Abortion, Every Day (1.6.23)

In the states…

I’m afraid yesterday’s good news was just a flash in the pan. While South Carolina struck down their abortion ban, the state Supreme Court in Idaho upheld their abortion ban—along with a law that allows citizens to sue abortion providers. Justice John Stegner, one of the two judges who dissented, wrote, “Idaho women have a fundamental right to obtain an abortion because pregnancy—and whether that pregnancy may be terminated—has a profound effect on pregnant women’s inalienable right to liberty, as well as their rights and safety.” He called the decision “simply wrong.” Rebecca Gibron, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, said, “This is a dark day for the state of Idaho, but our fight is far from over—Planned Parenthood will never back down.” I’m so sorry, Idaho.

Republicans in Tennessee say they want to add exceptions to the state’s total abortion ban: State Sen. Ferrell Haile says he will propose legislation to add in rape and incest exceptions, while Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ken Yager will sponsor a bill to change the state’s ‘affirmative defense’ mandate (which requires doctors giving life-saving abortions to break the law and then later prove it was necessary). I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: Exceptions aren’t real. These bills, if passed, will not meaningfully change women and girls’ ability to have abortions in the state. It’s a Republican ploy to get voters on their side, and we can’t let people fall for it. (Reminder: The vast majority of voters in Tennessee don’t know about the state’s abortion ban.)

Also in Tennessee, this piece from The Tennessean about the FDA’s decision to loosen restrictions around abortion medication really irritated me: The article, an explainer about abortion medication and the new rules around the pills, goes out of its way to tell readers that abortion medication is illegal in Tennessee, but doesn’t mention—even once—that having the pills shipped to you is not illegal. In fact, the Department of Justice reiterated as much just this week! Mainstream media outlets—especially those in anti-choice states—need to do better for their female readers.

Texas OBGYN residents are being forced to leave the state for training because of abortion bans. Learning how to perform an abortion is a requirement for OBGYN residency programs—because abortion is a necessary procedure that goes beyond ending unwanted pregnancy! (Abortion is used to treat ectopic pregnancies, to help complete miscarriages, a pregnancy with severe fetal abnormalities, etc.) Educators say that coordinating travel and logistics for doctors can take months of planning, adds significant costs to the program, and, according to the chief of education and academic affairs at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “poses a risk to the training of up to 45 percent of OBGYN residents who are training in states where abortion care is restricted.”

Residency programs in the state have already started to see a drop in applicants, and have had applicants ask specifically about how programs plan to deal with abortion training. One fourth year resident in Boston, Dr. Preetha Nandi, who grew up in the South and went to medical school in Georgia, told the Houston Chronicle that she prioritized training programs in pro-choice states:

“In Boston, she performs abortions on a weekly basis, whether it is a patient with severe heart disease whose contraceptive failed, or someone whose water broke early at four months, or a patient diagnosed with a devastating fetal abnormality with a poor prognosis, she said.”

Dr. Nandi said, “Being able to provide safe and accessible abortion care as a trainee in Massachusetts is a cornerstone that grounds me in much of what I do as an OBGYN.”

Also in Texas, Republicans are trying to further restrict abortion medication, including a bill codifying pharmacists’ right to refuse to fill prescriptions. Which, of course, could include medication that they just don’t agree with—like birth control.

A Minnesota law that would establish the right to abortion in the state came one step closer to passing yesterday after a state House committee passed the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act. State Rep. Carlie Kotzya-Witthuhn, who authored the PRO Act, said, “This past election, voters spoke decisively. They told us that they believe every Minnesotan should be able to make their own reproductive health care decisions.” Abortion is already legal in Minnesota—the bill is meant to be another protective measure for reproductive rights in the state. (Which is a good, smart move despite Republican insistence that it’s unnecessary.)

And in Illinois, the state House passed a package of pro-choice bills that would ban any disciplinary action against abortion providers who are targeted by anti-choice states; prohibit doctors from responding to subpoenas from anti-choice states seeking information about out-of-state abortion patients; and would require health insurers to cover abortion medication. State Rep. Kelly Cassidy says the laws “will protect providers and patients.”

