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States cannot impose civil or criminal penalties on Department of Veterans Affairs doctors and nurses who provide abortion services that are allowed by federal law, a Department of Justice task force said in a new memo released Thursday. (Knutson, 9/22)

Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough told senators Wednesday night that the procedure was performed at one of the VA’s medical centers. A spokesperson, citing the client’s privacy, declined to provide the location or give further details. (Kube and Burke, 9/22)

An Indiana judge on Thursday blocked the state from enforcing its new law banning most abortions while Planned Parenthood and other healthcare providers challenge it in court. Circuit Court Judge Kelsey Hanlon ruled that Planned Parenthood and the other providers had shown a "reasonable likelihood" that the law's "significant restriction of personal autonomy" violates the Indiana constitution. (Pierson, 9/22)

Attorneys for the state of Idaho say a federal judge misinterpreted the law when he blocked part of a strict new abortion ban, and they say another law blocking all abortions after about six weeks’ gestation should also remain in effect. In court documents filed Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Brian Church asked U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill to reconsider his decision blocking the state from enforcing a strict abortion ban in medical emergencies, saying the judge misinterpreted both state and federal law and then issued an overly broad ruling. (Boone, 9/22)

A referendum on the Montana ballot in November raises the prospect of criminal charges for health care providers unless they take “all medically appropriate and reasonable actions to preserve the life” of an infant born alive, including after an attempted abortion. (Hanson, 9/22)

The survey conducted by EPIC-MRA this month found that abortion tied with inflation as the top issue among voters. Twenty-four percent of those surveyed ranked addressing abortion laws in Michigan following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as the issue that concerns them the most, while the same share said controlling high prices for gas, food and other costs is their greatest worry. (Hendrickson, 9/22)

The White House and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said Thursday that a Republican-led proposal to ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks would endanger the health of women and have severe consequences for physicians. “If passed and enacted, this bill would create a nationwide health crisis, imperiling the health and lives of women in all 50 states,” according to a preliminary analysis of the bill by Jennifer Klein, the White House Gender Policy Council chairwoman, that was obtained by The Associated Press. “It would transform the practice of medicine, opening the door to doctors being thrown in jail if they fulfill their duty of care to patients according to their best medical judgment.” (Long, 9/22)

Voters in five states will consider abortion-related ballot measures in the Nov. 8 election, initiatives that have taken on new urgency after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. (Bernstein, 9/22)

Sen. Tammy Duckworth has been outspoken about how she used in vitro fertilization (IVF) to grow her family. And now that Sen. Lindsey Graham has introduced a national 15-week abortion ban, Duckworth is highlighting how abortion restrictions could make going through IVF difficult — or even impossible. (Gerson, 9/22)

A company’s stance on abortion rights matters when it comes to retaining female talent. In a  new survey from the women’s investment platform Ellevest, 44% of US women said they would leave their current job if their employer’s views on reproductive rights didn’t align with their own. That number jumped to 56% for millennial women, who are the largest generational cohort in the workforce. About one in three, or 35% of workers are millennials. (Ceron, 9/22)