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U.S. Supreme Court holds off on abortion pill ruling until midnight Friday
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 19, 2023
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito postponed a ruling on access to the abortion pill until Friday as the high court continues considering arguments from anti-abortion organizations and the federal government. Alito’s two-day-long pause, issued Wednesday, keeps a ruling from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on […]
U.S. House speaker vows vote soon on spending cuts coupled with debt limit increase
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 17, 2023
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy traveled to the New York Stock Exchange on Monday to press for the Republican approach to raising the nation’s debt limit in front of a new audience, calling on Democrats to agree to future spending cuts without any tax increases. McCarthy repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden and blamed him for […]
U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocks limits to abortion pill access
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 14, 2023
WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily halted any changes in access to the abortion medication mifepristone from taking effect until Wednesday at midnight. The one-page order from Alito, issued late Friday afternoon, will block for now the April 7 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas […]
DOJ warns Supreme Court of ‘significant chaos’ in health care if abortion pill rulings stand
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 14, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration and a company that manufactures the abortion pill on Friday both called on the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve access to mifepristone while a closely watched lawsuit works its way through the appeals process. The U.S. solicitor general wrote in the Department of Justice appeal that allowing lower courts’ rulings […]
U.S. Justice Department to ask Supreme Court to reject limits on access to abortion pill
By: Jane Norman and Jennifer Shutt - April 13, 2023
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday it will ask the Supreme Court on an emergency basis to keep access to the abortion medication mifepristone exactly as it is now, amid the appeals process in a much-watched case out of Texas. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the department “strongly disagrees” with […]
Texas judge’s abortion pill ruling supported by 69 Republicans in Congress
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 12, 2023
WASHINGTON — A group of 69 congressional Republicans is backing a federal judge’s ruling that would overturn the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. The 11 GOP senators and 58 House lawmakers, who filed a brief in the appeals case, broke the relative silence from Republicans in Congress on […]
Biden administration proposes to strengthen patient privacy for those seeking abortions
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 12, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is trying to enhance the federal law that guards patient privacy to further protect those who seek legal abortion care and other reproductive health care services. The announcement comes amid two major ongoing federal court cases dealing with access to the abortion pill and fears that the pill’s U.S. Food […]
U.S. Department of Justice asks appeals court to pause abortion pill ruling
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 10, 2023
WASHINGTON — The federal government on Monday asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to place on hold a Texas judge’s ruling that would otherwise overturn U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion pill. The Department of Justice’s request for an administrative stay asks the New Orleans-based appeals court to decide before noon […]
Federal judge orders abortion pill off U.S. market but immediate appeal expected
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 7, 2023
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Texas revoked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill Friday, and gave the federal government seven days to appeal the case. Judge Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk, from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued a nationwide ruling in the case before […]
As future of abortion pill is weighed, Democrats in Congress see little they can do
By: Jennifer Shutt - April 5, 2023
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats appear lukewarm about pursuing reproductive rights legislation in a divided Congress, even as a federal judge in Texas considers overturning access to abortion pills nationwide. Interviews by States Newsroom with Democrats who control the Senate by a narrow margin found little optimism they could counter a ruling that could potentially […]
Trump hit with 34 felony counts of falsifying New York state business records
By: Jacob Fischler, Ashley Murray and Jennifer Shutt - April 4, 2023
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 34 New York state felony offenses related to what prosecutors say were hush money payments to an adult film star. In a brief but historic appearance in a Manhattan trial court, Trump, the first former president to face criminal prosecution, learned he was charged with falsifying […]
U.S. judge rules insurers don’t have to cover many free preventive health services
By: Jennifer Shutt, Ariana Figueroa and Ashley Murray - March 30, 2023
WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies may no longer need to cover a wide swath of preventive health care services that were required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, under a federal judge’s ruling issued Thursday in Texas. The decision could affect millions of Americans’ access to no-cost preventive health care — including pregnancy-related care, cancer […]