evidence submitted to the New Mexico state legislature. The group funded 220 abortions between January and August of this year, and also supports midwifery and doula services.  (Kochi, 12/12)