An Arizona appellate court halted enforcement of the state’s near-total abortion ban late Friday, staying a lower court’s decision to reinstate an older law which only allows the procedure if it is needed to save the life of a pregnant person.
The order by the Arizona Court of Appeals came after Planned Parenthood Arizona, a reproductive health organization, appealed the September ruling by Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson. The stay is in place until the appellate court can hear the appeal. Johnson had lifted a decades-long injunction on the near-total restrictions, which are rooted in an 1864 law that has no exceptions for victims of rape or incest and threatens abortion providers with as long as five years imprisonment.
Judge Peter J. Eckerstrom, writing for the three appellate judges that issued the stay, said the lower court may have erred in resurrecting the Civil War-era law, because it conflicts with more recent laws that provide abortion seekers with more leeway. A law that permits abortions for up to 15 weeks took force last month, putting it in conflict with the 1864 ban. State Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R), who has said he plans to enforce the older law, had urged the courts to provide clarity on the issue.
Johnson, the Pima County judge, had ruled that the older law, which was updated and codified in 1901, supersedes the 15-week ban enacted this year. She said in her order that the state legislature had expressly written the 2022 law so that it does not “repeal” the older ban.
Abortion is now banned in these states. See where laws have changed.
But the three appellate judges said that Planned Parenthood’s attorneys had “demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success” for their legal challenge against the stricter prohibitions.
“Arizona courts have a responsibility to attempt to harmonize all of this state’s relevant statutes,” Eckerstrom wrote in a one-page order, adding that the “acute need of [health care] providers, prosecuting agencies, and the public for legal clarity” had prompted the order.
The stay brings “temporary respite to Arizonans,” said Planned Parenthood Arizona president and chief executive Brittany Fonteno in a statement.
“Planned Parenthood Arizona is committed to defending reproductive freedom for all and continuing this fight until this 150-year-old law is taken off the books for good,” she said.
A Brnovich spokeswoman, Brittni Thomason, said in a statement that his office “understands this is an emotional issue, and we will carefully review the court’s ruling before determining the next step.” A decision by the appeals court on the 19th century prohibitions could still be appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court.
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Reproductive rights have been in flux in many states since June, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which established a nationwide right to abortion in 1973. The reversal returned that decision to Congress and the states, though it has occasionally resulted in legal chaos. Several states did not update their abortion laws after Roe, meaning conflicting regulations may be on the books.
In Arizona, Brnovich and abortion rights activists both recently called for the state legislature to hold a special session to address the confusion, the Arizona Republic reported.
In Ohio — another state where reproductive rights have been curtailed since the overturn of Roe — a judge on Friday issued a preliminary injunction on a six-week abortion ban while a constitutional challenge is heard, citing individual liberty. The procedure is now permitted up to the 22nd week of a pregnancy.
In ruling that Arizona’s near-total ban on abortion could take effect, Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson granted a request by the state’s Republican attorney general to lift a court injunction that had barred enforcement of Arizona’s pre-statehood ban on abortion after the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade in 1973.
“The court finds that because the legal basis for the judgment entered in 1973 has now been overruled, it must vacate the judgment in its entirety,” Johnson wrote in the ruling released Friday.
The case has thrust the issue of how restrictive abortion law should be in Arizona, a swing state that President Joe Biden carried by fewer than 11,000 votes. It’s a controversial topic that has divided Republicans in Arizona and is reflective of a pitched debate nationwide in the wake of the US Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in late June, with many GOP-led states passing increasingly restrictive measures that run the risk of alienating moderate voters.
The judge’s ruling effectively outlaws all abortions in Arizona except when the procedure is necessary to save the mother’s life. The decision came a day before a 15-week ban on abortion was slated to go into effect in Arizona. That law was passed by Arizona lawmakers before the US Supreme Court decision.
Conservative Arizona lawmakers included language in the bill banning abortion after 15 weeks stating that the new legislation would not override the 1901 law — which was passed before Arizona became a state and can be traced back to as early as 1864. In addition to barring abortion in all cases except when “it is necessary to save (the mother’s) life,” the pre-statehood law carries a prison sentence of two to five years for abortion providers.
While fighting the attorney general’s move to allow the 1901 abortion ban to be enforced, abortion rights groups had argued that if both laws were to go into effect, it would create significant confusion for both abortion providers and women seeking care. But the judge said in her ruling that she was not weighing in on how the conflict between Arizona’s abortion laws would be settled.
“While there may be legal questions the parties seek to resolve regarding Arizona statutes on abortion, those questions are not for this Court to decide here,” Johnson wrote in the decision.
