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A federal appeals court won't allow Arkansas to enforce a law that critics say would make the state the first in the U.S. to effectively ban abortion pills. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied a request by the state to put on hold a judge's order preventing Arkansas from enforcing the law, which says doctors who provide the pills must hold a contract with a physician with admitting privileges at a hospital who agrees to handle any complications. (DeMillo, 8/23)

Abortion rights opponents who challenged the University of Minnesota's use of aborted fetal tissue for medical research have lost an appeal. The ruling issued Monday by the state Court of Appeals says the lawsuit filed in 2016 by Pro-Life Action Ministries is moot because the Legislature clarified the law, allowing the research, while the case was pending. (8/23)

The federal appeals court in Atlanta has struck down an Alabama law that would have allowed criminal prosecutions of doctors who performed a commonly used procedure for second-trimester abortions. The so-called “fetal demise” law would have required doctors to perform additional procedures before conducting a dilation and evacuation abortion, in which the fetus is removed in pieces with forceps and suction. (Rankin, 8/23)