In the states…
The lawsuit over Georgia’s abortion ban is set to begin today. Opponents of the law claim (correctly) that it violates the state constitution’s right to privacy and liberty, and the state attorney general is arguing that the right doesn’t extend to pregnant people because it impacts another “human life.” Also in Georgia, IVF patients and doctors are worried about the future of fertility treatments in the state, and conservatives continue to lean in to transphobia as an anti-abortion strategy: Tens of thousands of Georgia voters got political robocalls last week created to sound like they came from Democrats—using controversial language specifically crafted to turn off voters on the fence. Among other the things the caller said, “government needs to stay out of the reproductive rights of birthing persons,” and asked recipients to “please take a moment to call Stacey Abrams or [congressional nominee] Sanford Bishop and thank them for standing up for women’s right to abort their babies up to the point of birth.”
Feeling grateful for Amanda Zurawski, who continues to speak out in the press about her experience being denied abortion care in Texas until she went septic and ended up in the ICU. Zurawski started to miscarry 18 weeks into pregnancy—there was no hope for the fetus’ survival—and she was still denied an abortion:
“Having to sit with that knowledge that you're going to lose the baby that you had worked so hard for is difficult enough. And then being told, ‘Oh, we can't do anything to help you until you're incredibly sick,’ I mean, it's barbaric.”
Also from the state: This Texas Monthly piece on the religious leaders who helped women get abortions pre-Roe and what clergy leaders are doing now. And here’s a profile of Texas attorney general candidate Rochelle Garza, who is looking to unseat Ken Paxton (best known for currently suing the White House over the right to deny life-saving abortion care to women). The whole piece is worth a read, but here’s what’s most important to me. Garza promises that she won’t prosecute “people who have abortions, nor anyone who helps a loved one have an abortion, including doctors.”
Nevada voters will be weighing in on a state Equal Rights Amendment that conservative critics say would allow for expanded abortion coverage. First of all, good. Secondly, this argument just concedes the point that abortion is central to women’s equality! So…thanks?
Check out this local television segment on the Kentucky ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to say that there is no right to abortion—specifically pay attention to the language used in the quick snippet of an ad in support of the measure, calling for a “reasonable, commonsense” vote. I’ve written about this before, many times—they are desperate to seem moderate, and we’re going to see those words a lot more in the future.
The Des Moines Register has a new poll showing that 61% of voters in Iowa want abortion to be legal in all or most cases, and 85% believe it should be legal for rape and incest victims. One Republican who responded to the poll said, “You can’t have children dying because someone made them pregnant when they’re not old enough to have a baby, or a mother dying and leaving children at home.”
Children in Mississippi are more likely to die before their first birthday than in any other state. And since Roe was overturned, experts fear it’s only going to get worse—with hospital and clinic closures creating a further crisis in care. The Associated Press reports that the only NICU in the state’s Delta region just closed, and now several other hospitals have closed their labor and delivery units—which means some women will have to travel an hour just to get somewhere where they give birth.
A North Carolina doctor has written an op-ed about the danger of the state’s 20-week ban, in which “abortions beyond 20 weeks are only permitted in cases of a ‘medical emergency,’ as defined by anti-abortion politicians, not medical providers.”
Here’s some more info on the pro-choice legislative package that Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced last week, including protections for patients and providers who may be targeted by anti-abortion states, and stopping the collection of private reproductive health data.
And Trudy Busch Valentine, the Democratic candidate for U. S. Senate in Missouri, has written an op-ed calling the state’s abortion ban “un-American.” Valentine, who is also a nurse, writes that the ban is “government overreach” and “a violation of all Missourians’ right to privacy and freedom.”
Planned Parenthood in Maine has spent a record amount on state elections this year. “We’ve never been in a situation like this where we don’t have Roe to fall back on,” said Nicole Clegg, the senior vice president of public affairs.
Florida Democrats are pushing Gov. Ron DeSantis to be transparent about his plans to limit abortion, especially in the wake of an anti-abortion group asking the governor to include a total ban in a soon-to-be-called special session of the legislature.
And just a reminder that opponents of the measure to enshrine abortion rights in Michigan are trying to convince voters that the amendment would allow children to have gender affirming treatments and surgery without parental consent. This ad is downright terrifying:
Love this letter to the editor in Pennsylvania decrying Republican congressional candidate Lisa Scheller’s anti-abortion position for lots of reasons, including that the writer quotes Pearl Jam (“[I]n the immortal words of Eddie Vedder, ‘I am Mine.’”) The other thing I really appreciated from Courtney Gilmour’s letter is that she gets at something too often left out of the conversation about abortion: How abortion creates and touches lives.
“The decision to have an abortion is deeply personal. Had I not had the right to make the incredibly difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy forced upon me by my abuser years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to build the incredible life I have today—a life where I am a fierce advocate for children in the foster care system and I dedicate myself to community service.”
Abortion rights activists in Washington have plans to erect billboards in Idaho to let people there know how they can travel to access abortion. The “Dear Abortion Seeker” signs will be a collaboration between Cedar River Clinics and the Northwest Abortion & Gender Justice Coalition.
President of the Center for Economic Development Law in Oklahoma points out that banning abortion isn’t just wrong, but limits the state’s economic growth by deterring employees and employers from locating to the state and by pushing women out of the workforce.
NPR has a quick run-down of where the court battles in Kentucky and Indiana stand right now; Massachusetts is trying to raise awareness of its program offering a year’s worth of free birth control; and a South Dakota group is trying to keep abortion off the ballot, a good reminder that conservatives don’t care what voters want.
In the nation…
Wendy Davis, former state Senator in Texas, has written an op-ed about the fight ahead for abortion rights, the conservative focus on fetal personhood, and a reminder that “the misogyny that drives this quest has an insatiable appetite.”
Republicans and conservative media are making a fuss over the Pentagon’s new policy giving days off and travel reimbursement for troops who need to leave the state for abortion care. They’re calling it “egregious” and “radically pro-abortion,” even though the policy only applies to soldiers who were the victims of sexual violence or who need to end a pregnancy to save their health or life. What’s more extremist—giving travel costs to a rape victim so they can get the care they need, or expecting troops to put their lives on the line for a country that won’t even give them a day off after they’ve been assaulted?
PBS Newshour has a roundup of the states with abortion on the ballot next month; a historian writes at Salon about the link between abortion bans, authoritarianism, and how women’s reproductive abilities have been the source of sexist disdain for millenniums; The Washington Post examines how conservatives are misrepresenting polling about abortion; and NBC looks at where state supreme court races will be the most impactful for abortion rights.
Jill Filipovic writes at The Guardian about how the reversal of abortion rights is about getting Americans accustomed to a rapidly eroding democracy:
While most of the rest of the world is moving toward broader respect for human rights, including women’s rights, and expanding abortion alongside a greater embrace of democratic norms, the US is in league with only a tiny handful of nations in making abortions harder to get, and in newly criminalizing them. The nations that are cracking down on abortion rather than expanding abortion rights have one thing in common: a turn from democracy and toward authoritarian governance.
Listen up…
WKMS, the public radio station for Western Kentucky, Northwest Tennessee and Southern Illinois, has a segment on the complicated process for traveling out-of-state for abortion.
You love to see it…
The shady anti-abortion group who secretly recorded Planned Parenthood employees lost their challenge to a multimillion dollar lawsuit. (You really love to see it!)
And I sorta love this Iowa woman who created a huge pro-choice Halloween display in front of her house reminding her neighbors what we should really be afraid of right now.
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