After fighting virus, storms and Republicans, departing North Carolina Gov. Cooper focuses on wins

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is leaving his job after eight years in which the southern Democrat picked his moments against a Republican-dominated legislature, winning big on Medicaid expansion and clean energy while falling short in fights over private-school vouchers and...

Abortion opponents shift focus to pills with lawsuits, proposed laws and possible federal action

Opponents of abortion are increasingly focusing on restricting access to pills, which are the most common way to end a pregnancy in the U.S. This month, the Texas attorney general's office filed a lawsuit against a New York doctor, saying she violated Texas law by prescribing...

Vatican advances beatification process for Belgium's king who abdicated rather than approve abortion

ROME (AP) — The Vatican has taken the first main step to implement Pope Francis’ wish that Belgium’s late king be beatified for having abdicated for a day rather than approve legislation to legalize abortion. The Holy See’s saint-making office on Dec. 17 established a...

A judge says Missouri's abortion ban isn’t enforceable, but there's no start date for abortions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge ruled Friday that Missouri’s near-total abortion ban is unenforceable under a new constitutional amendment, though Planned Parenthood said the decision is still not sufficient for it to resume providing abortions in the state. Jackson County...

A judge says Missouri’s abortion ban isn't enforceable under new amendment, ensuring legal abortions in the state

Regional court faults El Salvador for denying a mother's access to abortion, violating her rights

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Friday found El Salvador’s government responsible for violating the rights of a young Salvadoran woman who was denied an abortion of her anencephalic fetus in a country with a total ban on abortions. The...

Minneapolis softens law on obstructing abortion clinics in response to free-speech lawsuit

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis has softened an ordinance that prohibited the obstruction of entrances and driveways to abortion clinics after anti-abortion activists sued to challenge it on free-speech grounds. The City Council this month quietly amended the ordinance to exclude...

Arizona governor urges the state to stop collecting abortion data, citing patient privacy

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is calling for legislators to repeal the state law that requires an annual abortion report, saying that it infringes on patients' privacy, which echoes other Democratic officials' push to reduce or eliminate such requirements. “The government has no place...

Supreme Court to weigh state moves to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider South Carolina's move to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the latest abortion-related case since the justices overturned Roe v. Wade. The court agreed to take up the state's appeal of a lower-court...

The fate of the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council is uncertain in Trump's administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — During the transition period between President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, there has been at least some coordination on West Wing affairs. But not when it comes to Biden's Gender Policy Council, which has worked to defend reproductive health care in the face of...