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An effort to ban most abortions in Iowa was blocked Monday by a state judge who upheld a court decision made three years ago. Judge Celene Gogerty found there was no process for reversing a permanent injunction that blocked the abortion law in 2019. Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a statement that she would appeal the decision to the Iowa Supreme Court. (McFetridge and Pitt, 12/13)

A Texas anti-abortion group working to make inroads in Colorado faced a setback Monday night after the Pueblo City Council rejected a proposed ordinance that would have effectively banned abortions in the city. The measure, which was expected to draw at least 100 speakers from the public, was dismissed in a 4-3 vote before any comments were made. (Wenzler, 12/12)

In Nebraska, a total abortion ban could be on the horizon. In Florida, the gestational limit for abortions could drop from 15 weeks to 12. Elsewhere, lawmakers have abortion pills in their sights. When Roe v Wade fell, most states were no longer in legislative session, meaning the term during which they usually write and pass bills had ended. In January, state legislatures will reconvene in an entirely new reality, one where conservative lawmakers are no longer constrained by the constitutional right to abortion once assured by Roe. (Noor, 12/13)

It was raining despite the sun — the type of weather Boricuas make superstitious jokes about — on a recent Tuesday at Women’s Medical Pavilion, an abortion clinic in Puerto Rico. The eight patients seated around me in the waiting room looked at their phones in silence as a midday entertainment program played on a small TV. Nurses called them to the front desk one by one, referring to them as “mi amor” and “corazón” as they gave an overview of the 15-minute procedure. An abortion seeker seated to my right took a call and told the person on the other end of the line that she was hungry — it was nearly 1 p.m. — because the clinic had instructed her to not eat anything two hours before her visit. Plus, she said, she couldn’t afford to spend money on a meal — not even from the fast-food joint across the street from the clinic’s pink entrance. (Gonzalez-Ramirez, 12/12)

President Biden will be signing the Respect for Marriage Act into law on Tuesday in a White House ceremony, enshrining gay and interracial marriages in federal law. (Watson, 12/13)

Mondaire Jones spent much of his 35 years hiding his sexuality. As one of the first openly gay Black members of Congress he spent the past two years fighting for equality. For him, the Tuesday signing by President Joe Biden of a law enshrining federal protection for same-sex marriage, will be a seminal moment but far from the end of the line. (Dillard, 12/13)