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A federal lawsuit filed Friday in Atlanta is the latest effort by abortion providers and advocacy groups to challenge a wave of restrictive abortion laws passed in conservative-controlled state legislatures. Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit challenging a new Georgia law that effectively bans abortions about six weeks into a pregnancy. (Brumback, 6/28)

The law, which was passed by Republicans, will make abortion possible only in the first few weeks of a pregnancy absent a medical emergency, in many cases before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. It is due to take effect in January. "This law is an affront to the dignity and health of Georgians," the lawsuit, which was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of the plaintiffs, said. It said that Georgians, particularly black Georgians, already die from pregnancy-related causes at a higher rate than in most other U.S. states. (6/28)

"This law is an affront to the dignity and health of Georgians," reads the suit, which calls the abortion restriction an attack that is particularly aimed at low-income residents, people of color and those who live in rural areas. Those groups, it states, "are least able to access medical care and least able to overcome the cruelties of this law." (Chappell, 6/28)

State Attorney General Chris Carr's office said it is reviewing the complaint and declined to comment on pending litigation. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones. Any ruling in the case would almost certainly be appealed and the case could take years to work its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Prabhu, 6/28)

Georgia already faces a critical shortage of reproductive health care providers, the complaint notes. Nearly half of its 159 counties have no practicing obstetrician-gynecologists and the state has the nation’s highest maternal mortality rate. “Rather than working to end those preventable deaths, and rather than honoring Georgians’ reproductive health care decisions,” the complaint states, “the Legislature has instead chosen to criminalize abortion from the earliest stages of pregnancy.” (Jarvie, 6/28)

Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, a reproductive justice organization based in Georgia that is a plaintiff, said her group is "bringing this lawsuit to protect maternal health and reproductive rights so that every person — especially persons of color — can thrive in their families and communities as well as maintain their human right to make their own decisions about their reproductive lives." (Chuck, 6/28)

The move comes as several of the restrictive abortion laws coming out of red state legislatures are being taken to court, with the ACLU and Planned Parenthood challenging Arkansas' 18-week abortion ban on Thursday. Many conservative lawmakers anticipated the suits, having advanced the measures in hopes of eventually overturning Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. (Kelly, 6/28)

Federal judges this year blocked a similar ban in Mississippi, while a challenge to a six-week ban passed in Kentucky is pending. Opponents of six-week abortion bans say most women do not know they are pregnant at that point. (Frazin and Hellmann, 6/28)

The 36-page suit, Sistersong v. Kemp, argues that the Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act "criminalizes pre-viability abortions in direct conflict with Roe v. Wade," which establishes a woman's right to an abortion until about 24 weeks into pregnancy.  (Fowler, 6/28)

A federal judge blocked an Indiana law that would ban a second-trimester abortion procedure on Friday, just days before the law was set to come into force. The order putting the Indiana law on hold was released hours after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to revive a similar law in Alabama that sought to ban dilation and evacuation abortions. (Davies, 6/28)

The rise of so-called “abortion reversal” bills has alarmed leading medical groups that say such legislation forces physicians to give misleading, unscientific and potentially dangerous advice to women, undermining the trusted doctor-patient relationship. So far this year, five states ― North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arkansas — have passed legislation mandating that physicians counsel women that a medication abortion, a safe and common method for ending a pregnancy before 10 weeks, can be reversed. Similar laws are already on the books in South Dakota, Utah and Idaho. Arkansas expanded an existing law. (Jeltsen, 6/29)

Two doors down from a recently opened abortion clinic on Lincoln Way West is a sign put up by a Catholic man in his front yard. It displays an “abortion pill reversal” hotline number and says, “It may not be too late.” Rick Fodrocy, a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, put up the sign to catch the eye of clients at Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, which offers medication-induced abortions to women up to 10 weeks pregnant. (Booker, 6/30)

The abortion debate has expanded beyond state politics and into the 2020 presidential campaign. Nearly every Democrat vying for the nomination has spoken out against abortion bans. But politicians, activists and pundits on both sides have been misusing or misconstruing key terminology. Here's everything you need to know about some of the most common terminology used in the abortion discussion. (Hutzler, 6/25)