Abortion, Every Day (3.18.24)

The GOP's new abortion talking point? 'Concession'

Click to skip ahead: In Language Watch, Kellyanne Conway leans into ‘consensus’ and adds ‘concession’ into the mix. In the States, Oklahoma Republicans want to make abortion funds into ‘drug traffickers’, and the Iowa GOP abandons their fetal personhood push (for now). In Ballot Measure Updates, news from South Dakota, Ohio & Arizona. In the Nation, attacks on birth control, Republicans bet Comstock Act and more. 2024 looks at Trump’s latest abortion comments and how the mainstream media is failing to meet the moment. In We Can’t Have Nice Things, some bummer news about Olivia Rodrigo’s abortion fund partnership. Finally, in You Love to See It, my favorite place for abortion rights memes.

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Language Watch

You know that my number one obsession is the way that Republicans are messing around with language to hide the fact that they’re passing wildly unpopular abortion bans. And for nearly as long as Roe has been overturned, I’ve been paying close attention to the term ‘consensus’, in particular.

Here’s the short version: Once the GOP decided to stop using the word ‘ban’ (their policies are so disdained they can’t even call them by name), they started to use ‘consensus’ as a stand in. The hope is to make Americans believe that Republicans want to pass legislation that most voters agree with—even as they push laws no one wants.

They’ve been doing this to varying success for a while now, but at POLITICO’s Health Care Summit last week, Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway recommended the term explicitly: She advised candidates to talk about “concession and consensus.”

Her use of the word ‘concession’ is just as important as ‘consensus’. I got into this a bit last year in a piece about the lie of abortion ban exceptions:

“In a moment when Americans so strongly oppose abortion bans, Republicans’ ability to seem as if they’re giving something up is incredibly important.”

This is also why Conway stressed the importance of candidates talking about their support for exceptions: Voters are pissed off and they want Republicans to a take a hit. The GOP thinks they can throw Americans that bone by pretending that a 15-week national ban is somehow them losing. (But please, remember what their proposed ‘middle grounds’ really look like.)

As Jamelle Bouie wrote in his newsletter this weekend, “the Republican abortion problem isn’t an issue of language, it’s an issue of material reality.” Americans can see the horror stories coming out of states with abortion bans, and there’s no language shift that can change that.

Hilariously, Republicans just don’t seem to get it: The Wall Street Journal reported last week that a memo prepared by House Republicans insisted that when it comes to abortion, the GOP has “brand problem, not a policy problem.”

There’s one more thing Conway said that’s worth noting—this time about President Joe Biden’s language problem. As you know, Biden skipped over the word ‘abortion’ in his State of the Union, much to the ire of reproductive rights groups. Conservatives noticed the omission as well, and think it’s ripe for ammunition. Conway said, “Is it an ugly word? Do you not want to own it?”

Related: Julie Rodin Zebrak, former DOJ attorney and current CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health board member, writes at The Washington Monthly that Democrats need to be using the word ‘abortion’.

In the States

I’ve reported previously on Oklahoma Republicans’ efforts to criminalize dispensing abortion medication, labeling it as ‘drug trafficking’. As women in red states increasingly access abortion using medication shipped from out-of-state, the move is meant to scare people out of mailing the pills—and to go after abortion funds, specifically.

HB 3013—which passed the House last week—would make dispensing or “attempting to” dispense abortion medication a felony punishable by ten years in prison and a $100,000 fine. And lawmakers aren’t just talking about mife/miso; the bill also criminalizes “off-label use of drugs known to have abortion-inducing properties.”

In keeping with their attempts to pretend that anti-abortion policies somehow protect women, Oklahoma Republicans are framing the legislation as a ban on dispensing “non-prescribed” abortion-inducing medication. Republican state Rep. Denise Crosswhite Hader, for example, told a local outlet that she’s just worried women are taking the pills without consulting a doctor.

House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson knows better, calling the legislation “a continued attack on women's reproductive rights and healthcare.” I also really appreciated this quote from Rep. Forrest Bennett:

“The folks that claim they are so adamantly opposed to abortion because they believe it is wrong, because it is not natural, and we shouldn't play God have done nothing to restrict Viagra, a pill that is covered by most state health plans. That's not natural. If God didn't want that man to reproduce he made it so.”

Despite passing a near-total abortion ban, anti-choice groups in South Carolina want more. The Post & Courier reports that even though abortion is banned at 6-weeks, conservative activists are “more frustrated than overjoyed.” You see, they want fetal personhood legislation and a ban on abortion that starts at conception. (To them, that means a ban at fertilization—which could allow legislators to outlaw birth control.)

South Carolina Rep. John McCravy complains that they’ve been unable to pass a total ban because of those pesky post-Roe horror stories and Americans’ general distaste for the GOP’s policies. “Some Republicans shy away from the issue because of national narratives that are going on,” he said. “National narratives” is one way to put women going septic, but sure.

Remember, this is the state where two dozen Republicans co-sponsored a bill that would have made having an abortion punishable by the death penalty. Side note: thank you to the reporter who points out in the second sentence that this ban is the result of a decision from an all-male state Supreme Court.

