Abortion, Every Day (5.10.23)

In the States

Alabama Republicans have introduced a bill that would allow women to be charged with murder if they have abortions or if their miscarriages were deemed to be the result of “reckless” behavior. I wish I was exaggerating.

To start, HB454 would define personhood as beginning at the moment of fertilization—which opens the door for prosecuting women for using IUDs and emergency contraception, which conservatives believe prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg.

The bill would also mandate that homicide prosecutions treat an “unborn child” as any other homicide victim, and that women be charged if their pregnancy ends as a result of recklessness or negligence. That could mean literally anything that a zealous prosecutor decides makes you responsible: Lifted something heavy? Reckless. Didn’t take pre-natal vitamins? Negligence.

Because the legislators who craft these kinds of laws never cease to think of the most horrific misogynist scenarios (to the point where it’s actually pretty fucking creepy), the bill oh-so-generously allows that a woman who loses a pregnancy as a result of being violently raped or beaten during a domestic violence incident won’t be charged with murder.

But because of the language of the bill—which says a defense isn’t available if “the actor intentionally or recklessly placed [themselves] in a situation,” it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where a woman is blamed for staying with an abusive partner who causes her miscarriage. (Remember that an Alabama woman, Marshae Jones, was charged with manslaughter after being shot while pregnant for a similar justification.)

Here’s what Robin Marty, Director of Operations for the West Alabama Women's Center and author of The New Handbook for a Post-Roe America told me:

“From the moment a person is pregnant—whether they are aware or not—that person will now be in immediate danger of being accused of a murder. For a state with no sex ed, no birth control, no insurance and no hospitals to now order them to give birth to a healthy baby or go to jail is unconscionable. We cannot let this happen.”

I’ll keep you updated about the bill as I find out more. And big thanks to Marty for flagging this legislation.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is set to veto the recently-passed abortion ban, but knows that Republicans have the votes to override him. And so he’s trying to enlist support from just one Republican to keep his veto intact:

"We really only need one. If all Democrats are present and accounted for—and all Democrats have signed on to legislation that codifies Roe vs. Wade, who know that this is important protection for women's reproductive freedom across North Carolina—if they are all present and accounted for, all we need is one Republican in either chamber.”

Gov. Cooper, who says he’ll veto the bill on Saturday, also pointed out the way that the ban is being presented as a reasonable compromise when it’s anything but. It’s unclear how successful Gov. Cooper will be in rallying a single Republican to do the right thing, but state Sen. Natasha Marcus told The Charlotte Observer that she’s holding onto hope:

“I tend to think there will be a person who has a conscience. I tend to think that there will be a person who wants to keep a promise. I tend to think that there would be a person who would want to create a legacy of standing up for what is right, and for saving lives and protecting women’s reproductive freedom. This is still an opportunity to do it.”

Louisiana Republicans rejected a bill seeking to add rape and incest exceptions into the state’s abortion ban. Lawmakers weren’t moved by testimony from rape victims, one of whom weeped while telling them she would have committed suicide had she been forced to carry her rapists’ child.

The anti-abortion activists who testified were, as Jezebel put it, truly unhinged. Pastor John Raymond said that allowing a rape exception would mean that women would “clamor to put old boyfriends behind bars in order to dispense with the inconvenience of giving birth.” And activist Debbie Melvin said that “a baby is the only beautiful thing that can come from rape.”

I told you yesterday how South Carolina Republicans were trying to quickly push through a 6-week abortion ban. Vicki Ringer, Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement, “The male-dominated legislature is hellbent on controlling the decisions of women, going as far as to ram through an abortion ban in the final days of the legislative session.” Ringer also tweeted that the state House actually narrowed the medical emergency exception for abortion:

“A woman must be dying to be able to get an abortion. If these legislators or someone they love faces a dangerous pregnancy, they just proposed a plan that could result in a death before they could get care.”

The Associated Press has more on the bill, but the main thing to know for now is that the female Senators who stopped the legislation last time around with a filibuster say they’re ready to do it again. As a reminder: The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that a previous abortion ban violated the state’s constitution. Republicans are hoping that new legislation will withstand legal scrutiny this time around.

Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke in Ohio at a gala for the Center for Christian Virtue, where he lauded Republicans’ efforts to stop voters from making their voices heard on abortion. As you know, Ohio Republicans have been working to raise the standard on ballot measures as a way to prevent voters from restoring abortion rights in the state.

Anti-abortion groups in Ohio have also been working overtime lying about the pro-choice ballot measure expected to be in front of voters this November—claiming that it would allow children to have gender-affirming surgery without parental consent. In his speech yesterday, Pence repeated those lies, and told the audience, “Ohio has become a battleground in the cause of life.”

Illinois Democrats are trying to pass legislation to stop anti-abortion centers from lying to women. Yesterday, Chief Medical Officer at Planned Parenthood of Illinois, Amy Whitaker published an op-ed about what happens when anti-abortion centers are allowed to lie to women with impunity. She relays the story of a patient who came in with the ultrasound image that an anti-abortion center had given her:

“We quickly realized that the patient had been misinformed and had not actually received anything close to the standard of care for pregnancy diagnosis and assessment. After she was given an ultrasound at Planned Parenthood, it was determined that the patient actually had a molar pregnancy (a rare complication) which is not viable and, if left untreated, can cause cancer.”

