Abortion, Every Day (2.5.24)

Poll: Voters don't think Trump is a danger to abortion rights

Click to skip ahead: In Care Denied, an Idaho woman was denied miscarriage meds. Not-so-great 2024 news. All eyes are on Florida in Ballot Measure Updates. In the States, news out of South Carolina, Oklahoma & more. In the Nation, what ‘restore Roe’ really means. In Notes from the Ground, we hear from North Carolina clinic escorts. Anti-Abortion Strategy looks at conservatives’ focus on personal stories. In Stats & Studies, Republicans respond to the viral study about rape-related pregnancies.

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Care Denied

Awful but expected: A woman in Idaho was denied medication for her miscarriage because of the state’s abortion laws. The Idaho Statesman reports that a Boise pharmacist refused to fill Kristin Colson’s misoprostol prescription because he was worried about the state ban.

Colson found out at her 7-week ultrasound that she had an anembryonic pregnancy—a fertilized egg implanted, but didn’t develop into an embryo. Her doctor told her that she could have a procedure, medication, or wait to miscarry on her own. Because Colson has had multiple pregnancy losses—and because her husband is a doctor—she knew what she wanted to do. “A lot of people successfully miscarry on their own, but that can take a couple months,” her husband, Loren, said.

Even after Colson explained to the pharmacist that miscarriage treatment was legal, he refused to help her—instead telling her to get her doctor to send the medication to a different pharmacy.

“I was fortunate. I live in Boise, and there’s a lot of options here. I was able to call up my doctor and we got this resolved very quickly. For women in other parts of the state, they may not have access to options for this kind of care.”

Nightmare shit. And completely predictable.

2024

This new study is important (though depressing): Data for Progress reports that most voters don’t see Donald Trump as a threat to abortion rights. I don’t get it either, but here’s what they found:

While 64% of likely voters say they’re somewhat or very concerned about more restrictions on abortion rights, only 48% believe Trump will try to pass a national abortion ban. What’s more, when asked about who they hold responsible for abortion bans, only 24% of voters blamed Trump for Roe’s demise.

Voters instead blamed the Supreme Court (reasonable), Republicans in Congress, and Republicans in state office more than they blamed the president who quite literally brags about getting Roe overturned.

Something else important: Data for Progress found that only a slim majority of voters, 52%, believe that the 2024 election is important to abortion rights. This is something I’ve been worried about—some voters may think that because Roe was overturned, conservatives already got what they wanted federally. State ballot initiatives and bans have been all over the news, but there hasn’t been equal focus on how much worse things could get on the national level.

The Biden campaign needs to up their game: While they’ve done a good job tying Trump to the consequences of abortion bans, they need to make it much clearer what would happen should Trump get elected.

As I warned in November, my concern isn’t that voters will believe Trump’s attempts to seem more ‘moderate’ on abortion rights—but that they’ll think he doesn’t really care enough to do anything about it:

“[F]or the Republican women looking for a reason to vote for Trump, believing he doesn’t really give a shit about the issue could be compelling. It gives those voters the impression he won’t work hard to implement abortion bans and restrictions. Lo and behold: In The New York Times this week, a Pennsylvania woman told reporters, ‘I haven’t seen Trump say something either way on abortion; he doesn’t seem to care either way and that’s fine with me.’ She plans to vote for him.”

In related news, Republican strategist and nightmare person Kellyanne Conway is in The New York Times today, advising how Donald Trump should pick a running mate. Conway writes that Trump “needs a No. 2 who can mitigate the damage and turn the tables on one of the few tools left in the Democrats’ arsenal: abortion.” Conway even hits one of our anti-abortion BINGO words, saying Trump needs to find someone who can speak “with compassion.” Her recommendations? Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, and J.D. Vance. Blech.

Ballot Measure Updates

A reminder that the Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on the pro-choice ballot measure that could restore abortion rights in the state. Floridians Protecting Freedom have collected enough signatures to get abortion in front of voters in November, but the state Supreme Court still needs to okay the language of the measure.

Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody has petitioned the Court to reject the proposed amendment, claiming that it’s language on ‘viability’ is deliberately misleading. The truth? Republicans are desperate to keep abortion away from voters, who continue to show their support at the polls again and again.

Speaking of Republicans trying to override voters’ wishes, let’s talk about Ohio! Attorney General Dave Yost asked a court on Friday to dismiss a challenge against the state’s 6-week ban—arguing that parts of the law are still constitutional despite voters passing Issue 1 to protect abortion rights in the state constitution. Yost—who you may remember as the guy who said a 10 year-old rape victim’s story was a “fabrication”— didn’t mention which parts of the law he was talking about.

