Abortion, Every Day (2.3.23)

In the states…

You may remember that Utah Rep. Kera Birkeland introduced a bill increasing abortion restrictions in the state—including mandating that rape victims file a police report before they’re able to get care—and that her own sister has been speaking out against her. Well, now Birkeland is trying to get some good PR based on a section of the legislation that would make emergency contraception available to sexual assault victims. Sounds good in theory, but the bill would actually mandate that victims report their rape to law enforcement before they could get the morning after pill.

Planned Parenthood Association of Utah CEO Karrie Galloway says, “While this bill purports to protect survivors of sexual assault, it will actually do the opposite and discourage them from getting the care they may need.” Imagine introducing legislation that hurts rape victims but gaslighting voters into thinking you’re actually helping them. Horrific.

This is too bad: A move to get vending machines dispensing emergency contraception on Illinois college campuses has failed. A provision in HB4664, which increased protections for abortion rights and was signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week, would have mandated the state’s colleges have at least one machine on campus—but it didn’t make it into the final draft of the legislation. Illinois Rep. Kelly Cassidy said the provision was the “most significant thing that was taken out” of the legislation, but didn’t give a reason why it was removed—just that her fellow lawmakers didn’t like the idea. Sigh.

Also in Illinois, citizens are suing the city of Rockford for allowing an abortion clinic to open—they claim that “due to the controversial nature” of the business, the neighborhood “has been substantially and negatively impacted.”

Some better news: You may remember that before the ballot measure vote in Kansas, voters got a mysterious text message urging them to vote ‘yes’ to “give women a choice.” (A ‘yes’ vote would benefit the anti-abortion side.) Well, lawmakers in the state are considering making messages like that, that don’t include a disclosure about who they’re from, a class C misdemeanor.

Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin participated in the state’s March for Life rally this week, where he called state Democrats “extreme” for advocating for “abortion on demand, anytime, anyhow.” (I’ve always found this saying strange: How else would you get an abortion besides asking for it?) A friendly reminder that while Youngkin also claimed at the event that he was against prosecuting and punishing women for abortion, his budget plan included money for the Department of Corrections for those who’d be arrested under his (now defunct) 15-week abortion ban.

In New Mexico, Democrats are pushing a bill to stop local governments from obstructing people’s ability to access abortion and birth control—largely in response to the spate of small towns trying to pass anti-abortion ordinances.

And the Abortion Fund of Ohio has launched a program to provide free legal advice to those who need help seeking abortions, including minors who want to end their pregnancies without parental permission.

As abortion bans have taken effect throughout the country, the smattering of pro-choice states in predominantly red areas have been abortion havens for those seeking care—and that’s why Republicans are going after them. The Washington Post looks at the anti-abortion efforts in North Carolina, Nebraska, and Florida.

Quick hits:

• Tennessee’s Attorney General says the state is joining the lawsuit against the Biden administration’s rule that VA health centers provide abortion in limited circumstances (rape, incest, health & life);

• More info on the lawsuit challenging West Virginia’s abortion ban;

• An Iowa House subcommittee advanced Gov. Kim Reynolds’ health care bill that allocates $2 million to crisis pregnancy centers;

• And reproductive rights advocates in Colorado are seeking an increase in state funding to help offset the healthcare providers being inundated with out-of-state patients.

In the nation…

Sen. Marco Rubio has reintroduced a bunch of different bills, including one that would ban employers from deducting expenses related to covering employees travel costs to get abortions; another trying to block the Biden administration from issuing a public health emergency around abortion; and a third that would “prohibit the federal government from promoting, supporting, or contracting with abortion entities.” This comes in the wake of Rubio introducing legislation that would create a government-run website that would collect pregnant women’s data and share it with crisis pregnancy centers (under the guise of ‘helping’ pregnant women).

In better news, Senate Democrats are pushing for the maker of abortion medication to update the pill’s labeling to include language about it being a treatment for miscarriage management. Led by Sens. Mazie Hirono, Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Maggie Hassan, the group of lawmakers sent a letter to manufacturer Danco Laboratories, urging them to submit an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the label change:

“Because miscarriage management is not included as an indication to the mifepristone label, health care providers are left without clear legal guidance. As a result, patients experiencing early pregnancy loss who need mifepristone cannot easily access this critical treatment, placing them at risk of serious injury and death. Updating mifepristone’s label will make this drug accessible for miscarriage management without fear of criminal action against health care providers.”

Unfortunately, a spokesperson for the company told The Hill that they don’t have plans to ask the FDA—who denied a similar petition from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists last month—for a label change. But I’m really glad to see Democrats on top of this. It’s especially important in light of all the Republican efforts to ban abortion medication.

I was also happy to see that House Democrats reintroduced the Ensuring Women’s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which would prohibit “anyone acting under state law from interfering with a person's ability to access out-of-state abortion services.” Congressman Jamie Raskin said, “Extremist Republicans aren’t satisfied with simply banning abortion at the state level—they want to stop Americans from seeking an abortion anywhere.”

And this is interesting: A study from Duke University found that the majority of TikToks about abortion medication were accurate. I’m shocked, to be honest!

“For the study, the Duke team evaluated the 100 most-viewed TikTok videos tagged #abortionpill, #medicalabortion and #medicationabortion. Those videos often describe the pills, what a medication abortion is and how to get that medication.

About 89% of the videos that depicted public health information were mostly accurate, the study found. About 11% were mixed.”

This is especially great news because so much information about hormonal birth control on TikTok and other social media platforms is incorrect, and we know that anti-abortion organizations are focused in on abortion medication at the moment—and misinformation is a big part of their strategy. It seems as if for the time being, we have a leg up in this particular space. Let’s make sure we keep it.

Quick hits:

• Bloomberg on the anti-abortion strategy against pharmacies;

• An op-ed at The Hill from a Northwestern law professor explains why rape ‘exceptions’ aren’t really exceptions at all;

• And if you’re looking for an interesting read, Constance Grady over at Vox looks at how Susan Faludi’s Backlash predicted the moment we’re in with abortion rights and misogyny in general.

Listen up…

All Things Considered on NPR has a short segment on the case before a Trump-appointed Texas judge that could end abortion medication access in the country; and KCRW (the public radio station in Los Angeles) looks at how other pro-choice states are modeling their legislation after California’s abortion rights protections.

You love to see it…

I am obsessed with this group profiled by Irin Carmon at New York Magazine.The Online Abortion Resource Squad (OARS) help run the abortion subreddit to ensure that people are getting accurate and helpful info on abortion:

“I spoke to someone last week who was under the impression that you could be prosecuted for leaving their state to get an abortion. With all these news stories and all these tweets that are fearmongering, at the end of the day, it’s so important to always clarify, ‘This law is not in effect,’ or ‘It is legal to get an abortion in another state.’”

This group is doing a huge public service with their work—they’re answering questions, and moderating out misinformation morning, noon and night. If you want to donate to help them keep going, click here.

Speaking of making sure there is accurate information on abortion online, the ACLU just put up a new page explaining what abortion medication is and why access to it is so important.

Abortion, Every Day is compiled with the help of researcher Grace Haley.