Live blog: A new executive order aims to preserve abortion access, but its reach is limited – KPBS
Editor’s Note: This is a developing story. Live updates are added as they become available.
10:20 a.m., Friday, July 8, 2022
A new executive order aims to preserve abortion access, but its reach is limited
President Biden signed an executive order Friday that takes incremental steps to preserve abortion access — but he underscored that it would take political change to restore the rights removed when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
At least nine states have banned abortion so far — including Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin. A dozen more states are expected to prohibit or restrict the procedure in the coming weeks.
“I’m asking the Justice Department that, much like they did in the Civil Rights era, to do everything in their power to protect these women seeking to invoke their rights,” Biden said at the White House on Friday. Read more. — Juliana Kim, NPR
5:41 p.m., Wednesday, July 6, 2022
States move to protect abortion from prosecutions elsewhere
Democratic governors in states where abortion will remain legal are looking for ways to protect any patients who travel there for the procedure — along with the providers who help them — from being prosecuted by their home states.
The Democratic governors of Colorado and North Carolina on Wednesday issued executive orders to protect abortion providers and patients from extradition to states that have banned the practice.
Abortions are legal in North Carolina until fetal viability or in certain medical emergencies, making the state an outlier in the Southeast. Read more. — Associated Press
4:04 a.m., Tuesday, July 5, 2022
The Supreme Court is the most conservative in 90 years
In 2018 just after he announced his retirement, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who sat at the ideological center of the court for much of his 30-year tenure, met with a groups of reporters. Was he worried that some of the precedents he helped establish–the right to abortion and LGBT rights, for instance–might now be in jeopardy? No, he replied. He was confident that constitutional rights, once established would remain in place.
It took just four years, and the addition of one more Trump appointee to the Supreme Court, to prove him wrong.
There is simply no way to overstate what the Supreme Court did this term. No journalist or scholar alive can remember a term with so many earthquakes in the law. Read more. — Nina Totenberg, NPR
2:01 a.m., Sunday, July 3, 2022
Doctors weren’t considered in Dobbs, but now they’re on abortion’s legal front lines
Historically, doctors have played a big role in abortion’s legality. Back in the 1860s, physicians with the newly-formed American Medical Association worked to outlaw abortion in the U.S.
A century later, they were doing the opposite.
In the 1950s and 1960s, when states were liberalizing abortion laws, “the charge for that actually came from doctors who said, ‘This is insane, we can’t practice medicine, we can’t exercise our medical judgment if you’re telling us that this is off the table,’ ” explains Melissa Murray, law professor at New York University. Read more. — Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR
1:12 a.m., Sunday, July 3, 2022
Texas clinics halt abortions after state high court ruling
Clinics were shutting down abortion services in the nation’s second-largest state Saturday after the Texas Supreme Court blocked an order briefly allowing the procedure to resume in some cases, the latest in legal scrambles taking place across the U.S. following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The Friday night ruling stopped a three-day-old order by a Houston judge who said clinics could resume abortions up to six weeks into pregnancy. The following day, the American Civil Liberties Union said it doubted that any abortions were now being provided in a state of nearly 30 million people.
Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole Woman’s Health, said the ruling forced an end to abortions in its four Texas clinics, and workers there were winding down abortion operations and having “heartbreaking conversations” with women whose appointments were canceled. Read more. — Associated Press
1:21 p.m., Friday, July 1, 2022
The Christian Right is winning in court while losing in public opinion
There’s an influential minority of Americans who envision the United States as a Christian nation. Lately, this group has been making significant progress in its mission. Recent rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court reversing Roe v. Wade and protecting prayer in schools are chief among these victories.
These legal wins for the Christian Right, though, are happening at a time when a growing majority of Americans are strongly opposed to their views.
“This is the most disproportionate power that the Christian Right has had in my lifetime,” says Robert Jones, CEO and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute — a nonpartisan group that conducts research on the intersection of politics, culture and religion. Read more. — NPR
10:57 a.m., Thursday, June 30, 2022
Mexican abortion clinics bracing for influx of Americans
Mexican abortion providers expect to see more Americans crossing the border to seek abortion services after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Luisa Garcia, the director of Profem, one of Mexico’s largest abortion providers, said Americans already make up roughly 25% of all patients at their Tijuana clinic. Profem also has a clinic in Mexicali.
Most of the clinic’s American patients are from California and primarily go to Tijuana because abortion services are more affordable there. However, Garcia said in recent months the clinic has been getting more calls from women in Arizona and Texas. Read more. — Gustavo Solis, KPBS Investigative Border Reporter
5:17 p.m., Wednesday, June 29, 2022
California one step closer to constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights
On Monday, the California State Assembly voted to amend the state constitution to explicitly protect reproductive rights.
“The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions,” the amendment begins.
