Missouri’s Dirty Trick to Ban Abortion
7.11.25
Click to skip ahead: Attacks on Democracy has news from Missouri, where Republicans are trying to trick voters into supporting an abortion ban. In the States has news from Texas, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Iowa. In the Nation tells you about Trump’s latest appointee for a lifetime judgeship, proactive moves to protect abortion pills, and the latest in the attacks on Planned Parenthood. Meet the Creeps has some hot piping tea on Texas AG Ken Paxton. Finally, check out my favorite moment in my livestream with Alexis McGill Johnson in Planned Parenthood’s Generational Fight.
Attacks on Democracy
Missouri Republicans are shameless. They’ve been trying to override the will of voters ever since Amendment 3 passed in November, protecting abortion rights until ‘viability’. Most recently, that’s meant forcing a wildly deceitful constitutional amendment onto the 2026 ballot—a measure that would ban abortion.
Not only does the ballot measure’s language in no way identify itself as a ban—instead saying it would “guarantee access to care for medical emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages” and “ensure women’s safety during abortions”—but now Republicans have assigned the measure as Amendment 3. That’s right, it’s the same official title as last year’s pro-choice ballot measure.
In other words: Republicans are trying to trick otherwise pro-choice voters into supporting an abortion ban. (Sound familiar? That’s because it’s what Republicans did in Nebraska, too—and it worked.)
Anti-abortion activists say it’s fine for the proposed ban to not identify itself as one—because technically, a few hypothetical abortions would be allowed under it. This, of course, is the end-game of Republicans’ language war: framing any abortion ban that might potentially allow one or two “good” abortions as definitely not a ban.
Even worse, The Kansas City Star has an appalling, extensive report on how Missouri Republicans are using anti-trans bigotry to try to push this ballot measure ban, which claims that it would “protect children from gender transition.”
The Star reports that Republicans had the chance to pass a similar ban on gender-affirming care this legislative session but didn’t specifically so they could put that language in this ballot measure. Top anti-abortion lobbyist Sam Lee said, “I certainly think it could influence voters who, you know, maybe they’re not sure where they are on abortion, but there are a lot of voters and polling shows us a lot of voters who oppose gender transition surgeries for minors.”
There it is.
We see this over and over again, especially as more states democratically pass ballot measures to enshrine abortion rights. Because abortion is popular, anti-abortion activists are relying on trickery and voter suppression to have their way. And in this spectacularly manipulative and cruel example, trans kids’ very existence is being weaponized. But pregnant people and trans youth alike all deserve bodily autonomy.
In the States
Remember the reporting that showed Texas increased their funding for anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers from $5 million per year in 2005 to $140 million in 2024? And all the ridiculous things anti-abortion activists were using that funding for? Well, ProPublica has an update, showing that at least one activist behind a Texas CPC appeared to be using state funds to run a hemp shop, while others financed shady real estate deals.
Starting September 1, CPCs in “Texas Thriving Families Program” will have to document all of their expenses, and supposedly will only be reimbursed for state-approved costs.
The groups also can’t get money back when they redistribute donated items—that’s right, donated. ProPublica’s previous reporting found that fake clinics were regularly charging the state as much as $14 for a single pack of diapers, including when they obtained those diapers for free. Eventually, Texas lost track of how much money they gave CPCs, reimbursing them for frankly bogus items.
The policy change has been met with some pushback from Republicans like state Rep. Jeff Leach, who accused the state of “[giving] veto power” to “biased media reporters.” Yet the reality is that with or without these new steps toward transparency, there’s no such thing as ethical management of a crisis pregnancy center.
These centers exist solely to push anti-abortion disinformation and collect data about vulnerable pregnant people. As Laura Dixon, a researcher with Resound Research for Reproductive Health, said:
“You can’t really make up for a lack of Medicaid health insurance for the very poor in Texas by giving people educational services, pamphlets and diapers.”
For a third time now, an Ohio judge has blocked a 2021 ban on telehealth abortion pills. The massively punitive law would charge physicians with a fourth-degree felony the first time they provide abortion pills via telemedicine, and a third-degree felony for all subsequent offenses.
But this week, Hamilton County Judge Alison Hatheway agreed with previous rulings that determined the law would result in Planned Parenthood and “their patients’ constitutional rights being violated.”
