Kansas Judge Blocks New Abortion Pill Law, 24-Hour Abortion Waits

AP: Kansas Can’t Enforce New Law On Abortion Pills Or Make Patients Wait 24 Hours, Judge Rules
A Kansas judge on Monday put a new state law on medication abortions on hold and blocked older restrictions that for years have spelled out what providers must tell patients and forced patients to wait 24 hours to end their pregnancies. The ruling was another big victory for abortion rights advocates in Kansas, where a statewide vote in August 2022 decisively confirmed protections for abortion access under the state constitution. District Judge K. Christopher Jayaram’s order suspends some restrictions that have been in effect for years. The waiting period had been in place since 1997. (Hanna, 10/30)

Reuters: Providers Can Sue Over Arizona Ban On Abortion For Genetic Anomalies -Court 
A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived a challenge to an Arizona law banning abortions from being performed solely because the fetus has a genetic abnormality. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that a group of healthcare providers can sue the state over the law because they are harmed by it, reversing a lower court ruling. (Pierson, 10/30)

NewsChannel5 Nashville: Medical Professional Say Doctors Are Leaving Tennessee Due To Abortion Policy Questions
Medical professionals in Tennessee say doctors are leaving the state. It’s a part of a nationwide movement where many of them are begging hospitals for help with key decisions in the abortion conversation. This week State Senator Heidi Campbell raised the question to Governor Bill Lee and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti of what is being done to support both doctors and women during this time. (Sloan, 10/31)

The Guardian: ‘It’s Cruel’: The Last Southern Refuge For Abortion Rights Might Soon Fall
Democrats and Republicans have spent the last decade trading control of both chambers of Virginia’s state legislature and the governor’s mansion, with Democrats winning all three in 2019 only to lose the statehouse and the governorship just two years later. The November elections are set to be extremely close: a mid-October poll found that 42% of voters plan to support the local Democratic candidate, while 41% will support the Republican. If such a ban were to take effect in Virginia, many abortion clinics outside the state would likely feel the effects. In the year after Roe’s demise, the rate of abortions in Virginia surged. Clinics in the state performed, on average, roughly 550 more abortions each month compared with the months before Roe disintegrated, according to research from the Society of Family Planning. An abortion ban could force many of those patients to flee even farther north, to clinics that are already overwhelmed. (Sherman, 10/31)

NPR: Ohio's Restrictive Abortion Ban Is On Hold. Now, Voters Will Decide Its Future
When questions about abortion have been put directly to voters in the months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, voters overwhelmingly have signaled support for abortion access. Now, abortion rights activists in Ohio are wondering if that same energy that fueled success in states like Kansas and Michigan will translate to their state this year. ... If approved, the measure would amend Ohio's constitution to guarantee the right to make reproductive healthcare decisions, including abortion. (McCammon, 10/31)

On birth control —

Modern Healthcare: Opill Should Be Fully Covered By Insurance, Democratic Senators Say 
Senate Democrats are urging federal regulators to require health insurance companies and government health programs to cover over-the-counter birth control pills at no cost as the first nonprescription contraceptive medication is poised to hit the market next year. Under the Affordable Care Act, insurers must cover all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives without cost-sharing. But the Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury departments' standing guidance refers only to prescription products. (McAuliff, 10/30)