Abortion, Every Day (4.20.23)

In the States

In North Dakota, where a near-total abortion ban has been blocked by the courts, Republicans have passed another ban that they hope will withstand legal scrutiny. The bill, which has a veto-proof majority and can pass without the governor’s approval, would prohibit abortion after 6-weeks even in cases of rape and incest. But don’t worry, Republican Sen. Janne Myrdal has a solution:

“We talk about rape and incest, and those are horrific circumstances. We certainly want to encourage any child, any woman, that experiences any of this, to immediately go to medical care and get these things taken care of before there’s fertilization.”

How one is supposed to end their pregnancy before fertilization is beyond me, but maybe Myrdal—who used to be with the radical conservative group Concerned Women for America—knows something we don’t know. She could be referring to emergency contraception, I suppose, but she’s also anti-birth control, so….

Speaking of the Serena Joys and Aunt Lydias of the world, Laura Strietmann of Cincinnati Right to Life testified in Ohio during a hearing on legislation intended to block a pro-choice ballot measure. Strietmann went on a rant about the 10-year old in the state who was raped and impregnated, explaining that “while a pregnancy might have been difficult on a 10-year-old body, a woman’s body is designed to carry life.” Honestly, how do these people sleep at night?

I’ve been talking a lot lately about Republican moves to make adoption and terminating parental rights easier in anti-choice states—and just how dangerous that move is. The latest comes to us from Mississippi, where Gov. Tate Reeves signed legislation yesterday to speed up the adoption process and give more funding to “organizations [that] provide aid to pregnant women.” (We know exactly which organizations those will be.) The Associated Press reports that health officials expect Mississippi to have up to 5,000 additional births per year because of the state’s abortion ban.

You may remember the Republican efforts in Montana to make it harder for those with Medicaid to get their abortions covered; I’m sorry to say that they’ve been successful. A new rule will require onerous pre-authorization documentation before coverage is allowed—including having a doctor submit ‘proof’ that an abortion is necessary to save a person’s life or health. (I’m not sure that the best thing to do when someone is dying is fucking paperwork, but what do I know.)

At least we have some good news today: In Nevada yesterday, the state Senate approved legislation that will protect abortion providers and patients from out-of-state prosecutions, and a spokesperson for Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo said that he would sign the bill as it is. The legislation will prohibit the extradition of providers and patients, and bar state agencies from collaborating with out-of-state law enforcement in abortion investigations.

Nevada also advanced legislation this week to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, a move that would put the question in front of voters on the 2026 ballot. Vice President Kamala Harris, who visited the state on Tuesday, lauded the effort, saying, “What you are doing at the statewide level is so important…Nevada is showing the way.”

Vermont Democrats have also been working to shield abortion providers and patients from out-of-state prosecutions—and are now amending their legislation to include additional protections for mifepristone, in light of the ongoing legal battle over the abortion medication. Legislators in the House and the Senate added language to two bills that classified abortion medication as legally protected reproductive health care “regardless of the medication’s current FDA approval status.” Smart move.

And if you’re looking for something to do to help out today: You know I write about Tennessee here quite a bit—both because of how extreme their abortion ban is, and because national anti-choice activists see the law as a model for the rest of the country. One of the abortion funds there, Abortion Care Tennessee, is on a fundraising kick if you’d like to contribute. They just held what looks like an amazing variety show, ‘Abortion Forever No Matter What’, after offering a self-managed abortion training class earlier in the day. (The group also sells merch, including what has become my absolute favorite sweatshirt.) So if you’ve been horrified by the kinds of things I’ve reported about Tennessee, consider helping out some of the people are doing that difficult on-the-ground work. For more abortion funds in Tennessee and beyond, click here.

Quick hits:

• The Wyoming judge who blocked the state’s abortion ban explained her reasoning this week;

• Rhode Island legislators may be about to allow state employees’ medical coverage to pay for abortion care;

• A New Mexico Republican, Rep. John Block, called the Democratic governor a ‘murderer’ on Twitter this week over her abortion stance—another example of increasingly radical (and dangerous) rhetoric from conservatives;

• Also in New Mexico, the Associated Press has more on the town that’s filed a challenge against the state law banning local governments from restricting abortion;

• TIME on how Florida’s 6-week abortion ban will impact the entire South;

• And ABC News on the fake ‘abortion pill reversal’ that activists are pushing in Colorado.

In the Nation

GenBioPro, a manufacturer of mifepristone, has sued the Biden administration, arguing that the FDA violated the Due Processes clause in how it’s responded to the rulings on the medication. Essentially, there is a specific process laid out for how the FDA can suspend an already-approved drug. The decision from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals directs the FDA to ignore that process. GenBioPro also says they reached out to the FDA multiple times to flag the issue and get assurances that the agency would go through the proper process before pulling mifepristone from the market. The FDA didn’t give them those assurances, or respond to GenBioPro’s request that the agency use its enforcement discretion.

