Content warning: Discussion of fetal abnormality, pregnancy loss
In the states…
Wyoming’s Supreme Court has declined to weigh in on the case over the state’s abortion ban for now, ruling that there isn’t enough information to answer the legal questions at hand. Essentially, that means the case will remain in state district court for the time being. (And that it will remain blocked.) The ban would make abortion a felony punishable by 14 years in prison.
Florida Republicans continue to be shady on their next moves to restrict abortion. Gov. Ron DeSantis already signaled his support for a ‘heartbeat’ ban (reminder that there is no heartbeat at 6 weeks, which is when those laws start), but state Senate President Kathleen Passidomo says they can’t do anything until Florida’s Supreme Court weighs in on the existing 15 week ban. “If the Supreme Court strikes it down, we start over again,” she said. But here’s the thing: the state Supreme Court has already signaled that they’re leaning against abortion rights proponents when they ‘accidentally’ issued an order on the case early. Another state representative gave a clue in a recent appearance on a conservative podcast, when he said there’s “a movement” among legislators there to pass stricter abortion restrictions.
Also in Florida: DeSantis just appointed the judge who was ousted over his decision denying a teenager an abortion because of her grades to the 6th District Court of Appeal. In short: He gave the asshole a better job.
Colorado women are having a harder time accessing abortion and reproductive health care because of the strain put on clinics by bans in surrounding states. Doctors there are overwhelmed with out-of-state patients, which means that women in the state have to wait weeks to be seen, as well. Public radio in the state spoke to doctors who are worried that the wait means that patients who would normally be able to use medication abortion will end up having to get surgical abortions because of the wait times. And the concern for women’s health goes beyond abortion care. Kristina Tocce, the medical director of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, points out that patients are also having to wait to see a doctor for preventative healthcare: “Are we going to see in the future more incidences of cervical cancer and breast cancer that we do a lot of screening for?”
Something similar is happening in California, abortion providers are similarly overwhelmed with out-of-state patients. And while I’m so grateful that some women from anti-choice states have the ability to seek care elsewhere, this story just about broke my heart: A woman in San Francisco who was 20 weeks pregnant when she got a tragic diagnosis and needed an abortion—but every clinic was booked for weeks. She couldn’t wait weeks:
“She was losing him before she even got a chance to meet him. She was losing a part of herself. She didn’t want to eat; food might inspire him to move. She didn’t want to sleep; when she closed her eyes, she just saw his anatomy scan, his hand raised, as if he were waving. She couldn’t bear to look in the mirror and see her changed profile. She couldn’t bear to touch her belly. She couldn’t breathe.”
These laws are torturing women.
In Georgia, DeKalb County has approved a resolution declaring support for abortion rights. It’s a move that sadly has no impact on the state law, it’s something. Cities and counties in anti-choice states showing their support for reproductive rights via ordinances—and sometimes working to limit the enforcement potential of abortion bans—has become a welcome trend in the last few months. At the very least, it lets the women who live there know that their town leaders are with them.
Unfortunately, the opposite has been happening in small towns in pro-choice states—where anti-abortion activists are trying to stop abortion clinics from opening. They’ve been trying to pass ordinances to either claim towns as ‘havens for the unborn’ that won’t allow clinics at all, or try to use zoning ordinances to keep clinics out. Thankfully, their latest attempt in Rockford, Illinois failed—and a clinic there will open as planned. But I wanted to flag this particular story because this bit stuck out to me: The doctor behind the clinic was actually retired, and decided to start working again after Roe was overturned. That sort of broke my heart/gave me hope.
I told you earlier this week about Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declaring that the transition to a total abortion ban had gone “smoothly” despite the state being a complete and total hellscape for women and doctors. Jezebel has more on that, and just how “smoothly” things have gone for the women who nearly died because of the law.
The Idaho woman whose story went viral when she started documenting being denied a D&C—despite the fact that she was having a miscarriage—has posted audio showing that doctors cited the abortion law as why they were nervous about the procedure. I posted a short TikTok about it:
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Quick hits:
Did you know that Texas teens can’t get birth control without a parent’s permission even if they already have children?
Meanwhile, in New York, reproductive rights activists and students continue to call for abortion medication to be available at all state campuses (love it);
In the nation…
Shocker: Republicans blocked a bill that would protect IVF treatments from being impacted by anti-abortion laws. Sen. Tammy Duckworth requested to get the legislation passed via unanimous consent, but Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked that from happening. (It also serves as a good reminder for why Democrats’ idea to ‘divorce’ IVF from abortion policy-wise is completely misguided.)
I’ve already told you about the Trump-appointed judge who gave us a glimpse into the conservative war on birth control: Last week, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that Title X, the nation’s federal family planning program, violates parents’ rights by allowing teens to obtain birth control without their permission. Well, Kacsmaryk’s final judgement was entered today—which means that the government may no longer be able to require doctors to protect minor patients’ confidentiality.
Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson said that the ruling “threatens the health and lives of young people, who may be stripped of their ability to access the health care they need to build healthy lives.”
TIME has a brutal but necessary piece from abortion doula and clinic worker Hannah Matthews on the grief that abortion-care workers have been dealing with since Roe was overturned:
“[A] nurse who works in Texas tells me about the patient in her clinic’s waiting room who, after being informed that her procedure is now, suddenly, illegal and that she must go home, still pregnant, clutches at the nurse’s arm, begging and pleading for help…
‘If I wake up and fixate on the grief,’ says Dr. Iman Alsaden, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which serves western Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, ‘it’s so heavy that it would be hard to keep going.’”
I wrote yesterday about the anti-abortion movement’s search for the perfect presidential candidate: Someone who is extreme policy-wise, but can convince American voters that they’re not. Today New York Magazine gets into the same question, and points out that at the moment the only potential candidate that definitively passes muster for anti-choice groups is Mike Pence: “Assuming he runs (which he’s giving every indication of doing) Pence will significantly ramp up the pressure on his rivals to commit to a federal ban on the strictest possible terms.”
FiveThirtyEight looks at the statistic that showed that there were 10,000 fewer legal abortions in the first two months after Roe was overturned—and what it really means.
Quick hits:
Ms. magazine reminds us that incarcerated women need their abortion rights protected, too;
The ridiculously named Center for Medical Progress—the anti-abortion group that released heavily edited videos in an attack on Planned Parenthood—has been denied a new hearing after a previous court loss;
And The Nation looks at one of the dangerous anti-abortion myths that we absolutely need to take on.
What conservatives are saying…
As women across the country suffer because of Republican abortion bans, conservatives are trying to paint a picture in which they are the victim. They’re pushing out ‘reports’ from dubious ultra-right wing organizations claiming that attacks against Christian churches are on the rise; framing the arrests of clinic protesters as a witch hunt (rather than a foreseeable consequence of breaking the law); and pointing to isolated acts of vandalism like graffiti at crisis pregnancy centers to allege that there is coordinated pro-choice terrorism in our midst. (The Family Research Council is calling it an increase in “pro-abortion hostility.”)
I’ve also seen in uptick in stories about threats from a supposed pro-choice group called Jane’s Revenge—which, honestly, reeks of conservative bullshit. We know the truth is that violence against clinics has been on the rise for years, and that it’s not pro-choice activists who are shooting doctors or mowing down protesters with cars.
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