Abortion, Every Day (4.21.23)

In the States

Well, we knew this was coming. Now that North Carolina Republicans have the votes they need to override a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper (thanks to Rep. Tricia Cotham suddenly switching parties), they’re moving ahead with their abortion ban plans. Less than a month ago, legislators introduced a total abortion ban that would make the procedure punishable by life in prison. This week, however, Republican leaders said they’re looking at a 12 week-ban with exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormality or when the pregnant person’s life is in danger. Let’s be clear, though: We already know exceptions are not real, and we can’t trust what Republicans are saying about this legislation until we read it ourselves.

The bill comes after a long back-and-forth between lawmakers, and House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters, “I think we’re really close to being on the same page.” As I’ve written before, a ban in North Carolina—which has been an abortion safe haven for surrounding states—will be disastrous for the South, especially now that Florida has passed a 6-week ban.

Oregon is stockpiling a three-year supply of mifepristone; Gov. Tina Kotek said yesterday that that the state has partnered with the Oregon Health & Science University to get 22,500 doses of mifepristone. “I will make sure that patients are able to access the medication they need and providers are able to provide that medication without unnecessary, politically-motivated interference and intimidation,” Kotek said. Also in Oregon, just a reminder that Democrats this week introduced a proposed amendment to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The amendment could be in front of voters as soon as November 2024.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a brief last night with the state Supreme Court arguing that the local governments attempting to adopt anti-abortion ordinances are violating the state constitution. In the brief, he wrote that “the ordinances infringe New Mexicans’ rights to choose whether to continue a pregnancy guaranteed by the State Constitution’s protection of due process and inherent rights.”

Love to bring you a small bit of bit news: The abortion clinic in Casper, Wyoming that was destroyed in an act of arson is reopening. Clinic president Julie Burkhart said, “It’s been a long journey, filled with obstacles and challenges, but we at Wellspring Health Access refused to give up because we believe that Wyomingites deserve access to abortion care.”

Quick hits:

• The 19th on why abortion will be at the center of the North Carolina governor’s race;

• Mayday Health is taking out advertisements in Florida newspapers and Spanish language radio channels to tell women how to order abortion medication online;

• A House panel in Rhode Island approved legislation that will remove the prohibition on state employees and Medicaid recipients from having their abortions covered;

• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says the state is looking “at a variety of things” to ensure mifepristone access regardless of court decisions;

• And Arizona abortion clinics say they’re prepared to switch to a misoprostol-only protocol should access to mifepristone be a problem.

In the Nation

All eyes on the Supreme Court as we wait for their mifepristone ruling. The Washington Post has a piece on what to expect and what could happen next. Obviously, you’ll hear from Abortion, Every Day as soon as we have any news.

I’ve written before about If/When/How’s legal helpline, created for those who have questions about the law in their state as they try to obtain abortions. (When Roe was overturned, the helpline saw a 2,460% increase in inquiries.) They’re doing such important (and sadly needed) work, so I was really glad to see this terrific profile of the group—even though it paints a bleak picture. Lawyer Kylee Sunderlin, who oversees the hotline, says the there’s a lot of fear right now:

“People are scared that if they share their pregnancy, or any information at all, that they are going to put someone else at legal risk, not just themselves. And so I’m just seeing and sensing a type of isolation that I hadn’t seen previously. People are navigating this alone.”

And that’s what breaks my heart. That fear and solitude is what conservatives want: They want to break up our communities, and make us too afraid to help each other. And of course, Sunderlin also pointed out that the federal rulings are only increasing that sense of fear and confusion. You can donate to the helpline here.

It would be weird to say that I was ‘happy’ to read this piece at Slate about the Republican war on contraception—after all, the topic is fucking terrifying. But I was relieved. I’m so tired of people behaving as if it’s hysterical to suggest that birth control is in danger, especially as they are targeting it right in front of our faces. As Christina Cauterucci writes, “conservatives are not coming for birth control next…they’re coming for birth control now.”

“Across the country, they are executing a game plan that rests on three strategies: Conflate contraception with abortion, claim that birth control is dangerous to women’s health, and let right-wing judges do their thing…

These legislators are adopting the premise of nearly every anti-abortion group that claims to have no agenda on contraception: Usually, with a coy play on words, they claim that emergency contraception and IUDs—are not contraception at all. They categorize them as methods of abortion.”

Thank you! This is exactly what I’ve been writing here at the newsletter for months (and elsewhere, for years!). They have already laid the groundwork to ban birth control, and they’re already enacting the same chipping away approach that they did with abortion. We can’t allow them say that we’re overreacting. Not again.

In better news, love this from U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes of Ohio: She introduced legislation targeting the deceptive ad practices of anti-abortion centers. Her bill would direct the Federal Trade Commission to fine the centers up to $100,000 or half their annual revenue if they pretend to offer services that they don’t really have, or never follow through on. Rep. Sykes said, “Women are really sick and tired of being lied to.” (U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey introduced a version in the Senate, as well—legislation he’s calling the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation (SAD) Act.)