This is a predicable outcome of allowing religiously-affiliated anti-abortion centers, which often have no medical staff, to operate unregulated and without consequences. (For more on what happens when these centers go unchecked, read this piece from The Guardian published back in February about a group in Kentucky that was allowed to continue operating even after they were reported for using expired disinfectant on vaginal probes.)

You may remember that Vermont Democrats amended legislation to protect abortion providers and patients so that it also included protections for abortion medication, specifically. Lawmakers added language that classified abortion medication as legally protected reproductive health care “regardless of the medication’s current FDA approval status.” It was a super smart move, and now that legislation has been signed by Gov. Phil Scott—making it the first shield law in the nation to protect abortion pills.

Republicans in Georgia want to enshrine fetal personhood: Prism reports on the new state law allowing people to claim a fetus as a dependent on their taxes. (Remember this?) Kwajelyn Jackson, executive director of the Feminist Women’s Health Center, points out that this has nothing to do with supporting families or children. “At the same time as this was being passed, we were still fighting to expand Medicaid coverage for pregnant people beyond 60 days after delivery,” she said. (And if you think anti-choice states claiming fetuses as dependents is bad, you should check out what they’re doing around personhood in Missouri.)

Quick hits:

• ABC News has more on the group proposing a pro-choice ballot measure in Florida and the hurdles they have in front of them;

• Rhode Island legislators continue to hear testimony around a bill seeking to mandate insurance coverage, including Medicaid, for abortion care;

• Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a law allowing pharmacists to prescribe hormonal birth control over-the-counter;

• Kentucky Public Radio on where the gubernatorial candidates stand on abortion rights;

• And Rolling Stone on the Republican strategy in Missouri I told you about last week, where the AG is claiming restoring abortion rights would cost $51 billion.

In the Nation

Twenty-two Attorneys General formed a coalition and have filed an amicus brief in support of the Biden Administration and their inclusion of abortion in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). You may remember that last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the federal government over the EMTALA guidance, claiming that the Biden Administration was trying to “transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.”

In fact, the law simply requires that hospitals and doctors not let women die if they need an abortion. Still, a Texas judge stopped the law from being applied in the state. The White House appealed, and now the case is being heard by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Quick hits:

• Molly Jong-Fast at Vanity Fair looks at how the Republican push to end no-fault divorce connects to abortion rights;

• The Center for Technology & Democracy explains digital protections in shield laws;

• Ms. magazine on how abortion bans enable domestic abuse;

• And The New York Times on the FDA’s upcoming decision on an over-the-counter birth control pill.

Care Denied

An Idaho woman was denied an abortion despite her fetus having a severe abnormality that made survival extraordinarily unlikely. Kelcie Moseley-Morris at States Newsroom reports that Jennifer Adkins found out at 12 weeks that her fetus had Turner syndrome, an abnormality that usually leads to miscarriage (about 99% of the time). Because of her state’s law, Adkins either had to travel for an abortion, or stay pregnant just to risk a later miscarriage and putting her health in danger:

“Adkins said seeking care in another state made her feel like a criminal and a medical refugee of sorts, and she worried about what others would think of her for terminating. Another physician she saw for a separate issue wanted to keep the pregnancy out of her record entirely as a precaution. 

‘They make this out to be like people that seek abortions are horrible, horrible people, and murderers, and all this stuff, and I'm like, that could not be further from the truth. This is a baby that we love with all of our heart and soul.’”

Adkins decided to travel to Oregon for an abortion. Moseley-Morris reports that while Adkins is grateful that she was able to get the care she needed—and that everyone in the Oregon clinic was supportive and kind—it was painful to have her leave her home state in order to get compassionate, basic care. “I deserve better, and so does everybody else,” she said.

What Conservatives Are Saying

Every once in a while, an anti-abortion activist will say the quiet part out loud. At an event for Heartbeat International—a huge organization that runs the largest network of anti-abortion centers in the world— ‘healthcare’ team manager Teresa Tholany spoke about one of the reasons they’re so against abortion medication:

“We used to know where abortion centers were located and what services they provided. Now her own home is an abortion facility.”

This quote struck me as so telling. The anti-abortion movement wants to be able to surveil abortion providers and clinics. The fact that women can end their pregnancies without these assholes knowing is just too much for them to handle.

You Love to See It

I admit it, I have a problem: I can’t stop ordering abortion rights swag. But how can you blame me when groups like the Iowa Abortion Access Fund keep putting out cool shit? Like this design created by two sisters who made a play on the phrase ‘Iowa nice’? Or these incredible postcards?? I’ve been so inspired by all these designs lately that I’ve started looking into creating our own Abortion, Every Day merch….so keep an eye out! (And if you know any creative designers, drop me a line.)