After reaching the necessary supermajority votes in both the state senate and assembly, the fate of the constitutional amendment will be up to California voters in November. Read more. — KPBS Midday Edition
9:19 a.m., Wednesday, June 29, 2022
California budget won’t cover out-of-state abortion travel
While Gov. Gavin Newsom has pledged to make California a sanctuary for women seeking abortions, his administration won’t spend public money to help people from other states travel to California for the procedure.
Newsom’s decision, included in a budget agreement reached over the weekend, surprised abortion advocates who have been working with the governor for nearly a year to prepare for a potential surge of patients from other states coming to California for abortions now that the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade.
California’s operating budget, which is scheduled for a vote in the state Legislature on Wednesday, includes $20 million for an “Abortion Practical Support Fund” to pay for things like airfare, lodging, gas and meals for people seeking abortions in California. But the money can only be used to help people who already live in California, not people traveling from other states. The fund will accept private donations, but it’s unclear if that money can cover out-of-state travel expenses. Read more. — Associated Press
1:42 p.m., Tuesday, June 28, 2022
San Diego Planned Parenthood sees uptick in appointments, confusion following Dobbs decision
Friday’s Supreme Court announcement overturning the constitutional right to an abortion continues to reverberate across the country. Thousands of people protested the decision in San Diego County over the weekend.
Health care providers are expecting an influx of people to California from states where abortion is now illegal to obtain the procedure. Local abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood are already seeing an uptick in appointments for abortions.
Dr. Toni Marengo, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, joined Midday Edition Monday to talk more about what the organization is seeing now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned. Read more. — KPBS Midday Edition
3:46 p.m., Monday, June 27, 2022
California voters to weigh constitutional right to abortion
California voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to an abortion in their state constitution, a question sure to boost turnout on both sides of the debate during a pivotal midterm election year as Democrats try to keep control of Congress after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The court’s ruling on Friday lets states decide for themselves whether to allow abortion. California is controlled by Democrats who support abortion rights, so access to the procedure won’t be threatened anytime soon.
But the legal right to an abortion in California is based upon the “right to privacy” in the state constitution. The Supreme Court’s ruling declared that a right to privacy does not guarantee the right to an abortion. California Democrats fear this ruling could leave the state’s abortion laws vulnerable to challenge in state courts. Read more. — Associated Press
1:43 p.m., Monday, June 27, 2022
San Diego elected officials reaffirm stance supporting abortion rights
Three days after the Supreme Court’s historic decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending federal protection on abortions, emotions remain raw among female lawmakers in San Diego.
At a news conference Monday morning in front of the County Administration building, Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-La Mesa, said because of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, she will have fewer rights than her mother or grandmother.
She was in Washington D.C. on Friday to vote on a bipartisan gun safety bill — the first major gun legislation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years — when she heard the news. Read more. — Alexander Nguyen, North County multimedia producer
10:13 a.m., Monday, June 27, 2022
Poll: Majorities oppose Supreme Court’s abortion ruling and worry about other rights
Majorities of Americans say they disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, think it was politically motivated, are concerned the court will now reconsider rulings that protect other rights, and are more likely to vote for a candidate this fall who would restore the right to an abortion, according to the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
Still, a majority opposes expanding the number of justices who could sit on the Supreme Court.
In overturning Roe on Friday, the Supreme Court reversed 50 years of precedent that had made abortion a right in this country. The right to regulate abortion now is in states’ hands, and about half the states have already moved to severely curtail access to an abortion or ban the procedure outright. Read more. — Domenico Montanaro, NPR
7:42 p.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
In Photos: Protests erupt in San Diego following Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision
San Diegans responded quickly after the Supreme Court overturned five decades of precedent on abortion rights on Friday. Most local elected officials condemned the 5-4 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, some religious groups celebrated but expressed mixed feelings, and by the evening hundreds of people took to the streets of downtown in protest. Read more. — Matthew Bowler, KPBS video journalist
5:37 p.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
WHO head ‘concerned and disappointed’ over US Supreme Court decision
The head of the World Health Organization says he’s “concerned and disappointed” about the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on Twitter that the ruling was “both reducing women’s rights and access to health care.”
He said there was “irrefutable” evidence that restricting legal abortions can drive women and girls to unsafe and sometimes deadly procedures.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that abortion is “a fundamental right for all women” that must be protected.
The French Foreign Ministry urged U.S. federal authorities “to do everything possible” to ensure American women can have continued access to abortion, calling it “a health and survival issue for young girls and women.” — Associated Press
5:16 p.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
Dobbs ruling gets mixed reaction from San Diego religious community
While some religious leaders are celebrating today’s Supreme Court decision, it’s not so black-and-white for Phil Metzger, the pastor of Cavalry San Diego.
