Anti-Abortion Ballot Measures Set Stage For Path Forward If Roe Is Overturned
Voters in West Virginia and Alabama will weigh in on initiatives this fall that would amend their respective state constitutions to declare that abortion rights are not protected. That would pave the way for conservative state legislatures to ban or restrict abortion if the Supreme Court acts.
Politico:
State Abortion Ballots Prepare For Post-Roe World
Anti-abortion initiatives on the ballot in West Virginia and Alabama this November could lay the foundation for the states to ban or sharply limit legal abortion as change comes to the Supreme Court.
Both ballot measures were in the works before President Donald Trump nominated conservative Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace the more moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy on the high court. But they take on greater import — and will likely draw far more national attention — given the shifting ideological balance on the court. (Haberkorn and Pradhan, 7/15)
In other news on abortion —
San Francisco Chronicle:
California Dems Trying To Flip The House Aren’t Running On Abortion Rights
Democratic Party leaders and progressive groups portray Judge Brett Kavanaugh as a threat to abortion rights, and they hope the fight over President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee will energize voters in California races that could decide who controls the House next year. Those races, however, are playing out in districts where support for abortion rights isn’t the given that it is in the bluest parts of California, such as the Bay Area. (Garofoli, 7/15)
Texas Tribune:
Texas Fetal Remains Burial Trial Gets Underway
State and reproductive rights attorneys are going head to head again in federal court on Monday to argue whether Texas should require health providers to cremate or bury fetal remains. ...The law at the center of the case is Senate Bill 8, passed in 2017, which requires the burial or cremation of fetal remains. (Evans, 7/16)
