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Attorneys for both sides in a challenge to Wyoming abortion restrictions that include the nation’s first explicit ban on medication to end pregnancy urged a judge Thursday to uphold or strike down the new laws without holding a trial. A ruling either way would likely be appealed to the Wyoming Supreme Court. Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens in Jackson didn’t immediately rule after the arguments, however, saying the complex constitutional questions in the case would take time to assess. (Gruver, 12/14)

An attorney for Idaho asked a judge on Thursday to throw out a lawsuit seeking clarity about the medical exemptions to the state’s broad abortion bans, saying it was based on hypothetical situations rather than current facts. But an attorney for the four women and several physicians who sued says their claims aren’t hypothetical at all, but real-life tragedies happening in doctors’ offices and homes across the state. (Boone, 12/14)

As promised, abortion providers who are challenging the “heartbeat” ban filed an amended complaint this week, asking a court to permanently block the state from enforcing the law now that a majority of Ohio voters passed the reproductive rights constitutional amendment. (Hancock, 12/14)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News' 'What the Health?': Abortion And SCOTUS, Together Again 

The Supreme Court this week agreed to hear a case that could further restrict abortion — even in states where it remains legal. The case to determine the fate of the abortion pill mifepristone is the first major abortion case to come before the court since its overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. It could also set a precedent for judges to second-guess scientific rulings by the FDA. (12/14)

The number of people crossing state lines to Minnesota to get an abortion spiked after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, new data show. The number of out-of-state patients jumped from 9% in 2020 to 30% in 2023 over the same time period, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. Nationwide, one in five patients are traveling out of state for an abortion. (Cummings, 12/14)

A Texas woman’s unsuccessful legal fight for an abortion on medical emergency grounds drew nationwide headlines in recent days, but her plight is hardly a rare occurrence amid vague and highly restrictive state laws in the post-Roe era. Kate Cox is likely one of hundreds, if not thousands, of Texans who’ve faced a similar struggle this year to get an abortion for medical reasons, according to a STAT review of studies and abortion data from other states. (Goldhill, 12/15)

Ambiguities in Texas's abortion ban are making it harder for businesses in the state to recruit, a coalition of businesses argued on Thursday. Fifty-one businesses have signed onto an amicus brief filed by in-house counsel at dating site Bumble, which was filed in support of 22 women suing the state over the abortion ban. (Elbein, 12/14)

Egg freezing, or oocyte preservation, was once considered an experimental procedure. But since the American Society for Reproductive Medicine dropped that designation in 2012, more people than ever are putting their hopes of parenthood on ice. There was a 400 percent increase in the number of people freezing their eggs between 2012 and 2020 according to the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology. (12/14)