Abortion-rights advocate Kristin Hady helps a car navigate past protesters toward  A Preferred Women’s Health Center of Atlanta in Forest Park, Georgia, in August 2023. Independent clinics are facing fresh challenges, and at least 23 more closed this year, bringing the total to 100 since the Dobbs decision. (Photo by Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder) 

When Wisconsin Planned Parenthood clinics temporarily paused abortion services in October because of a new law halting federal Medicaid reimbursements, patients turned to the state’s two independent clinics for care. 

Demand at Affiliated Medical Services in Milwaukee quadrupled, according to clinic director Dabbie Phonekeo. 

“It happened all of a sudden. We were all scrambling to figure out what we needed to do and how we were going to accept all patients,” Phonekeo said. 

The staff secured additional funding to meet need before Wisconsin’s Planned Parenthood clinics resumed abortions, adapting under a law that bans certain reproductive health care providers from receiving federal funding until July 2026. 

“This was a reminder of why it’s so important to have independent clinics and abortion access overall,” Phonekeo said. 

At least 23 independent clinics have closed this year, according to a report released Tuesday by Abortion Care Network, compared with 12 last year.

Most were in states with abortion-rights protections, the report found. 

Independent providers face less recognition than Planned Parenthood and ongoing barriers to funding. Donations to abortion clinics and funds have waned, leading to more out-of-pocket costs for patients, States Newsroom reported last year.  

Independent clinics provide 58% of all abortions nationwide, while Planned Parenthood provides 38%, hospitals 3%, and 1% occur at physicians’ offices, according to the latest Abortion Care Network findings. 

Medication abortion, allowed during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, has been a focus of abortion-rights advocates and opponents this year. But independent clinics are more likely to offer legal procedural abortions after that. 

More than 60% of all U.S. clinics that offer abortion care after the first trimester are independent, 85% that provide abortion at 22 weeks or later are independent, and all clinics that perform the procedure after 26 weeks are independent, according to the report. 

“While both medication and in-clinic abortion are safe and effective, people may need or prefer one method over another,” the report states. “This is especially true for patients for whom it’s not safe or feasible to terminate outside the clinic — including those experiencing intimate partner violence, minors without support at home, people experiencing homelessness, and patients who cannot take time off from work or caretaking.” 

The latest clinic closures come more than three years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision forced many to cease operations: 100 independent clinics closed between 2022 and 2025. 

Affiliated Medical Services in Wisconsin is one of the few independent abortion providers that was able to reopen after closing the day the nation’s highest court overturned federal abortion rights on June 24, 2022. 

The clinic reopened in March 2024 a few months after a Wisconsin judge ruled that a 19th century abortion ban was invalid, Wisconsin Examiner reported. 

Phonekeo said people were initially hesitant to book appointments at the clinic. 

“Most of our patients that we saw had asked, ‘Is this legal? Am I going to go to jail if I have an abortion today? Can we do this in Wisconsin?’ So I think a lot of patients were still afraid to be seen,” she said. 

Independent clinics could become even more significant to reproductive health care access if lawmakers permanently bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal resources.  

Some anti-abortion groups have urged the Trump administration to disqualify Planned Parenthood as a federal vendor, States Newsroom reported in November. 

Nearly 50 Planned Parenthood clinics closed this year due to federal health officials’ cuts to Title X and Medicaid. At least 20 closed since a federal “defunding” provision that halts Medicaid funds for reproductive health care providers that offer abortion and received more than $800,000 in fiscal year 2023 took effect, according to a tally released on Nov. 12 by the national organization. 

Some of the clinics that closed did not offer abortion. And under the law, federal funding only covers abortions in extreme circumstances, so the Medicaid reimbursement ban primarily affects patients who go to Planned Parenthood for other services, like birth control, cervical cancer screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. 

Some independent clinics offer non-abortion care, too, but many don’t accept Medicaid, clinic directors said at a Wednesday news briefing. 

Amber Gavin is the vice president of advocacy of operations at A Woman’s Choice, an organization that has three clinics in North Carolina and one each in Florida and Virginia. She said staff members at the Charlotte location have seen an uptick in patients seeking STI testing and related services. 

