Abortion rights fight central to midterm election races

Jan 22 2014

Abortion rights have yet again become a central issue in midterm elections while an order of nuns finds itself in the center of the health law's contraception coverage mandate.

The New York Times: Parties Seize On Abortion Issues In Midterm Race
When the Republican National Committee gathers for its winter meeting here on Wednesday, the action will start a few hours late to accommodate anyone who wants to stop first at the March for Life, the annual anti-abortion demonstration on the National Mall. And if they need a lift to the meeting afterward, they can hop on a free shuttle, courtesy of the Republican Party (Peters, 1/20). 

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Lawsuit Forces Order Of Nuns Into The Public Eye
Except for their soliciting of donations, the members of the "begging order," as it's sometimes known, have largely stayed out of the spotlight. But that changed in September when the order became one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the so-called contraceptive mandate of the Affordable Care Act, placing them at the center of a debate over health care and religious freedom (Hamedy, 1/18).

And in North Carolina --

The New York Times: North Carolina: Judge Blocks Ultrasound Requirement
A federal judge on  Friday declared unconstitutional the state's ultrasound requirement for women seeking abortions, saying it violated the First Amendment by requiring doctors to display a fetal image and describe it even to women who covered their eyes and ears (Eckholm, 1/18).