Prosecutor Sued For $1M By Woman Charged With Murder After Abortion

The New York Times: Woman Who Was Charged With Murder After Abortion Sues Texas Prosecutor
A woman in Texas who was falsely charged with murder over a self-induced abortion in 2022 has filed a lawsuit against the local prosecutor’s office and its leaders, seeking more than $1 million in damages. Lizelle Gonzalez was arrested in April 2022 in Starr County, near the southeastern border with Mexico, and charged with murder after using the drug misoprostol to self-induce an abortion, 19 weeks into her pregnancy. She spent two nights in jail before the charge was dropped. (Betts, 3/30)

CNN: Her Baby Was Going To Die. Abortion Laws Forced Her To Give Birth Anyway
Samantha Casiano spent this month planning her daughter’s first birthday party. The 30-year-old east Texas mother of four knows how to throw a good party for her kids. But this family get-together on Friday was not a traditional party, despite Casiano purchasing a cake and balloons for the event. Instead, Casiano’s family spent the day at the gravesite of Halo Hope Villasana, Casiano’s daughter who was born with anencephaly, a fatal condition that prevents a child’s brain and skull from forming properly. (Wright, 3/31)

WFAA.com: 'Abortion Pills' Banner Flies By Texas Baseball Stadium
If you were at Saturday’s Texas Rangers game at Globe Life Field, you might've seen a plane fly past the stadium hours before the game with a banner that read "Abortion pills by mail." ... Shipping abortion pills by mail is a felony in Texas. But several online groups will send them here, anyway, relying on what are known as 'shield laws,' explained Olivia Raisner, executive director of Mayday Health, the educational nonprofit that ran the banner. (Persing, 3/31) "There are six states in the US where providers can provide and ship pills to people in states where abortion clinics are banned," she said.

More abortion news from Florida, Missouri, and New Hampshire —

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Supreme Court To Decide Fate Of Abortion, Marijuana Amendments Monday
The Florida Supreme Court announced Thursday night that it will issue long-awaited rulings on Monday that will decide the fate of proposed amendments that would expand abortion access and allow recreational marijuana. The court’s regular 11 a.m. Thursday opinion release time came and went, with no decision on whether the two amendments can stand on the 2024 ballot. (Ellenbogen, 3/29)

Missouri Independent: Missouri Wants Planned Parenthood To Reject Patients
When Morgan Johnson walked into her annual well woman’s exam at the Little Rock Planned Parenthood in 2018, the Arkansas clinic had just gotten a call from the governor’s office. A new state law that had been working its way through the courts had just gone into effect — Planned Parenthood could no longer receive Medicaid reimbursements. That meant Johnson, then a student, single mom to twin girls and patient on the federal insurance program for those living in poverty, had to find a new provider. (Spoerre, 3/29)

New Hampshire Public Radio: How The Supreme Court Abortion Pill Case Could Affect Access In NH
New Hampshire abortion providers say the medication at the center of a major legal fight before the U.S. Supreme Court has been key to expanding abortion access locally. Abortions done via medication, rather than an in-clinic procedure, have become increasingly common in recent years, as the Food and Drug Administration has made it easier to access mifepristone – one of two drugs used in medication abortions. (Cuno-Booth, 3/31)

On egg freezing, IVF, and PCOS —

CNBC: A Look At Why Many Women Undergo Egg Freezing, And The Costs Associated With It
Women who choose to undergo reproductive technology procedures such as egg freezing face a long road riddled with obstacles. Here’s a look into the driving forces behind egg freezing and the financial, social and emotional costs that come with it — based on personal experiences from women across the country. (Han, 3/30)

Los Angeles Times: A Bay Area Cancer Patient Froze Her Eggs In Hopes Of Having Children. She Can't Afford To Finish IVF
In between chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and all the other medical appointments that come with a cancer diagnosis, Katie McKnight rushed to start the in vitro fertilization process in hopes that she could one day give birth when she recovered. McKnight, 34, of Richmond, Calif., was diagnosed in 2020 with a fast-spreading form of breast cancer. ... But after having begun the process — being sedated to retrieve her eggs and paying hundreds of dollars annually to properly store the embryos made with her husband — McKnight can’t afford right now to get the embryos out of a freezer. (Mays, 3/31)

Politico: The Anti-Abortion Movement Is Losing The Battle On IVF. It’s Preparing To Win The War. 
Anti-abortion advocates worked for five decades to topple Roe v. Wade. They’re now laying the groundwork for a yearslong fight to curb in vitro fertilization. Since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children, the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups have been strategizing how to convince not just GOP officials but evangelicals broadly that they should have serious moral concerns about fertility treatments like IVF and that access to them should be curtailed. (Messerly and Ollstein, 4/1)

NBC News: PCOS Still Difficult For Doctors To Diagnose And Treat. Here's Why
Every morning, Jeni Gutke swallows 12 pills. In the evening, she takes 15 more, then another before bed. She also takes an injectable medication once weekly, and two other medications as needed. Gutke, of Joliet, Illinois, has polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, and the medications and supplements help the 45-year-old cope with migraines, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, anxiety and depression that come with the complex hormonal condition. Not one of  Gutke’s medications are technically “PCOS drugs.” (Hopkins, 3/31)