Abortion, Every Day (3.24.23)

Ohio Republican admits ballot measure efforts are about abortion

In the states…

If you missed it this morning, make sure to check out my interview with Florida Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book about Republicans’ 6-week abortion ban and what we can do to help.

Ohio Republicans have said again and again that their efforts to change the rules around ballot measures had nothing to do with stopping voters from making their voices heard on abortion. We knew that was a lie, but still—that was their messaging. Today, however, Republican Senate president Matt Huffman spoke to reporters about their attempts to raise the ballot measure standard, saying, “If we save 30,000 lives as a result of spending $20 million, I think that’s a great thing.” Guess they’re not bothering to hide it anymore!

You know that South Carolina Republicans have been pushing a bill that would make abortion punishable by the death penalty—and that the coverage here at Abortion, Every Day resulted in multiple lawmakers removing their names from the legislation. The bill is part of a broader trend of Republicans proposing bills to classify abortion as homicides. Yesterday, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster called the bill “lunacy” and said “we’ve never had anything like that in our state before.” He also promised that “no one that I know wants to criminalize women.” His comments come a few weeks after a woman in the state was arrested for using abortion medication.

This TIME piece from Robin Marty and Leah Torres of the West Alabama Women’s Center is absolutely gutting, but necessary. Marty and Torres write that as a result of the state’s abortion ban, all pregnancies in Alabama are life-threatening. Their clinic is one of two that remains in the state, and thanks to an increasing reproductive and maternal health desert, they are treating patient after patient who can’t get care elsewhere.

“[W]e have talked to Medicaid patients who can’t get a doctor to return their calls. We’ve treated patients with things as simple as yeast infections who would otherwise wait weeks to get into the county health center. We’ve cared for patients who had no embryonic heart tones but couldn’t get medication to end the pregnancy because their private physicians are terrified of ending up in jail, losing their license, or both.”

The list goes on, and was too long to include. Not enough people understand that abortion bans impact pregnancy far beyond someone’s ability to end one—and that abortion providers and clinics are often the only place women can go in their areas to get care.

And that’s what makes this next bit of news so much more cruel: Republicans in Missouri want to restrict any Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood:

“One would prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements and another would create a constitutional amendment to stop all Medicaid reimbursements from going to the facility, with voter approval. A third zeroes out funding for Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood in the budget.”

Texas Republicans are pushing multiple bills that would make it easier to remove district attorneys who refuse to prosecute abortion cases. The legislation would also make it easier to remove judges that the state deems too progressive. Just another day in abortion-related attacks on democracy! (In better news, some abortion funds in the state have resumed their work after a judge’s decision that they couldn’t be criminalized for helping women leave the state for care.)

All eyes are still on the Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race (the most expensive court case in U.S. history!). CBS News gets into what the election means for abortion:

And for a rundown on the candidates’ debate exchanges on abortion, click here.

Nevada Democrats are pushing to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro said, “This session we are going to guarantee that there is no ambiguity on where Nevada stands.” Abortion is currently protected by state law, but that hasn’t stopped reproductive rights from being impacted: A Planned Parenthood clinic was denied a permit earlier this month in West Wendover, for example, and a pharmaceutical wholesaler has refused to dispense abortion medication in the state. Adding that extra layer of protection via the state constitution is a good idea for any pro-choice state.

The Associated Press has some more reporting on the Idaho hospital that closed its maternity ward in part due to the state’s abortion ban. Republicans are desperate to paint this and other reproductive health care closures as unrelated to their abortion restrictions. The truth, of course, is much simpler. Doctors don’t want to work in states where they could go to jail for doing their jobs. They don’t want to watch their patients get sick and die as the law forces them to stand by doing nothing. And who can blame them.

Quick hits:

• New Hampshire advanced a bill removing criminal and civil penalties from the state’s 24-week abortion restriction;

• Pro-choice activists lobbied in Iowa this week;

• Indiana has seen a huge increase in need for abortion funding in the state;

• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says abortion rights are an economic issue;

• Hawaii Public Radio has more on the newly-enacted laws protecting and expanding abortion rights;

• And a little more on Whole Woman’s Health new location in New Mexico.

In the nation…

Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation seeking to create a connection between abortion providers and human traffickers: the Stopping Traffickers and Their Accomplices Act. You can guess who they’re suggesting the “accomplices” are. Senator Ted Budd of North Carolina said, “Given the nature of how abortion clinics operate, it is necessary to provide needed accountability to ensure they are not aiding and abetting the abuse of women enslaved in the sex trade.” And Students for Life, the radical anti-choice organization that opposes birth control, said in a statement, “The corrupt partnership between human and sex traffickers with the abortion industry is well known.” Fucking gross.

The bill, naturally, doesn’t do shit for victims of sexual violence—Republicans are using feigned concern for their well being as a way to restrict and punish clinics. In fact, most of the bill is dedicated to various penalties that clinics could be subject to should their state Attorney General decide that they’ve somehow ignored signs of trafficking.

Republicans continue to stall military confirmations and promotions over the Defense Department’s new policy allowing abortion care in limited cases of rape, incest, or when the health or life of the pregnant person is in danger. It is such a narrow allowance—likely not even used very often. But conservative lawmakers have decided that being assholes is more important than service members being able to access care.

Quick hits:

• POLITICO looks at the rising maternal mortality numbers and how long it might take for those statistics to account for the impact of Dobbs;

• Rewire on accessing birth control in the Bible Belt;

• And Prism on how to find care in abortion-restrictive states.

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