Veterans to Lose Limited Abortion Coverage, Trump Bails on IVF Pledge, and More: August 4 News Roundup
Plus, what you missed on Autonomy News last week.
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
Susan wrote about how Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin sent cease-and-desist letters to sites like Plan C that share information about abortion pills, claiming they may have violated a law on deceptive trade practices by referring to the medications as safe. Griffin cited a junk science report from the far-right Ethics and Public Policy Center to suggest that the pills are unsafe. (Share this story on Instagram or Bluesky.)
Susan Rinkunas
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Federal news
On Friday, the Department of Veterans Affairs filed a proposed rule that would eliminate coverage for abortion counseling and abortion care in cases of rape, incest, or health endangerment for veterans and their beneficiaries. The Biden administration adopted a policy guaranteeing this coverage in September 2022, as part of the administration’s response to the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The rule will be open for public comment for 30 days before the administration can finalize it.
Democratic attorneys general in 22 states are suing the federal government over the “big, beautiful” bill provision that “defunds” Planned Parenthood and at least two other abortion providers—Maine Family Planning and Health Imperatives in Massachusetts—by making them ineligible for Medicaid payments. The complaint argues that the provision is unconstitutional because it denies low-income people access to critical health care, and that it harms states because the responsibility for funding care at Planned Parenthood clinics will fall entirely to them. (Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and states.)
Meanwhile, Republican Attorneys General in 16 states asked Congress to ban shield laws that protect abortion providers from legal actions by other states. Arkansas AG Tim Griffin led the letter, and as law professor Mary Ziegler told Autonomy News for our piece above, the request is “baffling” because many of these same AGs argue that mailing abortion pills is already illegal under the dormant anti-obscenity law known as the Comstock Act. “Asking Congress to give you a law preempting shield laws like that makes a lot of sense, it's just kind of shocking to see them concede they need one,” Ziegler said.
This should surprise no one, but White House officials told the Washington Post that Donald Trump has no plans to try to mandate insurance coverage of in-vitro fertilization—something he claimed he would do on the campaign trail. (“We are going to be, under the Trump administration, we are going to be paying for that treatment,” Trump said in August, adding, “We’re going to be mandating that the insurance company pay.”) One official acknowledged that Congress would need to pass legislation defining IVF as an essential health benefit that insurers must cover.
State news
Speaking of shield laws, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is escalating his attack on New York’s law. He is now suing a county clerk for refusing to enforce a $113,000 civil penalty against a New York physician who allegedly mailed medication abortion to a Texas woman.
Also in Texas, the Senate Committee on State Affairs held a hearing this morning on an anti-trans bathroom ban that would apply to schools and government buildings. However, it’s unclear what will happen with that bill, or any other, because yesterday Texas Democratic legislators fled the state in a last-ditch attempt to kill a gerrymandering plan that would give Republicans an even bigger advantage in federal elections than they currently have. At least 51 Democrats left the state, denying the legislature the two-thirds quorum it would need to adopt the new congressional maps. They traveled to Chicago, where Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said he would offer protection from Paxton’s threat to arrest them. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has threatened to expel them from the state house if they don’t return to Texas by 3 p.m. Central time today.
A Missouri judge will hear arguments in a lawsuit over misleading language in a proposed ballot measure that seeks to overturn Amendment 3, which enshrined a right to abortion until fetal viability in the state’s constitution. If passed in 2026, House Joint Resolution 73 would ban nearly all abortions in Missouri, with exceptions only for fetal anomaly and medical emergencies, or for rape incest in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. But the ballot summary reads as if it’s adding exceptions to the current law, not repealing abortion protections. The amendment would also ban youth-gender affirming care, which violates a single-subject rule. A bench trial is set for August 25.
Personhood watch
Far-right legal advocacy organization Alliance Defending Freedom is quietly continuing its efforts to conflate birth control with abortion under the garbage legal theory that fertilized eggs are people—and the scientifically incorrect claim that some forms of birth control prevent implantation of fertilized eggs. ADF is pushing its fetal personhood argument in a lawsuit against Washington state from a church that objects to a law requiring that employer health plans cover abortion. Cedar Park Assembly of God said the law infringes on its religious beliefs because it requires, in their words, “abortion and abortifacient contraceptive coverage.” Per their complaint, they define the latter as emergency contraception and intrauterine devices (IUDs). After a panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the suit in March, ADF asked for the full court to review the case. Last week the court took the unusual step of rescinding its ruling and announcing that it would re-hear the case.
Assaults on queer people
Following its “workshop” on gender-affirming care earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission is now launching a “public inquiry” into gender-affirming care—“especially as it relates to minors”—and inviting public comment on “the harms consumers may be experiencing.”
Echoing last week’s announcement from Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Yale New Haven Hospital will also stop providing gender-affirming care services to patients under 19 years old, but says it will continue to offer them mental health services. Parents of youth receiving care at Yale found out via a letter they received last week. The change took effect just one day later.
University of Illinois Health also announced it will stop providing gender-affirming surgeries to patients under 19—that’s right, including 18-year-old adults. It’s one of several hospitals in the Chicago area to scale back care, and local advocates have launched a “rapid response team” to connect patients with practitioners who don’t rely on payments from the federal government, and help them pay for services. So far, they’ve connected about 100 people with providers.
Extremism
Last week we told you about Emil Bove, Trump’s former personal attorney and more recently a Department of Justice official who told lawyers to ignore federal court orders and fired prosecutors who brought criminal charges against insurrectionists. He also openly admitted to consulting with ADF after his nomination to a seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Apparently these are all winning qualities in Donald Trump’s America, because Bove was confirmed on Tuesday in a 50-49 vote, receiving a lifetime appointment to the Third Circuit. The seat was only open because Democrats failed to stand up to an Islamophobic hate campaign against Adeel Mangi, who Joe Biden nominated for the role in 2023.
Some losers continue to fly this sky banner over New Yorkers enjoying Rockaway Beach. If you have information about who’s behind it, please contact us on Signal: garnethenderson.12 and susanrinkunas.73
This is at least the fourth summer running where someone is flying a sky banner over Rockaway Beach that reads “have courage, carry hope, say no to abortion.” Charming
— Susan Rinkunas (@susanrinkunas.com) 2025-08-04T02:33:04.569Z
Quick hits
- A new study published in JAMA Network Open confirms what reporting had already told us: Idaho’s abortion ban has led to an exodus of OBGYNs from the state. “Between August 2022 and December 2024 … Idaho lost 94 of the 268 OB/GYN physicians practicing obstetrics,” the study found. In that time, just 20 new OBGYNs moved to Idaho, and “114 of the 268 baseline obstetricians” stopped practicing, retired, or left the state.
- While some recipients of Title X family planning grants have had funding restored after the Trump administration froze it in April, three Planned Parenthood clinics in Virginia are still waiting.
- Two transgender college students in Idaho are suing the state over its bathroom ban.
Palate cleanser
“Ladies I know we can make it LOWER.”
@lindsaydors Ladies I know we can make it LOWER #childfreebychoice #childfreetiktok #fyp ♬ original sound - Coconut 🥥
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