* Texas…

It had been nearly a day since the Surepoint Emergency Center outside of Fort Worth told her that she was miscarrying at nearly 13 weeks and sent her home with a prescription and a set of instructions.

Administer the misoprostol, a drug that helps empty the uterus, and wait, the instructions said. If it doesn’t work, take another dose. There will be a lot of blood, the doctor said, but you only need to worry if it’s scarlet instead of a rusty brown. The woman, who asked not to be named out of concern for her safety, wanted a surgical procedure to clear her uterus, but the doctor told her it wasn’t an option at the facility.

Worried by the amount of blood, the woman and her husband, Ryan Hamilton, returned to Surepoint, their 9-month-old daughter in tow. The trip was the beginning of a 24-hour race to get the woman additional abortion care while she bled until she lost consciousness on her bathroom floor. […]

The woman’s story, which her husband first shared on social media and with The News, is yet another example of a Texan stuck in the gray space of the state’s abortion laws that ban the procedure in all cases except to preserve the life of the mother. Her miscarriage occurred two weeks before the Texas Supreme Court ruled against several other women who sued the state because they struggled to get medical assistance for complications including conditions that lead to miscarriage, they said.

* Texas…

Two professors at the University of Texas at Austin are suing for the right to penalize students who miss class to obtain an abortion out of state. The professors, John Hatfield and Daniel Bonevac, are contesting the Biden administration’s efforts to shield students from retaliation when they obtain reproductive health care, a long-standing guarantee under Title IX. They also demand the freedom to discriminate against students and teaching assistants who identify as LGBTQ.

* Louisiana…

When State Representative Delisha Boyd of Louisiana read news reports in early May that a man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl was already a registered sex offender who had previously assaulted a 5-year-old, she said she couldn’t help but think about her own family: Her mother carried trauma for much of her life after being raped by a family acquaintance at age 15. […]

Within two weeks, Ms. Boyd and Ms. Barrow persuaded their respective chambers, both dominated by Republicans, to approve final passage of the bill on Monday, putting the state on track to become the first to codify such a procedure.

While Louisiana and a handful of other states, including California, Texas and Florida, have long allowed courts to order chemical castration, surgical castration — far more intrusive — propels Louisiana to the forefront of a conversation over a form of punishment that has been more associated with countries, like Pakistan and Nigeria, with much harsher criminal sanctions.

The bill would permit judges to order people who have finished serving time for sex crimes against children under 13 to undergo surgical castration within a week of their release from prison. If the prisoner refuses, then an additional prison term of three to five years could be tacked on. […]

It now awaits the signature of Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican who took office in January vowing to take a tough-on-crime approach. If adopted, it would apply to those convicted of crimes that occurred after Aug. 1.

* Also in Louisiana…

As Louisiana’s LGBTQ+ community began celebrating Pride month, the state’s lawmakers were giving the OK to new bills targeting their freedoms.

Similar bills were vetoed under Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, but they aren’t facing the same opposition with Republican Jeff Landry behind the governor’s desk. […]

HB 122, a version of the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, bans K-12 teachers from discussing gender or sexual orientation. It was authored by Rep. Dodie Horton (R-Haughton), who also authored the 10 Commandments bill.

HB 121 by Rep. Raymond Crews (R-Bossier City) requires teachers get parental permission to use a trans student’s preferred pronouns, and protects teachers from disciplinary action if they refuse to use them.

HB608 by Rep. Roger Wilder III (R-Denham Springs) bans the use of bathrooms that don’t match a person’s sex assigned at birth at public schools, domestic violence shelters and correctional facilities.

Landry signed the bathroom bill Monday, making it effective Aug. 1.

* Utah…

After reviewing five transgender bathroom ban complaints that “might reflect a good-faith effort to attempt to make plausible allegations,” the Utah auditor’s office was “unable to substantiate” four of the complaints. The last complaint is still under review.

Utah Auditor John Dougall also reviewed the “privacy compliance plan” of four separate government entities that oversee the buildings where the unsubstantiated claims allegedly took place.

His office urged the Provo School District to finalize its drafted plan and Duchesne County to adopt a plan within the next 30 days. […]

In the weeks since the auditor’s reporting form went live, it has received more than 12,000 hoax complaints. Some of the reports published by the auditor’s office include song lyrics and jokes that people were “flaunting their transness all over the bathroom.”

* Texas…

Eight books dealing with subjects including racism and transgender issues must be returned to library shelves in a rural Texas county that had removed them in an ongoing book banning controversy, a divided panel of three federal appeals court judges ruled Thursday.

It was a partial victory for seven library patrons who sued numerous officials with the Llano County library system and the county government after 17 books were removed. In Thursday’s opinion from a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, one judge voted to uphold a lower court order that the books should be returned. Another largely agreed but said nine of the books could stay off the shelves as the appeal plays out. […]

The main opinion was by Judge Jacques Wiener, nominated to the court by former President George H. W. Bush. Wiener said the books were clearly removed at the behest of county officials who disagreed with the books’ messages.

* Colorado…

The Colorado Republican Party says it stands by a social media post that called for the burning of all Pride flags this week as the LGBTQ+ community celebrated the beginning of Pride month.

“Burn all the #pride flags this June,” the state GOP wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. The party also sent an email blast targeting Pride month.

“The month of June has arrived and, once again, the godless groomers in our society want to attack what is decent, holy, and righteous so they can ultimately harm our children,” said the email, signed by party Chairman Dave Williams.

The chairman told USA TODAY in an email Wednesday that the state GOP makes “no apologies” for its message. […]

The Colorado GOP’s message is the latest incident targeting the LGBTQ+ community as Pride month kicks off. In Carlisle, Massachusetts, more than 200 Pride flags were stolen days before a local Pride event. Last June, Pride flags were stolen, slashed or burned in several states.

* Iowa…

It’s been an age-old ritual for many teens to impatiently wait to work until they’re issued a driver’s license at 16.

But no worries, Iowa is fixing that problem. A new law permitting them to legally drive to their jobs when they’re as young as 14 1/2 years old means they can go to even greater lengths to solve Iowa’s worker shortage. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it on May 17.

In 2022, a new law enabled 16- and 17-year-olds to care for kids at child care centers without direct supervision. Last year, the governor signed a law allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to obtain an exemption to work at jobs including excavation, demolition and roofing as part of an employer training or school work-study. Teens over age 16 also would be permitted to sell and serve alcohol as long as the restaurant kitchen remains open. Expanded work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds also lets them work until 11 p.m. in the summer, 9 p.m. during the school year, and up to six hours on a school day. (Iowa’s state law doesn’t comply with federal law, creating a gray area for employers.)

But these laws weren’t enough. A new law was needed so that younger Iowa teens could legally drive to these new fields of opportunity. Legislators justified their votes on the premise of helping minors develop skills in the workforce. The governor stated that “opportunities to earn and save to build a better life should be available” to young adults.