Developments in Abortion, Autonomy, and Access:
This week’s Digest goes through a federal judge’s ruling that a constitutional right to abortion exists in cases involving the health of the patient, an order pausing the Trump Administration’s attempted overhaul of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, an Oklahoma law criminalizing possession of medication abortion, and Massachusetts’ new law expanding abortion rights. We also discuss Trump’s pick for FDA Commissioner, a multi-state legal battle over a surrogate who fled to Texas, a new 50-state telehealth provider, Texas’s failure to report on key maternal mortality indicators, and new anti-abortion tactics to block access to care. As always, please read on to the end for the news that you need to know.
Legislation & Litigation:
Overview:
Three Republican states have filed a lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to strike down shield laws protecting reproductive healthcare;
Trial has ended in a California lawsuit over anti-abortion groups’ promotion of so-called abortion pill reversal;
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is reportedly investigating reproductive healthcare providers and advocacy groups, issuing sweeping requests for patient, provider, and donor information;
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a partial block on Tennessee’s abortion trafficking ban;
Two Oklahoma women filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s abortion ban after being denied care for devastating fetal diagnoses; and
A federal court has dismissed a case challenging harmful changes to Title X funding.
A Federal Judge Ruled that There is a Constitutional Right to Abortion in Order to Preserve a Patient’s Health:
In a groundbreaking ruling, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill struck down key provisions of Idaho’s near-total abortion ban, ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses guarantee a fundamental right to abortion when pregnancy poses a serious threat to a patient’s physical health or risk of self-harm. In an 81-page decision stemming from a lawsuit brought by a maternal-fetal medicine specialist represented by the Lawyering Project and Legal Voice, the court enjoined state prosecutors from criminally prosecuting Idaho physicians who provide necessary abortion care to preserve a patient’s health. Rejecting state arguments that bodily autonomy yields to government mandate, Judge Winmill wrote that a pregnant person’s health is not a state resource to be allocated at the legislature’s whim. Judge Winmill’s ruling does not relitigate Dobbs, nor does it rely on the privacy-based constitutional grounds that led to Roe’s determination that abortion was a fundamental right. Instead, the court found that the right to health-preserving abortion is separately protected under the Constitution’s guarantees of liberty. While the ruling represents a critical federal constitutional precedent affirming health-preserving care, state officials have already vowed to appeal, and civil enforcement mechanisms under state law remain an ongoing threat to providers.
A Federal Court has Halted the Trump Administration’s Abrupt Changes to the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program:
In late June, the Trump Administration abruptly cancelled nearly $70 billion in federal grants under HHS’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. The grants were cancelled two years prior to their expiration and grantees were reportedly told that their programs “normalize[] or promote[] sexual activity for minors” and did not align with the administration’s priorities. New notices of grant opportunities indicated that future applicants must demonstrate that their program aligns with the administration’s priorities - which seem to include abstinence-only and “fertility awareness” education, rather than a robust and evidence-based sex-ed curriculum. Following the grant cancellations, several impacted organizations sued, alleging various constitutional and Administrative Procedure Act violations. On August 19th, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued an order halting the administration’s actions - though he stopped short of ordering reinstatement of the grant money. HHS is all but certain to appeal Judge Cooper’s decision up to the D.C. Circuit.
Oklahoma Law Criminalizing Possession of Abortion Pills Is In Effect:
Last week, an Oklahoma law creating a felony trafficking charge for possession or delivery of abortion pills took effect. The bill subjects alleged violators to up to 10 years in prison, a $100,000 fine or both. It carves out immunity for the pregnant person. Although Oklahoma already enforces a total abortion ban, the law is a clear attempt to crack down on access to telehealth abortion, which has allowed pregnant people in all 50 states to continue to access care. Oklahoma Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, the author of the bill, framed it as protecting “vulnerable women who have too often been coerced or deceived into taking [medication abortion] pills with no medical care or support.” Despite anti-abortion activists’ frequent use of talking points around coercion, the danger of medication abortion, and protecting women, research has consistently shown that medication abortion is highly safe and effective and that abusers are far more likely to coerce their partners into remaining pregnant or to sabotage birth control than they are to force an abortion.
Massachusetts Governor Signs Legislation to End Abortion Limitations After 24 Weeks:
Last week, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act into law, eliminating the state’s 24-week gestational limit and placing healthcare decisions firmly back in the hands of patients and their trusted medical providers. This legislation directly addresses systemic barriers that previously forced patients facing severe pregnancy complications and heartbreaking fetal diagnoses to travel hundreds of miles and pay out of pocket for essential care. By removing the government from reproductive healthcare decisions and placing authority in the hands of physicians and patients, the new law establishes Massachusetts as a vital sanctuary for comprehensive reproductive freedom.
Trend and Policy Watch:
President Trump Taps White House Aide Dr. Heidi Overton to Lead FDA:
President Trump has reportedly tapped Dr. Heidi Overton to be the new Commissioner of the FDA, following the departure of Dr. Marty Makary earlier this year. Dr. Overton is the deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She has seemingly been active in the Trump Administration’s anti-vax policies, appearing beside him when he announced a new policy to split the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccinations into three separate vaccines and repeated the long-debunked talking point that vaccines cause autism. Dr. Overton has been critical of medication abortion and called for its regulation. If confirmed as head of the FDA, she will be in a key position to guide the administration’s actions with respect to access to medication abortion, including ongoing litigation seeking to limit availability to care.