The ruling drew a swift rebuke from several Democratic groups that favor abortion rights and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Katie Hobbs, who said she was “outraged and devastated” by the decision.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that this draconian 1901 law will have dire consequences on the health and well-being of Arizona women and their families,” Hobbs said in a statement. “This cruel law effectively outlaws abortion in Arizona — with no exceptions for rape or incest — and risks women’s fundamental freedom to make their own health care decisions. … To make matters worse, this law mandates jail time for abortion providers. Medical professionals will now be forced to think twice and call their lawyer before providing patients with oftentimes necessary, lifesaving care.”
Arizona GOP Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who led the legal process to try to get the state’s pre-statehood ban on abortion put back into effect after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in late June, tweeted that he was pleased by the decision:
“We applaud the court for upholding the will of the legislature and providing clarity and uniformity on this important issue. I have and will continue to protect the most vulnerable Arizonans,” he tweeted.
The disagreement over Arizona’s abortion laws has created a confusing legal landscape in Arizona for much of the summer that has unfolded against the backdrop of a shifting national political mood ahead of November’s midterm elections. While both historical trends and the nation’s sour mood about inflation had initially appeared to favor Republicans in their quest to take control of the US House and Senate this November, the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion has energized female voters all over the country — a dynamic that led to the surprising victory for proponents of abortion rights in Kansas and better-than-expected performances for Democrats in special elections for the US House since the Dobbs ruling.
The ruling injects a new uncertainty into the marquee statewide races. Republicans, who need a net gain of just one seat to flip the Senate, are trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly as he runs for a full six-year term. And Democrats are trying to flip the governor’s mansion, currently held by term-limited Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.
In the Arizona governor’s race, Hobbs has portrayed GOP opponent Kari Lake as “extreme” on abortion. Lake has repeatedly said she is opposed to the procedure and in an August news conference said that she would “uphold the laws that are on the books.” But she did not specify which laws she meant. “If people don’t like the laws on the books, then they need to elect representatives who will change the laws. I’m running for governor, not for God. So I don’t get to write the laws,” she said.
Her campaign has not responded to CNN’s requests for clarification on her view of the pre-statehood law.
Both Lake and GOP Senate nominee Blake Masters, who is challenging Kelly, have argued that their Democratic opponents have adopted positions that are too far out of the mainstream in favor of abortion rights.
Masters removed language from his campaign website expressing support for a “federal personhood law” and other conservative anti-abortion stances after winning the GOP nomination last month. His campaign told CNN that Masters does support South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s proposal for a federal ban on abortion at 15 weeks, which would provide exceptions to protect the life of the mother and in cases of rape or incest.
But before the ruling, Masters’ campaign did not respond to questions about his position on the pre-statehood law or the court case to enforce it.
In a statement Friday, Kelly said the decision would “have a devastating impact on the freedom Arizona women have had for decades: to choose an abortion if they need one. Let’s be clear, this is exactly what Blake Masters wants, to completely ban abortions in Arizona and across the country — without even an exception for rape or incest. I will never stop fighting to restore these rights for Arizona women.”
Planned Parenthood Federation of America fought Brnovich’s move in Pima County Superior Court — the court that handled the 1973 injunction.
The group’s lawyers had argued that the court had a duty to “harmonize all of the Arizona Legislature’s enactments as they exist today.” In the post-Dobbs era, the group argued that the pre-statehood law could “be enforceable in some respects” but that it should not apply to abortions provided by licensed physicians — and instead that the ban should apply to anyone other than a licensed physician who attempts to provide abortion services.
In a statement, Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona, said Friday’s ruling “has the practical and deplorable result of sending Arizonans back nearly 150 years. No archaic law should dictate our reproductive freedom and how we live our lives today.”
This story has been updated with additional details Friday.
CHARLESTON, W. Va. — On Tuesday morning, West Virginians could obtain elective abortions in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
By 5 p.m., the state legislature had voted to ban nearly all abortions from the moment a fertilized egg implants in the uterus. The governor has not yet signed the bill into law, but has indicated he will do so.
The legislation sent abortion providers scrambling to adjust to the new reality.
The state’s only abortion clinic, in Charleston, W.Va., announced on its website Wednesday morning that it would no longer perform the procedure.
“West Virginians will now have to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles away from their homes and incur massive costs to access essential, lifesaving care,” Katie Quiñonez, executive director of the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia, said in a statement.
