Each week, Rewire News Group editors scour headlines nationwide—from lawsuits over abortion access to LGBTQ+ rights—to bring you the most urgent news in reproductive justice. Here’s this week’s latest.
Title X takes undercuts contraception, promotes fertility
A federal grant program that subsidizes family-planning services for low-income patients now overstates the risks of birth control while endorsing less effective methods like “fertility awareness.” In new guidance for applicants to Title X funding, the Trump administration claimed the program’s goal is to “strengthen family formation.” Historically, Title X grantees had to provide a “broad range” of FDA-approved contraceptives. Meanwhile, Virginia this week joined the ranks of states giving people a legal right to birth control.
Georgia midwives say restrictive practice laws harm patients
Three midwives sued Georgia last week, alleging that its restrictive midwifery laws, which require nurse-midwives to have expensive physician agreements and bar non-nurse midwives all together, endanger patients and limit personal autonomy. “In doing so, Georgia’s restrictions intrude on one of life’s most significant experiences: pregnancy and birth,” the suit alleges. Georgia is one of many Southern states where patients, especially Black patients, face poor maternal care access.
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Sunshine state keeps maternal mortality data in the dark
Florida hasn’t published data on deaths during pregnancy and childbirth since posting its 2020 report, the Florida Trib revealed this week. After a reporter asked the state Department of Health about the missing numbers, the agency updated its website with limited stats from 2021, 2022, and 2023. Florida passed a 15-week abortion ban in 2022 and a 6-week ban in 2023. Outlawing abortion makes pregnancy and birth more deadly, particularly in communities of color. As RNG has reported, Southern states that ban abortion are distorting or hiding maternal death data.
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