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The bill from Gov. Janet Mills to allow doctors to perform abortions they deem necessary after Maine’s viability cutoff of around 24 weeks will soon end up on her desk, as the House of Representatives voted Tuesday to enact the measure. The House vote was expectedly tight, with the chamber passing it by a 73-69 margin shortly after 9 pm. Tuesday. (Kobin, 6/27)

South Carolina's highest court on Tuesday appeared open to upholding a new state law banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, months after it blocked a similar ban. Abortion providers, led by Planned Parenthood, last month won a court order temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until their lawsuit challenging it could be heard by the South Carolina Supreme Court. (Pierson, 6/27)

Las Vegas saw a 37 percent increase in out-of-state patients at Planned Parenthood health centers since June 2022 when the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision, ruling the Constitution does not guarantee the right to an abortion, according to Lindsey Harmon, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada. More than 1,200 patients have come to Las Vegas from out of state, she said. (Hill, 6/27)

As she prepared to graduate from medical school this year, Sophia Landay applied to 75 different OB/GYN residency programs throughout the country. Not one was in a state with a strict abortion ban. And all of the 15 or so other prospective OB/GYNs in her class at UMass Chan Medical School matched in a state that was friendly to abortion, she said, with many telling Landay that it was an important part of their training. (Bartlett and Freyer, 6/27)

Reproductive rights advocates know a new federal bill seeking to expand abortion access will face an uphill fight in Congress, but they hope it will spring communities of color to action. Driving the news: The Abortion Justice Act, which calls for increased investments in reproductive care with the aim to better serve immigrants, people of color, and people who identify as LGBTQ+, was introduced Thursday by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) (Franco, 6/27)

President Biden on Tuesday said that he is not big on abortion as a practicing Catholic but defended the reproductive rights that were previously granted under Roe v. Wade. “I’m a practicing Catholic. I’m not big on abortion, but guess what? Roe vs. Wade got it right,” Biden said at a fundraiser with about 100 donors in Chevy Chase, Md. (Gangitano, 6/27)

For years, conservative Christians have used the principle of religious freedom to prevail in legal battles on issues like contraceptive insurance mandates and pandemic restrictions. Now, abortion rights supporters are employing that argument to challenge one of the right’s most prized accomplishments: state bans on abortion. In the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned, clergy and members of various religions, including Christian and Jewish denominations, have filed about 15 lawsuits in eight states, saying abortion bans and restrictions infringe on their faiths. (Belluck, 6/28)