Chemical abortion in the form of the “abortion pill” now accounts for 54% of U.S. abortions in 2022, up from 39% in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization with historical ties to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
The South Carolina House of Representatives approved on May 17 a ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, paving the way for a significant change to the legality of abortion in one of the few Southern states that has not yet added restrictions to the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.
A federal appeals court in Louisiana is hearing arguments May 17 about the accessibility of the abortion drug mifepristone.
Legislation in North Carolina that bans most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, which the state’s bishops say “represents progress toward building a culture of life,” will now become law after the state’s Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode the Democratic governor’s veto.
An advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on May 10 to recommend that a birth control pill be sold in the U.S. without a doctor’s prescription.
When Mattel announced the release of a Barbie doll portrayed with Down syndrome April 25, the global toymaker explained the addition to its product line is intended “to allow even more children to see themselves in Barbie.”
North Carolina legislators appear poised to pass a ban on abortions after 12 weeks despite objections from the state’s governor.
The New York State Catholic Conference called Gov. Kathy Hochul “terribly misguided” in her focus, after the governor signed legislation that makes abortion medication more accessible in New York, including at state universities.
Abortion bans failed in Nebraska and South Carolina, two Republican-led states, in the final week of April following a successful effort in North Dakota.
Lawmakers in the Kansas Legislature voted April 26 to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a “born-alive infants protection act.”
