skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

More than 160 people still missing after deadly Texas floods, governor says; Ohio small businesses seek clarity as Congress weighs federal ownership reporting rule; Hoosiers' medical bills under state review; Survey: Gen Z teens don't know their options after high school; Rural Iowa farmers diversify crops for future success.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

USDA, DHS Secretaries collaborate on a National Farm Security Action Plan. Health advocates worry about the budget megabill's impacts, and Prime Minister Netanyahu nominates President Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Farmers may abandon successful conservation programs if federal financial chaos continues, a rural electric cooperative in Southwest Colorado is going independent to shrink customer costs, and LGBTQ+ teens say an online shoulder helps more than community support.

Study: Black Women May Be Most Affected by NC Abortion Restrictions

play audio
Play

Wednesday, May 29, 2019   

RALEIGH, N.C. - Abortion in North Carolina overall is on the decline, but the decrease has been more pronounced among white women than black women, according to a study of abortion trends in the state between 1980 and 2013. One factor could be that lack of access to health care makes it harder for women of color to get contraceptives.

For many women, said Dr. Rathika Nimalendran, a fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, it's prohibitively expensive to get any form of contraception without health insurance. She said North Carolina's decision not to expand Medicaid has diminished access to reproductive care overall - including contraception and prenatal care.

"I see this daily as a family physician," she said. "More than 50% of women who are obtaining abortions already have one child. And often, the reason for an abortion is because they want to be able to care for the children they have."

A report this month by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families found the number of women of child-bearing age in North Carolina without health insurance is among the highest in the country. Among African-American women in the United States, those in the South have the lowest rates of health coverage, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families.

In 2014, 90% of counties in North Carolina had no clinics that provided abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Pointing out that abortion is a legal medical procedure, Nimalendran said laws aimed at restricting it obstruct the relationship she has with her patients.

"North Carolina already has fairly restrictive policies," she said. "We have one of the longest waiting periods in the country, that's 72 hours. If North Carolina were to restrict abortion, this would, I think, really be a terrible outcome for women and for families."

Last month, Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed Senate Bill 359, which would have meant criminal charges for doctors for failing to care for an infant that survived an abortion procedure. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that North Carolina's 1973 law banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy was unconstitutional.

The Georgetown report is online at ccf.georgetown.edu, and the North Carolina abortion-trends study is at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Reporting by North Carolina News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the Park Foundation



get more stories like this via email

more stories
Fort Laramie is one of Wyoming's many national historic sites. (Richard Wright/Danita Delimont/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

The Wyoming Historic Preservation Office is a state office born from the National Historic Preservation Act, a federal law. After a three-month …


Environment

play sound

Colorado Parks and Wildlife wants to hear from all Coloradans about their updated 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan, a blueprint for preserving at-risk …

Social Issues

play sound

Advocacy groups are speaking out about how they believe congressional cuts to Medicaid will disproportionately affect caregiver LGBTQ+ communities in …


Senate Bill 31 doesn't change the abortion law but clarifies when a doctor can perform an abortion to save a pregnant person's life. (AndriiKoval/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Texas lawmakers passed the Life of the Mother Act during the legislative session. It was billed as legislation to clarify when doctors in the state …

Social Issues

play sound

Everybody loves to get something free and right now, kids aged 12-17 can get a fishing and hunting license at no cost from the Nevada Department of …

The Indianapolis Public School district is the state's largest, with a student enrollment of about 31,000, according to its website. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

School funding is ranked as the top education priority in a spring survey of 850 Marion County voters by the education organization RISE Indy…

Social Issues

play sound

A former Wisconsin mayor said the new federal budget will only worsen the current aging crisis families like hers have already been facing. Analysis …

Environment

play sound

Tributes and memorials are pouring in for victims of the deadly flooding along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County. The storm stalled over the Texas …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021