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Infant mortality increased along with births in most states with abortion bans in the first 18 months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to new research. The findings, in two studies published Thursday in the journal JAMA, also suggest that abortion bans can have the most significant effects on people who are struggling economically or who are in other types of challenging circumstances, health policy experts said. (Belluck, 2/13)

Louisiana officials seeking to prosecute a New York doctor who sent abortion medication to a resident of that state were thrown a roadblock on Thursday, when New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, said she would block extradition attempts. Ms. Hochul’s declaration sets the stage for a likely battle in federal court over whether states that support abortion rights can protect doctors who provide abortion services to patients in states with abortion bans. (Belluck, Oreskes and Cochrane, 2/13)

A judge in Texas on Thursday fined a doctor from New York for prescribing abortion pills to a woman outside of Dallas in a ruling that could change the landscape of abortion law in Democratic states. Earlier Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) rejected a request from Louisiana to extradite the same doctor, Maggie Carpenter, who was charged for prescribing a Louisiana pregnant minor abortion pills. (Irwin, 2/13)

Voters chose to protect abortion rights last year, and Missouri Republicans are now responding with multiple plans to boost pregnancy centers that discourage abortions. One proposal, which would increase the current 70% tax credit for donations to qualified pregnancy resource centers to 100%, is quickly emerging as a partisan flashpoint in the current legislative session. (Suntrup, 2/13)

Democratic lawmakers are pushing for the federal government to better regulate anti-abortion centers, facilities that seek to dissuade people from terminating their pregnancies, The 19th is first to report. (Luthra, 2/13)

Anti-abortion activists and their allies in government are hoping this is the year they finally take down Planned Parenthood by going after the federal funding that makes up more than a third of the organization’s budget — with efforts moving simultaneously through Congress, the courts and the executive branch. ... The Supreme Court announced this week that it will hear arguments in April on South Carolina’s ability to strip Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood — a landmark case that could prompt dozens of GOP-controlled states to take a significant bite out of the organization’s finances. (Ollstein, 2/13)