Abortion, Every Day (8.25.23)

In the States

Republicans in Ohio just won’t quit. They lost on Issue 1, which would have raised the ballot measure standards to require 60% of the vote instead of a simple majority, and their lawsuits to stymie the pro-choice ballot measure. So now they’re writing an inflammatory ballot summary that lies to voters about what the abortion rights amendment would actually do.

Yesterday, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose and the Ohio Ballot Board approved language crafted to deliberately confuse and scare voters. State Rep. Elliot Forhan outlines all the inaccuracies here, but to start, the summary uses the term ‘unborn child’ instead of fetus. And while the amendment limits abortion rights after ‘viability’ unless a person’s health or life is endangered, LaRose’s summary says the amendment would “always allow an unborn child to be aborted at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability if, in the treating physician’s determination” the exception applies.

Lauren Blauvelt, co-chair of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, told the Associated Press, “The entire summary is propaganda.” And as Kellie Copeland, the executive director of Pro-Choice Ohio, pointed out yesterday, the summary is actually longer than the full amendment being proposed! The move is “a last ditch effort to take away our freedom,” Copeland says.

Related: The Intercept looks at the anti-abortion attacks in Ohio and beyond in “Abortion Bans or Democracy—You Can’t Have Both.”

If pushing a bullshit ballot summary sounds familiar, that’s because Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is being sued right now by the ACLU for doing the same thing in his state. Meanwhile, pro-choice activists in the state are debating which measure (they submitted eleven of them) to get in front of voters. Different versions of the measure have different limitations around ‘viability’—an issue that’s been at the center of abortion rights infighting in multiple states.

You know where I stand: ‘Viability’ is an arbitrary line; pregnancy is too complicated to legislate at any point; and conservatives claim pro-choice activists support abortion ‘up until birth’ no matter what the language of the amendment is. (Just look at how they’re doing it Ohio!) So you might as well get the exact protections you want and your state needs.

Also in Missouri: The Kansas City Star reports that the state health department “quietly scrubbed” their website of resources on sexual health and LGBTQ issues for young people.

In South Carolina, where a near-total abortion ban went into effect this week, doctors are struggling with how to interpret the law’s definition of ‘fetal heartbeat’. As you know, Republicans’ so-called ‘heartbeat laws’ are misnomers: at 6 weeks into pregnancy there isn’t even a heart formed, let alone a heartbeat. (South Carolina’s law defines a heartbeat as “cardiac activity, or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart, within the gestational sac.”)

From Dr. Dawn Bingham, chair of the South Carolina chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG):

“These medical definitions they tried to put forward are legislative and put forward by people who don’t practice medicine. This language creates uncertainty among medical providers who may be unsure they’re legally allowed to terminate a pregnancy.”

That means in South Carolina—where doctors could be charged with a felony and get prison time if they end a pregnancy—abortion appointments are being canceled. The chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, Dr. Katherine Farris, says, “In the setting of very high penalties, the only option for providers is to pause as we try to figure this out.”

Meanwhile, providers have asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider their decision, filing a petition that points out the inconsistencies around the definition of ‘fetal heartbeat’. In the petition, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic asks the court to adopt the medically-accepted definition that recognizes a heartbeat once the four chambers of a heart are fully formed, usually between 17 and 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Also in South Carolina: sexual violence experts in the state are speaking out about the ban; and South Carolina Public Radio looks at state voters’ attitudes about abortion.

A new poll out of Louisiana found that half of the voters want the state’s abortion banned overturned, and that 42% believe it should stay as it is. About 8% were undecided. (A poll conducted earlier this year by Louisiana State University found that 52% of people in the state believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.) Anti-abortion activists the state responded by claiming that the poll is simply wrong.

The New Republic urges readers to pay closer attention to Virginia and abortion rights, warning that if Republicans flip the state Senate, Gov. Glenn Youngkin will feel emboldened to move forward with abortion restrictions. Remember, Youngkin was trying to push a 15-week abortion ban not so long ago, claiming that it was some kind of compromise. (And for all Republicans’ bullshit about not using bans to prosecute women, Youngkin’s budget at the time included money for the Dept. of Corrections in anticipation of increased arrests.)

TNR also points out that Youngkin would probably go even further than a 15-week ban, noting that last June the governor said, “Any bill that comes to my desk I will sign happily and gleefully in order to protect life.” Virginia is also the last abortion safe haven in the South—so we’ll definitely be paying close attention.

Meanwhile, North Carolina providers are trying to navigate doing their work under the state’s new abortion ban, which went into effect this summer. Jennifer Hille, a nurse at a clinic in the state, says that one of the harder things to get used to is the mandate that she read to patients from a script that was written by the state:

“There are statements in here that almost shame the patient. Am I really sure of what I want to do? And we have to ask them that multiple times. It’s trying to put doubt into their mind and shame them to make them feel guilty like they are doing something wrong. I just don’t think that’s very compassionate.”

