Abortion, Every Day (2.28.24)
Just how scared are Republicans?
Click to skip ahead: Alabama Fallout looks at the latest on the state Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children. In Stats & Studies, WeCount finds that a growing number of abortions are being prescribed via tele-health. In the States, news from Florida, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and more. In Anti-Choice Strategy, the move to indoctrinate children with anti-abortion propaganda continues. In the Nation, Republicans running scared. And in Care Denied, a look into a Tennessee hospital’s abortion committee.
Alabama Fallout
Fear and outrage continues on in the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court decision ruling that frozen embryos are ‘extrauterine children’. Despite decades of feminist warnings, the ruling has caused shockwaves across the country—with a new poll finding that two-thirds of Americans oppose considering frozen embryos ‘people’.
Today, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the Alabama State House to protest the decision, which has resulted in infertility treatment being paused in about half of the state’s IVF clinics. Infertility physician Dr. Mamie McLean says that she’s cried with her patients:
“I have called dozens of patients in the middle of fertility treatments, including women who were scheduled for embryo transfers, and told them that we cannot move forward with treatment at this juncture.”
As you know, this ruling was never just about IVF—but fetal personhood. It’s part of a long-planned strategy to give constitutional rights to fetuses, embryos and fertilized eggs. Jenny Lawson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes, told USA Today that the group is tracking 38 pieces of ‘personhood’ legislation in 13 states.
And while Republicans are trying to distance themselves from the decision, they’re not doing a very convincing job. That’s because pro-choice activists are rightfully pointing out that the Life at Conception Act—which has 125 Republican sponsors in the House, including House Speaker Mike Johnson—could ban IVF.
Let’s be clear: this bill could also ban birth control. The legislation defines life as beginning at fertilization, and we know that conservatives claim IUDs and emergency contraception prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. It’s vital that we’re reminding voters of that fact.
In response to the Alabama ruling, Senate Democrats have introduced legislation that would protect IVF—essentially calling Republicans’ bluff. From Sen. Tammy Duckworth:
“If you truly care about the sanctity of families, and you’re genuinely, actually, honestly interested in protecting IVF, then you need to show it by not blocking this bill on the floor.”
I’ll tell you what I’m worried about: that Republicans will back some sort of protection for IVF and use that to pretend as if they’re willing to compromise or be ‘reasonable’ on reproductive rights. The GOP needs a win right now with women voters, and by backing certain IVF protections—even if they’re narrow and not entirely usable—they’ll give themselves the ability to feign moderation. (It could be similar to what they do with abortion ban exceptions.)
Donald Trump is already doing this; he’s using IVF as an opportunity to appear reasonable and moderate despite the fact that a second Trump presidency would mean a national abortion ban or a backdoor ban.
Stats & Studies
New data from #WeCount finds that 16% of abortions in America are done via telehealth. The ability to get abortion medication online and through remote visits has become incredibly important post-Roe, especially for those in rural areas or in states with abortion bans. (Read here about the doctors in shield states mailing pills to anti-choice states.)
Dr. Ushma Upadhyay, #WeCount co-chair and professor at the University of California, San Francisco, says that telehealth abortion is “a central pillar in the abortion care landscape.”
And that’s exactly why the anti-abortion movement is so intent on killing access to the medication. In addition to the mifepristone case headed to the Supreme Court, anti-abortion states have started to push ‘drug trafficking’ bills which would make dispensing the pills a crime.
Something else from the report that is going to infuriate the anti-abortion movement: despite state bans, the total number of abortions across the country has remained consistent. That doesn’t mean people aren’t being denied care; we know they are. But is a good indicator that many, many people are self-managing abortions or traveling out-of-state.
In the States
The #WeCount study found that Florida was one of the states with the largest increase in abortion. This is especially notable because the Florida Supreme Court is poised to make a decision that could ban abortion in the state at 6 weeks. Right now there’s a 15-week ban that’s being challenged; if the Court upholds the existing ban, a newer 6-week ban would take its place.
If that happens, access would be decimated not just in Florida—but across the entire region. (We’re talking about millions and millions of people; the population of Florida alone is similar to the populations of Greece and Sweden combined.)
