Reproductive Rights Law Initiative (RRLI)

Number of Brick-and-Mortar Abortion Clinics Declined Slightly Between 2024 and 2025

While there was a 2% decline in brick-and-mortar abortion clinics in the U.S. between 2024 and 2025, Ohio is actually one of four states that saw an increase in such clinics, with three opening during that same time period.
tinyurl.com/59bpm8a4

Heritage Foundation issues report on ‘America’s family crisis’ 'There are very few people who are going to fall into what this report considers to be a good family,' said Jessica Waters of the American University.

Critics contend that the report, which could serve as a policy blueprint similar to Project 2025, dismisses women’s autonomy, economic struggles such as poverty and student debt, and broader social factors that shape family decision-making.
tinyurl.com/yck5ddnk

HHS will allow pharmacies to boycott lifesaving drugs used in medication abortion Misoprostol and methotrexate do more than end pregnancies—but anti-abortion pharmacists can now refuse to offer them and still get federal funds.

Over 90% of reproductive-age women who use methotrexate take it for non-pregnancy purposes. The fallout from this policy change underscores how abortion restrictions are increasingly endangering women’s health beyond abortion itself.
tinyurl.com/38new6zj

Doula Medicaid Project The National Health Law Program’s Doula Medicaid Project seeks to improve health outcomes for pregnant Medicaid enrollees by ensuring that all pregnant individuals enrolled in Medicaid who want access...

NHeLP’s Doula Medicaid Project works to improve maternal health and reduce inequities by expanding equitable Medicaid coverage for full-spectrum doula care services throughout the U.S. healthlaw.org/doulamedicai...

Join the Reproductive Rights Law Initiative (RRLI) at Case Western Reserve University's School of Law on Friday, March 27 for our annual conference!

💡 Learn more about the event and register here: bit.ly/4ahxVPi

📣 Follow us on Bluesky for further details on our panel topics and speakers!

Reproductive rights regulated, tested in Ohio Republican bills, as Dems continue attempts to protect • Ohio Capital Journal As the current Ohio General Assembly goes into its second year in 2026, abortion will still remain a topic of legislation, in small efforts to change laws, and large attempts to codify or prohibit the...

While state Democrats are pushing bills to align state law with the amendment and expand access to abortion care, Republicans have introduced a renewed “personhood” bill and informed-consent requirements that would challenge the amendment’s reach.
tinyurl.com/d8jj5vtk

Teaching Sex Education in Schools Is More Fraught Than Ever - EdSurge News Government policies targeting LGBTQ+ kids and gender self-determination are making sex-ed teachers’ jobs more difficult.

Sex educators are facing increasing pressure as states update health standards to include sexual orientation and gender identity, while the Trump administration and lawmakers threaten funding cuts for districts that don’t remove those particular lessons.
www.edsurge.com/news/2025-12...

Trump administration to block foreign aid from those promoting abortion, DEI and gender identity The Trump administration is expanding its ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services to include assistance going to international and domestic organizations and agencies that prom...

Th policy, which blocks U.S. foreign aid from being distributed to groups connected to providing abortion services, will now also ban funds for organizations that support gender identity or diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
tinyurl.com/6378xc3j

Freestanding Birth Centers Are Closing as Maternity Care Gaps Grow Centers are confronting financial strain, restrictive regulations, and resistance from hospitals.

In 2025, a trial court blocked hospital-style regulatory requirements for birthing centers, allowing three facilities to reopen, but the state appealed the decision in November 2025. The legal case is still ongoing.
tinyurl.com/44jsnmj8

Fertility Tracking Must Be Grounded In Evidence And Reproductive Justice | Health Affairs Forefront It is essential to ground fertility awareness-based methods in a strong, person-centered evidence base, just the way we would with any other contraceptive option.

In her op-ed, Polis points out that the growing politicization of FABMs by social media influencers is concerning because it risks promoting these methods as a substitute for contraception, abortion, and fertility care, undermining reproductive autonomy in the process.

tinyurl.com/vhtvwatv

A Pregnant Woman at Risk of Heart Failure Couldn’t Get Urgent Treatment. She Died Waiting for an Abortion. In a state that had legislated its commitment to life, Graham spent her final days struggling to find anyone to save hers.

Experts we spoke to who reviewed Ciji Graham’s case agreed that even if the standard treatment for her heart condition posed a small risk to her pregnancy, the risk of not treating Graham was far greater:

“No mother, no baby,” one doctor said.

History in Reproductive Rights Cases: A Post-Dobbs Resource Hub This Hub provides resources – case summaries, amicus briefs and expert reports, and scholarship – that demonstrate the progressive role a critical approach to history can play in informing legal argum...

UCLA Law CRHLP’s research tool curates case summaries, amicus briefs, and other legal resources demonstrating how critical approaches to history can strengthen state constitutional cases to protect reproductive rights and gender justice.

tinyurl.com/75myuuhm

Abortion Trends Before and After Dobbs | KFF This brief reviews the different sources of abortion data in the United States, the factors that have affected abortion rates across the U.S, before and after Roe v. Wade, and what we may see as the T...