Karishma Oza, chief of staff at DuPont Clinic in Washington, D.C., also said providers there have seen an increase in patients who are uninsured or underinsured since the Medicaid ban, which mostly affects Planned Parenthood, took effect. 

Phonekeo said the Wisconsin clinic hasn’t dealt with more demand for reproductive health care services beyond abortion. Still, Affiliated Medical Services offers birth control pills, IUDs, STI testing and treatment, miscarriage care and even follow-up care for medication abortion provided through online-only clinics such as Hey Jane. 

While all three clinic leaders said they don’t accept Medicaid, they offer sliding-scale payments for people who cannot afford the full cost of care. 

“We’re more than just abortion providers,” Phonekeo said. 

The Bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening Enhancement Act became law on Nov. 25, 2025. The bipartisan legislation aims to strengthen protocols for Transportation Security Administration employees handling breast milk, formula and related items. (Getty Images) 

After years of advocacy efforts, a bipartisan measure became law last week to make travel easier for parents who encounter problems going through airport security with breast milk and formula.

Congress passed a law in 2016 that deemed breast milk, formula and toddler drinks “medically necessary liquids” that can go on planes and in carry-ons in quantities larger than 3.4 ounces, along with ice and gel packs and other related accessories. But airport security officers are not always trained on the policy, and parents continue to face issues nearly a decade later, States Newsroom reported, sometimes experiencing flight delays or being forced to dump milk handled unhygienically. 

Three years ago, after a bad experience in an airport, engineer and science TV host Emily Calandrelli called on Congress to make the Transportation Security Administration enforce its own breast milk policy. She’s championed the legislation alongside lobbying groups like Chamber of Mothers, founded by working moms in 2021. 

The group’s cofounder and CEO Erin Erenberg said in a statement that the measure’s passage was “a victory for every parent who has been mistreated or dismissed while simply caring for their baby.”

The Bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening Enhancement Act was approved unanimously in both chambers of Congress this year. It ensures that TSA streamlines standards and requires officers to follow protocol when screening passengers who are breastfeeding and carrying milk, formula or juice on planes for their babies. Within 90 days of the bill being signed by President Donald Trump on Nov. 25 — and then every five years after that — the agency must issue or update guidance to minimize the risk of contamination.

“I’m thrilled to say that the BABES Act is officially the law of the land,” said Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California in a statement Monday. “As a husband and father, I know how challenging it can be to fly with a newborn. … This is about dignity, peace of mind, and protecting families at one of the most vulnerable moments of parenthood.”

“This bill guarantees clear rules, proper training, and full transparency so parents can travel knowing their baby food will be protected, not mishandled or thrown away,” said Republican Florida Rep. Maria Salazar in a statement. 

Under the measure, TSA agents must maintain hygiene standards when handling breast milk, formula and related items — ice packs or other cooling devices, for example — to lessen the chance of contamination. The law also directs the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General to audit TSA compliance with the law and submit a report to Congress within one year of enactment.

Salazar cosponsored the bill in the House alongside GOP Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and Democratic Reps. Swalwell and Brittany Pettersen of Colorado. 

“Like so many moms, I’ve experienced the frustration of having to throw out milk or pumping supplies, despite them being TSA-approved. Outdated regulations or lack of training shouldn’t add to an already stressful situation,” Pettersen said in a statement. 

The Senate passed the bill with unanimous approval in May. GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Steve Daines of Montana carried the bill in the upper chamber along with Democratic Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. 

“Our bipartisan legislation will ensure the TSA keeps its employees up to speed on their own policies and updates those policies as necessary. It’s the least we can do to help parents travel through airports with the dignity and respect they deserve,” Duckworth said in a statement. 

This year is the first time the bill advanced in both chambers despite being introduced several times in previous sessions. 

During his testimony before the bill’s passage in the House on Nov. 17, Swalwell thanked Calandrelli for speaking out about her experience of being forced to check her ice packs and being questioned for needing breastfeeding supplies while traveling without an infant. 

“It is a success story for anybody who believes that they can write to their legislator and see a change in the laws that govern us,” Swalwell said.

Calendrelli said the same thing to her followers on Facebook.

“But now, 3.5 years later — we turned a terrible experience into a Bill that will become a law. That humiliation to legislation pipeline, amirite?”