The Women’s Health Center had an empty parking lot Wednesday. A printed sign on the door said the health center was “closed for staff rest” and would open the next day. Across the street, a crisis pregnancy center run by antiabortion advocates remained open to patients.
Around lunchtime, Elizabeth Gill, 56, who has often protested as a member of West Virginians for Life, pulled into the clinic’s lot. But there were no women seeking abortions for her to speak to.
Gill, who was adopted, said she welcomes the new ban, though she opposes the exceptions for victims of rape or incest. The ban allows abortions for adult victims of rape or incest until eight weeks of pregnancy, and until 14 weeks of pregnancy for child victims. She also said she hopes the Women’s Health Center closes for good.
“The baby has a God-given right to live the life and live out the purpose that God has for them,” she said.
Austin Walters, who has lived next door to the clinic for about six years and endured countless noisy antiabortion protests, said he opposes the new ban. The 30-year-old, who works at Home Depot, said he expects the ban to drive young people out of the state and possibly hurt the economy.
“The government, or the lawmakers, should not control women’s bodies,” he said. “This is one issue where the government needs to stay out.”
Betty Jo Stemple, another resident who lives near the abortion clinic, said she feels strongly that abortion should be a woman’s choice in the early stages of pregnancy and in instances of rape or incest. She said she had an abortion decades ago, after she was raped in her late 20s.
“When I missed that second period, I knew I had to make a choice,” Stemple, now 61, said.
She didn’t want to have a child “with those evil genes,” she said. “I didn’t want that growing in inside me.”
Like many Americans, Stemple said she supports restrictions on abortion later in pregnancy, but she believes hard-line antiabortion activists are taking limitations too far.
“Life is complicated,” she said. “Situations happen. … It’s not cut-and-dried.”
1 in 3 American women have already lost abortion access. More restrictive laws are coming.
The strict ban in West Virginia passed despite signs in other states that many voters do not support restrictive limits on abortion without exceptions. Antiabortion lawmakers in South Carolina failed to pass a ban from conception without exceptions for rape and incest last week. Kansas voters rejected a ballot measure that would have opened the door to more restrictive abortion laws in August, and candidates who oppose abortion bans have been outperforming their polling numbers during primaries this summer.
Even the West Virginia bill initially stalled in July over disagreements between lawmakers over criminal penalties for doctors and a heated debate over what exceptions to include. Ultimately, lawmakers settled on exceptions for victims of rape and incest as long as they report the assault and seek an abortion before eight weeks of pregnancy for adults and 14 weeks for children.
Although a handful of Republican lawmakers balked at the exceptions and lack of criminal penalties for doctors in the final version of the ban, national antiabortion activists called it a “strong pro-life bill.”
“West Virginians have been committed to protecting unborn children and mothers from the horrors of abortion and now, in the Dobbs era, they have passed legislation to do just that,” Caitlin Connors, southern regional director for SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement. Connors added that the final version of the bill ensures “mothers can get the care they need in the heartbreaking situation of an ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or medical emergency – just like every other state with pro-life protections in place.”
Some abortion supporters worry West Virginia’s law will serve as a template for other state lawmakers. “What we saw in West Virginia may forecast what we see in other state legislatures later this year and beyond with legislatures adopting bans that include narrow exceptions that make it nearly impossible to access care,” Elizabeth Nash, principal policy associate for state issues for the Guttmacher Institute said in an email.
Nash said that the exceptions in the West Virginia ban are so narrow that many sexual assault victims will struggle to meet the requirements to qualify for an abortion.
“Patients will not be able to access care, including many of those who qualify for an exception, because the exceptions are written in a way as to make them nearly impossible to use,” she said. “It is expected other states will also consider similar exceptions as a way to convince the public that the exceptions provide some measure of access, but in practice the exceptions provide almost no access at all.”
The Republican-controlled legislature passed a near-total abortion ban with exceptions only to save the life of the pregnant patient and for victims of rape or incest. Gov. Jim Justice has not yet signed the bill, but is expected to do so soon. Once it is signed, the ban will take effect immediately and the law’s criminal penalties will kick in 90 days later.
Democrats and reproductive rights advocates say the ban goes so far that it outlaws abortion in almost every circumstance, and makes it difficult to access even for victims of sexual assault.
Even people eligible for an exception under the new ban face time limits and other hurdles. Adult sexual assault victims must report the crime and seek an abortion before the eighth week of pregnancy. Victims under the age of 18 can get an abortion before the 14th week of pregnancy if they seek medical care for the assault or report it to police.
