Developments in Abortion, Autonomy, and Access:
This week’s Reproductive Health Digest covers a preliminary injunction hearing in Arizona; a federal ruling that the FDA violated the law by maintaining restrictions on the abortion medication mifepristone in 2023; a New York judge blocking Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s attempt to force a county clerk to enforce a Texas default judgment against provider Margaret Carpenter; Florida’s Attorney General using consumer protection laws to target Planned Parenthood in efforts to restrict access to mifepristone; and other policy and access developments across the states. As always, please read on to the end for the news that you need to know.
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Also, check out our Repro Blog of the Month, which explores how authoritarian governments manufacture public anxiety around gender and sexuality– and then weaponize those fears to undermine democratic institutions.
Reproductive Rights and Health Equity News:
This Week’s Must-Read:
This week’s Must-Read comes from Politico; this exclusive report details how a major anti-abortion group, the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America along with its affiliated super PAC, is planning on investing $80 million to back anti-abortion candidates in key battleground states ahead of the 2026 election. Abortion rights remain highly popular– evidenced by what Politico describes as a “string of post-Roe defeats at the ballot box.” In response, the anti-abortion group is using the millions in funding to launch an outreach campaign aimed at winning over swing voters.
Legislation & Litigation:
Overview:
Arizona called anti-abortion witnesses who have never performed an abortion during a preliminary injunction hearing challenging state laws that require women to wait 24 hours and undergo an ultrasound before an abortion.
A federal judge in Hawaii ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it maintained access restrictions on abortion medication in 2023.
A New York judge dismissed a petition by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that sought to force a New York court clerk to enforce a Texas judgment against a New York doctor who allegedly prescribed abortion medication to a patient in Texas.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has brought a $350 million lawsuit against Planned Parenthood for “deceptive marketing practices.” The complaint cites multiple anti-abortion sources, including the anti-abortion group Live Action and a non-peer reviewed report from the conservative think tank, Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC).
Arizona GOP Relies on Vocal Anti-Abortion Witnesses to Defend Abortion Restrictions
Earlier this month, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Steve Montenegro defended state laws that require women to wait 24 hours and have an ultrasound before getting an abortion, despite voters approving a constitutional right to abortion in 2024. To support their claim that the abortion restrictions do not offend this constitutional right, they called anti-abortion witnesses, none of whom have performed abortions. One witness, Maureen Curley, testified that she has made at least $22,000 for her anti-abortion testimony in other anti-abortion cases in North Dakota and Missouri.
Meanwhile, the reproductive rights attorneys who brought the legal challenge in May, relied on testimony from local abortion providers and medical experts to support their argument that the court should at least temporarily pause enforcement of the laws while the lawsuit proceeds.
Federal Judge Rules that the FDA Violated Law by Restricting Abortion Medication
In October, a federal judge in Hawaii ruled that the FDA violated the Administrative Procedure Act “by failing to provide a reasoned explanation for its restrictive treatment of the drug” when it maintained restrictions on access to the abortion medication mifepristone in 2023. The court has ordered the FDA to review evidence it allegedly overlooked, including “the wealth of peer-reviewed evidence proving mifepristone’s safety, including when delivered by telemedicine, as well as how FDA’s restrictions burden patient access.”
While the restrictions on access remain in effect for now, Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project said in a statement that the court’s “decision is a victory for everyone who believes that our access to safe and essential medicines should be dictated by science, not politics.”
New York Judge Blocks Texas Attempt to Enforce Abortion-Pill Judgment
A New York trial court dismissed Texas’s petition seeking to compel a county clerk to enforce a Texas judgment against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who allegedly prescribed abortion pills to a Texas woman.
In December 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Carpenter, and after she declined to respond, a Texas judge entered a default judgment in February 2025, ordering her to pay a $113,000 fine. Paxton attempted to collect the fine in Ulster County, New York but a county clerk refused, citing New York’s shield law, which bars state officials from enforcing out-of-state penalties against protected healthcare providers. In July, Paxton sued Bruck, arguing the shield law violates the Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause, and in September, New York Attorney General Letitia James intervened to defend the law.
On October 31, Ulster County Supreme Court Judge David Gandin dismissed the case, ruling that Carpenter’s services are legal in New York and fall “squarely within the definition of ‘legally protected health activity’” under the shield law. The state has not yet confirmed whether it is planning on appealing the ruling.
Florida Goes After Planned Parenthood
In the latest move by anti-abortion Republicans targeting abortion medication, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier brought a $350 million lawsuit alleging that Planned Parenthood misrepresented that abortion medication mifepristone is safer than Tylenol. According to Mother Jones, the lawsuit is “riddled with familiar anti-abortion arguments and misinformation” and cites openly anti-abortion sources. While UC Davis School of Law Professor Mary Ziegler wrote for MSNBC that Florida Judges may see this lawsuit as a “mere smokescreen for suppressing” reproductive rights in the state, she also warned that this lawsuit represents a new tactic anti-abortion Republicans are using in their “efforts to eliminate mifepristone.”
Trend and Policy Watch:
Pro-abortion Candidates Win Big on Election Day
Reproductive rights scored major victories in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia on November 4.
In New Jersey, reproductive rights supporter Mikie Sherrill was elected governor. Sherill has vowed to protect abortion access during her tenure as governor.
In Pennsylvania, three liberal justices secured new 10-year terms on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, allowing Democrats to keep their 5-2 majority on a court that could play a crucial role in future rulings on abortion rights in the state.
In Virginia, voters elected “reproductive freedom champion” Abigail Spanberger to be the state’s first female governor. Democrats also secured control of both chambers of the Virginia legislature, helping to protect abortion access for both state residents and for people from neighboring states with strict abortion bans.
The GOP Accused of Trying to Sneak Abortion Ban into Funding Bill
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, warned on November 8 that “Republicans said they might vote to lower Americans’ health care costs, but only if we agree to include a backdoor national abortion ban.” While Republicans reportedly had demanded that any extension of Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies include a provision preventing the tax credits from being applied to plans that cover abortion, Wyden noted that “[z]ero federal dollars [currently] pay for this care in ACA plans.”
Subsidies under the ACA were at the center of the government shutdown. Earlier this week, a handful of Senate Democrats broke ranks to pass a stopgap funding bill, which does not include an immediate extension of certain healthcare subsidies and will likely exponentially increase healthcare costs for millions of Americans.
FDA to Remove Black Box Warnings from Women’s Estrogen HRT Products
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on November 10th, that the black box warning on women’s estrogen-based hormone replacement therapy (HRT) products will be removed. Women’s health celebrated the move and the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists has said that the label change will “increase access to hormone therapy.”
At the same time, the Trump administration has made restricting HRT access for transgender youth a central policy priority.
Oklahoma Health Care Authority rejects abortion attestation rule
In July, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order directing the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) to stop funding any individual or organization connected to prohibited abortion providers. The order also required Oklahoma Medicaid, or SoonerCare, providers to submit a signed attestation confirming whether they, or any associated entities, “[p]erforms, refers for, or is affiliated with the performance of abortions not permitted under state law.”
At a special meeting on November 9, the OHCA board declined to approve the emergency rule, citing concerns over its legality and potential impacts on providers. The board unanimously voted to request an opinion from the attorney general on the rule and asked OHCA CEO Clay Bullard and board chair Marc Nuttle to consult with Gov. Stitt to clarify the executive order and delay enforcement of the attestation requirement until formal rules are established.