Pretty much every day that state legislatures are in session, there is movement of some kind, somewhere in the country on legislation affecting women's health rights. We talk about what's going on every day here at TRMS world headquarters, but these stories don't always make it into the show. So we thought we'd experiment with listing the last 24 hours' worth of happenings here, Morning Maddow/Mini-Reports style.
*Remember that 6-week ban turned 12-week ban making its way through the Arkansas state legislature? It's being further delayed while more changes are considered.
*Also in Arkansas, Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe has signed into a law a bill to ban insurance exchanges created under Obamacare from covering abortion.
*In Virginia, Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell is working to make sure that the insurance exchanges created in that state are banned from covering abortion, but the Virginian-Pilot is reporting that even some Republicans are skeptical of the move.
*In Colorado, Democrats defeated in committee a Republican-backed bill that would have required doctors to investigate why a woman was seeking an abortion.
*A similar bill has been proposed in Kansas this year, too and is seen as likely to be passed by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
*Lawmakers in Oklahoma are considering a bill that would tighten the state's existing parental notification law for girls under age 18 seeking abortion.
*In Arizona, a federal judge has overturned the state's effort to defund Planned Parenthood. The measure had already been blocked, pending this week's ruling.