They will do anything to stop abortion from being legal—the more we can remind voters of that fact, the better.

Related: Axios lays out why Texas won’t be seeing an abortion rights ballot measure anytime soon. The short version is because it’s one of 15 anti-choice states that don’t have citizen-led constitutional amendments. (KFF has a great resource on this if you want to see maps of where citizens can and can’t propose ballot measures.)

Quick hits: Jacquelyn Bernal, president of Pueblo Pro-Choice, writes that Colorado must protect abortion rights in the state constitution; more on the Arkansas ballot measure effort; and the Times Record on Maine Democrats’ effort to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

In the States

A South Carolina woman who was denied an abortion just a few days after hitting her 6th week in pregnancy is suing the state over their definition of ‘fetal heartbeat’. The Associated Press has the story here, but I’ll be sending out a longer email later tonight or tomorrow morning dedicated to the case—it’s an important one.

Alabama Democrat Rep. Juandalynn Givan has sponsored a bill that would not only allow abortion in cases where a woman’s life is at risk, but would also require fathers to pay all medical expenses related to the pregnancy and abortion. The man could get out of paying on one condition: that he agrees to a vasectomy. The legislation would also require men “to have a vasectomy or some form of castration,” Rep. Givan says, if a man is found guilty of rape or incest.

Now, obviously we can’t fix attacks on abortion rights with infringements on men’s reproductive rights—and you can imagine all the ways a law like this could target men from marginalized communities. But Rep. Givan is clearly trying to make a point:

“It does begin again to start the dialog with regard to no one’s telling a man what to do with his private parts. So, at best, it begins a dialogue.”

A Tennessee doctor wrote an op-ed today in opposition to Republican’s proposed travel ban. Remember, the law would make it a crime punishable by 15 years in prison to help a minor get an abortion—even if just by giving them a clinic phone number. That means that an aunt or a grandmother could be arrested for helping a beloved family member. From Dr. Amy Gordon Bono:

“[In] Tennessee, we don’t need more laws that keep us from loving and trusting our neighbors. Simply, this bill keeps someone from helping a child experiencing a health crisis.”

In more travel ban news: Oklahoma Republican Sen. Nathan Dahm is doing the local media rounds to defend his ‘anti-trafficking’ bill. What’s interesting about this interview is that Dahm doesn’t bother denying that his legislation would, in fact, jail someone who simply lent a teenager gas money to leave the state:

“If they did it knowingly that they would be circumventing the parents and committing a crime. It’s no different than if you gave somebody gas money for them to be the getaway driver for committing some other crime or something else like that. You’re becoming an accessory in the violation of a crime.”

That’s an incredible (and terrifying) admission.

Something to note that I’m proud of: The language that the local news station uses here is near-identical to the language I’ve been using at the newsletter. That means Abortion, Every Day is helping to frame the debate—and hold Republicans to account—even in places like Oklahoma.

Quick hits: Bloomberg Law with more on anti-abortion groups’ recent loss in Wyoming; The New Yorker has a photo essay of an all-trimester abortion clinic in Maryland; and a Pennsylvania Democrat writes that abortion rights are in danger there, too.

In the Nation

Here we go again: Republicans are trying to push anti-abortion riders into spending bills, and Speaker Mike Johnson says they’re going to fight to keep them in. This is despite his failures to unite the party around the measures—let alone get them get them past a Democratic-led Senate and White House. Leadership has until early March to avoid a government shutdown (again). 

Meanwhile, Reps. Jamie Raskin and Robert Garcia are calling for an investigation into Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s 10-month-long block of military promotions. Tuberville’s ‘protest’ of the Pentagon’s abortion travel policy delayed the military careers of over a hundred Defense Department leadership posts, which experts said harmed national security. The Government Accountability Office hasn’t released comment yet on whether they will investigate.

Vox has a good piece on how the abortion rights movement is reacting to Biden’s “Restore Roe” strategy. The short version is that groups want something bigger and better than Roe, but aren’t necessarily interested in picking that fight with the Biden administration right now.

Here’s something interesting, though: When Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke to Vox’s Rachel Cohen, she drew a distinction between Biden’s campaign messaging and his policies. “I support President Biden’s campaign message to restore Roe and his administration’s actions to defend abortion access,” she said. The idea seems to be that “restoring Roe” is less about Roe itself, and more shorthand for keeping abortion legal.

But as Cohen points out, that’s a difficult needle to thread—especially when Biden keeps making clear that he actually supports Roe itself as the legal standard. The whole piece is worth a read if you have the time.

