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The Biden administration filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Idaho for restricting access to abortion to patients who need lifesaving medical treatment, the first such Justice Department challenge since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer. Idaho's near-total abortion ban, which will take effect later this month, would make it nearly impossible, according to the Justice Department. for patients who need an abortion in emergency medical situations, such as an ectopic pregnancy or other complications, from receiving potentially lifesaving treatment.

The House passed legislation Friday to revive a ban on certain semi-automatic guns, the first vote of its kind in years and a direct response to the firearms often used in the crush of mass shootings ripping through communities nationwide. Once banned in the U.S., the high-powered firearms are now widely blamed as the weapon of choice among young men responsible for many of the most devastating mass shootings. But Congress allowed the restrictions first put in place in 1994 on the manufacture and sales of the weapons to expire a decade later, unable to muster the political support to...

The Department of Health and Human Services said a federal law from 1985 allows women who face medical emergencies to get abortions, regardless of new state bans.The Biden administration said Monday that federal law allows women access to abortion in emergencies, even in states that banned the procedure after last month's Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The Department of Health and Human Services said that in cases of health emergencies, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act — a 1985 law that ensures access to emergency care regardless of a person’s ability to pay — takes priority...

@JStein_WaPo Scoop: White House weighs declaring national climate emergency as soon as this week, per sources, as collapse of talks w/ Manchin leads admin to explore raft of unilateral options

WASHINGTON—Top immigration officials are planning to instruct detention centers around the country that women in custody are entitled to abortions and should be transferred to receive one if they are being detained in a state where abortion is now illegal.

A Ramsey County judge has ruled that several Minnesota laws regulating abortion are unconstitutional. The lawsuit was originally filed by an unnamed obstetrician-gynecologist, an unnamed nurse midwife and Our Justice, a Minnesota nonprofit that helps those seeking abortion, in 2019, claiming that several state abortion laws were unconstitutional because they violate the right to privacy, equal protection, free speech, the prohibition on special legislation, and a prohibition on vague laws. What are the laws the ruling addresses? Specifically, the trio pointed to the “physician-only law,” the “hospitalization law,” “reporting laws,” the “two-parent notification law,” “felony penalties” laws, the “mandatory disclosure...

Joe Biden on Monday told doctors and hospitals around the country that they must perform abortions in emergency situations if the mother’s life is in danger even if their state has a ban on the procedure following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade last month which means states decide their own abortion laws. More than 25 states have ‘trigger bans’ – meaning abortion becomes illegal or severely restricted once Roe v Wade is overturned. Biden threatened to issue fines and strip Medicare status from hospitals that fail to perform abortions...

The Biden administration on Monday told hospitals that they "must" provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk, saying federal law on emergency treatment guidelines preempts state laws in jurisdictions that now ban the procedure without any exceptions following the Supreme Court's decision to end a constitutional right to abortion. The Department of Health and Human Services cited requirements on medical facilities in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act... ...department said emergency conditions include "ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features." ...The department says its guidance...

President Joe Biden suggested on Sunday that he's in talks with staff about the viability of declaring a public health emergency in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health. It comes hours after his White House finally snapped back at progressives who had been blasting Biden for not doing enough to protect abortion rights. The high court sided with Mississippi prosecutors late last month on their request to scuttle the federal abortion protections granted by Roe v. Wade. Biden was on his way to a bike ride near his residence in Delaware on Sunday...

Joe Biden on Friday will sign an executive order boosting protections for abortions rights - a move that come two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and after the president was criticized for not doing enough. The order will push to safeguard access to abortion medication and emergency contraception and to add more protections for patient privacy. Biden will also direct the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to push back on efforts to limit the ability of women to access abortion medication or to travel across state lines to receive abortion services. And the...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Supreme Court has rejected the attorney general's emergency effort to stop abortion services in the state. This comes just days after a court order allowed them to resume. Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron, a Republican who is running for governor, asked the state Court of Appeals to block the lower court’s ruling, saying every day that the laws are suspended means "more unborn lives will be lost." In a two-paragraph order released Tuesday night, Chief Justice John Minton said, without elaborating, that they were denying Cameron's request, keeping abortions legal in the state. Cameron responded to...

The U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that the Second Amendment guarantees law-abiding citizens the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, both in their homes and in public. On Friday, New York responded that it didn’t care. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ushered in the long Independence Day weekend on Friday by signing into law legislation crafted in response to the Supreme Court’s recent decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. Just more than a week earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court in Bruen had declared that New York’s prior “may issue” gun licensing...

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York would require people applying for a handgun license to turn over a list of their social media accounts so officials could verify their “character and conduct” under a bill headed toward passage Friday in the state Legislature.

SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – Amid the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and ending federal protections on the right to an abortion, New Mexico’s Governor signed an executive order Monday related to abortion access in the state. The order addresses issues several outstanding issues as they related to New Mexico’s willingness to help other states that now have different laws on the books related to abortion. The order comes as New Mexico lawmakers consider more definitions surrounding abortion following the state’s 2021 law, repealing a 1969 abortion ban in New Mexico. The governor was joined at Monday’s...

CNN)President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law the first major federal gun safety legislation passed in decades, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in Washington. "God willing, it's going to save a lot of lives," Biden said at the White House as he finished signing the bill

On Thursday, the Biden Administration’s Education Department announced its proposed changes to Title IX that would drastically affect school athletics across the country, in the name of protecting “transgender” rights. According to the Washington Free Beacon, the proposed changes would completely eliminate the concept of gender-specific sports and spaces, such as restrooms and locker rooms, and would allow students to freely use whichever facilities they feel like. The new regulations would also label any instances of someone not using proper “pronouns” as sexual harassment. The Biden Education Department did refrain from issuing a definitive rule on letting biological men compete...

A US task force aims to prevent online harassment and abuse, with a specific focus on protecting women, girls and LGBTQI+ individuals. In the next 180 days, the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse will, among other things, draft a blueprint on a "whole-of-government approach" to stopping "technology-facilitated, gender-based violence." A year after submitting the blueprint, the group will provide additional recommendations that federal and state agencies, service providers, technology companies, schools and other organisations should take to prevent online harassment, which VP Kamala Harris noted often spills over into physical violence, including self-harm and suicide...

The Biden administration promised this week to ban “conversion therapy” for minors who claim they are members of the opposite sex. The push is wrapped up in the Biden administration’s attempt to repress religious liberty, and attempts to codify the claim that people can select which sex they wish to be.

Biden would use the declaration of a public health emergency to shield doctors from legal liability for treating patients in a state where they are not licensed, according to a report in the New York Times. Other ideas include allowing doctors practicing in states that ban abortions to perform them on federal sites, such as military bases. Biden signaled his willingness to use executive action to blunt any state and local laws on abortion during an interview with ABC comedian/activist Jimmy Kimmel. The president warned that overturning Roe v. Wade would cause a “mini-revolution” in the United States. t’s just...

Joe Biden is calling on seven of the top oil companies to do something to help quell surging gas prices after accusing them of intentionally exacerbating the strain on Americans' pocketbooks after the average price per gallon surpassed $5.00. The president is sending letters Wednesday to Marathon Petroleum Corp., Valero Energy Corp., ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Chevron, BP, and Shell to demand action on lowering gas prices at the corporate level and account for the surge. In a letter to Exxon obtained by Axios, Biden wrote that the difference 'of more than 15% at the pump is the result of the...