Abortion, Every Day (9.22.23)

Arizona starts collecting signatures for pro-choice ballot measure

Lots of ballot measure news to read In the States (plus a very cool Abortion, Every Day shout out!). Mostly quick hits in In the Nation today. As we get closer to November, Republicans are ramping up their messaging about abortion ‘up until birth’. I write about the trend and how Democrats should respond in On ‘Viability’. I wish I didn’t have to keep writing about Donald Trump, but today’s 2024 news is all Trump—and how the media needs to get their act together. Even more in The GOP’s Plan to Ban Birth Control; and Republican attempts to redefine abortion continue on in What Conservatives Are Saying.

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In the States

Let’s go, Arizona! I told you last month that a coalition of abortion rights groups in the state filed language for a pro-choice ballot measure. Well, yesterday, Arizona for Abortion Access announced that they’ve started gathering signatures for the proposed amendment. The group is trying to get the question in front of voters for the November 2024 election.

Abortion is legal until 15 weeks in Arizona while the state’s 1864 ban is being battled out in the courts. A few weeks ago, the state Supreme Court said they would consider reinstating the radical ban, which mandates prison time for abortion providers. So protection in the state constitution is absolutely necessary.

A representative from Arizona for Abortion Access, Chris Love, says the group’s plan is to collect over 600,000 signatures—twice the amount needed. “Obviously, we need a comfortable cushion here in the state of Arizona because we do get a lot of challenges on our signatures,” she said. The amendment would protect abortion rights in the state constitution up until fetal ‘viability’, after which someone could end a pregnancy if their life, physical or mental health was endangered. (More on viability & Republican talking points on abortion later in pregnancy later in the newsletter in On ‘Viability’.) tl;dr: I’m so excited for Arizona activists and can’t wait to see them bring this thing home.

Abortion continues to play a central role in Kentucky’s gubernatorial race, where Daniel Cameron is pissed about the ad that Gov. Andy Beshear’s campaign released attacking him on his opposition to exceptions. As I mentioned earlier this week, the ad features a young woman talking about being raped by her stepfather as a child. “This is to you, Daniel Cameron,” she says. “To tell a 12 year-old girl she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable.”

When the candidates were asked to say something they liked about each other at a gubernatorial forum this week, Cameron replied, “I would have had a lot of nice things to say about [Beshear] until he ran that ad against me today.”

Cameron has done a 180 on exceptions in the last few days, claiming that he’d support legislation to allow for abortions in cases of rape and incest—which he’s long said that he opposes. Cameron was also caught off-guard when he had to answer for a questionnaire where he indicated that he would criminalize birth control. (Thanks to Abortion, Every Day’s coverage, by the way!)

Good news out of Colorado, where the fight over ‘abortion reversal’ is almost at an end. After the state passed legislation earlier this year classifying the debunked and dangerous practice as “unprofessional conduct,” challenges from anti-abortion groups blocked the law from going into effect. Colorado’s Attorney General decided that it wouldn’t be enforced until the state medical, nursing and pharmacy boards all passed their rules on the practice. Since then, the nursing and pharmacy boards both declined to decide one way or another, saying that they always look at issues on a case-by-case basis. But on Thursday, the state medical board ruled that ‘abortion reversal’ is unprofessional conduct. As they should have! The rules go into effect on on October 23rd.

Early voting starts in Virginia today, where abortion is top-of-mind for folks on both sides of the aisle. Gov. Glenn Youngkin is trying to push a 15-week abortion ban as a ‘reasonable compromise’, but Democrats suspect the messaging isn’t going to trick voters. Polling from Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly NARAL, suggests they’re right: Americans reject the idea that 15-week bans are a “reasonable compromise” by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The Texas Tribune hosted a panel on abortion rights with reporter Eleanor Klibanoff, Texas Sen. Carol Alvarado, fantastic writer Rebecca Traister—who gives Abortion, Every Day a shout out—and Center for Reproductive Rights president Nancy Northup, who says she reads AED every day. (Thanks, all!) Definitely worth watching if you have an hour:

I’m very sorry to say that the mother of the Nebraska teen who was arrested for self-managing an abortion has been sentenced to two years in prison for helping her daughter. As you likely remember, the then-teenager was arrested after law enforcement got ahold of her Facebook messages, where she discussed ending her pregnancy using medication.