Ohio Right to Life called the ruling “tragic,” claiming “women’s lives will hang in the balance”—building on the anti-abortion movement’s absurd attempts to characterize abortion pills as dangerous.
Considering anti-abortion activists struggle with taking “no” for an answer, I wonder if we’ve really seen the last of this law. But at a time when medication abortion—particularly by telehealth—is under greater threat than ever, this ruling is some much-needed good news.
In some more good news, Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill that would lift the state’s restrictions on abortion after 24 weeks. The Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act would protect abortion throughout pregnancy by changing state law to say a later abortion “may be performed when based upon the professional judgement of the physician.”
Right now, Massachusetts law only allows abortion after 24 weeks to protect the patient’s life or health, or because of a fatal fetal diagnosis. But Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa says, “Often it’s not up to the doctor but to the hospital system attorneys to decide what constitutes a grave fetal diagnosis.”
Organizations like Reproductive Equity Now have urged lawmakers to pass the bill, rightly arguing the government shouldn’t be making these medical decisions—or forcing later abortion patients to travel out-of-state. The group collected testimony from patients like Kate Dineen, who learned in 2021 that her fetus wouldn’t survive, and had to go to Maryland for a costly later abortion procedure:
“I was fortunate to have the resources to give my son peace, but not everyone does…That’s why I’m advocating for the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act—so medical decisions stay between patients and their doctors, without government interference.”
Reproductive Equity Now’s polling shows 66% of Massachusetts residents support expanding abortion access past 24 weeks—mirroring Americans’ broad support for abortion throughout pregnancy. If you missed our coverage of this last year, check it out below:
Finally, over in Iowa this week, we were introduced to Christopher Prosch—the Republican candidate in a special election for a competitive state Senate seat. His positions on abortion are predictably grotesque for a candidate in his party, as detailed by Iowa Starting Line. Prosch has compared abortion rights to the Holocaust, asking on his podcast in 2023, “Who was worse? The Nazi Germans who killed 10 million Jews and many other people? Or the left’s policies to target an entire generation of babies to death.”
In that same episode, he argued rape victims should be forced to carry pregnancies:
”So your solution to a tragedy is to have another tragedy. Oh, okay. So, you know, and let’s not, you know, mince words here. The baby did nothing wrong. Now if you don’t want to raise that child, that’s completely understandable, but there’s something called adoption.”
All of this comes just about a year after Iowa’s six-week abortion ban took effect, with the help of the state’s GOP attorney general—who ran on a platform of protecting victims…then promptly moved to block the state from covering abortion and emergency contraception for sexual violence victims.
Republicans hating rape victims and pushing for the state to retraumatize them with forced pregnancy? Heinous, but hardly surprising at this point.
In the Nation
Donald Trump’s nominee for a lifetime judgeship, Josh Divine, has finally been placed on the Senate Executive Calendar to receive a full vote. If Divine’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the guy who argued that mifepristone “starves the baby to death in the womb.”
Divine, who is Missouri’s solicitor general and director of special litigation in the state attorney general’s office, made the truly unhinged claim while arguing on the state’s behalf in its lawsuit demanding that the FDA further restrict access to mifepristone.
Divine also made the almost comical argument that abortion medication should be severely restricted because the sight of the bleeding that it causes will lead to PTSD:
“Women who choose chemical abortion are more likely to continue associating their homes, or the bathroom, with abortion. The home may become a trigger for uncomfortable emotions rather than a refuge.”
Forced pregnancy, on the other hand, is apparently not traumatic at all!
Under Divine’s leadership, Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho filed the bonkers FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine suit aiming to ban telehealth access to medication abortion, purposefully bringing it before judges in the notoriously far-right Northern District of Texas in 2024.
Then, in April, Trump’s Justice Department directed the Texas court to throw out the case, arguing the states lacked standing. (But remember, that was part of a bigger anti-abortion plan: the White House wants a precedent that says states can’t interfere in FDA rules, so when they move to restrict mife, pro-choice states can’t do shit.)
Now, here we are, on the brink of Divine serving a lifetime as a federal judge, and the Trump administration making crystal clear that they stand with anti-abortion extremists. (Again.)
Court Accountability Action has more on just how extreme Divine is—and how to challenge his nomination—here.