Iowa Republicans’ latest attempt to enshrine fetal personhood has been put on pause for now—largely because of the national outrage over Alabama’s IVF decision. This is the bill that would have made it it a felony to “cause the death” of an “unborn person”. The legislation passed the House, but Republicans in the Iowa Senate blocked it from advancing because of concerns over “unintended consequences” for IVF. Unintended? Really?

“It puts us in a really hard situation where we end up having to be the face of the law and the face of a law that we don’t agree with, that we think is harmful to people and to patients and people with uteruses in our state and in the southeast.” - North Carolina OB-GYN Dr. Abby Schultz, talking about the state’s 12-week ban in an interview with Cardinal & Pine

At the Tennessee Lookout, columnist Bruce Barry asks how worried Tennessee citizens should be over IVF access. His answer? “Pretty damn worried.” It’s a good piece if you want some of the nitty gritty of Tennessee’s abortion ban, which is one of the strictest in the nation. Barry also gets into the threat to birth control, which is—as you know—very real and growing.

Speaking of extremists: In Alaska, Republicans are pushing a bill that would ban abortion and make it punishable as a murder. (Thankfully, abortion is protected under the state’s constitution.)

Quick hits:

• There’s a public hearing in Connecticut today about a proposed abortion rights amendment;

• Nevada Democrats are calling on their colleagues to support IVF;

• A new survey found Vermont to be the best state for women to live, in part because of their abortion protections;

• And just your regular reminder that North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson doesn’t want women to be able to vote.

Ballot Measure Updates

Republicans are working overtime in every state where abortion is on the ballot to stop voters from having a say. Last month, for example, I told you about legislation being pushed by the South Dakota GOP that would invalidate the proposed abortion rights amendment if anti-choice groups are able to convince even a handful of people to withdraw their signatures after the fact.

That bill has passed both chambers of the legislature, and has been delivered to Republican Gov. Kristi Noem.

As I reported, this is part of of a broader Republican effort to pretend as if the signatures being gathered for pro-choice measures are somehow fraudulent—and that voters need extra protection from the petitions.

Rep. Jon Hansen, for example, who introduced the bill—and who also happens to be the vice president of South Dakota Right to Life—said, “If you obtain petition signatures through fraud or misleading information, that's not democracy.”

It’s a slick way to distract from the fact that voters want abortion to be legal. Instead of engaging with reality, Republicans can pretend as if that support isn’t real to begin with.

Ohio voters may have passed Issue 1 to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, but they’re still waiting for their laws to catch up. Even though the state’s (currently blocked) ban is now clearly unconstitutional, it needs to be repealed through the courts. And Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost—who you may remember as the asshole who said the story of a 10 year-old rape victim was a ‘fabrication’—is trying to argue that some parts of the ban may still be legal.

A judge is scheduled to rule on the case by May 20th, but as USA Today points out—that’s just one law. There are other bans and restrictions that also need to be repealed. But Dr. Adarsh Krishen, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, advises people to be patient:

"We did not get to the severe abortion restrictions that we have in Ohio overnight. We're not going to get out of that situation—even with the passage of Issue 1—overnight. It's going to take time and energy to be able to lift those restrictions."

Krishen also pointed out that Issue 1’s success is leading to an increase in doctors who are willing to work in the state. That’s great news, considering anti-choice states have seen a massive OBGYN exodus, leading to the closure of maternity wards and expansions of maternal health deserts.

Arizona anti-abortion groups want voters to “decline to sign” the petition to get a pro-choice amendment on the ballot. We’ve seen similar campaigns in response to abortion rights amendments in multiple states; Arizona activists are even repeating all of the (failed) messaging conservatives tried in states like Ohio.

They’re telling voters, for example, that “this is an abortion up-to-birth constitutional amendment,” even though there is a ‘viability’ restriction. Activists are also rehashing anti-trans talking points, claiming that the amendment would eradicate parental consent, and feigning concern for women—they say the amendment would remove health protections and enable “sex traffickers.” (If I never see the word ‘trafficking’ again it will be too soon.)

In the Nation

Republicans are big mad over Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to an abortion clinic last week, with Ohio Sen. Kristina Roegner calling it “abhorrent.” The Republican also accused Harris of “promoting” abortion on her speaking tour, “like it's a book to be celebrated.” Harris’ visit is the first time a vice president has done a public appearance at an abortion clinic.

Bloomberg Law has a piece on anti-abortion groups’ obsession with the Comstock Act, the 150-year-old obscenity law that Republicans want to use to enact a backdoor abortion ban. As attorney Catherine Weiss, former director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, put it, conservatives’ interpretation of Comstock “would effectively put a stop to abortion practice in the United States.”

Under a second Trump presidency, the Justice Department could ban not just the shipping of abortion medication—but any tools or supplies used in an abortion. That’s why experts like law professor David Cohen are pushing Congress to repeal the law. “This needs to happen immediately, and I have been disappointed that there has not been any public action on this,” Cohen told Bloomberg.

