GOP lawmakers resist calls to tweak abortion bans. Some say they’ll clarify the laws’ few exceptions

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In Republican-led states across the U.S., conservative legislators are refusing to reevaluate abortion bans — even as doctors and patients insist the laws’ exceptions are dangerously unclear, resulting in denied treatment to some pregnant women in need. Instead, GOP leaders accuse abortion rights advocates of deliberately spreading misinformation and doctors of intentionally denying services in an effort to undercut the bans and make a political point. At the same time, however, some states are taking steps that they say will provide more clarity about when abortions can be legally performed. Abortion rights advocates say those steps will likely not be enough to solve the problem.