“My reaction is mixed, which you might not expect to hear from a pastor of a church,” Metzger told KPBS a few hours after the ruling was announced.
While he called the day a victory for opponents of abortion, he said it’s also a day to remember those who are struggling with the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Read more. — Kitty Alvarado
2:29 p.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
NAACP calls Supreme Court decision ‘egregious assault on basic human rights’
In Alabama, where a disproportionately large number of Black women seek abortions, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called the Supreme Court decision an “egregious assault on basic human rights.”
“The Alabama State Conference of the NAACP believes that the ruling today will force Alabama women to make decisions that cause women to seek healthcare in backhouses,” said Benard Simelton, the state president.
Statistics from the Alabama Department of Public Health show more than twice as many Black women as whites sought abortions in 2020 despite Black people making up only about a quarter of the state’s population.
Alabama’s three women’s clinics stopped performing abortions after the ruling Friday because of concerns about being prosecuted under a 1951 state law that made it a crime to induce an abortion except to preserve the health or life of the mother.
The state said it would ask a court to let it begin enforcing a 2019 law that made it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. The only exception would be when the woman’s health was at serious risk. — Associated Press
1:03 p.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
WATCH LIVE: Gov. Newsom announces action to protect women from other states seeking abortion in California
New Action to Protect Women from Other States Seeking Abortion Services in California
12:01 p.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
California, Washington and Oregon governors vow to protect reproductive rights
The Democratic governors of California, Washington and Oregon on Friday vowed to protect reproductive rights and help women who travel to the West Coast seeking abortions following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“California, Oregon and Washington are building the West Coast offense to protect patients’ access to reproductive care,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a video statement announcing the states’ plans along with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
The three states issued a joint “multi-state commitment” saying they will work together to defend patients and medical professionals providing reproductive health care.
They also pledged to “protect against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out of-state investigations, inquiries, and arrests” regarding abortions performed in their states.
The liberal West Coast states anticipate an influx of people seeking abortions, especially as neighboring conservative states move to outlaw or greatly restrict the procedure. — Associated Press
11:43 a.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
Trump takes credit for Supreme Court decision
Former President Donald Trump is taking credit for the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned a landmark case making abortion legal throughout the United States nearly 50 years ago.
In a statement, Trump called the ruling “the biggest WIN for LIFE in a generation.”
He says the rulings and others “were only made possible because I delivered everything as promised, including nominating and getting three highly respected and strong Constitutionalists confirmed to the United States Supreme Court. It was my great honor to do so!”
The Supreme Court on Friday issued the stunning decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to abortion. Three of the justices voting in favor were Trump appointees: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. — Associated Press
10:42 a.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
Biden urge ‘peaceful’ protest in wake of Supreme Court decision
President Joe Biden says people should be peaceful when protesting the Supreme Court opinion Friday that would allow states to ban abortion.
Biden says he knows many Americans are “frustrated and disillusioned” by the court decision. But he says that objections to the ruling should remain peaceful.
Biden said: “Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form, regardless of your rationale.”
Earlier this month, after a draft of the court opinion was leaked, a man carrying a gun, a knife and zip ties was arrested near Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s house in Maryland after threatening to kill the justice. — Associated Press
10:39 a.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
Biden says Supreme Court on ‘dangerous path’
President Joe Biden is warning that Supreme Court opinion that overturns access to abortion could undermine contraception and gay marriage rights.
The president objects to a concurring opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, who explicitly called on his colleagues to put the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage, gay sex and even contraception cases on the table.
Biden says, “This is an extreme and dangerous path the court is now taking us on.”
Thomas was part of the majority overturning Roe v Wade.
Biden says, “My administration will remain vigilant as the implications of this decision play out. I’ve warned about how this decision risks the broader right to privacy for everyone. That’s because Roe recognized the fundamental right to privacy that has served as a basis for so many more rights that we have come to take for granted.” — Associated Press
10:10 a.m., Friday, June 24, 2022
After Roe: What happens to abortion in California?
The constitutional right to abortion in the United States is no more. Today the U.S. Supreme Court struck down its landmark Roe v. Wade precedent in a 5-4 decision, ending nearly 50 years of guaranteed abortion access for American women.
The historic ruling has been expected since early May, when a draft of the opinion was leaked, and was widely anticipated long before that as conservative justices tilted the court. The fight over abortion rights now returns to the states, where it played out five decades ago, with the procedure immediately set to become nearly or entirely illegal in almost half of them and several more bans likely to follow.
California is moving in the opposite direction, ramping up legal protections for abortion providers and pouring resources into expanding access as clinics prepare for a possible surge of patients traveling from other states to terminate their pregnancies.
Read more about how how the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization will play out in California. — Alexei Koseff and Kristen Hwang / CalMatters