Also please remember how badly the media fucked up this case: for months, outlets reported that the teen wrote in her FB messages that “she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body.” That wasn’t true: in fact, it was language used by a police officer falsely characterizing her messages. So when media outlets had pages of messages to pick from, they both chose language meant to make the teenager seem callous and put words in her mouth that were actually those of a police officer—a cop’s belief presented as fact.

I feel awful for this family and everything they’ve been through.

Finally, the first ballots for the November election in Ohio that will determine abortion rights in the state go out on Friday for military and overseas absentee voters. We’re keeping fingers and toes crossed for Ohio abortion rights activists who have been seriously up against it for months. Republicans tried to raise the standards on ballot measures, tried to sue to stop the amendment, and launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign claiming that the proposal would allow children to have gender-affirming surgery. All to stop voters from having a say on abortion.

The latest attack on democracy came in the form of the ballot measure summary, which voters will see in November: Republicans were allowed to keep inflammatory and false language in the summary in hopes of tricking voters out of supporting the amendment.

Quick hits:

• Tennessee leads the nation in arresting women for pregnancy outcomes;

• A high-risk OBGYN in Michigan wrote an op-ed in support of the Reproductive Health Act;

• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looks at abortion trends in Wisconsin, while NPR reports on Planned Parenthoods in the state resuming abortion care, and Wisconsin Public Radio talks to the group about the decision;

• And the art exhibit that was banned at an Idaho college because of a prohibition on state funding ‘promoting’ abortion is now available to see at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center in New York.

“This issue is not about babies, it is about women who have sex. Men are supposed to have strong, natural, healthy sexual urges. Women on the other hand are not supposed to enjoy sex. So if they have sex for any reason other than reproduction, they are sinful and should be punished. And what better punishment than to force them to have a baby?”

- Linnea Smith, Letter to the Editor, Wisconsin State Journal

In the Nation

• USA Today and Barron’s on the two military nominees that the Senate was able to confirm despite Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s block;

• New York Magazine on the changing abortion rights language;

• Bloomberg Law on the role of legal standing in the case against mifepristone;

• Jezebel on the Republican trying to repeal the FACE Act that protects abortion clinics;

• Republicans opposition to PEPFAR could worsen maternal and child mortality;

• Research on abortion misinformation targeting women of color;

• And in international news, Brazil’s Supreme Court will be ruling soon on whether to decriminalize abortion.

On ‘Viability’

As we get closer to November (and to 2024), Republicans are ramping up their messaging that Democrats support abortion ‘up until birth’. We’re seeing it in places like Virginia, where Republicans like Gov. Glenn Youngkin aren’t just trying to frame themselves as ‘reasonable’ on abortion—but to paint Democrats as extreme. This new ad being pushed in the state claims that Democrats want abortion legal up until the moment of birth. And with Ohio voters just weeks away from casting a ballot on a pro-choice amendment that would restore abortion rights in the state, conservatives released this similar ad making the same claim.

There’s conflict within the pro-choice movement about how to deal with the attacks. Abortion rights groups proposing ballot measures, for example, have largely been using language that includes a ‘viability’ standard—even though doing so hasn’t stopped conservatives from claiming that the amendments will allow for abortions ‘up until birth’. After Arizona for Abortion Access announced that they started collecting signatures this week, for example, the president of the conservative Center for Arizona Policy Action, Cathi Herod, said that the amendment “would allow abortions for virtually any reason up until the moment of birth.”

And most mainstream politicians talk about ‘restoring Roe’ rather than pushing for something better. Earlier this month, for example, Vice President Kamala Harris said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” that, “From day one, the president has been clear, I have been clear…We need to put back the protections that are in Roe v. Wade into law.” Again, that didn’t stop conservatives from arguing otherwise: Fox News claimed that Harris refused to answer the question.

You know how I feel: why let their lies dictate our polices? It is vital that Democrats have better messaging on abortions later in pregnancy than ‘it doesn’t happen’. Yes, it’s rare. Yes, Republicans are relying on bullshit and scare tactics to distract from the truth. But we should still be able to talk about why abortion later in pregnancy is necessary! As I’ve pointed out before, if there was ever a time to make that point, it’s now, when all of the horror stories coming out of anti-choice states are largely happening to women later in pregnancy.