Quick hits:

• House Republican leaders are distancing themselves from any federal abortion legislation;

• Jezebel has a great piece looking at the sketchy connections between Sen. Josh Hawley and Matthew Kacsmaryk;

• Salon on the abortion storyline on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”;

• And I don’t know how this would work practically, but I was happy to see that Canada’s Families Minister Karina Gould said the country would help women in the U.S. to get mifepristone if it’s banned.

2024

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser was not happy with Donald Trump after the disgraced former president released a statement yesterday saying that abortion should be “decided at the state level.” Dannenfelser responded that, “Saying that the issue should only be decided at the states is an endorsement of abortion up until the moment of birth.” Hmm. That’s interesting, because here’s what Dannenfelser said in 2021 about what should happen if Roe was overturned:

“The court need only step aside and let the democratic process work as it was meant. In the absence of Roe, the law will not default to an automatic national abortion ban; rather, all states will be free to debate, find consensus, and let the values of their people be reflected in the law without constant interference by unelected judges. This spirited contest is truly at the heart of the meaning of liberty in America – all parties should welcome it…”

Funny, that! It’s almost as if Dannenfelser is a hypocrite and liar! (Thanks to ProTruth4Life for the heads up!)

In response to Trump’s statement—and the growing fear among lawmakers over just how pissed American voters are over abortion—the organization also issued a statement making clear what they expect from Republican candidates:

“We will oppose any presidential candidate who refuses to embrace at a minimum a 15-week national standard to stop painful late-term abortions while allowing states to enact further protections.”

I’ve been predicting that the ‘pain-capable’ lie about 15-week pregnancies was going to be the movement’s new go-to talking point. And here we are, right on cue. It’s language I’m seeing more and more of not just from organizations, but anti-abortion pundits and media—all of whom are eager to figure out some way to ensure that voters don’t hate them quite as much.

As I wrote earlier this week, this change-up in messaging is in part because of Democrats ceding anything beyond trying to restore Roe. As soon as we gave up pushing for proactively good abortion rights legislation and started scrambling for the scraps we had before, anti-abortion groups changed the goalposts. (Anyone remember ‘If Give a Mouse a Cookie’?)

The good news, at least, is that they’re focusing on 15-weeks because the polls have made these groups too afraid to push for a total federal abortion ban.

Conservative Corruption

Another day, another reason Matthew Kacsmaryk shouldn’t be anywhere near this mifepristone case. You probably already know that the activist judge who is trying to end access to abortion medication surreptitiously removed his byline from a law review article in order to keep it from the Senate Judiciary Committee. (In it, he criticized doctors who “use their pens to prescribe or dispense abortifacient drugs designed to kill unborn children.”)

Well, it looks like that wasn’t the only thing he failed to report to the Senate: CNN reports that Kacsmaryk also didn’t include two media appearances with Christian radio stations where the judge bemoaned, among other things, “permissive policies on contraception.” Funny how it just so happens to be all the abortion and LGBTQ stuff that was conveniently left out of his required disclosures!

Stats & Studies

In the least surprising news ever, college students don’t much want to study in states with abortion bans. A new study from Lumina Foundation and Gallup found that nearly three-quarters of college students, 72%, reported that abortion laws are at least somewhat important to whether they’ll stay enrolled in their current school. And 20% responded that abortion laws in the state were ‘extremely’ important. Among adults who are not enrolled in college and don’t have a degree, 60% said their state’s abortion rights laws were at least somewhat important to them. (The survey asked respondents to rate the importance on a scale of 1 through 7.)

It will also not shock you to find out that among the respondents who said the issue was important to them, 81% reported that they wanted to live in a state with abortion rights. Which is understandable! Colleges in anti-choice states are really going to start to feel the hurt in their enrollment rates, or are going to come to terms with losing the students they’re most interested in attracting. I don’t know if any of this will make a difference to politicians, but it should.

Also in stats & studies today, The Washington Post has more on the research I told you about this week from the the Association of American Medical Colleges, which showed that medical school graduates are avoiding anti-abortion states and OBGYN residencies in general. Atul Grover, who leads the research team at the AAMC, says, “Everybody is saying they knew this would happen, but this is concerning.” He pointed out that politicians “may be discouraging some of the best candidates from coming to your state to train.”

The Post spoke to some of those candidates, and the message from all of them is clear: They don’t want to work in a state where they can’t get adequate training or give adequate care. The same is true for doctors who have been working for years. OBGYN Pamela Parker left Texas after the state passed an abortion ban, and says she keeps Guttmacher map open on her computer for when job requests come in: “I get a lot of requests for temporary or permanent jobs from states with bans, and I let them know why I would not ever practice in their state.”

You Love to See It

Students at West Virginia University set up huge pro-choice signs to block the fake and graphic images being held up by an anti-abortion group on their campus. Love this so much. I continue to think that we should just be holding up images of what a 6 to 10-week pregnancy really looks like…

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