Abortions may only be performed by doctors with admitting privileges at a hospital. Those physicians may lose their medical license but do not face criminal penalties for performing an illegal abortion. Anyone else who provides an abortion faces felony charges and up to five years in prison. Patients who choose to have an illegal abortion do not face any criminal penalties.
“It’s hard to overstate what a terrible day this is for the state of West Virginia,” ACLU of West Virginia Advocacy Director Eli Baumwell said in a statement. “The Legislature chose to strip away a basic human right to choose if, when, and how a person becomes a parent.”
It is unclear whether a path exists to challenge the ban in court. The ACLU of West Virginia had already challenged an abortion ban, before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its Roe v. Wade ruling, because it conflicted with other laws that the state legislature had passed more recently. A state judge temporarily blocked that ban in July. But West Virginia voters narrowly passed an amendment to the state constitution in 2018 that declared “nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or requires the funding of an abortion.”
“There are so few cases that have gone very far,” Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said. “I don’t think we know” how a legal challenge will turn out.
If the West Virginia ban is challenged in federal court, Tobias said district judges in the Southern District of West Virginia and the 4th Circuit may be more receptive to plaintiff’s arguments than the federal judges who might consider challenges from states like Texas or Tennessee, where strict, near-total abortion bans are in place.
A federal challenge to a restrictive abortion ban has been filed in Idaho, where a judge blocked parts of the state law that would have prevented doctors from terminating pregnancies that pose significant health risks, if those risks were not life-threatening. Other strict limitations on abortion are still in place in Idaho, where abortion is banned except in cases of rape, incest or when a woman’s life is at risk.
And the fate of West Virginia’s law, if challenged in the courts, remains uncertain.
Indiana became the first state in the country after the fall of Roe v. Wade to pass sweeping limits on abortion access, after Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed into law Friday a bill that constitutes a near-total ban 0n the procedure.
The Republican-dominated state Senate approved the legislation 28-19 Friday in a vote that came just hours after it passed Indiana’s lower chamber. The bill, which will go into effect Sept. 15, only allows abortion in cases of rape, incest, lethal fetal abnormality or when the procedure is necessary to prevent severe health risks or death.
Supporters of abortion rights crowded into the corridors of the Indiana Statehouse throughout the day as lawmakers cast their votes, some holding signs that read “You can only ban safe abortions” and “Abortion is health care.” Moments after the vote, some protesters hugged and others stood stunned before the crowd broke out into chants of “We will not stop.”
‘Not her body, not her choice:’ Indiana lawmakers on abortion ban
In a statement released after signing the bill, Holcomb said he had “stated clearly” following the fall of Roe that he would be willing to support antiabortion legislation. He also highlighted the “carefully negotiated” exceptions in the law, which he said address “some of the unthinkable circumstances a woman or unborn child might face.”
Before settling on the exceptions, Republican legislators disagreed on how far the law should go, with some GOP members siding with Democrats in demanding that abortion be legal in cases of rape and incest.
The vote followed days of testimony from citizens and a debate that grew heated at times. “Sir, I am not a murderer,” Rep. Renee Pack (D) said in the chamber after Rep. John Jacob (R), a staunch abortion opponent who wanted exceptions for rape removed, described the procedure as murder.
Abortion is now banned in these states. See where laws have changed.
Abortion rights organizations quickly rebuked Friday’s decision. Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the vote “was cruel and will prove devastating for pregnant people and their families in Indiana and across the whole region.” “Hoosiers didn’t want this,” Johnson said.
In a statement, antiabortion group Indiana Right to Life opposed the exceptions, and said the new law did not go far enough in cutting abortion access.
The push by Indiana Republicans to restrict abortion access stands in stark contrast with the overwhelming support for it by voters in Kansas, where an attempt to strip away abortion protections was voted down this week in another traditionally conservative state. That victory is likely to boost the Democratic Party’s hope that the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade will energize voters ahead of the midterm elections.
In Indiana, Democratic legislators described the Kansas vote as a warning to their Republican colleagues to consider the potential fallout from voters.
Kansans resoundingly reject amendment aimed at restricting abortion rights
Unlike many of its predominantly conservative neighboring states in the Midwest, Indiana did not have a “trigger law” on the books that would immediately prohibit abortion when Roe was overturned. Because the procedure had been legal in the state up to 22 weeks, Indiana became the destination for many seeking to terminate their pregnancies.
Cutting off this “critical access point” may force people to travel “hundreds of miles or carry pregnancies against their will,” the American Civil Liberties Union said.
Most recently, a 10-year-old girl rape victim had to travel to Indianapolis for an abortion after she was denied one in her home state of Ohio. The case prompted outrage among abortion rights proponents, was criticized by President Biden and drew international attention.
