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A Nebraska judge on Friday rejected an effort to block a ban on abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy and restrictions on gender-affirming surgery. Lancaster County District Court Judge Lori Maret sided with the state and allowed a law approved by the Nebraska Legislature earlier this year to remain in effect. (McFetridge, 8/11)

Just weeks ago, Iowa conservatives lit up with excitement when Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a new six-week abortion ban — an event she orchestrated shortly after the state Supreme Court ruled that an earlier six-week ban would remain blocked. But much of the excitement has dimmed amid questions over whether a conservative justice, whose recusal in the first case led to that outcome, will again sit it out. Such a decision could, once more, scramble conservative efforts to keep the strict abortion law in place. (Edelman, 8/11)

As Idahoans adjust to the reality of abortion bans, local and national organizations are offering resources to navigate the state’s new confusing legal landscape. (Luchetta, 8/13)

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday said he would support a federal ban on abortion after the first three months of pregnancy, but his campaign later said he “misunderstood” the question. Speaking to NBC from the Iowa State Fair, Kennedy said, “I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the women during the first three months of life,” but added: “Once a child is viable, outside the womb, I think then the state has an interest in protecting the child.” (Cohen, 8/13)

Ashley just had a baby. She’s sitting on the couch in a relative’s apartment in Clarksdale, Miss., wearing camo-print leggings and fiddling with the plastic hospital bracelets still on her wrists. It’s August and pushing 90 degrees, which means the brown patterned curtains are drawn, the air conditioner is on high, and the room feels like a hiding place. Peanut, the baby boy she delivered two days earlier, is asleep in a car seat at her feet, dressed in a little blue outfit. Ashley is surrounded by family, but nobody is smiling. ... Ashley was discharged from the hospital only hours ago, but there are no baby presents or toys in the room, no visible diapers or ointments or bottles. Almost nobody knows that Peanut exists, because almost nobody knew that Ashley was pregnant. She is 13 years old. Soon she’ll start seventh grade. In the fall of 2022, Ashley was raped by a stranger in the yard outside her home, her mother says. For weeks, she didn’t tell anybody what happened, not even her mom. (Alter, 8/14)

The federal government promises free health care for Native Americans, which it provides through both federally-operated clinics and funding for Native American tribes and private organizations to run their own clinics. The federal government requires its own clinics to provide emergency contraception, but many tribally-run clinics do not. (van Waasbergen and Erbach, 8/11)

Family Care Health Centers in Carondelet is celebrating an award it received this week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for supporting mothers who breastfeed. The health clinic is one of four Missouri Women, Infants and Children offices recognized for hiring people from the program's target population to serve as peer counselors for breastfeeding mothers. WIC serves many low-income and African American mothers who are statistically less likely to breastfeed. (Halloran, 8/11)