“Antiabortion absolutes lead to untenable politics. Republicans will thus find themselves either retreating toward the mushy middle that Roe once occupied, or hardening public opinion against themselves as they cling to a politics of cruelty. It took decades for conservatives to take down Roe’s constitutional right to abortion. Roe will have its revenge in a fraction of the time.” ~ Bloomberg opinion columnist Francis Wilkinson

Notes from the Ground

Abortion, Every Day got a note from Charlotte For Choice, a North Carolina group that focuses on clinic defense and escorting. They’ve been dealing with an issue I wanted to share with you all—just in case anyone else working on the ground has seen something similar, or has any advice to offer.

On several occasions, Uber drivers have refused to drop patients off in front of the clinic, or have promised anti-choice protesters to divert patients to crisis pregnancy centers when they request to go to the clinic.

Last month, for example, when a driver realized that he’d be dropping the patient off at an abortion clinic, he refused to pull into the parking lot. He made the patient—who was distraught and crying—to get out in the middle of the street, exposing them to protesters and other cars. He later approached protesters and told them that if he got any other riders coming to the clinic, he’d bring them their way instead. Another driver last week joined in with the protesters and promised that he’d bring riders to a crisis pregnancy center.

Charlotte For Choice says they’ve tried to report the drivers to Uber, but aren’t having much luck getting a response. And unfortunately, bullshit like this isn’t unheard of—it’s just another example of how hurdles to abortion care go beyond legislation. If there are other clinic escorts who have dealt with this and have strategies, please comment or send me a message. In the meantime, it’s something to pay attention to and watch out for.

If you’re an abortion rights activist with a story or strategy to share, email me at tips@abortioneveryday.com.

Anti-Abortion Strategy: Personal Stories

One of Democrats’ most powerful political tools since Roe was overturned has been women’s personal stories—specifically, the nightmare stories coming out of anti-choice states. From Kate Cox to Brittany Watts, Americans are watching the consequences of abortion bans in real time, and they’re really not liking what they’re seeing.

That’s why we’re seeing campaign ads from President Joe Biden featuring women like Dr. Austin Dennard, who was denied abortion care despite a doomed and dangerous pregnancy. The Biden-Harris campaign knows the power of people’s personal stories, and they’ve seen how they motivate voters. In Kentucky, for example, Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection was credited in large part to an ad featuring Hadley Duvall, a young woman who spoke about being raped by her stepfather as a child.

This strategy is incredibly damaging to Republicans because it reminds voters that the GOP isn’t opposing the ‘abortion industry’ or so-called extremist Democrats—but women themselves.

As a result, the anti-abortion movement has decided that they’re going to start focusing on personal stories of their own. Last week, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, told the National Catholic Register, “We definitely need to personalize our position on abortion.”

Right on cue, this week the anti-abortion movement started pushing out stories by women who claim they were harmed by abortion medication. Fox News published an op-ed from Elizabeth Gillette, who says she was coerced into taking abortion medication and had a “nightmarish” experience. What Fox News doesn’t mention, of course, is that Gillette is an anti-abortion writer and activist who has been sharing this story for years through groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

The Daily Signal also published a personal story this week—a woman who says she did an ‘abortion reversal’ after taking abortion medication, which “saved her baby girl’s life.”

With banning mifepristone at the top of the anti-abortion movement’s list right now, I’m betting we’ll see a lot more stories like this in the coming months. That said, I don’t think they’re nearly as compelling as the anti-abortion movement hopes. The story of a woman who regrets her abortion years later, for example, doesn’t convey the same urgency as dozens of women who are being denied vital care right now. But it’s definitely something I’ll be following.

Stats & Studies

The anti-abortion movement is still big mad about the study showing that there have been an estimated 65,000 rape-related pregnancies in states with abortion bans. As predicted, anti-choice groups and lawmakers have been hard at work claiming that the data is wrong and that the researchers are biased. (Media Matters has a good roundup of their responses.) What’s been really interesting to me is seeing the groups that avoid the numbers altogether and try to pivot.

In a piece from The Dallas Morning News, for example—which reports an estimated 26,313 women and girls in Texas have been impregnated as a result of rape since the state passed its abortion ban—anti-choice leaders tried very hard to change the subject. From James Taylor, policy director for the American Family Association:

“The real question is what is Texas doing to reduce the incidence of rape? Legalizing abortion won’t end rape…Parents need to talk to their kids about avoiding unsafe situations. We also need to make it easier for women to report sexual assaults.”

And John Mize, chief executive officer of Americans United for Life, says, “Their flawed research presumes that all women who are victims of rape desire to seek abortion.”

They don’t want to engage with the fact that their laws stop victims from getting care—because they know Americans are horrified by it.

Remember to keep an eye out for that email about South Carolina—otherwise, more tomorrow! -Jessica