The OB/GYN who provided the care, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, has faced threats and harassment. Her legal team is looking into filing a defamation suit against Indiana’s attorney general, whose office is investigating how the abortion case was handled.
Kim Bellware and Ellen Francis contributed to this report.
May 19 (Reuters) – Oklahoma lawmakers on Thursday gave final approval to a bill that would ban nearly all abortions and would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps women terminate a pregnancy.
The bill would take effect immediately upon being signed by Republican Governor Kevin Stitt, making it the most restrictive abortion ban in the United States.
The Republican-backed legislation bans abortion from the moment of “fertilization,” making exceptions only in cases of medical emergency, rape or incest. The bill text says it does not prohibit the use of contraception or emergency contraception.
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Trust Women, which operates a clinic in Oklahoma City, called passage of the bill “gratuitous and cruel.”
“Our patients are frightened, confused about the new reality they now live in,” the clinic said in a statement.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, a global advocacy group based in New York, said on Thursday it would challenge the ban in state court.
Oklahoma is among the country’s Republican-led states rushing to pass anti-abortion laws this year, anticipating that the U.S. Supreme Court will soon overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that established the constitutional right to abortion.
Medical instruments are sterilized following a surgical abortion at Trust Women clinic in Oklahoma City, U.S., December 6, 2021. Picture taken December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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A draft opinion leaked earlier this month showed the court’s conservative majority intends to overhaul federal abortion rights and send the issue of legalization back to individual states.
The Republican-backed laws remain vulnerable to legal challenges pending that ruling. A federal judge on Thursday extended a block on a recently-enacted in Kentucky law that would force clinics to stop offering abortions until they can meet certain requirements. read more
Oklahoma Governor Stitt has said he will sign any anti-abortion legislation that reaches his desk.
The state already this month enacted a bill that banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, as opposed to fertilization. Like the latest measure, it relies on civil lawsuits to be enforced.
The enforcement provision in both bills was modeled after Texas legislation, which took effect in September and stopped clinics from performing nearly all abortions in that state.
Oklahoma quickly became a destination for Texas women seeking abortions after six weeks.
But the enactment of Oklahoma’s own six-week ban this month has severely limited abortion services the state’s four clinics can provide.
If signed as expected, the newest bill would expand a region of the country where there is little to no legal abortion access, forcing patients to travel to states such as Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado to end their pregnancies.
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Reporting by Gabriella Borter; editing by Colleen Jenkins, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
April 5 (Reuters) – Oklahoma lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bill that would make it illegal to perform an abortion in the state except in medical emergencies, penalizing those who do with up to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison.
The Republican-controlled state House of Representatives brought the bill to a vote this week, after it was passed last year by the Midwestern state’s Senate. It now heads to the desk of Republican Governor Kevin Stitt for signing.
Stitt has signaled his support for anti-abortion legislation. If he signs the measure, it would take effect this summer unless blocked by courts.
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An abortion ban in Oklahoma would widen a swath of the country where there is little to no legal abortion access. The state has become a destination for Texas women seeking abortions since Texas in September banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
“These harmful bills are an alarming reminder that the days of access to safe and legal abortion may be numbered, and we must continue to fight to guarantee all people have access to the essential health care they need, including abortion,” Tamya Cox-Toure, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, said in a statement.
A doctor does an ultrasound on a patient from Austin, Texas, before her surgical abortion at Trust Women clinic in Oklahoma City, U.S., December 6, 2021. Picture taken December 6, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
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The measure passed by the Oklahoma House on Tuesday is one of several anti-abortion bills making its way through the state’s legislature.
Separate legislation introduced this year proposes banning almost all abortions and relying on private citizens to sue any person who “aids or abets” abortions, similar to Texas’ six-week abortion ban. That bill contains an emergency clause, which would allow it to take effect immediately once it is passed and signed by the governor.
The measure approved on Tuesday states, “a person shall not purposely perform or attempt to perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency.”
Republican-governed states like Oklahoma have passed a series of restrictive abortion measures in recent years.
The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule by the end of June in a case involving a Republican-backed Mississippi law that gives its conservative majority a chance to undermine or even repeal the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. During arguments in the case, the conservative justices signaled a willingness to dramatically curtail abortion rights in America.
(This story corrects description of Texas ban in 4th paragraph)
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Reporting by Gabriella Borter
Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Lawmakers in Oklahoma on Tuesday approved a near-total ban on abortion, making it the latest Republican-led state to forge ahead with stringent abortion legislation as the Supreme Court weighs a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade later this year.
