The Post-Roe Domestic Violence Crisis

6.3.24

For a recap of what happened in abortion rights news last week, click below:

The Week in Abortion

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Click to skip ahead: Senate Dems focus in on Exposing GOP Extremism, In the States, news out of Texas, South Carolina and more. Travel Bans has a short doc on the travel ban efforts in Texas. In Ballot Measure Updates, a promising poll in South Dakota. In the Nation, a few quick hits. Stats & Studies looks at the impact of abortion bans on domestic violence victims. In 2024 news, Republican candidates are trying to ‘soften’ their public position on abortion. And in the Care Crisis, Louisiana is losing doctors.

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Exposing GOP Extremism

Republicans are being put on the spot this week by Senate Democrats, who will hold a vote on birth control and have proposed IVF legislation. Despite the GOP’s claims that they support access to contraception and fertility treatments, it’s safe to assume that they won’t be willing to support either Democratic effort.

The vote on the Right to Contraception Act will happen on Wednesday, the day after a Senate committee hearing on the impact of abortion bans. In a ‘Dear Colleague’ letter on the vote, Sen. Chuck Schumer writes that the end of Roe “opened the floodgates for Republicans to force their anti-reproductive freedom, anti-women agenda down the throats of all Americans.”

Forcing Republicans to make their stance clear is a smart move: A February poll conducted by Americans for Contraception found that 80% of voters say that protecting access to contraception is “deeply important” to them, and that 64% were less likely to support Republican candidates after being told they opposed a federal bill to protect birth control.

Democrats are also holding the GOP’s feet to the fire this week on IVF, after introducing the Right to IVF Act. Led by Sens. Tammy Duckworth, Patty Murray, and Cory Booker, the legislation would establish a right to access IVF and work make the fertility treatments more affordable. It was less than two weeks ago that Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Katie Britt introduced a bill they said would protect IVF. The truth, naturally, was that the legislation was just a PR move: it wouldn’t protect IVF at all, and even explicitly allowed for states to restrict the practice!

Both issues—IVF and birth control—give Democrats the perfect opportunity to remind voters what the GOP really believes. With contraception in particular, I’d love to see Republican legislators forced to answer how they feel about specific kinds of birth control, like IUDs and emergency contraception.

Because remember they’ve been trying to redefine those methods as ‘abortifacients.’ And when Americans for Contraception came out with their study, they urged Democrats to focus on the specific forms of birth control under attack:

“Don’t shy away from talking about all forms of contraception, including I.U.D.s and emergency contraception like Plan B. Contraception is popular, and voters want to be the ones making the decisions on what methods they use. They do not draw distinctions between types of birth control, and neither should we.”

In the States

Last week, the Texas Supreme Court ruled against the twenty women who sued over the state’s abortion ban, with justices claiming the law is fine as it is. You have to wonder about the timing of the ruling, which was announced just a day after Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies and the mainstream media had their hands full.

Nancy Northrup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) called the decision “deeply offensive to the women we represent.” She continued, “As women are finding out across the country, exceptions to abortion bans are illusory—they're an empty promise.”

And CRR attorney Molly Duane, who represented the women, said the decision made clear that “the courthouse doors are closed” to women: “It seems Texans have nowhere to go but the voting booth, in terms of what comes next.”

Also in Texas, the Austin American-Statesman has more on two professors who want to punish students who have abortions. I told you about this lawsuit last week: these two men don’t want to allow students to miss class for “elective” abortions, claiming that they’d only give excused absences to those who get life-saving abortions. My question was, how in the world are students meant to prove their abortions were ‘necessary’? Do these teachers want to scour their students’ medical records?

The Statesman reports that the University of Texas, where the professors teach, doesn’t require students to report “specific diagnoses” when they miss class for health reasons. Nor do students have disclose the medical reasons for their absences. (Thank goodness.)

“I was at risk of organ damage to my kidneys and brain, but I wasn't dead enough for an abortion in Texas.”

-Lauren Miller, denied care despite the risk to her health and life

The three Republican women in South Carolina who voted against the state’s abortion ban are being punished by the party: The Post & Courier reports that Sens. Sandy Senn, Katrina Shealy and Penry Gustafson are all facing male primary challengers this November.

Before the all-male South Carolina Supreme Court upheld a 6-week ban, the three women—since dubbed the ‘sister Senators’—filibustered a near-total ban. Sen. Senn said, “I can’t look myself in the mirror” voting in support the legislation.

You know how I feel about Republican women suddenly being shocked that their support for a misogynist party has consequences. (These lawmakers had also long voted for other anti-abortion policies.) But it’s interesting to see just how swift the punishment is for women who speak up.

Quick hits:

• WGBH on how a Supreme Court mifepristone ruling would impact Massachusetts;

• Forbes on the impact of Louisiana’s new law classifying abortion medication as a controlled substance;

• A North Carolina OBGYN and abortion provider talks about how her work has changed since Dobbs;

• And U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer writes that New Jersey crisis pregnancy centers are “a masterclass in deceptive marketing.”

Travel Bans

One of the scariest legislative trends since Roe was overturned has been travel bans. Republicans call them ‘anti-trafficking’ legislation that protects pregnant teens, but the laws actually criminalize anyone who helps a teen get an abortion in any way. But as I wrote yesterday in the weekly roundup, these laws will not stop with teenagers. Multiple Texas counties have made it illegal to help a woman of any age leave the state for an abortion—an effort led by anti-abortion extremist Mark Lee Dickson.

If you want to know more about Dickson and the way he’s going town to town passing anti-abortion ordinances, check out this NBC News segment on what’s been happening in Amarillo, Texas:

Ballot Measure Updates

This is pretty incredible: A new South Dakota poll shows the abortion rights amendment in the state has a near-20 point lead over the opposition. A survey by the Chiesman Center for Democracy at the University of South Dakota found that 53% of respondents support the pro-choice measure. Only 35% opposed the proposed amendment.

