In the states…
Man oh man do I love it when we have good news! South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled today that the state’s abortion ban is unconstitutional, striking it down. Justice Kaye Hearn wrote in the 3-2 opinion, “We hold that our state constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion.” The ruling didn’t stop Republicans from trying to ban abortion in the future, but noted that a limitation on someone’s privacy must be “reasonable” and give women a sufficient amount of time to understand that she’s pregnant and take the steps necessary to get an abortion. The decision said that the state’s ban on pregnancy at 6-weeks is, “quite simply, not a reasonable period of time for those two things to occur.” So happy for the people of South Carolina!
More people in North Carolina are training to be abortion doulas, those who help with emotional, logistical, and any other kind of support a patient might need. From Ash Williams, who runs a free doula training program:
“The doula might be the only person that that person has told that they’re doing this. That’s a big responsibility. So we really want to approach our work with so much care.”
Utah Republicans are trying some innovative ways to end the block on the state’s abortion ban. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that state Rep. Brady Brammer is pushing a proposal that isn’t explicitly about abortion—but about putting new standards for whether or not a judge could grant an injunction. The bill would mandate that a judge only be able to block a law if the case against said law has a “substantial likelihood” of succeeding.
Republicans know that when Planned Parenthood Association of Utah (PPAU) brought forward a suit against the state’s trigger ban, 3rd District Court Judge Andrew Stone allowed an injunction because PPAU “demonstrated that there are at least serious issues on the merits that should be the subject of further litigation”—not that they had a serious likelihood of success. (That means if Brammer’s bill passed, the block against Utah’s trigger ban would be lifted and PPAU would have to prove that their case is likely to succeed.) In response, PPAU president Karrie Galloway said the move “makes clear that some politicians will stop at nothing to deny the people in this state reproductive freedom and access to abortion by subverting longstanding and fundamental principles of our state judiciary to cause havoc in our courts.”
And in Nebraska, where Republicans are expected to push abortion restrictions despite past failed efforts, state Sen. Megan Hunt says, “I expect an abortion ban bill, and we will fight like hell, but Nebraskans should emotionally and strategically prepare for it to pass.”
Georgia has already banned abortion after 6 weeks (before most people would even know that they’re pregnant), but that’s not stopping Republicans from looking at further restrictions—possibly even a bill to ban the mailing of abortion medication into the state. (Republican lawmakers, of course, say they’re not looking to further restrict abortion while the state’s abortion ban makes its way through the courts, but we know not to trust anything they say about reproductive rights.)
Indiana is having a hard time recruiting and retaining talent because of the state’s (currently blocked) abortion ban. State leaders have been trying to make Indiana more appealing to STEM workers, but the IndyStar reports that a broad swath of tech workers say the abortion ban has prompted those in their field to leave or start looking for work in other states:
“Some tech workers said the abortion ban would make it scary for them to start families because of concern that they couldn't get the health care if they developed complications during pregnancies.”
Which is a reasonable fear! It’s a problem that anti-choice states across the country are going to have to deal with—not just around tech workers, but all workers. (Not to mention college students, international students, etc.)
Quick hits:
San Antonio, Texas wants to decriminalize abortion—if the city charter amendment is successful, it would end the enforcement of abortion ‘crimes’;
The Guardian has more information on the ruling that will ban Texas teenagers from being able to access birth control without parental permission, including how the decision will impact the most marginalized teens;
And there’s some uncertainty about the future of abortion rights in Virginia, as the state could be just one vote away from banning abortion (Democrat state Sen. Joe Morrissey has voiced support for a 15-week ban in the past).
In the nation…
Yesterday I told you about the new FDA regulation that allows abortion medication to be sold at retail pharmacies—and how I worried that big retail chains might shy away from dispensing the medication because of pressure from anti-choice groups. So I’m incredibly glad to be able to report that CVS and Walgreens have announced that they will carry and sell abortion medication. But here’s the thing, obviously the companies need to follow state law—so I imagine they won’t be dispensing the medication in states where abortion is illegal, and they’re also bound by other restrictions. Right now, 29 states require women to get abortion medication directly from doctors. That means the next step for pro-choice advocates needs to be changing state laws to allow pharmacy distribution of the pills.
And because I’m petty, I needed to share this hilarious moment in the NPR coverage of the news. Sue Liebel, director of state affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the change in FDA rules “a disaster waiting to happen,” and said that more women “will wind up in the emergency room.” Here’s where I thank NPR for this perfect sentence: “But when pressed for data that might show any increases in ER visits since the FDA temporarily lifted the in-person mandate, she was unable to point to recent studies.” Literal lol.
That doesn’t mean we can’t take these groups seriously, of course. Another representative from SBA Pro-Life America made clear that they plan to work with state lawmakers to pass legislation that would limit the medication. (They’ve already done work with Republicans in Georgia, for example, to ban the mailing of abortion pills—but the legislation never made it to a vote.)
Just a reminder that even if you live in a state where abortion is illegal, it is not illegal to have abortion medication mailed to you. Safe places to order abortion pills include Aid Access and Plan C.
American women continue to seek out permanent forms of birth control and sterilization in the wake of Roe being overturned. Dr. Natasha Schimmoeller, an OBGYN in the Cedars-Sinai Family Planning Program, said that doctors are seeing a significant increase in requests for sterilization:
“They are expressing serious concern about their ability to have control over their reproductive health. Patients are expressing anxiety about the possibility of future restrictions on medication abortions, morning-after pills like Plan B, or even routinely used methods of birth control such as IUDs, implanted to prevent pregnancy.”
As they should be. We all know that conservatives are already going after emergency contraception and IUDs—targeting all forms of birth control is right around the corner.
In a talk at the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that the decision to overturn Roe left her “shell-shocked” and “deeply sad.” Sotomayor told the group, however, that “It's not an option to fall into despair. I have to get up and keep fighting.”
I really appreciated this op-ed from an emergency medicine physician on why the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)—which requires doctors to provide abortions in life-threatening emergencies—isn’t the answer to fighting back against abortion bans. (The Biden administration sued Idaho, for example, over their abortion ban using the EMTALA.) From Dr. Jennifer W. Tsa:
“It is cruel to subject patients to emotional suffering, physical pain, and bodily injury. It’s also unproductive. Forcing doctors to deny necessary care until an individual’s health or life is sufficiently at risk to meet an arbitrary legislative threshold can threaten their future reproductive health and may mean that people who would inevitably lose their pregnancy may also lose their ovaries, uterus, and the ability to have children in the future.”
Quick hits:
Anti-abortion groups want to push a national abortion ban—president of the American Principles Project told The Hill, “The winning strategy is endorsing an aggressive 15-week bill with exceptions”;
and Bloomberg Law looks at the shareholder pressure companies are under over possible political contributions to anti-choice politicians and groups, and how abortion restrictions will impact business.
Listen up…
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has a podcast called Public Health On Call: The most recent episode is about our post-Roe reality, including what’s happening on a state level, the anti-choice attacks against abortion medication and the public health implications.
And here’s a quick listen from NPR on the changing rules around abortion medication.
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