Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Three Republican-led states will be allowed to move forward with a lawsuit to restrict access to mifepristone, a Texas federal judge ruled Thursday, months after the Supreme Court rejected an earlier argument in the case. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who was appointed during President-elect Trump’s first term, said Idaho, Missouri and Kansas can intervene and file a complaint in the case that was originally brought by a group of anti-abortion activists and doctors. (Weixel, 1/16)

Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has rejected proposals that would have allowed Connecticut to stockpile mifepristone, a drug used to end pregnancies, according to a state legislator. (Golvala, 1/17)

Democratic North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein issued an executive order Thursday that he believes will further protect reproductive health care access across the state. The order directs Cabinet agencies to protect women’s medical privacy, protect doctors providing abortions in the state and not cooperate with efforts to impose penalties, investigations or prosecutions of those seeking reproductive health care like abortion. (O’Connell-Domenech, 1/16)

In advance of this year’s state legislative sessions, lawmakers are filing more than a dozen bills to expand abortion access in at least seven states, and a separate bill introduced in Texas seeks to examine the impact that the state’s abortion ban has had on maternal outcomes. Some were filed in direct response to ProPublica’s reporting on the fatal consequences of such laws. Others were submitted for a second or third year in a row, but with new optimism that they will gain traction this time. (Branstetter and Jaramillo, 1/17)

Four years after Trump left office the first time, the state of access looks radically different. Since the 2022 fall of Roe v. Wade, voters across the political spectrum have repeatedly shown they favor reproductive rights, even while voting for GOP lawmakers. It’s deterred some Republicans, Trump among them, from at least publicly endorsing restrictions that could be politically toxic. Still, once in office, Trump and his administration would have substantial power to further restrict abortion. And with Roe overturned, the avenues to do so are larger than they were last time. (Luthra, 1/16)