Abortion

One of three abortion clinics in Columbus will close this month after nearly 50 years of operation, leaving Ohio with eight clinics. 

Updated at 5:20 p.m. ET

With abortion rights advocates on the defensive at the federal and state levels over the last four years, Planned Parenthood's advocacy arm is endorsing former Vice President Joe Biden in his race to defeat President Trump.

A new Gallup poll finds a record number of Americans are unhappy with the nation's abortion laws — a shift mostly caused by growing dissatisfaction among Democrats.

"This is almost entirely driven by Democrats and Independents who lean Democratic," said Lydia Saad, Gallup's director of U.S Social Research. "So that underlying trend is very clear, and it's showing up in the attitudes among all Americans."

Newly released emails show an anti-abortion Ohio lawmaker who proposed legislation extending insurance coverage to a procedure considered medically impossible worked closely on the bill with a conservative lobbyist. 

With Missouri potentially on the verge of becoming the only state without a clinic that performs abortions, Democrats in Congress are holding a hearing Thursday to look into the regulation of clinics by state officials.

On a recent, cloudy fall afternoon, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin stood outside the governor's mansion in Frankfort, flanked by a couple dozen activists in blue T-shirts, holding signs that read, "I Vote Pro-Life."

"It took me a while to figure out why I keep seeing these blue T-shirts," Bevin joked as he turned to the volunteers. "I wasn't sure who you were, but I'm just grateful to you."

These activists have been door-knocking across Kentucky on Bevin's behalf, to reach 200,000 voters before the election on Nov. 5.

The Dayton area's last abortion clinic is trying to avoid closure by pursuing a new state license and intervention by a federal court after the Ohio Supreme Court again refused to hear its appeal. 

With abortion-rights activists playing defense from statehouses to the Supreme Court, Planned Parenthood is unveiling a new campaign push focused on the 2020 elections.

The organization is announcing its largest electoral effort yet — with plans to spend at least $45 million backing candidates in local, state and national races who support abortion rights.

The Trump administration is calling on U.N. member nations to oppose efforts to promote access to abortion internationally, a move immediately criticized by reproductive rights groups seeking greater access to the services globally.

The Ohio Supreme Court won't hear a Dayton abortion clinic's challenge of the state's increasingly stringent operational rules, placing the facility's future in question. 

Updated at 5:37 p.m. ET

Planned Parenthood is leaving the federal Title X family planning program rather than comply with new Trump administration rules regarding abortion counseling.

The new rules, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this year, prohibit Title X grantees from providing or referring patients for abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or medical emergency.

Updated at 5:41 p.m. ET

Planned Parenthood says it will formally withdraw from the nation's family planning program for low-income people within days, unless a federal court intervenes.

Updated at 5:35 a.m. ET

An Arkansas federal judge has temporarily blocked three new abortion restrictions, including a requirement that physicians providing the procedure be board-certified — a move that would likely have caused the closure of the state's only surgical abortion clinic.

Updated at 6:38 p.m. ET

The Trump administration is giving Title X recipients more time to comply with new regulations that prohibit organizations that receive federal grants from referring patients for abortion.

Under the new rules, any organization that provides or refers patients for abortions is ineligible for Title X funding.