A state senate committee heard arguments this week for enacting a 25-foot patient safety zone, while several anti-choice bills have been introduced in the house.
Rep. Timothy Jones (R-Eureka) introduced HB 1430, which, according to the bill language, would apply to medical professionals refusing to participate in procedures that include surgical and medication abortions, contraception, assisted reproduction, human cloning, and human embryonic stem-cell research.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) has made it a top priority to remove the commonwealth from the list of 25 states that have declined to expand the number of individuals eligible for Medicaid under Obamacare. On Monday, House Speaker William Howell (R-Stafford) said his majority caucus is not going to play along.
Monday night, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals told Rewire that it will "be rescinding the language regarding the 30-day period for blood tests," and that it intends to "clarify" the building requirements for abortion facilities.
The Family Research Council recently presented a paper positing that the problem with abortion is that women are just having too much sex. It's part of a trend: Increasingly, anti-choicers are dropping the pretense that they're motivated by "life" and admitting that their efforts are about controlling women's sexuality.
A growing number of states are requiring providers to report abortions on minors as possible cases of rape or incest, even when no evidence of abuse exists—and anti-choice groups are increasingly exploiting these rules to try to discredit doctors or close clinics.
