State News Round-Up
Anti-choice legislators in the states continue to push new legislation that would restrict women’s access to abortion care.
Kansas Abortion Providers Fight Onerous Regulations
Wednesday, two NAF members testified against regulations targeting abortion providers during a Kansas Department of Health and Environment hearing. Earlier this summer, Kansas passed onerous and unnecessary abortion regulations, which dictated among other things the room temperature and exact sizes of everything from procedure rooms to janitorial closets at facilities that provide abortion care. The providers who testified have filed a federal lawsuit, which has prevented these regulations from taking effect.
At the hearing, the providers argued that the rules would harm women’s health by curtailing abortion access and make it all but impossible for doctors to get licensed to provide abortion care.
>Learn more about the Kansas regulations
Federal Judge Blocks Key Provisions of Texas Sonogram Law
Last week, a federal judge temporarily blocked provisions of a Texas law that would have required a woman seeking abortion care to view a sonogram image at least 24 hours before her procedure. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled that there was cause to believe that such requirements were an unconstitutional burden on doctors.
“Personhood” Amendments in Mississippi, Ohio
Mississippi is one of just a handful of states that will be holding elections this year, and among the items on the ballot will be a measure that seeks to define “person” as every human being from the moment of fertilization. If approved, the measure could criminalize all abortions within the state, including those applying to cases of rape or incest.
An anti-choice group is hoping to place a similar constitutional amendment before voters in Ohio in 2012. Personhood USA is circulating petitions in an effort to amend the state’s constitution to define a person as any human being at any stage of development, including fertilization. Such recognition could make abortion care illegal.