Speaking of the ongoing war on abortion pills, some proactive moves from Democrats: This week, Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado renewed his calls for the repeal of the 1873 Comstock Act, the dormant law that prohibits the mailing of “obscene” materials—which could potentially ban the mailing of abortion pills and abortion-related supplies.
Hickenlooper, a sponsor of the Stop Comstock Act, joined a group of Colorado-based OBGYNs and advocates for a virtual panel this week, where he acknowledged that Democrats may lack the numbers in this current Congress to pass the bill, but still called the legislation a “marathon”:
“At some point, when we have a breakthrough election, this will be the kind of thing—all the debris that is accumulated from the Trump years—we’ll be able to clean it out.”
Of course, whether that “breakthrough election” ever comes or not, organizations like Plan C Pills or your local abortion fund are doing the work to help people everywhere access medication abortion right now, and could certainly use your help.
Finally, the latest in the attacks on Planned Parenthood: A few days ago, a judge put a temporary block on the ‘big bullshit bill’ provision that would defund the organization. (The language would basically impose an informal national abortion ban—shuttering one in four providers across the country, even in pro-choice states.)
But now the White House is pushing back: today, the Department of Justice asked Judge Indira Talwani to reverse her order—claiming that the temporary block was unlawful.
Trump’s DOJ called the restraining order “highly unusual” and argued that “enjoining an Act of Congress signed by the President of the United States is among the most serious and consequential exercises of the judicial power.” Wah, wah. Stop doing illegal shit, and you’ll stop having judges block you! But we all know that’s too much to ask.
Quick hits:
Ms. magazine reports that 53 biotechnology industry leaders and investors wrote a letter to the FDA, urging them to “follow the science” on mifepristone;
Lily Allen responded to the backlash over her comments about having multiple abortions, rightly pointing out that this is all about “control”;
And in international news, Amnesty International is raising the alarm about the growing power of the anti-abortion movement in the U.K.
A South Carolina woman who lost her pregnancy was charged with “desecration of human remains” after putting her fetal remains in the trash. Read our story below:
Meet the Creeps
A little personal update from now-former Texas power couple, state Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Sen. Angela Paxton: They’ve decided to abort their 38-year marriage. You have to wonder if they at least completed a 72-hour waiting period first!
Angela made the announcement via Twitter on Thursday, revealing that she’d filed for divorce “on biblical grounds,” citing “recent discoveries” and ominously declaring that her marriage no longer “honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken.”
So, we’ve all put two-and-two together and deduced that, as numerous outlets are reporting, Ken cheated… a lot! As the top Texas law enforcement official reportedly mulls a U.S. Senate run, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Joanna Rodrigues didn’t hold back:
“What Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting. No one should have to endure what Angela Paxton has, and we pray for her as she chooses to stand up for herself and her family during this difficult time.”
Now, Ken is humbly asking the public for “prayers and privacy,” which we have no intention of giving him. This bombshell comes after his years-long crusade on women’s privacy, wielding the massive power of his office to stalk, harass, and terrorize abortion patients, doctors, survivors, and the people who help them. He deserves as much privacy as he's given women all these years.
Earlier this year, we learned the Texas AG’s office was colluding with Texas Right to Life to recruit controlling, abusive men to take legal action over intimate partners’ abortions. This was Paxton’s way to identify women who ordered abortion pills from across state lines, and go after the doctors who shipped them.
Paxton’s end goal is clearly to ban the mailing of abortion pills, but I’m sure helping men terrorize their exes was just an added bonus.
So, Ken Paxton’s plea for “privacy” is worth less than nothing at Abortion, Every Day. In fact, if there’s anything you know about his behavior that you’d like to share, feel free to kick it our way at tips@abortioneveryday.com.
Planned Parenthood’s Generational Fight
I had a terrific conversation last night with Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson, but this clip below was my favorite part. I asked Alexis about Republicans’ attempts to essentially bribe or blackmail the organization out of providing abortions. (Remember when Ivanka and Jared pulled this shit with Cecile Richards?) Her answer was exactly what I wanted to hear.
Watch our full chat here.
Let's all say a prayer for the women who were so hard up for male companionship that they decided to get naked with Ken Paxton.
Where does Josh Divine propose women go for refuge from an invasion of their own bodies?