Which, of course, is the point. The state wants to shame people out of getting the care that they want, or make them feel miserable if they do get it. It’s always been about punishment.

Quick hits:

• New Jersey Democrats are taking on ‘contraception deserts’;

• Tennessee is banning books that contain descriptions of contraception;

• An update on the abortion rights fight in Florida;

• Axios takes a look back at Arizona’s history with abortion rights ballot measures;

• And the Associated Press on the anti-abortion activists trying to ban abortion in New Mexico towns despite state law.

In the Nation

A federal judge ruled yesterday that West Virginia can restrict the sale of abortion medication, even though the FDA has approved it as safe. As a reminder: this is a case brought by GenBioPro, the company that makes a generic version of mifepristone. The company argued that West Virginia’s abortion ban violates the Constitution’s supremacy clause that says federal laws take priority over any state law that conflicts with it. Their suit also argued that the ban violates their right to interstate commerce. (Obviously, the company’s sales in the state have dropped since the ban was passed.)

But yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Chambers dismissed the company’s challenges, ruling that West Virginia’s ban takes precedence. It’s too bad—I actually figured that a case like this had a better chance of succeeding than others because America cares more about companies losing money than women losing rights.

President Joe Biden’s campaign just released a new ad attacking Republicans on abortion rights, titled “These Guys.” The ad, part of a multi-million dollar ad campaign, will run in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The White House knows just how pissed off voters are over abortion bans, and they’re not wasting any time tapping into that:

Quick hits:

• The National Organization for Women (NOW) endorsed Biden this week;

• NowThis takes on Republican myths about abortion later in pregnancy;

• And the jury heard closing arguments yesterday in the federal trial against anti-abortion activists who blocked access to a D.C. clinic.

2024

An analysis from The New York Times shows that abortion was the most-discussed topic at the GOP presidential debate this week, getting nearly 8 minutes of air time—ahead of Donald Trump, border security, education and more. In response, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said that she was glad abortion was discussed so heavily, and that, “If our candidates aren’t able to find a response and put out a response, we’re not going to win.”

It seems as if the RNC is borrowing talking points from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, where president Marjorie Dannenfelser has been advising candidates to go on the offensive—blaming “the ostrich strategy” for the GOP’s midterm losses.

But Angela Vasquez-Giroux, the Vice President of Communications & Research at NARAL Pro-Choice America, writes in The Nation today that the debate demonstrated just how aware the candidates are that voters oppose their abortion bans. That’s why they’re working overtime to confuse Americans:

“Seeing the writing on the wall, the Republican presidential candidates are eager to change the subject. They want a national ban, but they also don’t want you to know exactly what that means. They don’t want you to know how people will be, and already are, criminalized because of bans. They don’t want you to know how these bans will be enforced, or how they will impact our lives and our families. They don’t want to answer any of those questions because the truth is a tremendous political liability, and they’ll do anything they can to try to hide it.”

2024 quick hits:

• Axios breaks down the debate;

• KFF Health News did some debate fact-checking on abortion;

• And Politifact looked into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis story about a woman who “survived multiple abortion attempts” and reports that “the scenario is dubious.”

The War on Birth Control

In the first part of “The GOP’s Plan to Ban Birth Control,” I wrote about how conservatives aren’t going to make contraception illegal with a single law: instead, it will be a slow chipping-away process. Part of that strategy is redefining contraception as ‘abortifacients’, or lumping in birth control with abortion in an attempt to conflate the two. Another tactic is using ‘religious freedom’ arguments to make birth control less and less accessible. We saw it happen with Hobby Lobby, for example, when the company successfully argued that they didn’t want to cover employees’ birth control because they believed some forms of contraception were actually abortion.

Now we’re seeing something similar happen on college campuses. The University of San Diego, a private Catholic college, is under fire because its new health plan helps to cover abortion care and contraception. Conservative media has been on the attack over the policy—focusing mostly on the abortion piece of the policy, and mentioning the birth control coverage as an aside. (They know that their stance on birth control is wildly unpopular and don’t want to draw too much attention to it.)

By focusing on religiously-affiliated institutions, conservatives can claim that they’re not interested in limiting anyone’s reproductive rights—but that they’re simply trying to protect the rights of that particular college or company. (Never mind what that means for the students or employees!) Again, this is how birth control gets banned: focusing narrowly, and then slowly broadening until access is limited in more and more places. We’re even seeing it happen in pro-choice states, where Catholic hospitals make up an increasing number of medical centers.

More on this in the next part of the series…