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A judge overturned Georgia’s ban on abortion starting around six weeks into a pregnancy, ruling Tuesday that it violated the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Supreme Court precedent when it was enacted three years ago and was therefore void. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney’s ruling took effect immediately statewide, though the state attorney general’s office said it filed an appeal. The ban had been in effect since July. (Thanawala, 11/15)

After Tuesday’s decision, abortion access in Georgia reverted to the pre-ban level of up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. Andrew Isenhour, a spokesman for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), said in a statement that the ruling “places the personal beliefs of a judge over the will of the legislature and people of Georgia.” The Georgia attorney general’s office immediately filed an appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. (Bellware and Roubein, 11/15)

Melissa Grant, chief operating officer and co-founder of Carafem, which operates abortion clinics in Atlanta and three other states, said the court ruling made her “cautiously optimistic.” She said Carafem’s Atlanta clinic had turned away hundreds of patients who were too far along for abortions under Georgia’s 2019 law. Now that the law has been struck down, the clinic is trying to determine what testing it might still need to do or if there is any new requirement for the maximum gestational age, she said. (Prabhu, 11/15)

Christina Zielke and her husband were excited when she got pregnant in July. It was her first pregnancy at age 33 – everything was new. But during the ultrasound at her initial prenatal appointment in Washington D.C., there was no heartbeat. Bloodwork taken a few days apart showed her pregnancy hormone levels were dropping. (Simmons-Duffin, 11/15)

A week after bruising losses for anti-abortion forces in the midterm elections, America’s Roman Catholic bishops rededicated themselves to ending abortion and elected a slate of new leaders to support that goal during their annual meeting on Tuesday. ... The bishops chose Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who leads the Archdiocese for the Military Services, as their new president. Archbishop Broglio supported religious exemptions for military service members who did not want to receive the Covid-19 vaccine “if it would violate the sanctity of his or her conscience.” (Dias, 11/15)

New Jersey Democrats are expected to soon begin the process of asking voters to enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution, with the goal of putting the measure on the ballot next year, when all 120 state legislative seats will be up. Democratic legislative leaders were already considering putting the question on the 2023 ballot prior to the federal midterm elections, in which the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade helped Democrats fend off Republicans in many Senate and House races, giving their party a far better midterm showing than many predicted based on historical and economic headwinds. (Han and Friedman, 11/15)

Ballot measures expanding abortion access and reproductive rights outperformed Democratic candidates in the three states they were put to voters in the 2022 midterms, while anti-abortion ballot measures lagged Republican politicians in two states, a 19th News analysis found. (Panetta, 11/15)

The headlines spelled the end of a short-lived scientific hope: “Male birth control study nixed after men can’t handle side effects women face daily,” USA Today announced. “Men Back Out of Male Birth Control Study Because They Couldn’t Handle the ‘Changes in Mood,’” proclaimed People. (Cummins, 11/16)

The Utah-based faith’s doctrine “related to marriage between a man and a woman is well known and will remain unchanged,” the church stated in a news release. “We are grateful for the continuing efforts of those who work to ensure the Respect for Marriage Act includes appropriate religious freedom protections while respecting the law and preserving the rights of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.” (Kemsley and Fletcher Stack, 11/15)