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Several laws restricting access to medications that can be used to terminate a pregnancy and others placing limits on minors’ access to sexual and reproductive healthcare — including the HPV vaccine — take effect today in Iowa, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Many bills were considered in state legislatures earlier this year that would have added legal restrictions to mifepristone and misoprostol, but only a few made it into law. The 13 states that have near-total abortion bans already have restrictions in place, but some have proposed more in the wake of new methods of obtaining the medications online or by telehealth.

A federal lawsuit is also ongoing that will determine whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s rules allowing mifepristone to be dispensed via telehealth will remain in place. That ruling will apply nationwide.

Kimya Forouzan, principal state policy adviser at the Guttmacher Institute, said the increased efforts to restrict access underscore the importance of shield laws in states that protect abortion access.

In Hawaii, provisions strengthening the state’s existing shield laws also take effect today. Those provisions include prohibiting the use or disclosure of patient health information to investigate someone who received reproductive or gender-affirming care and adding malpractice insurance and healthcare contract protections for providers........

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