Abortion, Every Day (1.8.24)

President of Idaho Senate: U.S. doesn't have enough service workers because of abortion

Click to skip ahead: Yet another reminder that Of Course They Want Us Dead. In Stats & Studies, the vast majority of Americans want hospitals to provide emergency abortions. In the States, an Idaho Republican says Roe is responsible for a worker shortage. Ballot Measure Updates on Florida, Arkansas, and more. Some quick hits In the Nation. And a look ahead at Biden and Trump for 2024.

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Of Course They Want Us Dead

On Friday, the Supreme Court said that Idaho can deny women life-saving emergency abortions—temporarily at least. This came just days after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas doesn’t have to adhere to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)—the federal law requiring emergency rooms to give patients life-saving and stabilizing care. Like Texas, Idaho wants their abortion ban to trump women’s right to live and breathe another day. The Supreme Court announced they’d hear arguments in the case, and that Idaho can continue enforcing their ban in spite of the EMTALA in the meantime.

As I wrote last week, of course they want us dead. I don’t know how we’re supposed to take it any other way. I did a TikTok about this as well, but there really is something distinctly humiliating about watching people calmly debate your humanity as if it were political fodder.

These legal fights took on new resonance in light of The New Yorker’s devastating piece on a woman who died in Texas. If you missed my piece earlier today about why it’s so important we say plainly that abortion bans kill, check it out below:

How to Report Post-Dobbs Deaths

Stats & Studies

Refusing emergency treatment to people whose health and lives are in danger is about as unpopular as you’d imagine. A new survey from Data for Progress finds that 85% of voters—across party lines—support a rule requiring hospitals to provide emergency abortions when they’re “medically necessary.” (In other words, they support the EMTALA.)

I don’t know how Republicans think they’re going to be able to credibly defend themselves here. Idaho and Texas, for example, are arguing that their state bans already allow for life-saving care—but if that were true, why fight against the EMTALA? And why would we increasingly see stories like Kate Cox’s?

Another new study this week shows how Americans can look to other countries for lessons on how to restore and protect abortion rights. Published in The BMJ, researchers outlined successful efforts in Ireland and Colombia, and note the importance of strategic litigation and framing abortion as a public health issue.

The researchers also offered a few words of hope:

“Although a regressive political climate may lead to despair, globally we see a trend towards accepting the evidence that criminalising abortion does not reduce abortion; it only harms pregnant people. In many contexts, setbacks are a part of the history…experience shows that even referendum campaigns or strategic litigation efforts that initially fail can result in a stronger, more unified movement in support of abortion rights.”

This is something I’d actually love to see more writing on. After all, the U.S. is one of the few countries actively moving backwards on reproductive rights—the global trend is that nations are getting more pro-choice. So we have lots to places to look to and learn from.

In the States

I’m not sure whether to file this under “saying the quiet part out loud” or “stupid shit Republican men say.” It just might have to go in both. On Friday, the Idaho Statesman hosted a legislative panel where the Republican Senate President said that abortion is why the state doesn’t have enough service workers. Wish I was kidding.

From Idaho Sen. Chuck Winder, president Pro Tem of the state Senate:

“We complain that we don’t have enough service workers, we don’t have enough of this, we don’t have enough people to do this. Well, I think there’s a reason, it’s not just low birth rate. It is the number of abortions that have occurred. Many of those were elective, many of them were probably medically necessary.”

Democratic Rep. Lauren Necochea responded by calling Winder’s comments “unacceptable,” saying, “I’m very surprised to hear Sen. Winder say that forced pregnancy is a way to solve our workforce woes.”

Four more women have joined a lawsuit against Tennessee after being denied abortions despite threats to their health and lives. The suit, brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, seeks to get clarity around the state ban’s ‘exception’ for medically necessary abortions. (The abortion rights organization is also representing a group of Texas women suing over the same thing.)

You may remember that after Roe was overturned, Tennessee didn’t even have an exception for women’s lives: doctors were told they would have to break the law and then defend the decision after-the-fact. Later, Republicans worked to implement a limited exception, only to be met with resistance from Tennessee Right to Life—a powerful anti-choice group that successfully whittled the so-called exemption down to an essentially-useless policy. (For a great piece on how ‘pro-life’ groups hold an outsized influence in state legislatures, check out ProPublica.)

Rachel Fulton, for example, had to leave the state for care even after her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition that put her life at risk. “This is such a far-reaching law with such a limited exception that eventually someone you know is going to be affected by this,” she says.

Fulton also told The Tennessean that far more people have been impacted by this law that folks may realize:

“This isn't necessarily an exceptionally rare occurrence. Since it's happened to me, more people than I ever thought have come up and said something similar happened to me or to my sister or my neighbor. This is something that is affecting more people than you think it is. As a result of that, a lot of women are scared.”

CRR lawyer Linda Goldstein also says that after they filed the case, “our phones lit up with calls from people who were forced to endure similar horror stories.” This gets at something I’ve been writing here again and again: it’s only a matter of time before everyone in the country has been impacted, or knows someone who has been impacted, by these bans. Which is really, really bad news for Republicans.

