Religious Communities in Ohio Are Fighting To Preserve Reproductive Rights

Kansas City, Mo. – A Jackson County circuit court judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of Missouri’s abortion bans and several targeted regulations of abortion providers. The new preliminary injunction clears the way for Missouri’s Planned Parenthood members to again provide procedural abortion care. In May, the Missouri Supreme Court clarified the state’s legal standard for issuing a preliminary injunction, forcing the circuit court to temporarily vacate its original orders, and effectively implement a de facto abortion ban. “While the clarification on the standard is welcome, its immediate consequence temporarily pulled back implementation of Missourians’ constitutional right to access abortion care and providers’ right to offer that care,” said Gillian Wilcox, Director of Litigation at the ACLU of Missouri. “This critical win begins to restore abortion access in our state, but Missourians must be vigilant and defeat the attacks on the constitutional rights that we secured at the ballot box last November.” “Abortion is legal again in Missouri because voters demanded it and we fought for it,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO, Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains. “Care starts again on Monday in Kansas City. We’re not stopping until every Missourian can get the care they need, close to home.” “We are grateful that procedural abortion can resume in the state of Missouri, just as voters demanded last November. However, the whiplash has created immense confusion for patients in Missouri,” said Margot Riphagen, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Rivers. “This decision is a step forward toward fully realizing Missourians' right to reproductive freedom, and the staff at our Central West End health center in St. Louis will work as quickly as possible to resume scheduling abortion appointments." The order did not address the pending request to enjoin other targeted restrictions that are preventing medication abortion access from being restored in Missouri. Previously, both Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers-Missouri submitted complication plans to satisfy the existing requirements to allow them to offer medication abortions. The Department of Health and Senior Services failed to respond to either affiliates’ submissions or follow-up inquiries for several weeks. Instead, the department manufactured an “emergency rule” that resembled many of the court-blocked regulations and cited it as the reason for refusing the submitted plans. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers-Missouri, who are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the American Civil Liberties Union, Crowell & Moring, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. The full case is currently slated for trial in January 2026.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives today gave final approval to H.R. 1, a budget bill that guts Medicaid and will wreak havoc on our communities, sending it to President Trump’s desk for his signature. H.R. 1 is the biggest cut to Medicaid in history – slashing approximately $1 trillion, which will result in at least 12 million people being removed from the program. The bill also cuts off access to Planned Parenthood services for Medicaid enrollees and restricts higher education opportunities, all to fund a dramatic and permanent increase to an immigration detention and deportation apparatus that denies due process and violates human rights. Following the vote in the House, Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer with the American Civil Liberties Union, issued the following statement: “This reckless monstrosity is the most harmful bill to pass Congress in a generation. Instead of strengthening Medicaid, they’ve taken an axe to it. Instead of reining in ICE’s abuses, Congress is throwing the agency billions more to terrorize our communities. “When 12 million people are kicked off Medicaid, patients are no longer able to get lifesaving cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, disabled people lose access to essential care and autonomy, and ICE ramps up lawless raids in our communities, the American people will remember who caused this devastation to our health, rights, and dignity. We won’t let them forget.”

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled today that Medicaid patients do not have a right to sue to enforce their right to a qualified health care provider of choice under the Medicaid statute. The decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic will facilitate some states’ politically motivated efforts to block low-income patients’ access to certain health care providers and may effectively defund Planned Parenthood and other disfavored providers by barring them from state Medicaid programs. “The majority decision in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic contradicts Congress’s clear purpose to give Medicaid patients their choice of qualified health care providers and also wrongly curtails patients’ rights to vindicate their choice of provider through Section 1983,” said Cecillia Wang, National Legal Director for the ACLU. “The decision may have the effect of blocking patients’ access to birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment for patients in South Carolina and potentially will permit state officials to override patients’ choice of provider based on political whims.” “The impact of this decision on our reproductive freedom will be compounded if Congress follows through on federal efforts to 'defund' Planned Parenthood by prohibiting patients from choosing Planned Parenthood health centers for their care,” said Deirdre Schifeling, Chief Political and Advocacy Officer of the ACLU. “Doing so would force the closure of hundreds of Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide, robbing people of their freedom to get reproductive health care from trusted providers in their communities and would result in shuttering 1 in 4 of the country’s abortion providers. "Make no mistake: our reproductive freedom is still under siege. The ACLU remains committed to fighting for Planned Parenthood, abortion access, and the fundamental human right to control one’s own body using every tool we have.

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union joined more than 100 abortion storytellers on Capitol Hill today to demand that lawmakers defend the reproductive freedom of people across the country against escalating attacks in Congress and by the Trump administration. The education day, organized by Abortion Access Now (AAN) and Free & Just, brought the largest storyteller convening for abortion rights to the Hill since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago. Abortion patients, providers, and advocates held over 100 meetings with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, speaking directly to lawmakers about the human toll of abortion bans: delayed medical care, severe health complications, and even the loss of women’s lives. As part of the education day on the Hill, ACLU Chief Political and Advocacy Officer Deirdre Schifeling, shared the following remarks at an event with lawmakers. “Three years on from the Dobbs decision, reproductive freedom and our right to bodily autonomy are still under siege. The attacks are not coming in the most obvious or direct way, a national abortion ban passed by Congress, because they know the American people won’t stand for it. Instead, it’s a ‘death by many cuts’ strategy designed by anti-abortion politicians to eliminate access nationwide, even in states where care is protected. “Right now, Congress is considering ‘defunding’ Planned Parenthood by blocking Medicaid patients from using their insurance there, which would shutter 1 in 4 of the country’s abortion providers. The FDA is using junk science to justify making medication abortion harder for patients to get even where it is legal. And the Trump administration continues to make reckless decisions that create chaos and confusion for patients seeking emergency care and their health care providers across the country. “Our communities need congressional leaders to hold the Trump administration accountable, and to act with the urgency that this moment requires to protect our reproductive freedom.”