Yesterday, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf appeared to try to duck questions about the case, refusing to say anything about enforcement discretion and only noting that they would “comply with court orders.” (As law processor David Cohen reminds us: “the use of enforcement discretion DOES comply with court orders.”)

You know that Republicans, led by Alabama’s Sen. Tommy Tuberville, have been relentlessly fighting against the Department of Veterans Affairs’ policy that allows abortion for service-members in cases of rape, incest, health and life. Tuberville has been holding up Defense Department promotions and nominations over the policy, even though it’s so narrowly defined that’s it’s rarely used. Yesterday, the Senate blocked a resolution that would have rescinded the policy after two Republicans— Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins—joined Democrats in voting against the measure. So, small bit of good news. I’ll take it.

Quick hits:

• Media Matters looks at how anti-choice activists and organizations are already signaling that they’ll be target misoprostol next;

• The Philadelphia Inquirer’s grammar columnist writes that ‘abortionist’ is a dehumanizing, politicized term;

• President of the American Medical Association, Dr. Jack Resneck, writes at the New York Times that the mifepristone ruling out of Texas is a “brazen attack”;

• The Washington Post has a short piece on what the Comstock Act means for abortion rights;

• And Elon Musk told Tucker Carlson that contraception is going to lead to the end of civilization.

2024

Donald Trump believes that abortion is a losing issue for Republicans, and has told people close to him, according to The Guardian, that he won’t be supporting a federal ban. This actually scares me: because if Trump is able to distinguish himself from the other candidates as the one who isn’t interested in a federal ban, it might just work in his favor with women voters. (How any woman could vote for him is beyond me, but we all know the stats.)

The national anti-abortion groups are using a federal ban as a litmus test; they expect their candidates to support one. But there’s no running away from just how unpopular abortion restrictions are, no matter what these groups say. The idea of Trump being able to use that to his advantage makes me feel sick to my stomach, honestly.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence is sticking with his all-out anti-abortion stance. In an interview with a local Los Angeles television station, Pence told an interviewer that he wants to take mifepristone off the market entirely, saying “it’s caused great harm for women around the country.”

Conservative Corruption

We talk a lot here about the connection between abortion rights and Republican attacks on democracy: from changing rules around ballot measures and injunctions to weakening judicial power, conservative legislators have been absolutely shameless. The latest in this fucked up trend comes to us from fifteen Republican state Attorneys General who want the right to remove elected district attorneys from office if they decline to go after abortion cases. Seriously.

Over the last few months, we’ve seen moves like this from Republicans in Texas. They’ve been pushing legislation to punish state attorneys that decline to prosecute abortion cases—bills that would fine them for every case they don’t take, or remove them from their elected office. And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis did just that; he fired district attorney Andrew Warren when Warren committed to not going after abortion ‘crimes’. That case is now being battled out in court—and that’s where this group of attorneys general comes in. Fifteen of them signed onto an amicus brief yesterday in support of Gov. DeSantis, arguing that the First Amendment doesn’t apply when the state wants to remove prosecutors. 

Led by Republican Attorney General Dave Yost from Ohio, who you may remember as the guy who called a 10 year-old rape victim’s story a “fabrication,” the brief is essentially an indication that all of these AGs believe it’s within their rights to fire any state attorney who refuses to prosecute abortion. (The states that signed on were Ohio, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.)

In a release, Yost said, “The political preferences of a single prosecutor cannot be allowed to override a lawfully enacted statute.” But Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein, who spoke to The Columbus Dispatch, pointed out that elected prosecutors use their discretion on what cases to put resources towards ever day. “Prioritizing when and how to prosecute the Republican Party’s criminalization of personal health care decisions would be no different,” he said.

In response to the brief, Andrew Warren’s lawyer called the brief “out of step with basic principles of a free and democratic society,” noting that it was “scary to see not one, or two, but several states of the United States line up behind Ron DeSantis to argue that the First Amendment doesn’t protect elected officials from speaking their minds.”

Keep An Eye On

Remember when I told you just yesterday that Students for Life—who petitioned the FDA to ban mifepristone based on the fabrication that it’s poisoning the environment—would surely be making the same argument about birth control any day now? Well, it turns out they already did! Because of course. By the way, still no word from The Atlantic on why their glossy profile of the organization and its leader didn’t include one question on, or mention of, the group’s plan to ban birth control.

You Love to See It

Here’s some good news: Abortion rights leaders are calling for the expansion of the Supreme Court. A coalition of over 30 organizations—including All* Above All Action Fund, We Testify, and NARAL Pro-Choice America—are launching the ‘Just Majority’ Campaign, which says “Democracy demands a fair and ethical Court.” The initiative is kicking off with a 20-city bus tour where lawmakers and advocates will hold events to push for structural reforms, including Court expansion.

This newsletter was compiled with the help of researcher Grace Haley.