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The Texas Medical Board’s attempt to clarify when doctors can legally perform emergency abortions falls short and could make working under the state’s near-total ban even worse, dozens of doctors, lawyers and patients warned during a public hearing Monday. The proposed rules, which the board unveiled in March, do not lay out a list of conditions or situations that warrant an emergency abortion. (Goldenstein, 5/20)

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is leading a charge to protect access to in vitro fertilization as conservative states scramble to figure out where IVF fits in the new anti-abortion legal landscape. On Monday, Cruz and Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, both conservative, anti-abortion Republicans, filed the IVF Protection Act, which would make states ineligible to receive Medicaid funding if they ban IVF. (Klibanoff, 5/20)

As some Republicans try to moderate their messaging on abortion over concerns about voter backlash this November, some activists are trying to go much further. Outside a fertility clinic in Charlotte, N.C., last month, dozens of protestors lined both sides of the street, as some shouted toward the closed front door. ... The protest was organized by a group of activists who describe themselves as abortion abolitionists, who recently spent a long weekend in Charlotte meeting and strategizing. (McCammon, 5/21)

Nevada abortion rights supporters said Monday they have enough signatures on a petition to qualify for a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution. Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the organization behind the petition, said it has collected more than 200,000 signatures from voters in all 17 counties, double the 102,362 threshold required to qualify for the November 2024 election. (Kekatos, 5/21)

The abortion rights position has won in seven of seven states post-Roe v. Wade. But Arizona and Florida are especially big — as are the margins by which their ballot measures lead. (Blake, 5/20)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Watch: Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding Abortion Ban States

On �鶹Ů�� Health News’ “What the Health?,” chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner interviewed Atul Grover of the Association of American Medical Colleges about its recent analysis showing that graduating medical students are avoiding training in states with abortion bans and major restrictions. (Rovner, 5/21)

Looking to expand access to medication abortion even further in Illinois, Planned Parenthood is allowing people to request access to the drugs without seeing a doctor. Patients who are up to 10 weeks pregnant can fill out screening questions on the Planned Parenthood Direct app any time of the day and provide an Illinois address where their medication abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol would be mailed if they qualify. (Schorsch, 5/21)