As South Dakota News Watch reports, that’s a big change from a November poll that showed much tighter numbers: 46% in support, 44% opposed.

What’s more, nearly half of Republicans—46%—supported the measure! That aligns with what we’re seeing across the country, where Republicans and self-identified conservatives are supporting pro-choice amendments or reporting opposition to extremist bans.

We can expect to see anti-abortion groups ramp up their attacks in response to the poll. Just a few weeks ago, an anti-abortion group was calling voters who signed the pro-choice petition; they pretended to be from the secretary of state’s office and pressured people to withdraw their signatures.

Just as bad, the group making the calls was formed by Republican state Rep. Jon Hansen—who also happens to be the vice president of South Dakota Right to Life. Hansen helped to pass a law that would invalidate the proposed amendment if anti-abortion groups are able to convince (or intimidate) even a handful of people to withdraw their signatures from the petition.

In the Nation

• Ms. Magazine predicts that the Texas Supreme Court ruling and Louisiana’s new abortion medication law are “bad omens” for pending Supreme Court decisions;

• A new drug trial finds that a male contraceptive gel is safe and effective;

• The ACLU explains how Republicans plan to use the Comstock Act to implement a national backdoor ban on abortion;

• A new study shows most men of color support abortion access;

• NBC News says that the Arizona abortion amendment may not give President Joe Biden the boost he’s hoping for;

• And in international news, teen abortion rates went down by 66% in Finland after the country provided free contraception.

Stats & Studies

Last week, I told you that anti-abortion activists are ramping up their talking points on ‘coerced abortions,’ claiming that women are being regularly pressured into getting abortions they don’t want. While that certainly happens, I pointed out that experts say it’s far more likely for women to be pressured into pregnancy. Now, a new report from the National Domestic Violence Hotline shows just that—and reveals how the end of Roe has impacted domestic violence victims.

Kylie Cheung at Jezebel outlined the new data in this important piece (which is worth a read in its entirety), reporting that 23% of respondents report their current or former partner pressured them into pregnancy, 13% were threatened with violence while pregnant, and 10% were threatened with violence if they expressed a desire to end the pregnancy.

There’s more: If you’re a regular reader, you know that anti-abortion lawmakers and activists rely on confusion and scare tactics to stop people from getting the care they need. The Hotline’s survey found that some abusive partners weaponize this chilling effect by threatening to call police or sue their victims to stop them from accessing abortion. From Hotline vice president of policy, Marium Durrani:

“Regardless of the actual laws, it’s valid for victims to see them as a real threat. Abusers could now use new laws, or confusion about those laws, to harass and threaten their partners. And the stigma of abortion bans creates a culture where abusers feel even more entitled to control and punish their intimate partners for their reproductive decisions.” 

And while anti-abortion activists have been working to ban abortion medication and telemedicine by arguing that abusers obtain the pills too easily, victims said that their abusers stopped them from getting the medication. From Cheung:

“These respondents said their partners blocked them by threatening to commit suicide, lighting the pills on fire, physically locking them up, or threatening to harm the respondents and their families if they went through with their abortions.”

Again, I really recommend you read the Jezebel piece. It not only highlights the stark reality for abuse victims, but reminds us of just how absurd it is for anti-abortion activists to claim that their laws protect women.

2024

Anti-abortion powerhouse Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is telling GOP candidates to be loud and proud about their anti-abortion views, warning them against “the ostrich strategy.” This comes as Republicans across the country try to soften their public position on the issue, knowing that voters are furious over abortion bans.

SBA must love congressional candidate David Pautsch, who went on an anti-abortion tear in a local television interview this weekend. Pautsch, who launched a primary challenge in Iowa against U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, said he’d support a federal ban, and that his “ideal” law would “stop all abortions after conception.”

Meanwhile, Rolling Stone reports that another Republican congressional candidate, Joe Kent in Washington, is trying to run from his anti-abortion extremism. Kent previously supported a federal ban and likened abortion to slavery. But in the wake of voters’ post-Roe fury, Kent has adopted Donald Trump’s bullshit stance: He says that abortion is a state issue and that he doesn’t support a national ban. (Rolling Stone also includes this truly bizarre quote from Kent, who said in 2022, “Until we come up with the technology to poll the unborn to see if they want the chance to live or not there’s no consent there.” Huh?!)

When it comes to Trump, experts seem to think his best chance of avoiding voters’ ire over abortion bans is sticking with exactly what he’s doing: confusing voters by taking credit for the end of Roe but simultaneously saying abortion is a state issue. Louis DeSipio, political science professor at University of California, Irvine, told Newsweek, “As a result, some voters do not make the connection between Trump and changes that are going on in abortion access in many states.”

Care Crisis

You know by now that a study this month showed a decrease in medical residency applications to anti-abortion states—especially when it came to OBGYN residencies. The decline was especially notable in states with the most extreme bans: there was a 21.2% drop in OBGYN residency applications in Alabama, and a 25% drop over the last three years in Kentucky.

This week, The Advocate in New Orleans reports on the doctors who are leaving Louisiana—or refusing to come in the first place. The state saw a nearly-18% drop in OBGYN residency applications this past year.

One New Orleans-born doctor, Hannah Doran, told The Advocate that Louisiana wasn’t even an option when she was considering OBGYN residencies:

“I knew that if I stayed here, there's no way I was going to be able to meet the standard of ethics that I aspire to. I didn't want that added stress of being like, ‘Am I going to have to risk my license or go to jail just to follow my conscience?' You really have to be in peril for someone to get a medically indicated abortion, and that line of peril is very gray. How almost dead do you have to be for me to provide this service to you?”