‘They’ve turned the clock to the 1800s’, said the US vice-president as she excoriated ex-president as ‘architect of healthcare crisis’

Kamala Harris pinned the blame for Arizona’s abortion ban squarely on Donald Trump, who she described as the “architect of this healthcare crisis” in a speech at a campaign event in Tucson on Friday.

The state was left reeling after the Arizona supreme court ruled earlier this week that a civil war-era law banning abortion in the state with almost no exceptions is now enforceable.

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Number of people seeking permanent contraception increased after 2022 decision, in particular among women, research reveals

Rates of people seeking permanent contraception – such as tubal ligation or vasectomies – shot up after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, in the Dobbs decision.

Although both procedures increased, the rate of increase was double for tubal ligations, commonly known as a woman getting her “tubes tied”.

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Campaigners celebrate first step to loosening some of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws as four bills are sent to committee stage

Politicians in Poland have voted to move forward with draft legislation aimed at lifting the country’s near-total ban on abortion, in what campaigners described as a crucial first step towards loosening some of Europe’s most restrictive abortion laws.

On Friday MPs in Poland’s lower house of parliament voted to send four bills on abortion for further study by a parliamentary committee, including two that propose legalising abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy.

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Vice-president will stage campaign event in state after its supreme court ruled 1864 ban could go into effect

Ahead of her campaign trip to Tuscon, Arizona, on Friday, where she is expected to blame Donald Trump for the country’s abortion rights crisis, Kamala Harris tweeted:

Women across our country are suffering at the hands of extremists who say they’re motivated by the well-being of women and children but ignore the crisis of maternal mortality.

The House Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, will meet with Trump in Mar-a-Lago, where they plan to deliver remarks on “election integrity”, NBC reports .

The House is set to vote on the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the controversial legislation that failed two days ago in the Republican-led chamber.

Biden is set to deliver a virtual keynote address at Rev Al Sharpton’s annual racial justice conference in New York.

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Campaigners describe debate on four proposals to ease strict rules as crucial test of Donald Tusk’s new government

In a resolution approved yesterday, the European parliament called on Warsaw to change its abortion policies.

The parliament “urges the Member States to fully decriminalise abortion in line with the 2022 WHO guidelines, and to remove and combat obstacles to safe and legal abortion,” the MEPs said.

Some of them probably are afraid of the Church but many of them just don’t want to let women make their own choices. There is a huge gap between the positions and opinions they present and the positions of NGOs and groups like Abortion without Borders even in the language they use.

The fear of changing the status quo is common in centre parties in the European parliament, too - look how many European People’s party MEPs were afraid and didn’t take part in yesterday voting concerning the inclusion of the right to abortion in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.

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Far-right US Senate candidate joins Republicans who have decried state supreme court ruling but who blocked appeal effort

Kari Lake, the far-right US Senate candidate and Donald Trump ally, denounced Arizona’s abortion ban on Thursday, arguing that the strict legislation she previously praised does not have the support of the state’s residents.

“This total ban on abortion the Arizona supreme court just ruled on is out of line with where the people of this state are,” she said in a video on Thursday. “I agree with President Trump – this is such a personal and private issue.”

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Anti-abortion groups mobilise before debate but polls show most Poles support right to abortion up to 12 weeks

Poland’s parliament is to begin a long-awaited debate on loosening the country’s near total ban on abortion, in what campaigners have described as a crucial test of the country’s new government.

More than three years after hundreds of thousands of people poured on to the streets wielding placards that read “the revolution has a uterus” and “my body, my choice”, MPs on Thursday will consider four proposals.

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Republicans haven’t ‘moderated’ their extreme stance on abortion, but much of the media is eager to give that impression

Sometimes, in 2024 America, you have to pinch yourself to make sure you’re not in a long-running dystopian nightmare. Then again, maybe we all are. And no amount of pinching will help.

Two scenes from this week stand out.

Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

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Democrats stymied after state supreme court rules that 1864 law with no exceptions for rape or incest can go into effect

Arizona’s state Republican leadership halted an effort by Democrats on Wednesday to repeal an 1864 law banning almost all abortions, which the state supreme court this week ruled could go into effect.

The move came after Republican lawmakers in the state had denounced the court’s decision, including some who previously expressed support for the law. Donald Trump and other high-profile Republicans, such as the Senate candidate Kari Lake, had also declared their opposition to the ruling with Lake urging lawmakers to “come up with an immediate commonsense solution that Arizonans can support”.

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