Major Restrictions on Abortion Access Enacted 2013
July 30, 2013
FEBRUARY
- Arkansas enacted a law that bans abortion after 20 weeks.
- Arkansas enacted a law that prevents plans sold in the new health exchanges from offering comprehensive insurance coverage that includes abortion care.
MARCH
- Arkansas enacted a law that bans abortion after 12 weeks. The ACLU has challenged this bill in court, along with the ACLU of Arkansas and Center for Reproductive Rights.
- North Dakota enacted a law that bans abortions after about 6 weeks (before a woman may know she is pregnant).
- North Dakota enacted a law that bans abortions when sought because of the sex of the fetus or because of fetal anomaly, even fatal fetal anomalies.
- North Dakota enacted a law that requires that doctors providing abortions have admitting privileges at local hospitals. This bill is designed to shut down the one clinic in the state.
- South Dakota enacted a law that declares the 72 hour waiting period between a woman’s first trip to the clinic and her abortion does not toll on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.
APRIL
- Alabama enacted a law that places onerous and medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers -- including a requirement that doctors providing abortions have admitting privileges at local hospitals -- designed to effectively outlaw most of the clinics in the state.
- Kansas enacted a sweeping anti-abortion law described by an opponent as "delightful" because it opens so many avenues to obstruct access. This law could force doctors to share information about a supposed link between breast cancer and abortion and aims to impose new taxes on the women who need abortions and the health centers that provide them. Also bans abortion based on the sex of the fetus and includes personhood language that could lay the groundwork for further restrictions.
- Montana enacted a law that requires parental consent for a woman under 18 who needs an abortion.
- North Dakota enacted a law that bans abortions 20 weeks.
- Virginia enacted a law that prevents plans sold in the new health exchange from offering comprehensive insurance coverage that includes abortion care.
- Virginia Board of Health approved regulations to require clinics to become like mini-hospitals, designed to force many to close. At least one clinic has already closed down.
MAY
- Indiana enacted a law that imposes regulations intended for surgical facilities on clinics that provide only medical abortions. This law may prevent a Planned Parenthood site from continuing to provide abortion care.
JUNE
- Pennsylvania enacted a bill that prevents women from obtaining comprehensive insurance coverage that includes abortion care in the new health care exchanges.
- The Ohio legislature enacted provisions that aim to make it harder on women to access abortion care. Legislation signed by the Governor would make it more difficult for clinic doctors to obtain written agreements from hospitals confirming hospitals’ willingness to accept the doctor’s patients in the rare event they need hospital care, even though (or because) hospitals face political pressure to deny such written confirmations. The legislation also includes ultrasound provisions and an attempt to block Planned Parenthood from receiving funding.
JULY
- The Wisconsin legislature enacted a bill that could require a woman seeking an abortion undergo an ultrasound, force doctors to display and describe the ultrasound image to her, and force the doctors performing the abortion to have special hospital privileges that have proven impossible to get in other states. The ACLU, ACLU of Wisconsin, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America have challenged this bill in court.
- Texas enacted a sweeping anti-abortion bill that could result in the closure of most women's health clinics that provide abortions in the state and block doctors from providing abortion care when needed.
- The North Carolina legislature enacted sweeping anti-abortion provisions on an unrelated bill that could force many clinics in the state to close.
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