Some better news out of the state: The fallout from the Alabama Supreme Court decision forced Republicans in Florida to put one of their personhood pushes on pause for now. The bill that would have allowed people to sue for the ‘wrongful death’ of a fetus has been sidelined in the wake of public outrage.
You may have seen this story floating around this week; it’s one of the worst around. Apparently it’s illegal for pregnant women in Missouri to finalize their divorces. Yes, that’s right—pregnant women need to stay married, even in cases of abuse. State Rep. Ashley Aune has introduced legislation to undo what she calls an “archaic loophole.”
“In a state where we are currently forcing women to carry babies to term, I think it’s important that, you know, women who are in that position who are also looking to get out of a marriage have the capacity to do so.”
Missouri Republicans are less eager to let women have a say. State Sen. Denny Hoskins says, “Just because the husband and wife are not getting along, or irreconcilable differences, I would not consider that that would be a good reason to get divorced during a pregnancy.” How many different ways can they give away the game??
Also from Missouri: the activists behind an abortion rights ballot measure are pointing out that their proposed amendment would protect IVF access.
The Alabama woman who was jailed for ‘chemical endangerment’ of her fetus despite not being pregnant has reached a settlement with the Etowah County Sherriff’s Office. I wrote about this case late last year; it was just one of multiple nightmare stories coming out of this particular Alabama county. (They have a penchant for arresting pregnant women ‘in protection’ of their fetuses.) Find out more about Etowah County’s bullshit in Abortion, Every Day’s interview with an attorney from Pregnancy Justice:
Tennessee Republicans are big mad about the new ad campaign targeting a travel ban making its way through the state legislature. The TV spot, released by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, features a teen rape victim shackled to a hospital bed and unable to get the abortion care she wants.
In response, bill sponsor Tennessee Rep. Jason Zachary accused Newsom of “gaslighting,” saying “we are running an important parental rights bill.” Zachary also said, “The bill doesn’t prohibit providing healthcare to any pregnant woman, period.” (Using ‘woman’ is quite the slick way to get around the fact that they’re trapping pregnant teens in the state.)
Republicans are pushing heavily on the ‘parental rights’ rhetoric, thinking that it will be far more popular than language about abortion or travel bans. But remember, this bill could allow one parent to sue another for taking their daughter out-of-state! And the legislation wouldn’t just make it illegal to help a teenager leave Tennessee—but to give them any information about an out-of-state abortion clinic. A similar bill has been blocked in Idaho for violating free speech rights.
Finally, a Kentucky Republican has introduced a bill that would add rape and incest exceptions to the state’s abortion ban. Don’t get too excited though; as is the case with all Republican exceptions, this one was crafted not to be used. Under Rep. Ken Fleming’s legislation, rape and incest victims would have to obtain care within six weeks from their last period.
That’s a remarkably short time—especially for victims who might be coming to terms with their attack. The bill would also allow women who have leftover fetal tissue from a miscarriage to obtain care. (Is that something they expect us to be grateful over??) Democrats had previously introduced a more expansive rape and incest exception that hasn’t had any movement thus far.
Quick hits:
The New Yorker has profiled Indiana’s Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the abortion provider who gained national attention after she helped a 10 year-old rape victim from Ohio;
The Washington Post spoke to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker about why he’s “thinking big” on abortion rights;
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel supports repealing the state’s 24-hour waiting period;
And more on Republicans’ efforts in Utah to speed up the legal challenges against the state’s abortion ban.
Anti-Choice Strategy: Indoctrination in Schools
Last month, I broke the news that multiple states were considering legislation that would put anti-abortion indoctrination in schools: West Virginia, Iowa and Kentucky are all considering bills that would force public schools to show middle schoolers a video created by the radical organization Live Action.
This is a group that is quite literally best known for their deceptive videos. What’s more, the legislation frames the video as a “human development” lesson, meaning it would be shown in science class. Which, unlike sex education, doesn’t generally have an option for parental opt-outs.
