Abortion, Every Day (6.20.23)

Conservative women's conference: "Birth Control is so last year"

In the States

One of the biggest post-Roe trends we’ve seen are conservatives’ unrelenting attacks on democracy. The latest comes out of Iowa, where an anti-abortion leader is calling for the removal of the state Supreme Court justices who declined to reinstate a near-total abortion ban. Bob Vander Plaats, leader of the conservative Christian group, The Family Leader, tweeted this weekend, “these three dissenters have shown blatant disrespect for the constitution, the people's representatives and we the people.” He wrote that “they should resign, be impeached or be ousted.” What’s notable is that Vander Plaats was actually successful in removing three Iowa Supreme Court justices after they legalized marriage equality in 2009.

Wisconsin Republicans just had their state convention, where abortion loomed large on everyone’s mind. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson asked fellow lawmakers, “As Republicans, we have to ask ourselves, how did we get maneuvered in the court of public opinion as being the extremists on this issue?” It never seems to occur to them that they are the extremists. Johnson also called for a ballot measure on the issue, the details of which sounded pretty bleak: “He said he'd want to present voters with 10 options as to when, and if, abortion should be allowed.” Gotta love your human rights being whittled down to a multiple choice question.

Speaking of ballot measures: Republicans in Missouri may have failed to raise the standards on amending the state constitution, but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to try again. NPR in Kansas City reports that there’s talk of reviving the effort in 2024 in order to make it harder for any abortion-related ballot measures to pass in November. But we did have some good ballot measure news out of the state today: A Missouri judge has ordered Attorney General Andrew Bailey to approve the state auditor’s cost estimate of the ballot measure within 24 hours.

You likely remember that Bailey refused to sign the auditor’s $51,000 estimate, claiming that it would actually cost the state billions of dollars. Unbelievably, a representative from the AG’s office says they’re going to appeal the judge’s decision. They will do anything to stop voters from having a direct say on abortion rights.

That said, even when voters make their wills known, Republicans will still try to restrict abortion: In Kansas, where voters decisively rejected an anti-abortion ballot measure last year, doctors still have to deal with absurd mandates, including requirements that they lie to patients about their health. The Kansas City Star has the details of what doctors are being forced to tell patients—from abortion ‘reversal’ to outright lies about the risks of abortion. (Providers in the state are suing over the mandates.)

The good(ish) news out of Kansas is that officials won’t be enforcing the requirement that doctors tell abortion medication patients that they can ‘reverse’ the procedure—at least for now. They’re waiting for a judge to decide whether to block the law while a challenge to it and other abortion restrictions are heard.

If you want to find out more about the ballot measure seeking to restore abortion rights in Florida, here’s an interview from a local CBS with Anna Hochkammer of the Florida Women's Freedom Coalition:

More in attacks on democracy: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent out a self-congratulatory tweet yesterday about new legislation that allows for the removal of district attorneys who decline to prosecute abortion cases. He wrote that the law will “reign in rogue district attorneys.” Abortion, Every Day has been writing about this law (and similar efforts) for a few months; you can read some background here.

What’s most important to know is that district attorneys are elected officials—voters put them in office in order to use their discretion about what cases to pursue. This law allows everyday citizens to petition for their removal if a DA decides they don’t want to go after a particular case. It’s chilling stuff.

A federal judge in Kentucky dismissed a challenge to parts of the state’s abortion ban. Kentucky abortion providers filed a suit over the state’s reporting requirements—too onerous to reasonably follow—that would strip them of their licenses if they weren’t able to comply.

Quick hits:

• The Clarion Ledger on what’s happened to Mississippi’s famous ‘pink house’ since it was forced to shut down;

• The BBC covered Amanda Zurawski’s story of going into sepsis after being denied an abortion in Texas;

• El Pais on the “chaos and confusion” of Florida’s abortion ban;

• A Colorado anti-choice group wants to enshrine fetal personhood in the state constitution via ballot measure (good luck!);

• And a bit more information on the North Carolina poll showing that (surprise, surprise) voters don’t like the recently-passed abortion ban.

In the Nation

I’m glad that The New York Times is on the very real threat to birth control in this country. Feminists have been screaming about this for decades, and—much as was the case with Roe—we’ve been told we’re hysterical. The piece specifically gets into how conservatives want to conflate emergency contraception and IUDs with abortion (again, something we’ve been raising the alarm about for some time).

Reminder: Democrats have reintroduced the “Right to Contraception Act” (which Republicans oppose) as part of a bigger legislative package tied to the anniversary of Roe being overturned. Other bills include protections for patients’ private data, protections for abortion providers, and protections for the right to interstate travel.

