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The Iowa Supreme Court struck down a rule on Friday that would have prohibited doctors from using telemedicine to dispense abortion-inducing pills to patients in remote clinics around the state, saying the ban placed an “undue burden” on a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. Planned Parenthood clinics in Iowa have been using telemedicine to provide medication-induced, nonsurgical abortions since 2008, seeing it as a way to expand access to women living in the state’s many rural areas. (Goodnough, 6/19)

The Iowa Supreme Court has struck down a restriction that would have prevented doctors from administering abortion-inducing pills remotely via video teleconferencing, saying it would have placed an undue burden on a woman's right to get an abortion. Iowa is one of only two states that offers so-called telemedicine abortions — Minnesota offers them on a smaller scale — and doctors at Iowa's urban clinics that perform abortions had been allowed to continue offering the remotely-administered abortions while the ruling was pending. (Pitt and Rodriguez, 6/19)

Some questions and answers on Friday's Iowa Supreme Court ruling and its impact: Q: How does the Planned Parenthood telemedicine abortion system work? A: Doctors in urban clinics use a video-conferencing system to interact with patients in outlying clinics. The doctors view sonograms, blood tests and medical records via computer. If they decide a woman is eligible for a medical abortion, the doctors enter a computer command that opens a drawer in front of the woman. The patient reaches in the drawer, withdraws pill bottles and takes the first pill as the doctor watches. Then the patient goes home and has what amounts to an induced miscarriage. (Leys, 6/19)

Gov. Terry Branstad's administration could seek a federal appeal of Friday's Iowa Supreme Court decision on telemedicine abortions, but he would have a tough time winning, a Drake University law professor predicted. "I think it would be a very uphill battle," said Mark Kende, director of Drake's Constitutional Law Center. (Leys, 6/20)

The Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling that allows telemedicine-delivered abortions could indirectly lead to looser restrictions on the practice in other states, according to attorneys consulted about Friday’s decision, and might provide legal backing for telemedicine in general. (Pittman, 6/19)

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a request from Texas abortion providers to temporarily put on hold a ruling that could leave Texas with nine abortion facilities. Abortion providers had asked the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to delay its own ruling upholding most provisions of House Bill 2 — including requiring nearly all of Texas’ abortion facilities that perform the procedure to meet hospital-like standards — while they take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Ura, 6/19)

Abortion is back before the Supreme Court, and the justices could signal by the end of June whether they are likely to take up the biggest case on the hot-button subject in nearly a quarter-century. If the court steps in, the hearing and the eventual ruling would come amid the 2016 presidential campaign. (Sherman, 6/22)

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said Saturday that her organization has no immediate plans to build more abortion clinics in Texas, where only eight facilities are likely to remain if another round of strict regulations takes effect July 1. Only the U.S. Supreme Court can now stop Texas from forcing abortion facilities to be constructed like surgical centers, and prevent a second major wave of clinic closures statewide in as many years. Texas had 41 abortion clinics in 2012. (Weber, 6/20)