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A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a provision of Arizona’s new abortion ban hours before it was set to take effect, which would have prohibited abortions solely due to a diagnosis of a genetic abnormality or other fetal condition. In the order granting a partial preliminary injunction against the law, Judge Douglas L. Rayes for the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona wrote that because doctors are required to inform patients of this provision, those who wish “to terminate her pre-viability pregnancy because of a fetal genetic abnormality” may inevitably “conceal this information from or lie to her doctor, neither of which fosters trust or encourages open dialogue.”  (Castronuovo, 9/28)

A judge has blocked a key portion of a new Arizona law that would have let prosecutors bring felony charges against doctors who knowingly terminate pregnancies solely because the fetuses have a genetic abnormality such as Down syndrome. U.S. District Judge Douglas Rayes on Tuesday also threw out another provision that would have let prosecutors bring charges against anyone who helped raise money or pay for abortions done solely because of genetic abnormality. (9/29)

A case that’s before the Texas Supreme Court this fall could have strong implications for the future of the state’s newly adopted abortion ban, the most prohibitive in the nation. The suit relates to a 2019 law that, like the abortion law, was authored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola. Known as the “Save Chick-fil-A” law, it allows anyone to sue when they believe a governmental entity has taken “adverse actions” against a person or company based on its support for a religious organization, as Republican lawmakers believed the city of San Antonio did when excluding the fast-food restaurant from its airport. (Goldenstein, 9/28)

Early next month, one day before the Women's March, an outspoken pro-life Democrat will launch a new organization dedicated to uniting feminists and progressives against abortion and pressuring the Democratic Party to oppose the killing of unborn babies. Terrisa Bukovinac, a self-identified Democrat liberal atheist who founded Pro-Life San Francisco and temporarily served as the president of Democrats for Life of America, is set to announce the name of her new organization at a launch event in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 1, featuring 20 young progressive activists. Bukovinac explained to Fox News, "The Democratic establishment is completely out of touch with their constituents on the issue of abortion." (O'Neil, 9/28)

More than 100 abortion rights protesters have rallied inside the Ohio Statehouse and briefly entered the Senate chamber on Tuesday. The protesters chanted and carried signs, first outside the Statehouse, then in the Rotunda, then in the Senate. State troopers escorted the protesters from the Senate chamber, where lawmakers had just adjourned their Tuesday session. (Landers, 9/28)

For years, Ohio's fight over abortion access has been waged in a predictable pattern.The state's GOP-controlled Legislature and Republican governor would enact an abortion restriction – everything from reducing the number of weeks the procedure is legal to adding hurdles for doctors who perform them. Then, abortion providers or their allies would sue and a federal judge would block the law before it takes effect. But a Mississippi case before the U.S. Supreme Court threatens to break that loop. The court's new conservative majority could overturn the landmark abortion decision Roe v. Wade, forcing states to decide when abortion is legal. (Balmert, 9/28)

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch wants to “empower” American women by abolishing their constitutional right to an abortion. In an interview Thursday with Eternal Word Television Network, the Republican attorney general explained that outlawing abortion will help women who are forced to birth children, giving them “a chance to really redirect their lives.” These women “have all these new and different opportunities” that did not exist when Roe came down in 1973, Fitch said. And so, according to Fitch, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the upcoming Supreme Court case that could overturn Roe v. Wade, will not be a tragedy but a blessing.*This argument crops up in Mississippi’s Dobbs brief, in which Fitch claimed that women simply do not need abortion access any longer. “Numerous laws enacted since Roe—addressing pregnancy discrimination, requiring leave time, assisting with childcare, and more—facilitate the ability of women to pursue both career success and a rich family life,” she wrote. It is shocking to hear this claim from Fitch, whose state refuses to enact laws that would grant basic protections and security to new and expectant mothers. (Allen and Stern, 9/27)