Author

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer Shutt

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

packages of mifepristone tablets

U.S. Supreme Court preserves access to abortion pill as lawsuit continues

By: and - April 21, 2023

WASHINGTON — The abortion pill will remain available throughout the United States while a lawsuit over its approval and use works through the appeals process, the U.S. Supreme Court said Friday. The court issued a stay that ensures access to mifepristone nationwide, reversing lower court rulings about when and how the abortion medication should be […]

U.S. Capitol Building

U.S. House GOP unveils plan on debt ceiling, spending cuts; Biden slams ‘wacko notions’

By: - April 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republicans unveiled a debt limit proposal Wednesday that would lift the nation’s borrowing capacity by $1.5 trillion or suspend it through March.  The bill, introduced by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, carries along with it numerous Republican initiatives that are unlikely to get the bipartisan support necessary to clear the divided Congress.  That […]

U.S. Supreme Court building in D.C.

U.S. Supreme Court holds off on abortion pill ruling until midnight Friday

By: - April 19, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito postponed a ruling on access to the abortion pill until Friday as the high court continues considering arguments from anti-abortion organizations and the federal government. Alito’s two-day-long pause, issued Wednesday, keeps a ruling from U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk on […]

U.S. Supreme Court building

Anti-abortion organizations urge U.S. Supreme Court to keep limits on abortion pill

By: - April 18, 2023

WASHINGTON — Anti-abortion medical organizations on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to maintain a lower court ruling that would push prescribing and administration of the abortion pill back to pre-2016 instructions, ending mail orders, while an ongoing legal case works through the appeals process.  Meanwhile, more members of Congress lined up on either side […]

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the New York Stock Exchange

U.S. House speaker vows vote soon on spending cuts coupled with debt limit increase

By: - April 17, 2023

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy traveled to the New York Stock Exchange on Monday to press for the Republican approach to raising the nation’s debt limit in front of a new audience, calling on Democrats to agree to future spending cuts without any tax increases.  McCarthy repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden and blamed him for […]

U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Roe V. Wade

U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocks limits to abortion pill access

By: - April 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has temporarily halted any changes in access to the abortion medication mifepristone from taking effect until Wednesday at midnight.  The one-page order from Alito, issued late Friday afternoon, will block for now the April 7 ruling from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas […]

The U.S. Supreme Court Building

DOJ warns Supreme Court of ‘significant chaos’ in health care if abortion pill rulings stand

By: - April 14, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration and a company that manufactures the abortion pill on Friday called on the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve access to mifepristone while a closely watched lawsuit works its way through the appeals process.  The U.S. solicitor general wrote in the Department of Justice appeal that allowing  lower courts’ rulings to […]

Abortion and the judicial system graphic

U.S. Justice Department to ask Supreme Court to reject limits on access to abortion pill

By: and - April 13, 2023

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday it will ask the Supreme Court on an emergency basis to keep access to the abortion medication mifepristone exactly as it is now, amid the appeals process in a much-watched case out of Texas. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the department “strongly disagrees” with […]

The U.S. Capitol grounds

Texas judge’s abortion pill ruling supported by 69 Republicans in Congress

By: - April 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — A group of 69 congressional Republicans is backing a federal judge’s ruling that would overturn the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.  The 11 GOP senators and 58 House lawmakers, who filed a brief in the appeals case, broke the relative silence from Republicans in Congress on […]

U.S. President Joe Biden

Biden administration proposes to strengthen patient privacy for those seeking abortions

By: - April 12, 2023

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is trying to enhance the federal law that guards patient privacy to further protect those who seek legal abortion care and other reproductive health care services.  The announcement comes amid two major ongoing federal court cases dealing with access to the abortion pill and fears that the pill’s U.S. Food […]

Abortion and the judicial system graphic

Democratic attorneys general urge appeals court to keep abortion pill available

By: - April 11, 2023

WASHINGTON — Democratic attorneys general from 23 states and the District of Columbia weighed in with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday supporting access to the abortion medication mifepristone. “The availability of mifepristone has been particularly critical in providing access to abortion in low-income, underserved, and rural communities where a nonmedication abortion procedure […]

Abortion Pill

U.S. Department of Justice asks appeals court to pause abortion pill ruling

By: - April 10, 2023

WASHINGTON — The federal government on Monday asked the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to place on hold a Texas judge’s ruling that would otherwise overturn U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion pill. The Department of Justice’s request for an administrative stay asks the New Orleans-based appeals court to decide before noon […]