Agence France-Presse has a piece on the the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline, which takes questions from those who have had abortions—largely those who are self-managing abortions at home and don’t want to seek out medical care in their anti-choice state. Co-founder Dr. Linda Prine says, “Most of the time, we're not really giving medical advice, we're giving reassurance. The medical piece is very safe. The fear and anxiety piece is hard.”

And if you’re exhausted of hearing about all the abortion bans and restrictions we’re coming up against, consider checking out this piece from NPR about the states that are spending millions of dollars to protect access.

Quick hits:

• A coalition of state Attorneys General from 24 states have sent a letter to HHS asking for stronger HIPAA protections for abortion patients;

• New York Magazine on how Hispanic voters are becoming more pro-choice;

• The Guardian with an investigation into Alliance Defending Freedom, the extremist group behind so many of the attacks on abortion and LGBTQ rights.

• The Associated Press on how supermajorities have impacted abortion;

• And a column in the Los Angeles Times about the cruelty of requiring rape victims to pay for their own emergency care.

Crisis in Care

Something AED has been writing a lot about is the crisis in care that abortion bans have caused—with a particular impact on OBGYNs in anti-choice states. This weekend, The Guardian looked at what OBGYN residents are doing to ensure that they get the abortion training they need despite state laws. (They also point out this distressing statistic: Nineteen percent of all OB-GYN residency programs—with over 1,100 residents—are in anti-abortion states.)

Misha Pangasa, a resident from Utah who trained at Oregon Health and Sciences University as part of their Abortion Care and Training Fund, says, “none of us were meant to be criminals.” She continued, “We are just trying to figure out what the best care is for our patients and how to give them that.” Cannot imagine trying to do this work right now. Truly in awe of these doctors.

WIRED also has a piece on the crisis, and CBS Evening News also did a recent segment on howOBGYNs are leaving (or refusing to practice in) anti-choice states:

Another piece on the post-Roe care crisis: Because so many more people are using abortion medication to self manage the end of their pregnancies in anti-choice state, doctors are finding that women are taking the pills later than recommended. Dr. Linda Prine, co-founder of the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline told Vox, “Up until the fall of Roe, we had maybe two calls ever asking for advice on using pills in a pregnancy that was over 12 or 13 weeks,” but now the hotline is getting calls once a day. It’s a predictable outcome of making abortion impossible or near-impossible to get. (Experts also told Vox that while using the pills after 10 weeks isn’t recommended—or legal—it can be safe, it just comes with more side effects.)

Stats & Studies

Every poll that comes out about Americans’ support for abortion rights makes me happier and happier: A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll reports that 1 in 4 Americans say that state abortion bans have made them more pro-choice. There’s more:

“By almost 4-1, 23%-6%, those whose views on abortion have changed in the past year said they have become more supportive of legal abortion, not less supportive.

…And independent women, one of the most critical swing groups in elections, by 28%-5% said they had become more supportive of abortion rights.”

Despite Americans’ support for abortion rights, these maps looking at abortion access by distance paint a pretty stark picture:

Keep An Eye On

Remember the Turning Point USA’s Young Women’s Leadership conference? The one where speakers urged the young women and girls in the audience not to use birth control? Well it turns out it was even worse than we originally thought (who knew that was possible??): The Washington Post reports that there was a mirror at the conference where attendees could take selfies that was “made to look like a magazine cover with a headline that reads, ‘Birth control is so last year.’” SERIOUSLY. I couldn’t find a great picture—just the blow one from someone’s Twitter account. But wow wow.

Mainstream Media Muck-ups

In The New York Times this weekend, columnist Tish Harrison Warren repeats one of the most frustrating lies about abortion: “We, as a nation, are seemingly at an impasse, split on abortion, immigration, guns and many other issues, with no clear way forward.” That’s just not true! I know that she’s an opinion writer, but come on: We are far from ‘split’ on abortion, and haven’t been for some time.

And I swear to god, headlines like this make me want to tear my hair out:

If you need a better headline (of the *lolsob* variety) you can always count on The Onion.

You Love to See It

Love to bring you some good news: The Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights reports says that Walgreens and CVS have agreed to implement new rules to ensure that customers get timely access to reproductive health medications. This comes in the wake of multiple reports that chain pharmacies were denying people prescriptions to drugs like methotrexate and misoprostol. Glad to see some action taken, even if was due to pressure.

And Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson wrote a piece for ELLE as we approach the Dobbs anniversary, and I’m really glad to see her call for action beyond just restoring Roe:

“We have the power. You are the power. The numbers are on our side. What we do now is fight like hell. Not to regain or restore the rights the court has taken. We rework, reimagine, and rededicate ourselves to building a just world that includes nationwide abortion access for all.”