Check back for updates on recent news on this topic.
US confirms it will destroy contraceptives previously designated as aid
From Al Jazeera
![Flowers laid outside the US Agency for International Development (USAID) headquarters in Washington, DC, February 7 [File: Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/AP25082511308469-1753473484.jpg?resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
"Reproductive health advocates decried the US decision on Friday, saying that Washington is incinerating “life-saving contraceptives” rather than handing them to aid groups to distribute them in poorer countries."
From ABC News
"Judge Lance Walker ruled that because Roe v. Wade was overruled in June 2022, ending the constitutional right to abortion, Congress can "withhold federal funds and otherwise disassociate from conduct that is not enshrined." Medicaid funds are not used to cover abortion costs in most circumstances, but they are used to pay for other health care costs."
As Trump weighs IVF, Republicans back new ‘natural’ approach to infertility
From the New York Times
"Over the next 18 months, Waters and other conservatives would work behind the scenes to chart a new path, building a coalition within Trump’s base to push what they describe as a “natural” approach to combating infertility. Called “restorative reproductive medicine,” the concept addresses what proponents describe as the “root causes” of infertility, while leaving IVF as a last resort."
Will the SAVE Act make it harder for married women to vote? We ask legal experts.
From National Public Radio
The 'Zombie law' that anti-abortion groups want to resurrect under Trump
From Newsweek
“Now that Trump is on the precipice of returning to the White House, anti-abortion activists are hoping that even if a national ban is off the table, he will use his sweeping executive authority to further limit abortion access in the U.S.
One way they see that happening is through the enforcement of the Comstock Act, a 19th century law that bans sending "lewd materials" such as pornography by mail. Parts of Comstock have been repealed or overturned over the years, though provisions related to abortion remain on the books.”
Two new California bills aim to protect abortion rights prior to the Trump administration
From USA Today
"Two new bills aimed at protecting abortion rights were introduced into the California legislature Monday [Dec. 2] ahead of expected challenges under the incoming Trump administration, officials said. The bills are geared toward protecting access to medication abortion drugs, as well as preventing local governments and agencies from interfering with the reproductive rights of Californians, according to the California Attorney General's Office."
Trump says he'll leave abortion to the states. It won't be so easy.
From CNN
“The federal government, however, still plays a major role in shaping abortion policies — from approving the using abortion drugs and deciding how they can be obtained, to directing federal public health funding, to crafting agency rules that have sought to make the procedure easier to access in the wake of Roe’s reversal."
Women stock up on abortion pills and Plan B, fearing new restrictions under Trump
From National Public Radio
Abortion wins at the ballot box again, but Republicans do too
From The Nation
From Forbes
"The Trump administration is taking steps to limit family planning services both domestically and internationally. When the most drastic Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act take effect at the end of next year and Affordable Care Act premium subsidies expire at the end of 2025, many low-income American women of reproductive age could lose access to birth control along with other health services.
"Specific actions include an initial rollback of Title X funding for family planning, the firing of a CDC team that oversees and updates guidance on contraceptive options for doctors, and the blocking of Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood. The abrupt shutdown of USAID ends U.S. support for a broad range of global health programs, including family planning. Rather than distribute or sell a stockpile of contraceptive products purchased for women and girls in low-income countries, the administration plans to destroy it. As unintended pregnancies rise, so will rates of maternal and infant mortality and healthcare spending."
From Salon.com
“Now [Trump] has spent his first week in office handing down anti-abortion directives gutting federal protections,” Timmaraju said. “These policies inflict harm on those who need access to reproductive health care, including abortion, in our country, and around the world.”
Indeed, the effects of these executive orders won’t only be felt in the U.S. but globally. As detailed by Guttmacher Institue, the first Trump administration’s Global Gag Rule expansions had “devastating” impacts internationally, such as decreasing access to abortion and contraceptive care. It also created a “chilling” effect among clinicians who were scared to share family-planning resources due to a fear of it affecting funding."
From the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy at Harvard Law School
From KQED News
"Project 2025 — a detailed, 900-page policy agenda for the next Republican presidency authored and supported by Trump allies, former and current Trump staffers and his running mate JD Vance — has called for a national database where states would report abortions. Cohen described this proposal as “basically Big Brother.”
Project 2025 also aims to revive parts of the Comstock Act, a law from the late 1800s that bans the mailing of “obscene” items such as contraceptives. (The act faced intense criticism at the time and was restricted in 1930, but it was never fully repealed. Roe v. Wade overruled it, and when Roe v. Wade was overturned, the Biden administration said it would not apply the Comstock Act.)
“States like California and New York that have constitutional protections for abortion rights and reproductive health care in general … those become meaningless,” Cohen said. “Federal law will trump state protection.”
Another Trump term would mean he could appoint more conservative-leaning Supreme Court justices and federal judges. In states like Alabama, Cohen noted, right-leaning judges have increasingly wielded arguments that personhood begins at conception.
“Something like that would outlaw the IUD,” she said."
Navigating threats to birth control and abortion during a second Trump administration
From Scientific American
“Researchers found a statistically significant increase in sterilization procedures nationwide in the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs decision, which overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion. The study also found that states with abortion restrictions continued to show higher rates of sterilization six months later. Other research has shown increases in long-acting reversible contraception use and sterilization procedures since Dobbs. These measures can prevent pregnancy for years at a time or for the rest of someone’s life. They are also less prone to failure than a daily pill and other short-term and temporary contraception.
“The results of the 2024 election appear to have further amplified this interest: reports from Planned Parenthood, which provides family planning and other reproductive health services, suggest sharp increases in appointments for vasectomies, IUDs and birth control implants at centers nationwide.”
From Jefferson Public Radio / CalMatters
"California is one of only three states that do not report abortion data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Project 2025’s proposed federal mandate directly conflicts with the state’s strong protections for patient privacy and could dismantle the legal and ethical foundations that have made California a refuge for those seeking reproductive care.
The blueprint, crafted by Donald Trump allies and leaders in his first administration, clearly targets states with abortion protections like California, seeking the kind of data that could be used to target abortion-seekers or even criminally punish out-of-staters who come to the state for reproductive health services."
