“How can you sit back? The rapidity with which some of these laws have taken place is very frightening. It’s happening way too quickly,” one activist said.
With 57 affiliates nationwide operating more than 600 health centers, Planned Parenthood has become the face of women's reproductive and abortion rights in the U.S.
While only about half of Planned Parenthood affiliates perform abortions, the organization is the nation's leading abortion provider.
Ireland voted to overturn its constitutional ban on abortion Saturday in the latest example of how the traditionally Catholic country is embracing a more liberal stance.
More than 66 percent of Irish voters chose to repeal the Eighth Amendment, which has effectively banned abortion in the nation since its passage in 1983. The amendment says an unborn child has the same right to life as a pregnant woman. Abortion was not permitted in cases of rape, incest or fetal abnormalities.
Ireland's Prime Minister described the result as the culmination of a "quiet revolution" in what was once one of Europe's most socially conservative countries.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a Massachusetts law requiring protesters to stay at least 35 feet from the entrances to clinics that provide abortions is unconstitutional, a decision that cast a legal cloud over similar provisions in 15 other states.
Source: nbcnews.com
The abortion rate in the United States dipped to its lowest since 1973, coinciding with a steep decline in overall pregnancy and birth rates, a study from a nonprofit sexual health organization showed on Sunday.
Source: nbcnews.com
(Photo: Franco Origlia / Getty Images)
Pope Francis made his toughest remarks to date on abortion when he called the practice "horrific" on Monday.
Source: nbcnews.com
A federal appeals court on Thursday issued a ruling reinstating most of Texas' tough new abortion restrictions.
Source: nbcnews.com
(Photo: Mike Stone / Reuters file)
The ruling comes four months after Wendy Davis, now a candidate for governor, staged a 13-hour filibuster against the restrictions, which were set to take effect tomorrow.
Source: nbcnews.com
(Photo: Franco Origlia / Getty Images Europe)
Pope Francis said in an interview published Thursday that the Catholic Church cannot focus only on abortion, contraception and gay marriage, and that the moral structure of the church will “fall like a house of cards” if it does not find better balance.
Source: nbcnews.com
A federal judge has blocked enforcement of North Dakota’s new abortion law — the nation’s most restrictive.
Source: nbcnews.com
(Photo: NBC DFW)
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has signed sweeping new abortion restrictions that sparked weeks of protests at the state Capitol into law.
Source: nbcnews.com
(Photo: NBC News)
Texas legislators overturned a temporary victory by state Democrats and standard bearer Sen. Wendy Davis, passing a bill late Friday that puts new restrictions on abortion procedures.
Source: nbcnews.com
(Photo: Eric Gay / AP)
A bill that opponents claimed would virtually ban abortion in Texas failed to pass late Tuesday after lawmakers missed a deadline by just minutes.
Source: nbcnews.com
(Photo: U.S. District Court via AP file)
A federal judge barred Arkansas from implementing one of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws Friday, calling it "more than likely unconstitutional."
Source: nbcnews.to
(Photo: Sarah Cole / AL.com via AP file)
When Virginia approved restrictions that could force abortion clinics to close, it joined a rapidly growing list of states that are energizing social conservatives by making it more difficult for women to terminate pregnancies.
Source: nbcnews.to
(Photo: James Macpherson / AP)
North Dakota lawmakers approved measures Friday that would effectively ban abortion in the state, including a ballot referendum that would let voters declare that life begins at conception.
Source: nbcnews.to