There is also growing momentum for some states to make it easier to get an abortion, by allocating taxpayer funding for abortion services, for example, or mandating insurance coverage with no additional cost. In recent years some states, such as Maine, Illinois and Virginia, have changed their laws to allow medical professionals who are not doctors, like nurses, to perform surgical abortions. Eight states, including California, New York and Washington, have laws that guarantee the right to get an abortion.

The Trump administration is now facing multiple legal battles over its new rule in Title X, the federal family planning grant program, that would, among other things, cut funding to clinics that provide or refer patients to abortion services. This week, 20 states’ attorneys general — including California AG Xavier Becerra — separately announced they were suing the administration to block these restrictions.

It is understandable that in the aftermath of such a tragic accident Heather Surovik and her family would want some sort form of justice. This seems especially true considering that this accident, and others like it, could potentially have been avoided had Colorado had more severe punishments on the books for people repeatedly pulled over for driving while intoxicated. There was a move back in 2009 to increase punishments for repeat offenders but, citing the high cost of incarceration, the Colorado legislature declined to approve the measure. 

Pennsylvania seems like a liberal bastion compared to Alabama, where a minor cannot receive an abortion without obtaining parental consent unless a judge specifically allows the victim to bypass this requirement. A judge may do so in extenuating circumstances, such as, as Mark Joseph Stern points out in a Slate article from October 3^rd, if it was a parent that raped and impregnated the victim. And that is by no means the end of it, as state legislatures are currently pursuing a severe new law that allows a judge to appoint a lawyer to represent a minor’s fetus. 

Medical professionals and women’s advocates first recommended that EC go over-the-counter in 2003, and what followed was a decade of politically-motivated delays and blocks that kept EC behind the counter and out of reach for many women. Until now, people under 17 who needed EC had to get a prescription first, and those 17 and older had to go to the pharmacy counter during business hours and show government-issued photo ID. 

In the highly charged, relentlessly partisan political climate of today, one only worsened by the ongoing presidential campaign, it is sometimes easy to forget that Romney isn’t exactly the Republican base’s favorite son.  Indeed, in their fervent desire to defeat President Obama, the dislike and distinct distrust that many on the far right have for Governor Romney has been effectively swept under the proverbial rug. If, however, Romney is successful in his quest for the presidency, this unity on the right will likely prove transient.

Black Catholics confront a moral dilemma in the upcoming presidential election: vote with their church or vote with the party that they have long preferred to keep the first African-American president in office four more years. While African-American Catholics are relatively few in number, they may represent enough of the black vote to make a difference in the outcome if they choose to bestow or withhold their support.

Misoprostol, which requires a prescription in the United States, is used primarily for ulcer prevention here and is not prescribed, on its own, for abortions. American doctors and clinics do sometimes pair it with the drug mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) to produce a “medical abortion,” a method considered more effective than using misoprostol by itself. But the World Health Organization has said that using misoprostol alone can be highly effective as an abortion method.