2024

At a rally in Dubuque, Iowa this week, Donald Trump doubled down on the abortion stance that got him in trouble with fellow Republicans, claiming that his opponents are too extreme on the issue. And as Abortion, Every Day has predicted, the former president paid special attention to talking about abortion ban ‘exceptions’:

“Without the exceptions, it is very difficult to win the elections. We would probably lose the majorities in 2024 without the exceptions, and perhaps the presidency itself.”

As you know by now, exceptions aren’t real—but Trump has made a point of focusing on the supposed exemptions as a way to play down his own extremism. And as I’ve written so many times before, talking about exceptions is a win-win for Republicans: it makes them seem as if they’re softening on the issue, while supporting something that won’t actually meaningfully change their radical policies.

Meanwhile, Ron DeSantis has decided that going all-in on his anti-abortion extremism is the only way to set himself apart in the campaign. He’s doing a media blitz criticizing Trump, and touting Florida’s 6-week abortion ban as proof of his commitment to the cause. In a radio interview in Iowa this week, DeSantis said, “If [Trump is] going into this saying he’s going to make the Democrats happy with respect to right-to-life, I think all pro-lifers should know that he’s preparing to sell you out.”

Mike Pence is also hammering Trump on his comments about abortion, telling Fox News that the former president is “walking away from the commitment to the right to life.” Pence and DeSantis are not alone: Republicans across the board are continuing to criticize Trump over his “Meet the Press” interview. You know this worries me, because it plays right into Trump’s strategy of pretending to be moderate on abortion. If conservatives keep talking about how Trump is backing off of abortion and isn’t extreme enough, it bolsters the former president’s tactic of appealing to Republicans who are distressed by all the post-Roe horror stories. And as this piece in The Atlantic points out, it takes the punch out of the Biden campaign’s strategy of making the election about abortion:

“Democrats will have a harder time tarring Trump as an extremist if he’s talking mostly about compromise and accusing his own party of extremism.”

This is where media coverage comes in. It’s so important that mainstream coverage doesn’t fall into the trap of taking Trump at his word, or repeating his talking points without context and critique. What I mentioned earlier this week is a perfect example: His “Meet the Press” interview was framed as Trump as moderate on abortion, but no one mentioned that he claimed there was such a thing as ‘post-birth’ abortion SEVEN TIMES. If this man is able to position himself as the least extremist candidate on abortion, I truly believe it will be because the media didn’t do their jobs.

Quick hits:

• POLITICO on how anti-abortion groups can’t agree on what to do about Trump;

• U.S. News on Trump’s abortion “pivot”;

• NPR on North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who says as president he’d leave abortion up to the states;

• And Jamelle Bouie at The New York Times on why “Donald Trump Is Not of Two Minds About Abortion.”

The GOP’s Plan to Ban Birth Control

The Association of American Medical Colleges has an interview with Mary Ziegler on abortion bans, where the law professor talks about Republicans’ interest in banning contraception:

“In terms of birth control, many states with abortion bans essentially say, ‘We’re not here to criminalize contraception,’ but not all of them define contraception or abortion. Many anti-abortion activists believe that IUDs, emergency morning-after contraceptives, and even the birth control pill are abortifacients [items that terminate a pregnancy]. So I think we’ll see some pharmacies and other businesses refusing to carry the over-the-counter birth control pill.”

This is exactly what I warned about in the first part of AED’s series on Republicans’ war on birth control: they’re redefining contraception as abortion in order to outlaw birth control while maintaining the ability to say they’re only trying to ban abortion.

What Conservatives Are Saying

If you can get past the bad and biased reporting, there’s something really important in this local news coverage of a challenge to an Illinois law that mandates patients be given all of their healthcare options (including abortion). The three anti-abortion centers suing over the law are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom—the conservative group also responsible for the challenge against mifepristone. In front of the courthouse today, ADF attorney Kevin Theriot tried to redefine abortion:

“Where you have to go in and take the baby to save the life of the mother, they don’t see that as an abortion because there’s a different intent. The doctor isn’t intending to kill the child. The child dies in an attempt to save the mother.”

For months, I’ve been warning about conservatives’ attempts to change the fundamental legal and medical definition of abortion—they are getting it out there in suits, in the media, and in legislation. Make sure to keep an out for more bullshit like this.