Louisiana Abortion Law For Minors Challenged; Ohio Senate Passes Doctor Restrictions

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Law Allows Pregnant Minors To Get An Abortion Without Parental Consent. A Mom Is Suing
A Lafayette woman is suing the state to prevent her teenage daughter from having an abortion, in an unusual case that takes new aim at the state’s “judicial bypass” law, which allows judges to grant the procedure for pregnant minors who lack a parent’s consent. While Attorney General Jeff Landry is defending the state in the case, his solicitor general, Liz Murrill, largely supported the mother’s cause in a legal brief this week. Landry’s office also submitted disciplinary records on abortion providers, orders by the state Board of Medical Examiners, health inspection reports and other records to the court, aimed at painting a grim picture of Louisiana abortion providers. (Simerman, 10/28)

AP: Bill: Doctors Must Care For Babies Born Alive After Abortion
Doctors would be required to report cases of babies born alive after abortions or attempted abortions, under legislation approved Thursday by the GOP-controlled Ohio Senate. The bill would also ban abortion clinics from working with doctors who teach at state-funded hospitals and medical schools. (10/28)

In other abortion news —

ABC News: What Would Happen To Abortion Access If Roe V. Wade Is Overturned Or Weakened: Report 
The Supreme Court has a real opportunity this year to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that made abortion a federally protected right, or otherwise lessen the right to abortion. The court will be hearing a case out of Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, that asks the justices to directly reconsider the landmark precedent in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which many court watchers believe is closer to a possibility than ever with the current makeup of the court. (Svokos, 10/28)

The Washington Post: If Roe V. Wade Is Overturned, The Closest Abortion Clinic For Those In The South And Midwest Could Be Hundreds Of Miles Away, Report Says 
If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, people seeking abortions in the South and Midwest would have to travel hundreds of miles to get an abortion, according to a new report released Thursday. The Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research center based in New York and Washington that supports abortion rights, examined the impact of so-called trigger laws that would ban or severely restrict the procedure in multiple states if the high court issued such a ruling. It measured how far clients in those states would have to travel to get to the closest abortion clinic. It also looked at how states where the procedure would remain legal would be affected by the influx of patients. (Asbury, 10/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden, Pope Francis Meet Amid Controversy Over Abortion
President Biden, the second Catholic president in American history, traveled to the Vatican on Friday for a meeting with Pope Francis that is expected to focus on climate change but has been overshadowed by controversy among church leaders over the president’s support for abortion rights. Some U.S. bishops say that Catholic politicians who support legal access to abortion should be barred from Communion. In a little more than two weeks, at their annual fall meeting in Baltimore, U.S. bishops are expected to debate whether to make a collective statement to that effect. But the pope has taken a more conciliatory approach toward the president and the Vatican has said that linking the politics of abortion to the reception of Communion would be divisive. (Rocca and Lucey, 10/29)

NPR: NAACP Calls On Professional Athletes To Not Sign With Texas Sports Teams
The NAACP is urging athletes in major sports to consider not signing with professional teams in Texas in response to the state's voting and abortion laws and its ban on mask requirements. Leaders of the NAACP issued an open letter Thursday to players associations for the NBA, NFL, WNBA, MLB and NHL. The NAACP leaders called Texas' laws "a blueprint by legislators to violate constitutional rights for all," and asked free agents to reconsider moving their families to a state that is "not safe for anyone." The civil rights organization reminded the free agents to also consider the influence their platforms hold. (Franklin, 10/28)

The Texas Tribune: Texas' Abortion Law Makes The Journey Harder For Those With Complications
Under Senate Bill 8, Texas’ new abortion law, even if the medical and developmental condition were still grim, if they could hear cardiac activity, she would have to wait out the pregnancy or leave the state to end it. For nearly three years, [Kendra] Joseph and her husband, Eric, had been trying to have a second child, and laws intended to limit abortion access had, ironically, already made the process more difficult. With SB 8 in effect, given the risks her pregnancies entail, Joseph is hesitant to keep trying at all — one of the many unforeseen consequences of the new law. (McNeel, 10/29)

KHN: Texas Abortion Law Gets Speedy High-Court Hearing Monday
The Supreme Court on Nov. 1 will hear oral arguments challenging the constitutionality of a new Texas abortion law — just days after agreeing to hear the case. That’s just one of many unusual things about the Texas law, which halted almost all abortions in the nation’s second-most populous state. The court plans to hear another major abortion case this fall: Justices previously set Dec. 1 as the day for arguments in a case from Mississippi that directly challenges Roe v. Wade and other decisions that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion before a fetus is viable. (Rovner, 10/29)