California is trying to track down the people that were forcibly sterilized by the government in order to compensate them with at least $15,000 each. Which, honestly, seems pretty fucking low. From the Associated Press:

“Two groups of people are eligible for the money: Those sterilized by the government during the so-called eugenics movement that peaked during the 1930s and a smaller group who were victimized while in state prisons about a decade ago.”

A DECADE AGO. The state has only approved 51 people for payments out of hundreds of applications, and there’s only one more year left before the program shuts down. (I’m trying to find out why they are shutting down at all.)

Quick hits:

• The New York Times has more information on the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the state’s abortion ban;

• The Associated Press looks at Georgia Republicans’ moves to limit abortion medication;

• New Jersey is allocating $15 million for healthcare facilities offering abortion services;

• And the Nebraska woman charged with helping her teenage daughter procure and take abortion medication has her trial date set for the Spring (I’ll keep you updated as I find out more).

In the nation…

There’s been lots of talk about the FDA’s change in rules around abortion medication, and so I appreciated two opinion pieces today that put the pro-choice win in a broader context. Over at Bloomberg, Sarah Green Carmichael points out that the FDA’s new rules still mandate that pharmacies jump through hoops to be ‘certified’ to carry the medication—rules that aren’t medically necessary, and aren’t required for medication like Viagra:

“The additional regulation might scare away smaller pharmacies from stocking the drugs, which aren’t terribly profitable. The certification requirement also puts a stigma around use of these pills. It could foster doubt among the public about the drugs’ safety—after all, if the drugs were safe, why would they need additional regulation?”

And at The Guardian, the inimitable Moira Donegan writes that while the Biden administration’s “tepid and belated efforts” are overdue, “The change is a small and important step toward removing the needless and bigoted bureaucratic obstacles that both stigmatize abortion care and place it out of reach, and towards placing these medications where they belong: over the counter.”

Related: If you know anyone who has questions about abortion medication or how it works, this video from ANSIRH (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health) is short and sweet.

Really appreciate this piece from The 19th about Republican ‘Born Alive’ bills that are just, well, complete bullshit:

‘It’s an entirely fabricated political concept. This idea is not something that really exists in medicine the way it is described in these bills,’ said Jen Villavicencio, an Washington D.C.-based OB-GYN who works with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.”

This legislation exists simply to inflame voters, and to put the idea into the world that women are having abortions at viability (over 90% of abortions happen before 12 weeks and 99% happen before 20 weeks). And what these laws would do in practice is force doctors to give invasive, painful and pointless care to dying babies—instead of letting them pass peacefully with their parents.

Quick hits:

• Bloomberg on the the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to roll back a Trump-era rule around ‘conscience laws’ for health care providers;

• Reuters looks at pharmacies (and not just the big-name ones) who are trying to decide whether or not to carry abortion medication in light of the FDA’s new regulations;

• And yet another study has been released showing the safety and efficacy of abortion medication.

Keep an eye on…

Anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America gave a bit of their strategy away in an interview with NPR yesterday. We know that the group—along with other conservatives—have been pissed off that women have still been able to end their pregnancies by having abortion medication mailed to them, or via traveling out of state. And while the organization knows that coming out against interstate travel for abortion would be a political nightmare for them, they’re slow-rolling the idea using children as a test case.

Katie Glenn, the state policy director for SBA Pro-Life America told NPR, “We have no interest in limiting the freedom to travel for adults,” but that the group is going to focus on preventing minors from crossing state lines, “particularly without their parents' consent.” (Emphasis mine) So does that mean that the group wants to see minors unable to travel even if they do have parental permission? Does SBA Pro-Life America want to see beloved aunts or grandmothers prosecuted for taking teenagers to a state that will actually give them the care that they need?

You love to see it…

One of the many reproductive rights laws that Illinois is trying to pass right now includes one that would allow out-of-state abortion providers to see patients in Illinois by granting them a temporary license. It’s a really smart idea, and a necessary one—pro-choice states across the country are being inundated with out-of-state patients from places where abortion is illegal, and they need all the help that they can get. This seems like a good start to ensuring that abortion providers have some of that weight taken off their shoulders.