Abortion-Rights Groups Challenge Restrictions In Three States

There's no shortage of speculation about how the incoming Trump administration, whose appointees so far are staunch abortion opponents, might crack down on access to the procedure.But reproductive rights groups say the big picture is getting lost: Women in large parts of the country already have limited access to abortion, due to hundreds of Republican-backed laws passed by state legislatures over the past half-decade."People are forced to travel hundreds of miles, cross state lines, miss work, lose wages and jeopardize their health and safety to obtain an abortion," says Carrie Flaxman, an attorney with Planned Parenthood.On Wednesday, Planned Parenthood joined the ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights in filing legal challenges to abortion restrictions, targeting laws in three states:North Carolina. The lawsuit challenges a law banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, except in the case of a medical emergency. That is several weeks earlier than the generally agreed point