Republicans Block Unanimous Consent Bid To Protect IVF, Birth Control Access

Axios: Republicans Block Dem Request To Pass Bill To Protect IVF Access
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) on Tuesday blocked a unanimous consent request to pass a bill that would have set federal protections for IVF and other fertility treatments whose future remains uncertain in the post-Roe era. (Gonzalez, 12/20)

California's governor says a court ruling proves Texas’ abortion law is unconstitutional —

Times Of San Diego: San Diego Judge Strikes Down Anti-Gun Law Modeled After Texas 'Vigilante' Anti-Abortion Law 
The ruling drew a statement of thanks from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and observers said both laws are now likely headed to the Supreme Court. ... “I want to thank Judge Benitez,” said Newsom. “We have been saying all along that Texas’ anti-abortion law is outrageous. Judge Benitez just confirmed it is also unconstitutional.” “The provision in California’s law that he struck down is a replica of what Texas did, and his explanation of why this part of SB 1327 unfairly blocks access to the courts applies equally to Texas’ SB 8,” said Newsom. “There is no longer any doubt that Texas’ cruel anti-abortion law should also be struck down.” (Jennewein, 12/20)

CNN: Federal Judge Rules Against California Gun Law That Mimicked Texas' Abortion Ban
The provision in question in the California law – SB 1327 – was a so-called fee-shifting regime. It said that when a person or entity challenged in a court a state or local gun restriction, they would be on the hook for paying the legal fees of the restriction’s defenders if they lost their case, but would not be able to recover their legal fees from their opponents if they won. The provision was modeled after fee-shifting language in the Texas abortion law, which included similar language directed at legal challenges to abortion restrictions. (Sneed, 12/20)

In other news about abortion —

The Kansas City Star: Planned Parenthood Starts Telemedicine Abortions In Kansas
Telemedicine abortions have begun in Kansas, potentially making it easier for residents of Missouri and other nearby states with abortion bans to end their pregnancies, despite repeated efforts by Kansas legislators to prohibit the procedure. (Shorman, 12/20)

AP: Ohio Attorney General Revisits Comments On Girl's Abortion
Ohio’s attorney general says he laments the pain that ensued after he suggested in a nationally televised interview that an account of a 10-year-old rape victim who sought an abortion in Indiana might have been a fabrication. ... “But as I’m looking back here with some distance, I realize that what I said was not what people heard, and what people heard created a lot of pain — and I regret that deeply,” Yost said Wednesday. “Now, I’m delighted that that guy is in the dock and her rapist looks like he’s headed for a well-deserved life sentence in prison, where he belongs. But I’ve got nothing in my heart but compassion and grief for what that little girl went through.” (Smyth, 12/19)

AP: EXPLAINER: Undoing Of Roe Quickly Shifts Abortion In States
Anti-abortion groups hoped and strategized for decades for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that was delivered in June, ending a court-protected right to abortion after nearly 50 years. The fallout was immediate and far-reaching — and it’s not over yet. The midyear ruling overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which established the right to abortion, shaped the national political agenda for the rest of the year and put abortion access in flux. The shifts are expected to keep coming as lawmakers, voters and judges weigh in. (Mulvihill, 12/20)

Politico: Abortion Roiled The Midterms. Now It Will Define The Presidential Race. 
Donald Trump delivered the Supreme Court majority that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, signed a laundry list of executive actions that chipped away at abortion access and openly embraced the anti-abortion movement, becoming the first sitting president to appear in person at the annual March for Life in 2020.Yet the response from anti-abortion groups when he announced his 2024 presidential campaign was, in more careful and polite terms: Take a number. (Ollstein and McGraw, 12/20)

CNBC: Gen Z Is Re-Thinking College And Career Plans In Post-Roe America: ‘I Want To Leave The Country’
There is an endless list of factors students consider while choosing a college: size, cost, campus life, proximity to home. But since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June — removing nearly 50 years of federal protections for abortions and giving states the right to make the procedure illegal within their jurisdictions — abortion access has become an increasingly influential consideration in students’ college decisions. (Smith, 12/19)

Stat: In Post-Roe California, A Painful Wait To End A Wanted Pregnancy
He loved peaches. He loved ice cream. He loved blueberry waffles, evenly gridded, which she’d pulled from the crinkly package in the freezer and popped in the toaster to eat on her way to work. L. knew all this from the way he moved, the way he made her sick. His name was Kai. He was due on December 18. (Boodman, 12/22)

In related news about childbirth —

USA Today: Deadly Deliveries: Childbirth Complication Rates At Maternity Hospitals
How often do women giving birth at individual hospitals experience heart attacks, seizures, kidney failure, blood transfusions or other potentially deadly problems? USA TODAY calculated the rates of severe childbirth complications for hospitals in 13 states where it could obtain data from state health agencies. The rates are often used by hospitals, insurance companies and researchers – but are kept secret from patients. (12/20)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: St. Francis Hospital In Milwaukee To Close Labor And Delivery Unit
Ascension St. Francis Hospital plans to close its labor and delivery unit by the end of the week, which hospital labor leaders said would leave Milwaukee's south side without a hospital to deliver babies. (Volpenhein, 12/20)