Power

Gavel Drop: Anti-Choice Laws Keep Falling in States

Anti-choice laws in conservative-run states continue to fall by the wayside after Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.

In Ohio, a federal judge temporarily extended an order blocking lawmakers from defunding Planned Parenthood while attorneys argue more about it in court later this month. Shutterstock

Welcome to Gavel Drop, our roundup of legal news, headlines, and head-shaking moments in the courts.

Attorneys for the State of Indiana say they will not appeal—for now at least—a federal court order blocking a law that bans abortions performed due to a fetus’ race, gender, or an genetic anomaly.

In Ohio, a federal judge temporarily extended an order blocking lawmakers from defunding Planned Parenthood while attorneys argue more about it in court later this month.

Also in Ohio, the state supreme court will decide if supporters of the $15 minimum wage campaign gathered enough valid signatures to put the wage hike on the ballot in November.

The Delaware Supreme Court ruled the state’s death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution.

JPMorgan will pay former prisoners almost $500,000 in damages stemming from a lawsuit accusing the bank of bilking ex-inmates with exorbitant ATM and other fees after their release.

Illinois just enacted a comprehensive law designed to make sure health-care providers who raise conscience objections to such things as performing an abortion have written protocols for referrals and transfers, to ensure patient care does not suffer in the name of so-called religious rights. Of course, anti-choice groups have already challenged it.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently found that wearing a cap with an insignia of the Gadsen Flag—the one with the rattlesnake and the words “Don’t Tread on Me”could be considered creating a racially charged workplace environment.

The price tag for passing unconstitutional abortion restrictions keeps going up. In Wisconsin, it’s reached more than $1 million for defending admitting privileges provisions struck by the U.S. Supreme Court.

OB-GYNs are calling Zika a “game changer” for practitioners in Florida, though no word yet on if politicians are paying any attention to those words.

Finally, nearly a year after 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for bringing a “suspicious-looking” homemade clock to his Irving, Texas, school, his family has filed a civil rights lawsuit suit against his former district, the principal of the high school, and the city of Irving.