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With no consensus on the real reason for the loss in a state dominated by Republicans, some are pleading with the GOP to move away from backing near-total bans with no exemptions to stave off further electoral disaster. (Ollstein, 8/10)

After Ohio voters turned out in unexpectedly high numbers Tuesday to reject a Republican-backed referendum that would have made it harder to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution, Democrats are eyeing new opportunities to highlight abortion rights in the 2024 election. They are pushing new ballot initiatives on abortion access in places like Arizona and Florida, calling out Republicans in states where bans are taking effect, and encouraging President Biden to speak out more forcefully on the issue as he pursues a campaign that so far has focused more on the economy. (Olorunnipa, Roubein and Marley, 8/9)

Groups opposed to Maine’s new law expanding abortion access won’t attempt to nullify the statute through a so-called People’s Veto referendum. Republican Rep. Laurel Libby, leader of the Speak Up for LIFE group, said Wednesday that allies have decided to focus their resources on electing candidates who are opposed to abortions instead of collecting signatures and running a referendum campaign. (Sharp, 8/9)

As the Utah Supreme Court reviewed the pending abortion ban Tuesday, attorneys defending the ban asked the five justices to focus on the intentions of the delegates who drafted the state constitution more than a century ago. It could be days or weeks before the Utah Supreme Court rules on whether to lift the injunction and allow the ban to take effect, the AP reported Tuesday. (Alberty, 8/9)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Voters Rejected An Anti-Abortion Measure. State GOP Lawmakers Passed A Similar Bill Anyway. 

In the months following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that gave states the power to ban abortion, voters in a half-dozen states spoke on the issue — and, in every case, chose to uphold abortion rights or reject an attempt to restrict them. Most recently, Ohio voters on Aug. 8 rejected a Republican-led effort to make it more difficult to change that state’s constitution, which would have set a higher bar for an abortion rights ballot initiative this fall. But the will of the electorate didn’t stop Republican lawmakers in one state, Montana, from passing a version of the anti-abortion proposal that voters rejected only months earlier. (Dennison, 8/10)

At the Minneapolis Institute of Art, there is a series of archival photographs on display that document a patient in the before-and-after process of a surgical abortion circa the 1980s. The series is part of the new Mia exhibition “The Last Safe Abortion” by Ohio-based artist Carmen Winant. The exhibition includes hundreds of historic, archival and contemporary photographs taken across the Midwest, defined by Winant as Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota and Ohio. (Cipolle, 8/9)

The state is requiring UMass Memorial Health to submit detailed explanations and workarounds for its planned closure of a Leominster hospital’s maternity unit after finding that the services are critical to maintaining health in the region. The determination, outlined in a letter addressed to the hospital, won’t stop the closure from happening but aims to protect some of the community’s most vulnerable residents. However, advocates are pointing to the Department of Public Health letter as justification for their position that the hospital should reverse its decision. They have called on the Healey administration to get involved to preserve the service. (Bartlett, 8/9)