Florida’s Republican-Led Senate Advances 6-Week Abortion Ban

Reuters: Florida Senate Passes Six-Week Abortion Ban
Florida's Republican-led Senate passed a bill on Monday to outlaw most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, bringing the state a step closer to joining others across the U.S. South in banning almost all abortions. Florida currently has a law banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which is being challenged in court. Republicans in the state House of Representatives and Senate filed concurrent bills last month to restrict the procedure further, starting at six weeks of pregnancy. (Borter, 4/3)

The Washington Post: Florida Democratic Chair, Lawmaker Among 11 Detained At Abortion Rally
Florida Democrats chair Nikki Fried and state Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book (D) were among 11 people arrested Monday night while protesting abortion legislation outside Tallahassee’s City Hall, police said. Fried tweeted late Monday that she had been released. It was not immediately clear whether the others had also been released. (Knowles and Ables, 4/4)

Abortion updates from Utah, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, and Montana —

Reuters: Planned Parenthood Seeks To Block Utah Ban On Abortion Clinics 
Planned Parenthood on Monday asked a state court judge in Utah to block a law set to take effect next month that would effectively ban abortion clinics from operating in the state. Planned Parenthood said the law, which would eliminate the licensing process for abortion clinics and thus effectively make it impossible to get an abortion anywhere but in a hospital, violated the state constitution's rights to privacy and bodily integrity, in a lawsuit filed in the Third Judicial District Court in Salt Lake City. (Pierson, 4/3)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Abortion Funds Restart Out-Of-State Help After Court Ruling
Some Texas abortion funds are back to helping people access the procedure in states where it's still legal, following months of legal uncertainty and a court ruling that at least partly shields them from prosecution under the state's bans. In a statement Monday, the Lilith Fund announced that it was restarting its logistical support. (Goldenstein, 4/3)

AP: Abortion Bills Gain No Ground In Kentucky With Ban In Place
After years of setbacks, abortion-rights supporters in Republican-leaning Kentucky thought they achieved a breakthrough in November, when voters defeated a measure aimed at denying any constitutional protections for abortion. But their hopes that the state’s sweeping abortion ban might be relaxed vanished well before the GOP-dominated Legislature ended its annual session. ... A handful of abortion bills, including proposals to restore abortion rights or add rape and incest exemptions to the sweeping ban, either failed to get a committee hearing or never were assigned to a committee. (Schreiner, 4/3)

Dayton Daily News: Anti-Abortion Activists Accuse Ohio Ballot Board Of ‘Abuse Of Discretion’
Anti-abortion activists continue to accuse the Ohio Ballot Board of improperly approving the language for a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution, petitions for which are currently being circulated, in a new brief filed with the Ohio Supreme Court. Filings on behalf of relators from Cincinnati Right to Life accuse Ohio Ballot Board members of engaging “in an abuse of discretion” when they authorized a proposed amendment regarding reproductive rights, which would ensure access to abortion, as only containing one proposed amendment and not multiple topics. (Wildow, 4/4)

NPR: How Abortion Providers In Montana Remain Open Despite Political Attacks
After Roe v. Wade was struck down, abortion remains legal in Montana. But providers are defending against threats from lawmakers and possibly violent extremists. (Bolton, 4/4)

In other abortion news —

Fox News: Congressional Lawmakers Slam Biden Administration For Proposing Slush Fund For Pro-Abortion Orgs
Congressional lawmakers accused the Biden Administration of using regulations for the Tri-Agencies – Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS; Labor Department and Treasury Department – to create a slush fund for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. The Committee on Education and the Workforce submitted a letter to HHS secretary Xavier Becerra, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Department of Labor acting secretary Julie A. Su, opposing rules seeking to eliminate an exemption to contraceptive coverage services for groups and organizations that have moral objection to such services. (Wehner and Pandolfo, 4/3)

Politico: Restore Roe Or Go Further? Divisions Threaten Abortion Rights Ballot Campaigns
The abortion rights movement is split over how to restore access to the procedure as it prepares for a series of political fights across the country. While a string of victories in red and purple states in the 2022 midterms convinced supporters that ballot initiatives are among their most powerful tools, internal divisions over what limits, if any, to keep on abortion is splitting the movement as efforts kick off in Missouri, Ohio, and South Dakota to put it to a popular vote this year and next. (Ollstein and Messerly, 4/4)