In recent years, several states throughout the country have taken drastic measures to curtail women's reproductive freedoms-particularly abortion rights-all in the name of keeping families "safe." Among these supposed protections: Measures that have forced numerous health care clinics that offer abortions to shutter their doors because they don't meet stringent regulations. But a new report from two prominent reproductive-rights advocacy groups shows that these laws have done little to improve public health-instead, women & children have suffered because of them.    

On Friday night, a federal judge blocked four recently passed Arkansas abortion restrictions, including one that seemingly could require rape survivors to get input from their rapists before terminating their pregnancies. That law, in addition to a ban on the most common second-trimester abortion procedure and a requirement that doctors report teens' abortions to the police, would have taken effect on Tuesday.  

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Right now, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are debating a dangerous proposal that would force each state to recognize the concealed-carry laws of other states, even those that have far weaker standards. Twelve states - including Pennsylvania's neighbor, West Virginia - do not require any permit or training to carry hidden loaded guns in public. Most alarmingly, the bill in the House goes so far as to open up law enforcement to the threat of personal litigation. If a law enforcement officer mistakenly questions a person's legal authority to carry a concealed firearm, they can be sued, personally. 

 

Somewhere in a rented storage unit in northwestern Arkansas, an apartment full of furniture donated by well-meaning Americans waits for a refugee family who might never come. Several of them, in fact.  In Arkansas, where Donald Trump was elected by more than 20 points, hundreds of residents are ready to welcome refugees. Unfortunately, the Trump administration is not.  

 

The GOP's failure to pass any major legislative priorities has imperiled the Trump administration's agenda. Despite failing to pass any major piece of President Donald Trump's agenda, Senate Republicans joined their House colleagues for August recess on Thursday, heading out of town for 33 days with looming legislative deadlines and no clear path forward on health care.

Two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are moving to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller's job, putting forth new legislation that aims to ensure the integrity of current and future independent investigations. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons introduced the legislation.

Recently, Justice Ginsburg critiqued the Trump administration's travel ban, previewed the coming court term, predicted an end to capital punishment and suggested that the other branches of government are in disarray. Ginsburg discussed several other cases on the court's docket next term, including ones on the privacy of information held by cellphone companies, a clash between claims of religious freedom and same-sex marriage and a constitutional challenge to partisan gerrymandering - calling the last, "perhaps the most important grant so far."