Advocates gather outside the Hippodrome Theater in Richmond, Virginia, this summer to protest Medicaid cuts. Medicaid covers nearly two-thirds of Black babies’ births in the U.S., federal data shows, and congressional cuts to the program are already limiting reproductive health care in Black and low-income communities. (Photo by Bert Shepherd/Courtesy of Protect Our Care PAC)

At least 90% of Black people surveyed for a new poll said Medicaid is important to them or their families, and more than half either have public insurance or a family member who relies on the program. 

“Medicaid is critical for so many things with regards to making sure that we’re healthy and addressing health disparities. By losing it or weakening it, it is just going to disproportionately harm our communities,” said Regina Davis Moss, the president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda. 

Davis Moss’ organization commissioned the 10-state poll, which includes views from California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Nonpartisan research firm PerryUndem conducted the survey between May and June and interviewed 500 Black adults in each state. 

The findings, shared exclusively with States Newsroom, show a significant number of Black people who want children are not yet planning to have them due to cost and health care concerns. 

Results were released just as several Planned Parenthood clinics that served Black patients with low incomes closed after a law took effect blocking certain reproductive health clinics affiliated with abortion providers from receiving Medicaid reimbursements until July 2026.

Louisiana’s Planned Parenthood clinics, which never offered abortions in their decades of service, closed on Sept. 30. Sixty percent of the Baton Rouge and New Orleans patients were Black and most have Medicaid insurance, States Newsroom reported. One of two Planned Parenthood locations in Memphis, where more than 60% of the population is Black, temporarily closed its doors during the first week of October due to Medicaid cuts, Tennessee Lookout reported. 

“Proximity is important, and the fact that these clinics have to close means that individuals needing their services will go without,” said Danielle Atkinson, executive director of Mothering Justice, a national advocacy group based in Michigan. 

Four Planned Parenthood clinics closed in her state this spring after the Trump administration cut millions of Title X family-planning funding, Michigan Advance reported.  

“They’ll go without STI testing. They’ll go without cancer screening. They’ll go without counseling,” Atkinson said. 

The ban on Medicaid for some reproductive health providers was part of a larger reconciliation package that is also set to slash nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid more broadly over the next decade. 

“Medicaid is a lifeline for Black women, girls and gender-expansive people,” Davis Moss said. The state and federal program covers nearly two-thirds of Black births, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and almost half of all births nationwide. 

Maternal health advocates are bracing for the impact of Medicaid cuts on labor and delivery units, which have already been closing at a rapid pace over the last 10 years, especially in rural communities. A maternity ward in northeast Georgia, one of the states included in the poll, will close at the end of the month partially due to Medicaid cuts, Georgia Recorder reported in September. 

Findings from the In Our Own Voice poll also show that Black people of reproductive age — 18 to 44 in this case — want children but are not planning to have them, citing high costs of living. 

California had the biggest disparity of 28 percentage points: 56% want children but only 28% plan to have them. 

“I believe some of the reasons they said are not new issues that we are grappling with, but it’s deeply concerning because they are being exacerbated in this current administration,” Davis Moss said. 

At least 69% of Black people polled in each of the 10 states said they worry about being able to take care of children or more children than they already have, while at least 67% cited housing costs and 57% pointed to child care expenses. 

“In a lot of these states, the cost of child care is more expensive than a year of tuition, which is such a barrier for people to be able to: one, go into the workforce, two, have that early intervention and early education that really sets their children up for success, and three, give individuals and families the opportunity to go and explore careers and learning opportunities,” Atkinson said. 

Abortion restrictions played a factor in family planning, too, though in smaller numbers. At least 45% said they don’t want children because they or their loved one could die from pregnancy, while 43% worry about miscarriage care and 30% said abortion bans are stopping them from growing their families. 

Three of the states included in the poll — Florida, Georgia and North Carolina — have abortion bans stricter than 20 weeks. Voters in California, Michigan and Ohio approved reproductive rights amendments in recent years that secured the right to an abortion up to fetal viability, while Nevada and Virginia may have similar safeguards in place after the midterms. 

A majority of voters in each of the 10 states say abortion should be legal in all or most cases and at least 78% say Black women should make the decisions about pregnancy that’s best for them. 