We’re not just worried about abortion medication, though: POLITICO had a piece last week on the war on the contraception, and the way that conservatives are becoming increasingly comfortable with “criticizing” birth control. Law professor Mary Ziegler said, “I think there’s definitely more conservatives who are openly opposed to contraception [than in recent years].”

It’s Ziegler’s focus on openly that’s key—because we know that anti-abortion groups have been laying the groundwork to ban birth control for years. Here’s what Ariel Hill-Davis, co-founder and director of policy at Republican Women for Progress, told POLITICO:

“The very socially conservative, religious right within the party tends to be a louder portion of the party, and they certainly are directing a lot of the agenda right now. And the natural next step—that they’ve been saying they’re going to target—is contraception.”

Horrifying, but I’m glad that people are starting to talk about this more.

Amy Littlefield at The Nation (who you should be following if you’re not already) has an interview with Gretchen Sisson about her new book, Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. It’s a super interesting Q&A and Sisson’s work is extraordinarily timely, given the end of Roe and conservatives’ insistence that adoption is an alternative to abortion.

Sisson tells Littlefield that she wrote the book for those who “support reproductive choice but have never interrogated what adoption means and who adoption serves.” Just a snippet:

“If we viewed adoption as a crisis response; if we viewed adoption, not as a beautiful, family-building thing but as a failure of society to keep a family together the way they want, then we don’t have to make adoption illegal—I’ve never pushed for making adoption illegal. But I do think that we should be raising the question of what we need to do to change the material and actual circumstances in people’s lives so that they don’t get to that point.”

Definitely make sure to read the whole interview.

Quick hits: The Guardian on the rift between Republican legislators and anti-abortion activists in the wake of public outrage over IVF; and The New Republic on the global reach of America’s anti-abortion movement.

2024

Donald Trump spoke about abortion in a Fox News interview yesterday, claiming that Democrats support abortion ‘after birth’ and hinting that he’d support a national abortion ban:

“We’re going to find out. Pretty soon, I’m gonna be making a decision. I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.”

We know from past reporting that Trump has been throwing around 16 weeks as a possible restriction point, but he wouldn’t say as much concretely in the interview. That’s because the disgraced former president knows that Americans hate abortion bans, and the GOP’s policies on abortion have them losing election after election. Trump is even vetting a potential vice president based in large part on their abortion stance.

You know what I think: Trump wants to convince Americans that he’s a moderate on abortion rights despite being directly responsible for the current post-Roe nightmare. That’s why he’s being coy, and why he’s focusing so intently on so-called exceptions. “If you don't have the three exceptions, I think it's very, very hard to get elected,” Trump said. (Yet another reason Democrats need to point out that exceptions don’t exist.)

Here’s the thing. While we all know what Trump would really do on abortion if he was elected, lots of voters don’t. And if mainstream media outlets don’t stop doing Trump’s messaging work for him, we’re going to have a big problem. For example, most of the coverage of Trump’s comments on abortion focused on how he’s trying to “make both sides happy” with a possible national restriction—but almost none got into his comments on ‘after birth’ abortion.

This is exactly what happened in September when Trump went on “Meet the Press.” Headlines declared that he wanted to “bring the country together” on abortion and wrote about his feigned moderation—even though he insisted that abortion providers “kill the baby after birth” seven different times in that interview!

If we want to show how Trump is nowhere near the middle on abortion, we can start by holding publications accountable.

For some interesting and unnerving analysis, check out Rachel Cohen at Vox, who delves into why abortion rights “might not carry Democrats again in 2024.” The short version is that the voters who come out in the midterms are different from the voters who come out every four years—the former are more politically engaged than the latter.

That said, no reason to panic just yet! We know abortion is incredibly popular. And pollster Joey Teitelbaum tells Cohen that just because certain voters don’t follow the news and politics closely, it doesn’t mean they aren’t acutely aware of what’s impacting their loved ones:

“Voters might be low-information about campaigns and candidates but they’re high-information about what’s happening in their lives and their friends’ lives. Those kinds of stories are not going to get lost.”

We Can’t Have Nice Things

I told you last week that pop star Olivia Rodrigo had an abortion fund handing out free emergency contraception at a recent Missouri concert. Well, it looks like that won’t be happening again.

After a backlash that included conservative pundits calling the singer “a satanic industry plant,” and a Missouri state senator claiming that Rodrigo was dispensing abortifacients, Rodrigo’s management team is now prohibiting groups from handing out emergency contraception at future concerts.

Jezebel reports that as a result of the decision, abortion funds partnering with Rodrigo have been left with hundreds of boxes of emergency contraception.

While I’m thrilled that Rodrigo has the funds tabling at her concerts at all, I’m so bummed for the abortion funds, and for the many young women who could have gotten their hands on the contraception.

You Love to See It

Thank goodness for Abortion Access Front. They’re not just a fantastic organization that’s kicking ass and taking names—but my favorite purveyor of excellent abortion rights memes that get me through the day: