PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has relegated a Civil War-era ban on most abortions to the past by signing a repeal bill Thursday.

Hobbs says the move is just the beginning of a fight to protect reproductive health care in Arizona. But the repeal may not take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, in June or July. Abortion rights advocates hope a court will step in to prevent that outcome.

TALLAHASSEE — With a law now in effect preventing abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, Florida health-care regulators Thursday released emergency rules related to treating medical conditions that pose dangers to the lives of pregnant women or unborn children.

The state Agency for Health Care Administration published two rules that apply to hospitals and abortion clinics. The rules came a day after the six-week law took effect, significantly restricting abortion access in the state.

Regulators focused on certain medical conditions that might occur after six weeks of pregnancy and “can present an immediate danger to the health, safety and welfare of women and unborn children in hospitals and abortion clinics,” according to the rules.

Those conditions are “premature rupture of membranes,” commonly known as a pregnant woman’s water breaking prematurely; situations when prematurely ruptured membranes cause doctors to induce births and babies die; ectopic pregnancies; and treatment of what are known as trophoblastic tumors.

The rules involve record-keeping and reporting about the treatments. One of the rules requires hospitals to have written policies and procedures about maintaining records related to treating the conditions. It also includes directives about what must be included in policies.

TALLAHASSEE — With a law now in effect preventing abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, Florida health-care regulators Thursday released emergency rules related to treating medical conditions that pose dangers to the lives of pregnant women or unborn children.

The state Agency for Health Care Administration published two rules that apply to hospitals and abortion clinics. The rules came a day after the six-week law took effect, significantly restricting abortion access in the state.

Regulators focused on certain medical conditions that might occur after six weeks of pregnancy and “can present an immediate danger to the health, safety and welfare of women and unborn children in hospitals and abortion clinics,” according to the rules.

Those conditions are “premature rupture of membranes,” commonly known as a pregnant woman’s water breaking prematurely; situations when prematurely ruptured membranes cause doctors to induce births and babies die; ectopic pregnancies; and treatment of what are known as trophoblastic tumors.

The rules involve record-keeping and reporting about the treatments. One of the rules requires hospitals to have written policies and procedures about maintaining records related to treating the conditions. It also includes directives about what must be included in policies.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) — The future of South Dakota’s abortion laws took two major turns on Wednesday in downtown Sioux Falls, as members of pro-choice and pro-life organizations reacted to a possible measure South Dakotans might vote on in November that could overturn the state’s near-total ban on abortion.

After 18 months of traveling border-to-border since the first day, if lawfully could, Dakotans for Health announced today it had filed petitions containing over 55,000 signatures requesting the inclusion of what the group calls a “Freedom Amendment” on the November ballot. The Secretary of State’s office will now check the signatures for validity. About 37,000 valid signatures are needed to certify the amendment’s placement on the ballot.

The current South Dakota law — passed in 2005 and triggered immediately in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 “Roe vs Wade” Supreme Court decision — prohibits all abortions except when necessary to save the mother’s life.

At a press conference in the city’s downtown library, Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland said abortion should be a matter the voters decide. He cited a 2022 poll of 500 registered voters in the state who said they want abortion rights decided by a ballot measure, not the Legislature.

“The abortion ban law passed by the Legislature is, in the most fundamental way, a question of the power of government versus the rights of a private citizen,” Weiland said.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Twenty-six Republican attorneys general filed lawsuits Wednesday challenging a new Biden administration rule requiring firearms dealers across the United States to run background checks on buyers at gun shows and other places outside brick-and-mortar stores.

The lawsuits filed in federal court in Arkansas, Florida and Texas are seeking to block enforcement of the rule announced last month, which aims to close a loophole that has allowed tens of thousands of guns to be sold every year by unlicensed dealers who do not perform background checks to ensure the potential buyer is not legally prohibited from having a firearm.

The lawsuit argues the new rule violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that Democratic President Joe Biden doesn't have the authority to implement it.

“Congress has never passed into law the ATF’s dramatic new expansion of firearms dealer license requirements, and President Biden cannot unilaterally impose them,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement. "This lawsuit is just the latest instance of my colleagues in other states and me having to remind the President that he must follow the law.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Department of Justice declined to comment on the lawsuit. Biden administration officials have said they are confident the rule, which drew more than 380,000 public comments, would withstand lawsuits.

A federal judge has struck down parts of a North Carolina law restricting patients' access to the abortion pill mifepristone, which has become the subject of legal battles nationwide.

Chief U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles on Tuesday struck down the state's requirements that mifepristone be prescribed only by doctors and only in person, as well as a requirement that patients have an in-person follow-up appointment. She said the requirements conflicted with federal law because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) previously considered and rejected them.

The ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case brought by anti-abortion groups that, if successful, would reimpose those same restrictions nationwide.

At the same time, Eagles upheld other North Carolina restrictions, including a requirement that patients have an in-person consultation before taking the pill and undergo an ultrasound and blood test, saying those requirements had never been explicitly rejected by the FDA.

The Republican leaders of North Carolina's legislature intervened in the case to defend the restrictions after Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat who supports abortion rights, said he would not do so. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Louisiana lawmakers are trying to quietly criminalize possession of the most commonly used abortion pills.

In a move that took the state’s abortion advocates and OB-GYNs by surprise, last-minute amendments that would place mifepristone and misoprostol on the state’s list of controlled substances were added to a bill focused on making “coerced criminal abortion by means of fraud” a crime.

State Sen. Thomas Pressly (R) filed Senate Bill 276 in honor of his sister, whose husband slipped abortion medication in her drink without her consent. The House Criminal Justice Committee heard multiple bills regarding abortion Tuesday, and there was not much buzz surrounding this particular one, until Pressly submitted the set of amendments that would classify the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol as Schedule IV controlled substances under Louisiana law.

Abortion is almost completely illegal in Louisiana. Mifepristone and misoprostol both have other uses.

The legislation would include an exemption for pregnant women to possess mifepristone and misoprostol for their own consumption, and still allow people who have a “valid prescription” to obtain them from pharmacies. Thus, it appears to be designed to target people who might stockpile abortion pills ahead of their own pregnancy, or the pregnancy of their friends and family members. Health care workers worry the legislation will make it more difficult to do their jobs.

Taniel
@Taniel

NOW: Arizona's Senate voted to repeal the 1864 abortion ban on a 16-14 vote, with two Republicans joining all Democrats.

(The state House already voted to repeal last week.)

When bill becomes law, AZ's 15-week abortion ban (passed a few years ago by the GOP) would remain in effect.

Some of what's the ballot that's relevant to that:
—all legislature
—referendum
—state supreme court https://boltsmag.org/your-state-by-state-guide-to-the-2024-supreme-court-elections/#AZ
—prosecutor races https://boltsmag.org/arizona-abortion-ban-county-prosecutor-elections/

Steve Vladeck
@steve_vladeck

For the second time in three days, Texas is filing a nationwide lawsuit challenging a Biden administration policy in the Amarillo Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas—where it has a 100% chance of being assigned to Judge Kacsmaryk.

Alejandro Serrano
@serrano_alej

Texas AG Ken Paxton w other states and gun rights orgs sued the ATF and Justice Department to stop a new rule that closed a loophole that let people sell guns online, at gun shows, etc. without conducting background checks on buyers.

Mike Sacks
@MikeSacksEsq

CA10 upholds Biden's $15/hr minimum wage rule for federal contractors.

2-1 vote on all-Republican panel.

Gorsuch's replacement, Judge Eid, dissents, says law authorizing the rule is an unconstitutional delegation of Congressional power to the executive. https://ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/files/opinions/010111040629.pdf