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For more than a decade, the state has been trying and failing to chase Planned Parenthood out of Texas. Texas restricted and then banned abortion. The state removed Planned Parenthood affiliates from state-funded health programs and turned down federal dollars rather than allow Planned Parenthood to receive them. Planned Parenthood has been cut out of funding for cancer screenings, contraception, HIV prevention and sex education. Despite this concerted effort from the highest levels of state government, Planned Parenthood’s clinic doors have remained open in Texas. (Klibanoff, 8/15)

A virtual web of reproductive health groups is openly helping Texans circumvent legal and logistical barriers set in place by strict anti-abortion laws, including those that ban shipping abortion medications by mail. With a few clicks of the mouse, Texans seeking abortion pills can view a list of vetted providers, visit virtually with a clinician in Massachusetts and arrange for medication to be sent directly — even though prescribing the pills is illegal in the nation’s second-largest state. (Wolf and Pacheco, 8/14)

An abortion provider that planned to open a clinic in Beverly Hills offering procedures beyond 24 weeks of pregnancy is alleging that the city “colluded and conspired” with antiabortion activists to force out the clinic. It gave formal notice Monday of damage claims against local officials. The dispute illustrates that even in the bluest parts of America, abortion rights face serious challenges — especially when it comes to the most controversial procedures. (Jarvie, 8/14)

Abortion access. Gun safety. The treatment of immigrants. The size of the safety net. Ease of voting. LGBTQ rights. On any number of policy issues, red states and blue states have drifted apart from each other over the past three decades, widening the gaps between what families in different parts of the country pay in taxes, receive in benefits, and experience when interacting with the government. At the same time, the cost of housing in these states has diverged, too. Blue states have throttled their housing supply, leading to dramatic price increases and spurring millions of families to relocate to red states in the Sunbelt. (Lowrey, 8/15)

Despite three decades of advances in medical science, it is roughly just as dangerous now for new mothers in Missouri as it was 30 years ago, said Traci Johnson, a doctor at University Health. It shouldn’t be that way, she said. New reports from state agencies in Kansas and Missouri found that maternal outcomes had been getting worse in both states as of 2020, when the analyzed data ends. The majority of deaths that were recorded in both states were found to be preventable. (Bernard and Bayless, 8/14)