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The push to confer full “personhood” status on every fertilized human egg has been rejected by voters and lawmakers in state after state, including deep-red Mississippi. But activists are cautiously hopeful that their cause could get a boost from Republicans who are about to assume leadership in Washington. Georgia Representative Tom Price, who has been tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to run the Department of Health and Human Services, has twice co-sponsored federal legislation that would define fertilized human eggs as legal persons — a move that would outlaw not just abortion, but also potentially the pill and other common methods of birth control. (Robbins, 12/9)

Ohio lawmakers on Thursday sent a second anti-abortion measure to Gov. John Kasich. The Ohio House voted 64-29, mostly along party lines, to advance a 20-week abortion ban, and the Senate later gave final approval. Lawmakers on Tuesday approved a ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as six weeks into a woman's pregnancy. (Borchardt, 12/8)

Ohio lawmakers just passed one of the country's most-restrictive abortion laws that almost certainly violates current constitutional standards. If signed by Gov. John Kasich, the so-called "heartbeat bill" would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks' gestation. (Balmert, 12/8)

A 2014 New Hampshire law that allows buffer zones around abortion clinics — a law that has yet to be implemented or enforced — went before a federal appeals court in Boston on Thursday. The First Circuit Court of Appeals heard a challenge to the law filed by self-described sidewalk counselors who have argued that a 25-foot buffer zone would impinge on their free speech rights. (Hayward, 12/8)