A three-judge panel of a federal court in Birmingham on Tuesday barred Alabama from using its Republican-drawn congressional map in this year’s elections, ruling that the map intentionally discriminated against Black voters—a conclusion the panel reached even after a recent US Supreme Court decision that made such claims significantly harder to win. The court ordered [...]
Search Results for: abortion
Supreme Court preserves telehealth access to abortion pill mifepristone pending appeal
The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the abortion drug mifepristone to remain available by mail and through telehealth nationwide, staying a Fifth Circuit order that had reinstated an in-person dispensing requirement while Louisiana’s challenge to the drug’s regulation proceeds in the lower courts. The brief, unsigned order in Danco Laboratories, LLC v. Louisiana and [...]
Supreme Court temporarily halts federal appeals court ban on Mifepristone mail prescriptions
The Supreme Court on Monday put a brief hold on a federal appeals court ruling that had banned telemedicine prescriptions for the abortion drug mifepristone, giving the justices time to weigh whether to intervene more fully in the case. Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency applications from the Fifth Circuit, issued administrative stays in two [...]
A federal appeals court on Friday suspended a Biden-era regulation that allowed the abortion drug mifepristone to be prescribed online and dispensed through the mail. The ruling immediately halts telemedicine abortion pill prescriptions nationwide while litigation continues. The unanimous three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stayed the Food and [...]
US Supreme Court rules in favor of anti-abortion organization in New Jersey
The US Supreme Court sided with a Christian faith-based pregnancy crisis center in New Jersey on Wednesday. The First Choice Women’s Resource Centers was seeking to curb a state investigation into its activities. All Supreme Court justices unanimously reversed a lower court’s decision, ruling in favor of First Choice in a federal lawsuit. First Choice had [...]
The European Parliament on Tuesday adopted a resolution urging the European Commission to establish a consent-based definition of rape. The need for a new definition that does not define rape on the conditions of use of force, or the word “no,” aims to have a victim-centered approach to sexual assault and the trauma responses it [...]
Kenya dispatch: Court of Appeal overturns 2022 High Court abortion ruling
Griffins Abuora is a Kenya School of Law student based in Kisumu, where he reports on legal, policy, and human rights developments in Kenya for JURIST. This dispatch is offered in both English and Swahili below. ENGLISH On April 24, Kenya’s Court of Appeal sitting in Malindi delivered a landmark judgment that reshapes the country’s [...]
Pennsylvania court finds state constitutional right to abortion
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court found Monday that the state’s ban on the use of Medicaid funds for abortions is unconstitutional—in part, because there is a fundamental right to get an abortion under Pennsylvania law. The Commonwealth Court, one of Pennsylvania’s intermediate appellate courts for state agency disputes, granted summary judgment to a group of abortion [...]
US federal judge pauses Louisiana attempt to restrict abortion pill access
A federal judge on Tuesday paused Louisiana’s bid to reinstate stricter dispensing rules for the abortion pill mifepristone, staying the case while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducts an ongoing review of the drug’s safety. Writing for the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Judge David C. Joseph declined to block the [...]
Belarus parliament criminalizes LGBTQ+ 'propaganda,' mirroring Russia
The Belarus parliament passed a bill on Thursday criminalizing “propaganda” for LGBTQA+ relationships, sex change, child-free lifestyles, and pedophilia, with punishment including fines, community service, or 15 days detention. Parliament drafted the bill in February 2024. The bill will now go to President Aleksander Lukashenko, who is expected to sign it. Belarus decriminalized homosexuality in [...]