Overall, at least half of Black adults polled are struggling with economic security. Black women of reproductive age were more likely to expect less safety and security throughout the rest of Republican President Donald Trump’s second term than Black men. 

“We’re getting ready to celebrate our 250 years, and all the things that we have fought for and all these things that we have gained in terms of civil rights and human rights, they are under threat like never before,” Davis Moss said. 

Child abuse, neglect or endangerment laws were used to charge hundreds of pregnant people with crimes in the two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, underscoring the rise of fetal personhood laws, according to a new report. (Getty Images)

More than 400 people were charged with pregnancy-related crimes during the two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights, research released Tuesday shows.

Prosecutors across the country often charged people with some form of child neglect, endangerment or abuse based on allegations of substance use during pregnancy, according to an annual report from the nonprofit Pregnancy Justice. 

Nearly three dozen cases were brought against people who miscarried or delivered stillborns, and in nine cases, pregnant people were accused of obtaining, attempting or researching abortion. 

“Prosecutors are wielding criminal laws to surveil and criminalize pregnant people, their behavior and their pregnancy outcomes,” Dana Sussman, Pregnancy Justice’s senior vice president, told States Newsroom.

Although charges against those experiencing pregnancy loss are less common, Sussman said she fears they could lead people to avoid seeking miscarriage care. 

For instance, a woman who miscarried at home was charged with abuse of a corpse in September 2023, Ohio Capital Journal reported. 

Brittany Watts was around 21 weeks pregnant when she went to the hospital but waited for hours and didn’t get help, according to the Capital Journal, and after she miscarried at home, she returned to the hospital, where staff called police. She was never indicted, and she filed a federal lawsuit in January against the city of Warren, police, hospital officials and hospital staff. 

“Rather than being able to grieve her loss, she was taken away in handcuffs. She was interrogated in her hospital bed while she was still tethered to IVs, and so she wants compensation for her own trauma, but most importantly, wants to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Rachel Brady, Watts’ attorney, told States Newsroom in June.

Watts’ lawsuit alleges local law enforcement and the hospital violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals that receive Medicare funding to provide stabilizing medical treatment regardless of a person’s ability to pay or insurance status. The defendants denied liability and the plaintiff’s claims, according to court documents filed in September. 

In this year’s report, pregnancy-related cases cropped up in 16 states, and states with strict abortion bans topped the list again: Alabama (192), Oklahoma (112) and South Carolina (62).

“If you are doing anything that exposes your pregnancy, your fetus to some real risk, perceived or assumed risk, in certain parts of the country, that is a felony,” Sussman said. 

Fetal personhood — the notion that fetuses, zygotes and embryos should have the same legal rights as human beings — comes into play when pregnant people struggling with addiction are drug tested during checkups or at labor and delivery units, Sussman said. 

“In several states, it’s become relatively common practice for people to be charged with a felony for child endangerment or neglect for simply testing positive” on toxicology tests, Sussman said. “And that carries years in prison, and of course, immediate family separation from your newborn and even from your other children in your home, in your family.” 

An investigation by The Marshall Project, Mississippi Today and three other news outlets in 2023 found that local law enforcement and prosecutors in Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina applied child abuse and neglect laws to fetuses when pursuing charges against pregnant women. 

Lawmakers in a few states have pitched legislation seeking to curb punitive approaches to addiction among expectant and new mothers. 

A bill advancing in the New York Legislature would require informed consent for drug testing and screening pregnant and postpartum patients unless it’s medically necessary. Legislation took effect in Washington state this summer that prevents the criminalization of pregnancy loss, and requires officials at jails, prisons and immigrant detention centers to report miscarriages and stillbirths to the state annually. Massachusetts legislators passed a law in December that prevents medical professionals from automatically referring substance-exposed newborns to the state Department of Children and Families. 

Prosecutors obtained information about pregnancy-related crimes from health care facilities in 264 out of 412 cases, even in incidents that did not allege substance use, according to the Pregnancy Justice report.

“If people are worrying about losing their children because of family separation through the child welfare system or by going to jail, they are not going to get the care that they need,” Sussman said. “Pregnancy is seen as a moment and a window of opportunity for people to get care. People are motivated, uniquely motivated, and we really squander that opportunity when we turn health care into a place of reporting.”