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Cheered by a decisive win for abortion rights in a Kansas vote and eyeing November midterm elections, the White House is launching a push for abortion access that aims to influence men as well as women, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters. The Biden administration's three-prong playbook leans on two specific federal statutes to target states that limit abortion, communicates to voters the impact on women, and accentuates how forced pregnancies negatively affect both women and men. (Bose, 8/16)

The effort, which breaks the group’s previous $45 million spending record set in 2020, comes months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that created a constitutional right to have an abortion. It will be waged by the organization’s political and advocacy arms and will focus on governor’s offices, U.S. Senate seats and legislative races in nine states where abortion rights could be restricted or expanded depending on the outcome at the ballot. (Slodysko, 8/17)

The Biden administration asked a judge to throw out a Texas lawsuit challenging a federal mandate that emergency abortions in hospitals take priority over state bans on such procedures, calling the rule “reasonable and reasonably explained.” (Larson, 8/16)

After studying 20 of the most popular period-tracking and pregnancy-tracking apps, researchers from the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation found that 18 of them had data collection practices that raised privacy or security concerns. The report also considered five wearable devices that track fertility but did not raise concerns about their data collection. (Masunaga, 8/17)

For the first time, abortion has entered the top-five issues concerning Latino voters, according to a new poll from two Latino civil rights organizations which showed Democrats with a 2-to-1 edge in the chase for Latinos’ midterm votes. (Martinez, 8/16)

An appellate court has upheld a lower court ruling that a parentless 16-year-old girl in the Florida Panhandle was not “sufficiently mature” to end her pregnancy while seeking a waiver from a state law that requires minors to get parental consent for an abortion. (8/16)

Maryland joined a multistate coalition supporting the federal government’s moves to prevent Texas and Idaho from exempting abortion from a law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care, Attorney General Brian Frosh said Tuesday. (Jensen, 8/16)

Missouri lawmakers first passed a law restricting abortions in 1825 — becoming the second state in the U.S. to do so. In 1907, they expanded the penalties, making it a felony offense. As a result, we don't know much about the doctors who provided these health care services. With one major exception: Doctor Annie Smith. (Martin, 8/16)

Before Planned Parenthood's Leah Mallinos tackles the practical needs of Ohioans seeking abortions in other states, she pauses to acknowledge a basic truth. "I always like to start off with acknowledging the emotional impact that someone has when they are learning that they cannot receive care in the state of Ohio, in their home state and in their communities," Mallinos said. "It's absolutely devastating." (Balmert, 8/16)

A near total abortion ban in South Carolina that does not include exceptions for pregnancies’ caused by rape or incest was sent to the state House floor Tuesday but not without hints and warnings that the lack of exceptions could cause a big legislative fight in a few weeks. (Collins, 8/16)

Advocates like Clare Coleman, president and CEO of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association in Washington, D.C., are now calling for Democrats to use every tool at their disposal to increase financial support for Title X, which they say has long been underfunded. (Paviour, 8/16)

The Supreme Court’s decision has raised the stakes of a positive pregnancy test in the states where abortion is banned or sharply restricted. (Pasricha, 8/16)