Will Abortion Dominate the Debate? It Should!

9.10.24

Click to skip ahead: In Ballot Measure Updates, everything you need to know about what happened in Missouri, with updates on Nebraska and Florida. In Debate Watch, what I’m looking for tonight and what I wish moderators would ask Trump. In 2024 news, some good and bad media coverage. In the States, good news out of Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina and more. In the Nation, a few quick hits. Listen Up has a conversation about men and abortion rights. And in You Love to See It, guess what I got in the mail today??

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Ballot Measure Updates

The biggest abortion rights news today is that abortion will remain on the ballot in Missouri. The state Supreme Court ruled that voters will get to weigh in on the proposed amendment, even though Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft had decertified Amendment 3 earlier in the day.

Rachel Sweet, campaign director for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the group behind the pro-choice amendment, called the Court’s ruling “a victory for both direct democracy and reproductive freedom in Missouri.” An attorney for the group also slammed Ashcroft, calling his move to preemptively strip the amendment from the ballot “open contempt for the rule of law.”

“It’s open contempt for the proper administration of justice to tell the public that he’s going to take it off the ballot even though we’re here this morning having this discussion.”

What Ashcroft did is not surprising in the least; his man is desperate to keep voters away from abortion rights. Remember, the Republican secretary of state had to be forced by the Courts to stop writing biased ballot summaries that claimed Amendment 3 would allow for unlimited abortions by non-medical providers, and that women wouldn’t have legal recourse if they were harmed or killed by an abortion. (All this, following months of other attacks on democracy in the state.)

The reason Ashcroft thought he’d get away with today’s nonsense is because last week, a conservative judge ruled that the Missouri measure was invalid and that it violated the state’s single subject rule. How? The abortion rights measure used the term “reproductive freedom,” which conservatives claimed could encompass an infinite number of things.

But the state Supreme Court rejected that argument, allowing the measure to go in front of voters in November.

For background on the ballot measure fight in Missouri—including why the language of the amendment has caused disagreement among abortion rights activists—read Abortion, Every Day’s coverage below:

Missouri's Ballot Measure Battles

Meanwhile, the Thomas More Society—the legal organization that brought the legal challenge against Missouri’s measure—is making the same argument in front of Nebraska’s Supreme Court today. They claim that the pro-choice measure in Nebraska violates the state’s single subject rule. And like Missouri, this legal move comes after months of other attacks; the most recent being a fake ‘pro-choice’ ballot measure created to steal votes away from the real abortion rights amendment.

The Nebraska Supreme Court should come down with a decision soon, and I’ll update you as soon as they do.

Incredibly, the attacks in Nebraska and Missouri are happening at the same time that Florida Republicans have launched a state-funded attack on Amendment 4. As I laid out yesterday, Gov. Ron DeSantis has directed the state department to investigate 36,000 already-verified signatures for fraud—an unprecedented move. Mary Jane Arrington, who has been a county election supervisor for 16 years, says she’s never gotten a request like this before:

“These are ones that we deemed the petition valid, both in completeness and in their signature matching what we had on file for the voter. They said they were investigating…signature petition fraud.”

At the same time that Republicans are running this bullshit ‘fraud’ investigation, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) has launched a website telling voters that Amendment 4 puts women’s safety at risk. What makes this extra unbelievable is that it’s illegal to use state money to oppose a citizen initiative—but that hasn’t stopped Republicans! Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani points out that the state GOP “already has television ads out right now accusing Amendment 4 of being fraudulent.”

If you want a breakdown of the anti-abortion attacks on democracy that’s easily shareable, I did a TikTok about all of it earlier today.

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Abortion, Every Day will be live-chatting through the debate tonight—so if you want to join the conversation and follow along with my analysis, make sure you’re a paid subscriber!

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Debate Watch

My stomach is turning a bit over tonight. I feel confident that Vice President Kamala Harris is going to clean Donald Trump’s clock, but as I’ve said before—I hate that she has to share a stage with him.

And while we can expect to see questions about abortion rights tonight, my worry is that moderators won’t ask more than a few questions about the issue—or that the questions will be on the superficial side. Like, we don’t need another question about whether or not Trump will support a national abortion ban, or what he thinks about mifepristone. Let’s get deeper!

Here’s what moderators should ask Trump:

You say that abortion is a states’ issue, but in every state where abortion is on the ballot, your party has tried to stop voters from having a direct say on abortion rights. Is abortion rights really a state issue if voters are being prevented from making their voices heard?

Or here’s another:

You use the term ‘post-birth’ abortion quite a lot, which doesn’t exist. It appears that you’re referring to palliative care for newborns, in which parents can decide to withdraw care from their fatally ill newborns. Are these the people you mean when you talk about ‘executioners?’

Yes, I know, fat chance. But a girl can dream. At the very least, I would love to see Harris make that point about ‘post-birth’ abortion. What better way to remind Americans of the cruelty of abortion bans than to make clear that Trump wants to stop parents from having a few last precious moments with their newborns?