The West Virginia Senate passed their version of this legislation just yesterday. If you want to know how radical this bill is, consider that Republican Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo refused to support it because it contains “grossly inaccurate” information. When Takubo, who is a pulmonologist, pushed for a change in the legislation that any video shown would have to be scientifically accurate, the effort was quashed. Because of course it was.
More people really need to know about this kind of bill and just how insidious it is; so I was glad to see that the Associated Press picked up the story last week. But remember, this isn’t just about one type of legislation! The anti-abortion movement has a much broader plan to indoctrinate students as young as they possibly can—a move to counter the fact that young people are the most pro-choice demographic in the country.
Read more about their campaign below:
In the Nation
If you want to know how unpopular abortion bans are, consider that this is the first year in many that Sen. Lindsey Graham hasn’t introduced a national abortion ban. From NBC News:
“Since 2013, he has never waited this long into a congressional session to file a national abortion ban bill. Asked about the decision, he brushed it off. ‘I haven’t even thought about it,’ Graham said.”
Please, every Republican is thinking about abortion right now. Obviously, the GOP is scared stiff over the public outrage over abortion bans. That doesn’t mean that they’re going to stop their legislative efforts—just that they’ll be slicker about them.
Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, said that abortion is up to the states and that Democrats are “scaremongering,” but then added that Congress just might consider future “guardrails at the outer edges” of the issue. In other words, they’ll propose less explicit restrictions that get the job done.
Care Denied
ProPublica has been absolutely killing it with abortion rights coverage since Roe was overturned, and their latest piece is no exception. Reporter Kavitha Surana did a deep dive into a Tennessee hospital committee that decides when women’s lives are endangered enough to warrant an abortion.
Maternal fetal medicine specialist Dr. Sarah Osmundson—who sits on the committee at Vanderbilt University Medical Center—told ProPublica about doctors sending urgent text messages to each other at all hours to sign off on emergency life-saving care. She also outlined cases where they had to deny care despite serious illnesses.
Osmundson had a patient, for example, whose pregnancy complications meant she could end up with an ostomy bag or sepsis, but she wasn’t in immediate danger. If she was given an abortion, a conservative prosecutor could decide that she didn’t really need it and that doctors were guilty of a felony.
What was extra distressing was reading about the doctors unwilling to stick their necks out even a little for their patients: Doctors who neglect to say anything about abortion despite the risk to their patients’ health, for example, or an oncologist reluctant to give a patient cancer treatment. One OBGYN even told ProPublica about asking a hospital cardiologist to evaluate a patient with heart failure only to be told, “Look, we know what you guys are doing and we don’t agree with abortion, so we aren’t going to say she can have an abortion.”
True nightmare shit. Osmundson says, “It’s going to take physicians coming together and saying: ‘We’re not going to participate in this. We’re going to do what we think is right for patients.’” Indeed.
Make sure to read the whole piece, really. It’s important.
A quick personal note: Today was an incredible day for my family. After two long years of treatment for his leukemia, my 5 year-old nephew got to ring the bell! I’m so happy for Sam, who is an amazing, strong kid that captures the heart of anyone who meets him. And I’m so proud of my sister, Vanessa, who has had to endured more than any parent should ever have to with an incredible amount of love and grace. To anyone who might be struggling with something similar, I’m sending you love and hope today.
Go Sam, Go 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹
Regarding the Pro Publication article about the Vanderbilt abortion committee- Processes like the one at Vanderbilt appear completely rational but in reality they are completely unworkable. Why? Because in each and every case the best interests of the physician are pitted against the best interests of the patient. So, the patient is sick enough to meet the medical standard of care for an abortion but the ambiguous “exception” allowed by state law frequently causes the physician to deny the patient that care due to fear of legal action. And, who can blame them? There is no way to know if a prosecutor will come after the physician and try and prove the patient was not close enough to death or bodily injury to warrant use of the “exception.”
There are never going to be enough brave physicians like Caitlin Bernard in Indiana and some of the physicians in the Pro Public’s article. As long as the best interests of physicians are pitted against the best interests of patients, women will continue to be denied abortion care- even when they are on deaths door. Read the Pro Publica article.