The measure, Senate Bill 612, would make performing an abortion “except to save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency” a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison
The Oklahoma House voted 70 to 14 to send the bill, which passed the Senate last year, to Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who promised in September to sign “every piece of pro-life legislation” that came to his desk.
If Mr. Stitt signs the bill, it would take effect on Aug. 26, according to the Senate clerk’s office.
Its passage came after Oklahoma became a major destination for women from Texas who were seeking abortions after that state enacted a law banning the procedure after about six weeks, a very early stage of pregnancy.
“If allowed to take effect, S.B. 612 would be devastating for both Oklahomans and Texans who continue to seek care in Oklahoma,” said Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director of the A.C.L.U. of Oklahoma.
“Nearly half of the patients Oklahoma providers are currently seeing are medical refugees from Texas,” Ms. Cox-Touré said in a statement. “Now, Oklahomans could face a future where they would have no place left in their state to go to seek this basic health care.”
Representative Jim Olsen, a Republican from Roland, and the House author of the bill, said the bill was enacted in anticipation of a pending Supreme Court decision on a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
If the court upholds that law, it could upend Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion and that prohibited states from banning the procedure before fetal viability, or around 23 weeks.
From Florida to Idaho, Republican-led state legislatures have been operating as though Roe has already been struck down, advancing restrictions that aim to make abortion illegal in as many circumstances as possible.
“Obviously, I’m thrilled because we have the potential of seeing many lives of babies saved — part of that depends on future court rulings” like the one in the Mississippi case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mr. Olsen said.
He said the bill passed without any floor debate.
“Nobody debated and nobody asked any questions,” he said. “I was actually kind of shocked.”
Emily Wales, interim president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said anti-abortion lawmakers approved the bill as lawmakers who support abortion rights were outside the State Capitol, speaking at a “Bans off Oklahoma” rally.
She said the bill was one of a series of anti-abortion measures advancing in Oklahoma, including one that mirrors the Texas law, which effectively deputizes citizens to sue clinics and others who violate the law.
Facing video links with 80 world leaders arrayed on two oversize electronic panels, the US president said: “This is an urgent matter on all our parts, in my view, because the data we’re seeing is largely pointing in the wrong direction.”
Biden cited studies that found that global freedom has now been in retreat for 15 consecutive years and that more than half of all democracies experienced a decline in the past decade.
He acknowledged that one of those countries in democratic decline was his own. Since the November 2020 elections – the result of which is still not accepted by many supporters of the loser, Donald Trump – voting rights have been under assault from Republicans on the state level, where gerrymandering is still rife, carried out by both Republicans, and to a lesser extent, Democrats.
Biden has been accused by American progressives of hosting a global summit while not doing enough to combat democratic backsliding at home. In New York, activists staged a “funeral for democracy” outside the United Nations, in protest of US voter suppression laws.
A full Moon rises over California’s Antelope Valley in July 2021. Credit: NASA/Preston Dyches
The next full Moon is a near-total lunar eclipse, the Beaver, Frost/Frosty, or Snow Moon; Kartik Purnima, the full Moon of the Festivals of Karthika Deepam, Karthikai Vilakkidu, Thrikarthika, Loi Krathong, Bon Om Touk, and Tazaungdaing; and Ill (or Il) Poya.
The next full Moon will be early on Friday morning, November 19, 2021, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 3:58 a.m. EST. While this will be on Friday for much of the Earth, it will be Thursday night from Alaska’s time zone westward to the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean. The Moon will appear full for about three days around this time, from Wednesday night through Saturday morning.
“This should be a good month for skywatching, with On November 19, 2021 (late evening of the 18th in some time zones), the Moon passes into the shadow of the Earth, creating a partial lunar eclipse so deep that it can reasonably be called almost total. Credit:
An image of comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) taken November 13, 2021, from June Lake in California. Credit & Copyright: Dan E. Bartlett
Comet Leonard
Predicted to be the brightest comet of the year, comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) should be visible with binoculars, and it may become a naked-eye comet!
Discovered last January by G. J. Leonard at the Mount Lemmon Observatory, this comet will pass closest to Earth on December 12, 2021, at 8:54 a.m. EST and reach its closest to the Sun on January 3, 2022, after which it will speed away from the Sun on its way out of our solar system never to return again.