How Kamala Harris Can Hit Back on Trump's Abortion Lies

I also wrote yesterday that I think Harris should talk about Republicans’ anti-abortion attacks on democracy as a rebuttal to Trump’s ‘leave it to the states’ talking point. And with everything happening this week in Florida and Missouri, there’s never been a better time.

The other things I’ll be looking out for tonight are our anti-abortion BINGO words. If you’re a drinker, take a swig whenever you hear: Will of the people, consensus, post-birth abortion, standard, or any other term I’ve been yammering on about for months! We can also expect to see Trump talk about ‘exceptions’ and ‘the three exceptions.’

Finally, I’ll be watching to see if Trump tries to avoid using the word ‘ban,’ or if he relies on it to trick voters—like JD Vance has been doing. Whew.

Hope to see you all in the live chat tonight; don’t forget to be on the lookout for an email from me a few minutes before the debate starts.

2024

You all know I’ve found mainstream media coverage of the election and abortion rights pretty frustrating, and the debate coverage has been no different. Because pretty much every publication has some version of a “where the candidates stand” piece, and nearly all take Trump’s word for it when he says he opposes a national abortion ban! For example, check out what the Associated Press says about Trump’s stance on abortion:

“He has said he would not sign a national abortion ban into law if one landed on his desk and recently said he would not try to block access to abortion medication. He told Time magazine that it should also be left up to states to determine whether to prosecute women for abortions or to monitor their pregnancies. He has also said that, if he wins, he wants to make IVF treatment free for women.”

Huh?! Does this sound at all like the reality of Trump’s abortion position? As I’ve said so many times before, it’s vital that mainstream outlets don’t do Republicans’ job for them. Trump knows that abortion is losing him this election, and he’s desperate to seem as moderate as possible.

As pollster Tresa Undem told NPR this week, “There’s a huge gender gap right now. If he doesn’t close that, he loses.” (And we know that women trust Harris on abortion rights over Trump by a mile.)

Vox did a good video explainer on how Donald Trump could ban abortion—from using the FDA to ban abortion medication and to helping states get patients’ private medical records to the Comstock Act. It’s worth checking out:

In the States

We have some good news out of a handful of states, which is nice for a change! Let’s start with Indiana, where I’ve been tracking the anti-abortion attacks on patients’ privacy. You may remember that Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita and an anti-abortion group have been trying to force the Indiana Department of Health to make individual abortion reports public records in the same way that birth and death certificates are.

Well, a judge dismissed that case today. Superior Court Judge Timothy Oakes ruled in the favor of the state department of health, which argues that the information contained in individual abortion reports could be reverse engineered to identify patients. That said, Voices for Life wrote on Facebook that they’d be appealing the decision that “we are not giving up.”

“It has officially been one year since we have seen any Terminated Pregnancy Reports from the Health Department, and we have no idea if our abortion laws are being enforced.”

Remember, both Voices for Life and Rokita argue that the reports are necessary for finding evidence of wrongdoing—and that the purpose of the reports is to aid in the prosecution of providers. Which is interesting, because Republicans have long claimed that abortion reporting is being done solely in service of women’s safety!

In Illinois, a judge has upheld a rule that requires state-regulated health insurance plans that cover pregnancy care include abortion in that coverage. The ruling put an end to a years-long lawsuit brought by the Illinois Baptist State Association, which claimed the law violated their religious beliefs.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said, "My office is continuing to fight for reproductive care on all fronts because abortion care is health care. Full stop.”

Support for abortion rights is growing everywhere, including North Carolina, where a 12-week ban went into effect a little over a year ago. A poll from WRAL found that over the last six months, fewer voters support abortion restrictions. This comes at the same time that abortion has dominated the North Carolina gubernatorial race, where Republican Mark Robinson has been trying to run from his anti-choice extremism. (Though remember, he was just caught on tape this week admitting that he wants to ban abortion entirely.)

Quick hits:

• Rewire on the link between abortion bans and poor maternal health in Alabama;

• Abortion is top of mind for New Hampshire voters;

• Info about Arizona’s abortion rights ballot measure;

• And new numbers out of Florida show the abortion rate has decreased since the state’s 6-week abortion ban went into effect.

Listen Up

KQED has a podcast episode dedicated to the way that abortion rights are galvanizing men on the issue—from Men4Choice to the men speaking out after their wives and partners are harmed by abortion bans. (This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately—you may remember my somewhat grumpy piece wondering where all the ‘protectors’ were.)

In the Nation

• A group of progressive organizations is asking U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer to hold a vote to repeal the Comstock Act, which the groups call “the next arrow in its anti-abortion quiver.”

• The Washington Post has a good piece on what “let the states decide” on abortion means in practice.

• Teen Vogue reports on a poll showing that more nonbinary people support abortion rights than women;

• Carrie N. Baker at Ms. magazine looks at the call for “biblically based marriages” in Project 2025;

• And I love this profile of abortion rights activists Amy Hagstrom Miller and Lizz Winstead.

You Love to See It

Look at what came in the mail for me today! The book isn’t out officially until October 1, but Crown sent me my author copies today. It was wild to see them in real life. No matter how many times I’ve done this, it never gets old.

Don’t forget, if you pre-order Abortion before September 18th, you’ll get a little gift from me

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