💘 Roe Reckonings: Love, Loss & the Fight Back

Valentine’s week is about love. But love isn’t passive — it’s protective. And across the US, reproductive rights and pregnancy loss continue to be criminalised in disturbing ways. From a UK perspective, here’s what’s moved since last Friday — the highs, the heartbreaks and the hard lessons from the post-Roe landscape.

❤️ High Courts Push Back

In Arizona, a state court struck down several abortion restrictions as unconstitutional under the state’s voter-approved amendment protecting abortion rights — including barriers affecting telemedicine access and other limits that made care harder to get. It’s a reminder that rights can be rebuilt state by state, through organising and ballots as well as courtrooms.

Read more:
Centre for Reproductive Rights – Arizona court strikes down abortion restrictions
https://reproductiverights.org/news/arizona-court-strikes-down-abortion-restrictions/

💔 Low — Another Miscarriage Arrest This Week

This week, a couple in Kentucky were charged after a woman reported what authorities called a “possible miscarriage”, and later an infant was found outside their home. The woman, Deeann Bennett, faces reckless homicide, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and concealing the birth of an infant, while her partner also faces multiple charges — even though the circumstances began with a medical trauma and a hospital visit. This is yet another example of how pregnancy loss can be treated as a crime in states with aggressive anti-abortion policies.

Read more:
Kentucky couple charged in infant death investigation after reported miscarriage
https://www.wkyt.com/2026/02/10/two-charged-infant-death-investigation/

🌹 Lesson — Rights Follow Power, Not Sympathy

Elsewhere in the US, lawmakers are responding to a chilling legal climate by trying to protect reproductive and related health care in some states, even as others stiffen penalties around pregnancy outcomes. Efforts to enshrine abortion rights in state constitutions — like in Virginia — show how battles are increasingly fought at the ballot box and in legislatures. These political contests highlight that rights aren’t just legal theory — they’re exercised (or stripped) by everyday politics and policy.

Read more:
Oregon lawmakers seek to strengthen protections amid chilling climate
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/02/12/facing-a-chilling-effect-oregon-lawmakers-seek-to-beef-up-abortion-trans-health-care-laws/