When and how bright a comet will appear is difficult to predict, because we don’t know how much dust and gas the comet will give off (this can vary day-to-day), and this will control how much sunlight is scattered and reflected toward us. Depending on the dust and gas, the modeled peak brightness is expected to be around December 13 or 14, 2021, about 1 to 2 days after its closest to the Earth. If the comet is giving off a lot of dust, this should make the peak brighter due to forward scattering which could shift the peak later toward December14.
Keep an eye on the sky and pay attention to the news, because sometimes comets can surprise us by giving large outbursts of gas and dust as they approach the Sun, and newer observations and better models can improve the predictions of how visible this comet might become.
Around its closest approach to the Earth, this comet will be visible just before dawn and just after dusk. Note that the times and angles I provide are based on a specific location. Although the timing relative to sunset and twilight should not change much for latitudes similar to that of Washington, the specific clock times and time zones may be different for your location. There are a number of online astronomy tools that allow you to enter your location and get information to guide your comet viewing. I recommend using one of these to guide your comet viewing.
For day-by-day predictions for comet Leonard, see the Detailed Daily Guide below.
Geminid Meteor Shower
One of the best and most reliable meteor showers of the year, the Geminids (004 GEM), is predicted to peak around 2 a.m. on December 14, 2021. The best time to look should be after moonset at 2:59 a.m. EST, but before the sky begins to show any sign of dawn (before 6:16 a.m.).
At its peak, under ideal conditions, this meteor shower should show 140 to 150 visible meteors per hour. This meteor shower is expected to be active from December 4 to December 17, with a fairly broad peak, so with good viewing conditions, you have a good chance of seeing some meteors in the mornings before and after the peak. Also, the radiant for this meteor shower is far enough north that those of us in the Northern Hemisphere should be able to see a few meteors that are bright enough to be seen despite interference from moonlight throughout most of the night.
Ideal conditions for viewing these meteors would be if the weather is clear with no clouds or high hazes, the Moon has set but before any sign of dawn interferes, you go to a place far from any light sources or urban light pollution, and you have a clear view of a wide expanse of the sky.
Be sure to give your eyes plenty of time to adapt to the dark. The rod cells in your eyes are more sensitive to low light levels but play little role in color vision. Your color-sensing cone cells are concentrated near the center of your view with more of the rod cells on the edge of your view. Since some meteors are faint, you will tend to see more meteors from the “corner of your eye” (which is why you need a view of a large part of the sky). Your color vision (cone cells) will adapt to darkness in about 10 minutes, but your more sensitive night vision rod cells will continue to improve for an hour or more (with most of the improvement in the first 35 to 45 minutes). The more sensitive your eyes are, the more chance you have of seeing meteors. Even a short exposure to light (from passing car headlights, etc.) will start the adaptation over again (so no turning on a light or your cell phone to check what time it is).
This meteor shower is called the Geminids because the meteors appear to radiate out from the constellation Gemini. The Geminids are relatively slow-moving meteors, entering the Earth’s atmosphere at about 35 kilometers per second (78,000 miles per hour). The Geminids appear to be one of only two annual meteor showers associated with asteroids rather than comets. The dust that causes the Geminids appears to come from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon, which has an eccentric 1.4 year-long orbit that takes it out as far as the main asteroid belt and much closer to the Sun than Mercury. The problem is that it is hard to explain why there is so much dust since we don’t see dust coming off this asteroid now. One possibility is that this asteroid may have shot out gas and dust in the past when it was close to the Sun. There are other possible explanations (and thanks to Bill Cooke at NASA MSFC for providing me with this information a few years ago). There is another asteroid, 2005 UD, that appears to be in a related orbit. It is possible that two asteroids collided with one another, producing 2005 UD, 3200 Phaethon, and the massive amounts of debris that cause the Geminids each year. It is also possible that a larger body in a similar orbit broke apart due to thermal stress or other reasons, producing these two asteroids and the Geminids’ stream.
There will be several other meteor showers during this lunar cycle, each expected to peak at about 15 visible meteors per hour. Given the difficulty urban skywatchers have in seeing these meteors (and how long these Moon Missives are already), I’ve opted not to include descriptions, but if you are in a good place for meteor watching, be sure to look these up!
Evening Sky Highlights
On the evening of Friday, November 19, 2021, the day of the full Moon, as evening twilight ends (at 5:53 p.m. EST), the brightest planet visible will be Venus, appearing 14 degrees above the southwestern horizon. The next brightest planet will be Jupiter, appearing 37 degrees above the southern horizon. The faintest of the visible planets in the sky will be Saturn, appearing to the right of Jupiter at 31 degrees above the south-southwestern horizon. The bright star closest to overhead will be Deneb, appearing 77 degrees above the northwestern horizon. Deneb is about 2,600 light-years from Earth and is the 19th brightest star in our night sky. The bright star Aldebaran will just be rising, appearing about 8 degrees below the full Moon on the east-northeastern horizon.