For more information on the women who’ve signed onto the suit against Tennessee, check out CRR’s detailed list here.

In Florida, Democrats are proposing some long-shot bills, including one to protect abortion rights up until 28 weeks. Another bill wouldn’t just protect abortion rights—but allow people to bring a civil suit against those who prevent a woman from obtaining reproductive health care. Right now, we’re waiting for the Florida Supreme Court to rule on the state’s 15-week ban. If they allow it to stand, it would clear the way for a more-recently-passed 6-week ban to be enacted.

Quick hits:

• Mississippi had the second-highest increase of unwanted or unplanned pregnancies in the country last year;

• The 19th published a piece on the new California law that makes it easier for out-of-state residents to get abortion training in the state;

• Listen to an interview with Ali Muldrow, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Abortion Fund;

• And Sen. Ron Wyden says that efforts to limit mifepristone is “a bad news message for rural Oregon.”

Ballot Measure Updates

Florida abortion rights activists have officially gathered enough signatures to get abortion on the ballot in November. As of this weekend, Floridians Protecting Freedom had collected more than 911,000 valid signatures. The final hurdle, as you know by now, is the state Supreme Court—which gets to approve or deny the language of the amendment.

In the least surprising news ever, Arkansas’ Republican Attorney General has once again rejected the language of a proposed pro-choice amendment. The first time AG Tim Griffin denied to move the measure forward, he claimed that the language was unclear. He even took issue with the name of the amendment.

Now that Arkansans for Limited Government has submitted an updated version, Griffin—who has a long history of anti-choice activism—found more language to take issue with. This time, it’s the measure’s definition of ‘physical health’—which activists only included because of a previous note from Griffin that the amendment’s health exception needed to make clear it didn’t apply to mental health. (Because apparently being suicidal as a result of forced childbirth isn’t a real medical concern.)

The Arkansas pro-choice group says they’ll submit a third draft. Two important things to note: One, Griffin actually doesn’t give a shit about the language of the amendment. The point here is to run out the clock as much as he possibly can. It’s just a stalling tactic. The other thing to remember is that the proposed amendment in Arkansas is pushing for far less protections than Roe had—and brings up questions of whether some protections are better than bad protections. (Slate has a good piece on this.)

Meanwhile, Iowa Republicans are running scared: With abortion rights winning every time voters have a direct say on the issue, the GOP there has scrapped their plan for an anti-abortion amendment in the state constitution. Suddenly, Republicans say they don’t need a ballot initiative! Imagine that.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz says he’s open to an abortion rights amendment:

“This is not some weird, mean political ideology we're trying to force on people. These are people’s lives and health care decisions that need to be made by them and their health care provider.”

Minnesota may be a pro-choice state, but with more and more out-of-state patients coming in for care, an added layer of protection isn’t the worst idea. (CBS News points out that there’s been a 100% increase in the number of out-of-state abortion patients there.)

Colorado is also considering an abortion rights measure: The pro-choice group Cobalt is leading the effort to protect abortion in the state constitution and repeal the state’s ban on public funds for abortion. President Karen Middleton tells Colorado Public Radio that they want to enshrine protections that can’t be overturned by future Republican legislation.

In the Nation

• More on Vice President Kamala Harris’ abortion rights speaking tour;

• USA Today has an overview of abortion rights cases in 2024;

• Amanda Marcotte at Salon writes about why Kellyanne Conway’s plan to push Republicans to support birth control will never work;

• Don’t miss Sarah Jones in New York Magazine on Brittany Watts and “who gets to be a person”;

• And NPR’s politics podcast has a short episode on the impact of abortion bans and restrictions in 2023.

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In case you missed it over the holiday break: Abortion, Every Day featured a guest column from later abortion advocate Erika Christensen on the dangers of ‘viability’ bans and why we need to build a post-Roe world that protects everyone. If you didn’t read this one, I really suggest you take the time to check it out.

Guest Column: The Danger of Abortion 'Compromise'

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2024

Let’s talk Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and abortion. Sigh.

I am truly begging the Biden people to find a way to talk about the president’s abortion rights plan that goes beyond ‘restoring Roe’. I understand they think this is the safest route, but it’s not at all compelling, and it’s not at all pro-active. Why would we fight for a standard that was so easily-undone? As AED has pointed out again and again, we need an aggressive and progressive abortion rights plan that builds something better than Roe.

After all, there’s never been a better time for it: Abortion rights are more popular than ever, and Americans increasingly support abortion throughout pregnancy. What voters are looking for is full-throated support, not tentative defensiveness.

That leads us to Trump: Despite attempts to paint himself as a moderate on abortion, and his refusal to publicly agree to a national ban, the anti-abortion movement is getting in line behind the disgraced former president.

The Washington Post reports that anti-abortion activists who once said their support was contingent on support for federal legislation are now focusing their attention on curbing abortion medication via the Comstock Act and the FDA. They think that Trump’s rhetoric on abortion is just that—talk—and that he’ll give them all the power they need should he take office. It’s pathetic of them, but not wrong.

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Send some good thoughts to Abortion, Every Day researcher, Grace Haley, in comments—she’s come down with Covid, and I know we’re all wishing her a speedy recovery.