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The University of Notre Dame fought in court for five years to limit the government’s ability to push religiously affiliated employers to offer contraception benefits. Now, the university is voluntarily allowing birth-control benefits, exposing a divide among Catholic institutions. The university’s shift comes as the litigation enters a fresh phase after two U.S. Supreme Court cases and new rules championed by President Donald Trump’s administration. These rules, if implemented, would reverse a requirement set by Mr. Trump’s Democratic predecessor that most employers include birth-control benefits in workers’ health plans. (Radnofsky and Lovett, 11/23)

A Texas law restricting the most common form of second-trimester abortion is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday, saying it would impose an undue burden on women. A lawyer for abortion providers called the decision “a complete victory,” while state officials immediately said they would appeal. Ultimately, the case could make its way to the United States Supreme Court. (Astor, 11/22)

Federal judges have already ruled against past Texas efforts to change the disposal of fetal remains and deny Medicaid funding to abortion provider Planned Parenthood over videos secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court gutted most of a sweeping, anti-abortion law approved in Texas in 2013 which helped force the closure of more than half of the state's abortion clinics. (11/22)

Because of Maine’s vast rural expanse and often difficult travel conditions, the American Civil Liberties Union has settled on the state as promising terrain to challenge the law, which carries criminal charges for people who perform an abortion without a physician’s license. ...If successful in Maine, the plaintiffs in the case, filed in US District Court for the District of Maine, expect similar legal challenges across the country. (Jacobs, 11/24)