As the lunar cycle progresses, Jupiter, Saturn, and the background of stars will appear to shift toward the west each evening (although it is actually the Earth that is moving around the Sun toward the east). We are nearing the end of the evenings favorable for Jupiter and Saturn watching. Although both Jupiter and Saturn have been dimming as they move away from the Earth, they have also been shifting toward the west, making them easier to view in the evenings (and friendlier for backyard stargazing, especially if you have young ones with earlier bedtimes). The end of Daylight Savings Time means evening twilight ends earlier, closer to the bedtimes for younger children. At the start of this lunar cycle, Jupiter will appear about 37 degrees above the southern horizon as evening twilight ends at 5:53 p.m.
By the evening of the full Moon after next, Jupiter will appear about 34 degrees above the south-southwestern horizon as evening twilight ends (at 5:52 p.m.). With clear skies and a telescope, you should be able to see Jupiter’s four bright moons, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, and Io, noticeably shifting positions in the course of an evening. For Saturn, you should be able to see Saturn’s rings as well as Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.
Unlike Jupiter, Saturn, and the background of stars, the bright planet Venus will appear to shift left along the southwestern horizon each evening until November 14, after which it will begin to start to shift back toward the right.
Venus will appear at its highest above the horizon as evening twilight ends around November 28, 2021. Venus will appear to brighten as it shifts closer to the Earth until it reaches its greatest brightness in early December, after which it will decrease in brightness as it continues to shift toward the horizon.
The waxing crescent Moon will appear near Venus on the evening of December 6, Saturn on December 7, and Jupiter on December 8.
December 15 will be the first evening that the planet Mercury will appear above the west-southwestern horizon 30 minutes after sunset (an approximation of when it may start being visible in the glow of dusk).
Comet Leonard will start appearing above the horizon about 30 minutes after sunset on the evening of December 9. It will become brighter and higher in the sky as it approaches its closest to the Earth on December 12 and will reach its predicted maximum brightness one or two evenings after that. For more details see the description above or the Daily Guide below.
By the evening of Saturday, December 18, 2021 (the day of the full Moon after next), as evening twilight ends (at 5:52 p.m. EST), the brightest planet visible will be Venus, appearing 11 degrees above the southwestern horizon. The next brightest planet will be Jupiter, appearing 34 degrees above the south-southwestern horizon. The faintest of the visible planets in the sky will be Saturn, appearing to the right of Jupiter at 21 degrees above the southwestern horizon. The planet Mercury will have already set by the time evening twilight ends, but it may be visible if you have a very clear view of the southwestern horizon from about 30 minutes after sunset (5:18 p.m.) until Mercury sets 9 minutes later. No particularly bright star will appear overhead, with Deneb still the closest at 58 degrees above the west-northwestern horizon.
Morning Sky Highlights
On the morning of November 19, 2021 (the day of the full Moon), as morning twilight begins (at 6:25 a.m. EST), the only visible planet in the sky will be
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A near-total eclipse of the moon is expected late this week, but unfavorable weather conditions may stymie Bay Area residents from viewing it.
The eclipse will begin at approximately 11:19 p.m. Thursday and, at its peak, should cover about 97% of the moon. During the celestial event, the Earth, Sun and moon align, with the Earth in the middle, causing the planet to cast a shadow on its moon.
Lasting 3 hours, 28 minutes and 23 seconds, the partial lunar eclipse, which coincides with a Beaver Moon, will be the longest partial lunar eclipse of the century, according to data from NASA. The longest total eclipse of the century occurred on July 27, 2018, lasting 1 hour and 42 minutes.
In the Bay Area, the eclipse should reach its full splendor shortly after 1 a.m. on Friday. The moon should be visible, weather permitting, anywhere the moon appears above the horizon.
Unfortunately for those in the Bay Area, weather conditions are expected to be highly unfavorable for sky watching Friday. The National Weather Service anticipates the arrival of a weak cold front across the area late Thursday into Friday, and most areas “will likely be under cloudy sky conditions,” according to weather service meteorologist Roger Gass.
“It doesn’t look favorable across any portion of the Bay Area to have clear skies Friday morning,” Gass said. “You may even see a little bit of light rain falling.”
If you miss the eclipse in person, it can also be viewed online via the Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 and Time and Date’s website.
