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A federal judge on Sunday ruled that Alabama cannot ban abortions as part of the state’s response to coronavirus. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a preliminary injunction sought by clinics to prevent the state from forbidding abortions as part of a ban on elective medical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thompson said abortion providers can decide whether a procedure can wait. (Chandler, 4/13)

For the second time in recent days, the Supreme Court has been asked to referee a dispute stemming from the coronavirus pandemic on a hot-button topic that normally divides them along familiar ideological lines. The justices are currently considering a petition concerning abortion access in Texas, and last week they split bitterly, 5-4, on a Covid-19 related voting rights challenge out of Wisconsin. If the Wisconsin case highlighted the deep divisions on the Supreme Court, the abortion case could ratchet up the tension -- especially because President Donald Trump's two nominees are expected to move the court to the right on the issue. (De Vogue, 4/13)

Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed bills on Friday rolling back multiple abortion restrictions in the state, including some that had been in place for decades. The new laws make Virginia the first state to codify new abortion protections in 2020, according to Elizabeth Nash, the senior state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health think tank. (Kelly, 4/10)