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  WATCH

News This Week: 1/23 - 1/29

Yesterday, it was announced that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is set to retire in June, after serving nearly 30 years on the bench.

  • Justice Breyer has authored some of the most important abortion rights decisions in recent history, and his retirement comes at a moment of crisis for reproductive rights in America.
  • President Biden has said he plans to nominate a Black woman to replace Justice Breyer. If confirmed, she would be the first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Of the 115 justices who have served on the Court, all but seven have been white men.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access last Friday to protect abortion access and other reproductive health care.

  • HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra stated, “Patients have the right to make decisions about their own bodies. In light of restrictive laws across the nation, HHS will evaluate the impact on patients and our communities.” 
  • The task force is composed of senior-level HHS officials to identify and coordinate activities across the agency to protect and advance access to sexual and reproductive health care.

The bounty-hunting scheme Texas has used to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy is being replicated across the country to restrict a myriad of other rights.

  • In Florida and Missouri, legislators are considering bills that would allow residents to sue schools for teaching about institutional racism.
  • In California and Illinois, lawmakers are weighing legislation that would allow people to sue gun manufacturers.
  • Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned against these types of laws when she wrote in a dissent: “New permutations of S.B. 8 are coming… I doubt the court, let alone the country, is prepared for them.”

The Center and other organizations filed third party submissions to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) this week to intervene in cases filed by 12 women challenging Poland’s highly restrictive abortion law.

  • The applicants claim that the Polish law causes them grave harm by depriving them of the possibility to end a pregnancy involving a severe or fatal fetal impairment.
  • Abortion has been banned in the country for one year and three months. The ban has taken a severe toll on the mental health of many people in the country.

Coming Up

Texas Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in challenge to Texas six-week ban (Feb. 24)

  • The court will consider whether or not the Texas Medical Board has the authority to enforce the law by revoking the medical licenses of doctors who provide abortions after six weeks in the state. 
  • As of February 1, the ban will have been in effect for five months.

Did You Know?

In 10 states, the highest court has recognized the right to abortion in their state constitution: Alaska; California; Florida; Illinois; Iowa; Kansas; Massachusetts; Minnesota; Montana; and New Jersey.

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