New data recently released by KFF show higher monthly abortion numbers in early 2025, driven primarily by expanded telehealth access and mailed medication abortion, as well as lower costs and a rise in interstate travel.
www.kff.org/womens-healt...

Black maternal health advocates are using this devastating news to honor and continue Dr. Janell Green Smith’s work to advance maternal health equity across the U.S. www.theroot.com/black-matern...

OHSU's research demonstrates what reproductive rights advocates have been saying for years: Abortion restrictions impact all facets of reproductive healthcare.
news.ohsu.edu/2026/01/09/s...

thehill.com/policy/healt...

This Is What Happens When You Test Positive For Marijuana After Giving Birth In Idaho Keeva Rossow is one of hundreds of women who have been punished for purported "child abuse" of a fetus — despite giving birth to a healthy baby.

Critics and advocates argue such policies function as a backdoor fetal personhood law that punishes pregnant people, deters medical care, and harms families rather than protecting babies.
www.huffpost.com/entry/mariju...

The court kept Ohio’s 6-week abortion ban blocked while lifting some related provisions. Abortion access remains unchanged as the State considers whether to appeal.

Read the opinion here: rrli.info/6WkAppealOp

RRLI’s offices will be closed from Wednesday, December 24, 2025 through Friday, January 2, 2026 for winter recess! We’ll be back on Monday, January 5, 2026.

Wishing you a warm and restful break!

#WinterRecess

✨ RRLI 2025 Recap ✨

From growing our team and building powerful partnerships, to showing up for reproductive justice in community spaces and the courts, 2025 was a busy year! Thank you to all our partners, supporters, and community for making this work possible. See you in 2026!

Over 30,000 Miles, a Midwife Navigates West Virginia’s Maternity Deserts

Quentrill is one of a small group of midwives trying to fill a gap in critical maternal healthcare that few medical providers offer to residents in West Virginia.

ICE fears put pregnant immigrants and their babies at risk Fear of deportation is deterring people without permanent legal status from critical care. Doctors are worried for their health — and the health of their pregnancies.

Doctors have reported rising maternal and infant health complications as patients skip essential medical care since President Trump ended protections against immigration enforcement in U.S. hospitals and clinics earlier this year.
19thnews.org/2025/10/preg...

A Small Illinois City at the Center of a Seismic Shift in Abortion Access

Since many surrounding states enacted strict abortion bans, pregnant people are seeking care elsewhere, including Carbondale, Illinois -- a small city whose three clinics provided nearly 11,000 abortions last year, primarily for women from other states.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/07/u...

One woman's quest to reclaim the ugly history of Black maternal health Artist Michelle Browder's Mothers of Gynecology project is an act of resistance.

Browder has spent more than a decade exposing the overlooked exploitation of Black women in American medical history, unveiling the *Mothers of Gynecology* monument in 2021. She has now expanded her work to combat Alabama's maternal-health crisis. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Ohio’s lack of sexual assault examination nurses ‘an impediment to justice,’ advocates say RAINN reports a shortage of certified sexual assault nurse examiners in Ohio, contributing to the state's 13.5% case closure rate compared to 26.5% nationally.

SANE nurses are a crucial component to the justice process, collecting forensic evidence after an assault, testifying in court, and providing trauma-informed care to survivors.

www.cleveland.com/metro/2025/0...

Flock Safety and Texas Sheriff Claimed License Plate Search Was for a Missing Person. It Was an Abortion Investigation. New documents and court records obtained by EFF show that Texas deputies queried Flock Safety's surveillance data in an abortion investigation, contradicting the narrative promoted by the company and ...

Newly obtained court records show that Texas deputies used Flock Safety’s nationwide license plate reader network to investigate a woman’s self-managed abortion, contradicting claims that they were merely conducting a welfare check.

www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

Join RRLI on Monday, November 17 for our upcoming webinar, Radical Inclusion at the DisCo: Repro Health Self-Advocacy!

Learn more and RSVP here: rrli.info/SelfAdvocacy

After Planned Parenthood closure, doctors pioneer new abortion access model in Upper Peninsula MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN/WBUP) — Earlier this year, the Upper Peninsula lost its only in-person access to abortion care when Marquette’s Planned Parenthood clinic closed. Now, what's replacing it might ...

This community-led effort in Michigan's Upper Peninsula overcame significant barriers to restore access to abortion care and is now expanding services to include contraception, HIV prevention, and gender-affirming care.
www.myupnow.com/news/health/...

Update: New Time! Monday, November 3, beginning at 12PT/3ET.

We look forward to learning from @lawmedicinecwru.bsky.social faculty affiliate Prof. @bjessiehill.bsky.social, who will share her wisdom and expertise on reproductive rights at UCLA Law CRHLP's upcoming virtual panel event on Monday, Nov. 3rd!