New Abortion Pill Lawsuit, Marriage Equality Threats, New Hampshire Anti-Trans Bills: August 11 News Roundup
Plus, what you missed on Autonomy News this morning.
Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly roundup. Every Monday, we’ll send you a summary of the biggest stories about bodily autonomy. We’ll also include links to pieces that Garnet or Susan have published.
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Let’s dive in.
On Autonomy News
Apologies to those who are receiving two emails from us today. As you know, that’s not our usual approach, but we woke up to breaking fetal personhood news care of this Jonathan Mitchell lawsuit. (Share this story on Bluesky.)
Garnet Henderson
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Trump administration
Maine Family Planning, an abortion provider that was also affected by the budget reconciliation bill provision designed to “defund” Planned Parenthood, has filed its own challenge to the policy in federal court. A hearing on their motion for a temporary restraining order, which would ensure they’re able to continue to receive Medicaid payments while litigation proceeds, is scheduled for this Thursday, August 14, at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Despite a federal judge’s July 28 order requiring the Trump administration to continue sending Medicaid reimbursements to all 47 Planned Parenthood affiliates, some are not taking any chances. As Susan reported for The Guardian, Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio (PPSWO) is not accepting Medicaid in case the ruling is overturned and the administration tries to “claw back” payments. PPSWO already closed two clinics in the wake of the law, leaving the entire affiliate with just four clinics. Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio (PPGOH) said that its 12 clinics will not accept Medicaid for intrauterine devices (IUDs) or birth control implants, citing their high cost and fear that they may never be reimbursed. Medicaid patients can self-pay, but they have the least means to afford this care.
By Susan’s count, at least 35 Planned Parenthood locations have announced closure so far in 2025. That’s more than the past two years combined, according to stats from the anti-abortion organization American Life League, which has breathlessly tracked Planned Parenthood closures since 2022. Thirteen of those 35 came after Trump signed the budget bill.
State news
The Tennessee attorney general’s office has issued subpoenas to four different medical groups, demanding records of any abortions they may have provided since the state’s total abortion ban went into effect in 2022. In some cases, the subpoenas also demand all “documents and communications” related to the abortions. This development came as part of an ongoing lawsuit, filed in 2023, in which a group of women and doctors are seeking to broaden exceptions to the state's abortion ban. It’s one of several similar lawsuits brought in ban states by the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Two conservative groups in Montana have filed a lawsuit in state court to try to overturn a 2024 constitutional amendment that protects the right to abortion until fetal viability. They claim that Constitutional Initiative 128 is invalid because because the full text of the amendment was not printed on the ballot itself.
Assaults on queer people
New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte signed two anti-trans bills that advocates had urged her to veto. One of the bills bans “breast surgeries” on people under the age of 18, and the other bans prescriptions for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for those under 18. Ayotte issued a statement on her decision to sign the bills, writing, “medical decisions made at a young age can carry lifelong consequences, and these bills represent a balanced, bipartisan effort to protect children."
Missourians will vote in 2026 on a ballot measure that would ban abortion and gender-affirming care for minors… even though state law already bans gender-affirming care for trans youth. Yes, Missouri voters did just pass a ballot measure affirming their support for abortion rights in 2024. This time, Republicans in the state hope to use hateful, anti-trans sentiment to tank abortion rights, given that the reproductive freedom ballot measure passed with just 51.6 percent of the vote. Missouri senator Josh Hawley, husband of Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Erin Hawley, called this cynical ploy “good politics.” The 2024 constitutional amendment, which protected the right to abortion until fetal viability, made its way onto the ballot via a signature campaign. The 2026 measure, by contrast, originated in the state legislature.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with an Oregon woman named Jessica Bates who was denied as a potential foster parent because she said she could not follow a rule requiring her to “respect, accept, and support” a child’s gender expression, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Bates—who is represented by, you guessed it, ADF—claimed that her Christian religious views prevent her from doing this, and a three-judge panel agreed 2-1 that this rule violates her First Amendment rights of free speech and free exercise of religion. One judge dissented, arguing that the state policy regulates foster parents’ conduct, not their speech. The Oregon Department of Justice said it is reviewing the case to determine its next steps.
Extremism
Multiple Trump judicial nominees have had confirmation hearings recently, and several of them suggested the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling, Obergefell v Hodges, is on borrowed time. When questioned about whether Obergefell was correctly decided, Ninth Circuit nominee Eric Tung said only that “the Supreme Court granted such a right.” District of Montana nominee William Mercer called it “binding precedent,” but said it wasn’t his job to “grade the Supreme Court.” Chad Meredith, nominated to the Eastern District of Kentucky, similarly refused to answer, saying he was “hesitant to make an assessment” about Obergefell. (If that last name sounds familiar, it’s because President Joe Biden reportedly made a deal with Sen. Mitch McConnell to nominate Meredith, but Sen. Rand Paul opposed it.) Remember, former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis has formally asked the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell, something that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, at least, would be thrilled to do.
Quick hits
- Fetal autopsies could help prevent stillbirths. Instead they’re used to criminalize and blame people for pregnancy loss, writes law professor Jill Wieber Lens.
- The Pennsylvania mother accused of ordering abortion pills for her daughter has waived her preliminary hearing and will face trial on charges of endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, and conspiracy to conceal the death of a child. The “child” in the latter charge is a fetus.
- Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed a more robust shield law for abortion and transgender health care that allows prescription labels to display the name of the medical practice, rather than a physician's name. The law also prohibits state or local authorities from cooperating with any federal or out-of-state investigation into health care services that are legal in Massachusetts.
- Speaking of shield laws, a new research letter in JAMA reports that Aid Access prescribed nearly 120,000 sets of abortion pills between July 2023 and August 2024. Almost 100,000 were sent to states that either ban the procedure or prohibit the mailing of pills.
- New Jersey GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli supports banning abortions after 20 weeks and spouts far-right pseudoscience as a justification.
Actual good news
The Chicago Abortion Fund is set to receive a $2 million grant from Cook County, Illinois. Since the end of Roe v. Wade, CAF has spent more than $16 million to help abortion seekers. Of people who traveled across state lines for an abortion in 2024, nearly a quarter got care in Illinois.
Palate cleanser(s)
Speaking of Chicago…
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And this cover goes unreasonably hard.
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