A Surrogate Has Ignited a Multi-State Legal Battle After Fleeing to Texas Following a Severe Fetal Diagnosis:
Anti-abortion groups and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton injected state power into a complex, tragic, medical dispute involving a surrogate who fled to Texas after refusing to honor a surrogacy contract following a severe fetal heart diagnosis. Earlier this year, a California couple expecting a child via surrogate received a devastating fetal diagnosis at 20 weeks. The surrogate, supported by anti-abortion group Live Action and represented by the far-right legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, relocated to Texas in an apparent bid to avoid termination and force delivery under the state’s abortion ban. She then asked a Dallas court to grant her parental rights, and Paxton intervened, demanding court-ordered medical intervention while falsely accusing the biological parents of refusing care. A judge subsequently issued a temporary restraining order stripping the surrogate of medical decision-making authority, prohibiting her from holding herself out as the parent, and mandating that the child receive necessary medical care. The child’s parents are now with him as he receives care in Texas. The case is an extreme example of anti-abortion groups weaponizing abortion bans, twisting narratives, and politicizing highly personal circumstances in order to further their agenda.
A North Carolina Teen Has Been Arrested After Allegedly Self-Managing An Abortion:
In Durham, North Carolina, an 18-year-old faces multiple felony charges, including assault inflicting serious bodily injury on an unborn child and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, after allegedly taking FDA-approved medication to self-manage an abortion late in pregnancy. Emergency services were dispatched to her residence after she gave birth, escalating an already traumatic medical emergency into a criminal investigation. Legal advocates and civil rights organizations, including If/When/How and Pregnancy Justice, have vehemently condemned the arrest, noting that North Carolina law does not recognize fetal personhood and explicitly excludes pregnant individuals from criminal liability regarding outcomes of their own pregnancies. This arrest underscores the need for pregnant people to be met with accessible resources and information - not stigma, investigation, and criminalization.
A New 50-State Telehealth Provider Has Opened its Virtual Doors:
A new telehealth provider, At Home Abortion (AHA), opened its virtual doors on August 11th with the mission of ensuring continued access to medication abortion regardless of restrictions that the administration may put into place. According to its website, AHA’s staff is made up of providers with over 100 years of experience in abortion and reproductive health care. They are based in Europe and operate out of shield states in the U.S., which block out-of-state investigations and extraditions. They charge $150 for their services, but also operate a sliding scale model supported by donors and abortion funds that allows them to ship medication for free if that is what the patient needs. Groups like At Home Abortion are a critical safety net for pregnant patients in need of care and will create a safe harbor in the event that the Trump administration takes action to prohibit or limit medication abortion nationwide.
Upcoming Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee Report Will Exclude the First Full Years of the State’s Abortion Ban:
Texas’s forthcoming report on maternal mortality and morbidity will exclude the years immediately following the state’s 6-week and then total abortion bans taking effect. The Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee, which studies pregnancy-related deaths in the state and makes recommendations for improving outcomes, is expected to publish its latest report on September 1. In 2024, Dr. Carla Ortique, who chairs the MMRC, defended the decision to skip over 2022 and 2023, claiming that there was no political motivation or interference involved and that the committee merely intended to focus on recent cases. Regardless, the MMRC faced accusations of attempting to obfuscate the immediate impacts of the state’s abortion bans. Since the state banned abortion, many people have gone public with their stories of how they have been denied lifesaving care and faced severe physical harm and trauma. Several women, including Porsha Ngumezi, Tierra Walker, Josseli Barnica, and Nevaeh Crain, lost their lives to the bans. These women deserve better than a state that is willing to sweep their suffering and their stories under the rug in the name of political expediency.
Anti-Abortion Groups Seeks to Use Interpol to Crack Down on Abortion Pills:
According to reporting by The 19th, a prominent anti-abortion group plans to ask the Department of Justice to involve Interpol in stopping the flow of medication abortion into the U.S. In a late July webinar, SBA Pro-Life America’s research arm, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, reported on upcoming research on how the DOJ could use an “annual global law enforcement campaign known as Operation Pangea to disrupt the domestic distribution of mifepristone.” Interpol, an international law enforcement entity, conducts Operation Pangea as an effort to “disrupt the online sale of counterfeit and illicit health products,” and raise awareness of the dangers of buying from unregulated sellers. Commonly seized products under the campaign include fake erectile dysfunction medications, anti-depressants, anabolic steroids, and diabetes and cancer medications. Experts have reportedly indicated that it is unlikely that Operation Pangea could be successfully utilized to block access to mifepristone; however, the new strategy is indicative of the anti-abortion right’s growing frustration with the Trump Administration’s perceived inaction on abortion.
Pregnancy Justice Released its 2025-2026 Report on Criminalization and the Rights of Pregnant People:
Pregnancy Justice, an organization dedicated to fighting the criminalization of pregnancy and pregnant people, released its 2025-2026 Report titled “Trends in Criminalization and the Legal Rights of Pregnant People.” In it, Pregnancy Justice analyzed over 730 harmful and protective bills from across the country to identify trends in legislation and policy. Among the notable negative trends are: 1) increased momentum in the abortion-abolitionist movement - the movement that seeks to criminalize abortion as murder; 2) extreme fetal personhood bills, including those that would impact access to IVF and contraception; and 3) harmful legislation masked in seemingly unrelated parts of state law. Positive trends included 1) states repealing fetal personhood laws; 2) increased understanding about substance use during pregnancy as a mental and maternal health issue; 3) protections against the criminalization of pregnant and postpartum people, and 4) some improvements in conditions for incarcerated pregnant people. For a detailed look at where legislation involving pregnancy criminalization, fetal personhood, and the rights of pregnant people stands over 4 years post-Dobbs, we highly recommend reading the full report.