Abortion, Every Day (1.13.23)

Idaho law would force women who need abortions into c-sections

In the states…

As you know, Idaho’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s abortion ban—but they also offered some ‘clarifications’ on law that aren’t likely to do anything other than further confusion and suffering. For example, Idaho’s ban requires that doctors who legally terminate pregnancies (in the limited exceptions that the state allows to do so) in a way that “provide[s] the best opportunity for the unborn child to survive.” Like, what?

The court writes that doctors performing abortions “must remove that unborn child in a manner that provides the best opportunity for survival (e.g., vaginal delivery or cesarean delivery)” as opposed to a procedure like a D&C—even if the doctor understands that the fetus will not be viable—unless doing so would pose a “greater risk of the death of the pregnant woman.”

The court seems to be saying that the only legal way for doctors to perform abortions isn’t just about the circumstances of a patient’s pregnancy (rape, incest, health, etc) but the way in which that pregnancy is ended. So doctors aren’t actually allowed to perform abortion procedures, but instead must force a woman into a c-section or vaginal birth, unless doing that would make a woman more likely to die. Which goes beyond being nonsensical—it’s monstrous.

Speaking of monstrous, Georgia crisis pregnancy centers have figured out a new way to target young women: They’re offering free sports physicals to female students, which the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says is “a way to engage early with a population that might become pregnant and consider abortion.” Another way to put it would be that religiously-affiliated groups that give out false and dangerous misinformation are targeting girls and young women. These are the people worried about children being indoctrinated??

Louisiana Republicans are pushing bills to allow women to sue men for child support while pregnant and to recover medical costs incurred while pregnant—which, please lets remember, is less about helping women or fairness and more about establishing fetal personhood.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice gave his ‘state of the state’ address this week and the clip of this heaving old man taking a victory lap over eradicating women’s rights—and then getting a standing ovation for it!—was enough to make me puke. And seeing the gender/race breakdown of that room was a good reminder of exactly how unjust these laws are.

Even though it looks like Virginia is safe for the time being, it’s worth checking out the extreme ban that Gov. Glenn Youngkin was proposing—which would have made abortion a crime punishable by 10 years in prison. It’s worth noting that this is a a ban that Republicans have been touting as “practical, sensible, and reasonable.” (You know I’ve been warning about terms like that for a while now—going to write a longer piece on them soon.) In his address to the state this week, Youngkin said, “Im hopeful that there will be a constructive discussion here [on abortion].”

Lawmakers in Tennessee are trying to change up their ban to be less confusing, particularly around abortions to save women’s lives. Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson says, “From a layman’s point of view, if it’s my daughter or a loved one or your loved one who is on the table, and their life is in danger, I don’t want a physician to have to think twice, second guess, call a lawyer to see what they need to do.” Fair! But that’s why we can’t have any abortion restrictions—pregnancy is too complicated to legislate.

A reminder that the Indiana Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments on the state abortion ban on January 19th—the lawsuit against the ban argues that the law violates women’s privacy under the state constitution.

And while Michigan voted to support abortion rights in the state constitution, there is still a 1931 abortion ban on the books that make ending a pregnancy a felony. Democrats in the state are hard at work to repeal the law, which they say is a priority.

A coalition of pro-choice groups in Ohio are moving ahead with their plan to introduce a ballot measure protecting abortion rights in the state, and the only strategy anti-choice activists seem to have is painting these state-based groups as outside interlopers. A representative from Ohio Right to Life said, “Any attempt to change Ohio’s constitution by these large out-of-state abortion groups will ultimately fail here in Ohio.” Just a reminder that this is language Republicans are using to try to make it more difficult for voters to pass ballot measures in various states across the country.

Meanwhile, North Carolina Republicans are hoping that if they come up with an abortion ban that isn’t too ‘extreme’ that it might be able to pass without too much notice from the public.

Only three legal abortions were performed in Texas in one month—a shocking number, given how necessary ending a pregnancy actually is for many more people. We don’t yet have a sense of how many women were sent or traveled out-of-state for care, or how many had illegal abortions.

Quick hits:

• Kentucky abortion rights proponents are still waiting on the state Supreme Court to come back with guidance;

• A cartoonist takes aim at Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall while CNN covers his plan to arrest women for abortion medication;

• There could be a vote in the Minnesota House on abortion rights as soon as next week;

• Pennsylvania clinics continue to see an influx of out-of-state patients;

• Illinois’ governor is in Chicago to sign legislation expanding abortion rights protections;

• and Wyoming Democrats are pushing to repeal the state’s ban.

In the nation…

I really loved this project from the ACLU, where the group collected stories about how abortion impacted their lives. (You know how I feel about sharing stories of abortion creating the lives that we have now.) One anonymous woman wrote about how abortion allowed her “to rise out of poverty, achieve higher education, and become a parent under far better socioeconomic circumstances than if I had not had access to an abortion.” From another woman, a teacher in Indiana:

“I recently became a foster parent so that I could foster one of my students in a family crisis. I now have a beautiful daughter that I was able to have with a man who loves and supports me. None of this would have happened if I had been forced to have a child in college.”

The Washington Post produced a short video on the battle over abortion medication being offered at pharmacies:

Fox News is mad that MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell stopped a male colleague from describing someone as ‘pro-life’, correctly noting that it’s a term “an entire group wants us to use” that is “not an accurate description.” They really do hate it when anyone tells the truth, huh?

And we have more evidence that people are increasingly seeking sterilization post-Roe, including men. One doctor told Yahoo News, “There was an increase of basically 100% in the number of vasectomies from the moment Roe v. Wade was overturned.”

Quick hits:

• Kaiser Health News on ballot measures as a winning strategy for abortion rights;

• and LitHub has a nice piece on the history of the reproductive justice movement

Thanks to all for your patience as I recover from Covid—the audio version of the newsletter will be back up and running on Monday!

This newsletter was compiled with research help from Grace Haley.