December 10, 2021 – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in two cases challenging Texas’ ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy (S.B. 8), ending two of the most promising pathways to blocking the ban. In a 5-4 majority, the Court ruled that the most significant part of a case filed by a […]
Center for Reproductive Rights
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Abortion Providers’ Brief Filed in TX Abortion Ban Case Before SCOTUS
October 27, 2021 – Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights filed its opening brief in advance of Monday’s arguments when the Supreme Court will hear both Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson and United States v. Texas. These two cases challenge Texas’s ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, known as S.B. 8. The ban […]
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Texas Abortion Ban in Effect Again After Appeals Court Ruling
Today—in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice—the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from the state of Texas, allowing the state’s six-week abortion ban (S.B. 8) to take effect once again. The Fifth Circuit lifted a preliminary injunction that had been issued by a lower court on October 6, blocking the ban. Statement from Nancy Northup, […]
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New Arizona Abortion Ban Blocked Hours Before Taking Effect
Tonight, a federal district court judge granted a request by Arizona physicians and advocates to temporarily block part of a new Arizona law that was scheduled to take effect tomorrow, Sept. 29. The provision that was blocked would ban abortions sought due to the presence or presumed presence of a fetal condition. In his order, Judge […]
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U.S. House Passes Bill to Protect Abortion Access Nationwide
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to protect the right to abortion across the country, passing the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R. 3755) in a 218-211 vote. The bill protects against abortion bans like the one in Texas (S.B. 8), as well as the Mississippi ban that the Supreme Court will hear later this […]
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Appeals Court Blocks Tennessee Abortion Bans
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit blocked a Tennessee ban on abortion starting at approximately six weeks into pregnancy. The court also blocked a ban on abortion based on certain reasons for seeking care, such as a fetal Down syndrome diagnosis or the potential for such a diagnosis. This “reason ban” […]
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U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Ends Almost All Abortion Care in Texas
Late last night, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an emergency request to block Texas’ radical new abortion ban (S.B. 8), which took effect yesterday, September 1, and forced almost all abortion in Texas to come to an abrupt stop. This ruling allows the law to remain in effect. The case will now proceed before the Fifth Circuit Court […]
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Supreme Court to Hear Abortion Ban Case Challenging Roe v. Wade
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Mississippi’s request to review a case challenging the state’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. These kind of bans on abortion prior to viability have been unconstitutional since 1973, when the Supreme Court decided the landmark case Roe v. Wade. In this case, the Court has agreed […]
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Court Will Block South Carolina Abortion Ban One Day After Gov. McMaster Signed It Into Law
February 19, 2021 – Today, a federal district court announced that it will temporarily block a law passed yesterday in South Carolina that bans abortion before many people know they’re pregnant. The law took effect yesterday after Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law. If this abortion ban had been allowed to stay in effect, […]
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Nancy Northup: Judge Barrett has the most extreme anti-reproductive rights record since Judge Robert Bork
October 7, 2020 – For only the second time since our founding in 1992, the Center for Reproductive Rights is opposing the confirmation of a U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Less than three weeks ago, the American people lost a champion for gender equality and reproductive rights with the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. On September 26, President Donald Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett […]
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Nancy Northup: Trump has nominated a replacement who would turn back 5 decades of advancement for reproductive rights
September 26, 2020 – At this unprecedented time, and while the nation is still mourning and paying tribute to Justice Ginsburg’s tremendous contributions to advancing equality, President Donald Trump has nominated a replacement who would gut Justice Ginsburg’s legacy and turn back five decades of advancement for reproductive rights. The Senate Majority’s attempt to bulldoze […]
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Nancy Northup: Justice Ginsberg’s conviction that women must be given equal treatment under the law changed the legal rights of half the nation
September 21, 2020 – The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg marks the passing of a legal giant who devoted her life to advancing the liberty and equality of women, first as a litigator and later as an appellate and then Supreme Court Justice. Her clear, unwavering conviction that women must be given equal treatment under the law changed the legal rights of half the nation. Justice Ginsburg was a lifelong champion of gender equality. As an attorney in the 1970s, she won major […]
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New Website Exposes Motives of Anti-Abortion Policymakers
July 9, 2020 – Today, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Ibis Reproductive Health released a new interactive map, which shows the number of abortion restrictions in each state compared to the number of policies that support pregnant people, children, and families. The findings reveal a clear trend: states with the most abortion restrictions tend to […]
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Supreme Court Gives Green Light for Employers to Deny Birth Control Coverage to Employees
July 8, 2020 – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Trump-Pence rules allowing nearly any employer and university to deny birth control coverage to their employees and students. The Court held that the Trump-Pence administration had the authority to issue these harmful contraceptive coverage rules under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This decision leaves […]
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Center for Reproductive Rights Urges Congress to Pass Historic Legislation that Answers Calls to ‘Codify Roe’
February 13, 2020 – Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, testified in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R. 2975/S. 1645), federal legislation that answers the recent calls to ‘codify Roe’ by safeguarding the right to access abortion care for all people in the United States. In […]
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El Salvador Releases Three Women Who Were Wrongfully Imprisoned for Obstetric Emergencies
SAN SALVADOR, March 7, 2019 – The Center for Reproductive Rights celebrates the government of El Salvador’s decision to commute the prison sentences of three women who were wrongfully imprisoned after suffering obstetric emergencies. Alba Lorena Rodríguez, Cinthia Marcela Rodríguez, and María del Tránsito Orellana Martínez have been released today, ahead of International Women’s Day. […]
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Supreme Court Halts Closure of Abortion Clinics in Louisiana
February 7, 2019 – Tonight, the Supreme Court granted an emergency request from the Center for Reproductive Rights, blocking a law that would have shut down some of the last three abortion clinics in Louisiana . The law, which was set to take effect on February 8, would prohibit physicians from performing abortions unless they […]
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Lawmakers, groups pressure Dept.of State to bring back deleted Reproductive Rights sections in Annual Human Rights Reports
Oct. 3, 2018 – 129 Members of the House of Representatives have joined with 97 Civil Society organizations calling on the Department of State to include Reproductive Rights in the Annual Human Rights Reports. Since 2011, the congressionally-mandated Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, issued annually by the State Department, have addressed the status of […]
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Nancy Northup: Kavanaugh’s judicial philosophy is fundamentally hostile to the protection of reproductive rights under the U.S. Constitution
Aug. 30, 2018 – Statement from Nancy Northup, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, opposing the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court: For the first time since our founding in 1992, the Center for Reproductive Rights is opposing the confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee. Based on our […]
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Outcome of Irish Referendum on Abortion is a Momentous Result for Reproductive Rights
GENEVA, May 26, 2018 – The Center for Reproductive Rights celebrates today’s referendum result in favour of repeal of the Irish constitutional prohibition on abortion as a deeply historic moment for women’s reproductive health and rights in Ireland and globally. The Irish people voted by a resounding majority to remove the constitutional prohibition and enable […]