In the states…
Arkansas legislators rejected a bill that would have created an exception to the state’s abortion ban for incest victims and children who have been raped. They rejected an exception for raped children. Democratic Rep. Ashley Hudson noted that legislators have spent “an awful lot of time this session talking about things that kids aren’t ready to do,” from books they’re too young to read to activities they’re too young to be exposed to. Yet somehow, she said, when they talk about a “situation in which a 10-year-old child is being forced to carry a pregnancy to term that may kill her,” the concern for children suddenly evaporates. In response, Republican Rep. Cindy Crawford said she hadn’t seen any evidence that pregnant children suffer negative health consequences.
In North Carolina, one of the Republican sponsors of the newly-introduced abortion ban, Representative Keith Kidwell, said the legislation didn’t have a rape or incest exception because “we don’t kill a child because of what the father or the mother did.” And when asked by reporters if he was worried that women’s health would be at risk if they couldn’t get care in the state, Kidwell responded, “a woman who wants to get an abortion today is going to do that.” He then said that if women really need an abortion, they can just go to New York or California. Real fucking charmer!
Meanwhile, the Florida Senate is set to approve Republicans’ 6-week abortion ban. Conservative lawmakers rejected Democrats’ efforts at amending the legislation. In addition to banning and criminalizing abortion, the legislation also allocates $25 million to anti-abortion centers.
Republicans have been relentlessly attacking democracy in their efforts to restrict and ban abortion, from trying to change the standards around ballot measures to weakening the power of the courts. The latest comes out of Montana, where the House Judiciary Committee just passed a proposal that would end state Supreme Court elections—instead letting the governor appoint Justices. This would be disastrous for abortion in the state; Montana’s constitution protects abortion rights, something Gov. Greg Gianforte has urged the state Supreme Court to reconsider.
Also in Montana, Republicans pushed forward a bill that would block state funding for abortion and require prior authorization before Medicaid could cover ending a pregnancy. (I’ve also told you about a bill in the state seeking to prohibit a particular kind of abortion procedure, and the inflammatory language Republicans have been using in debate around the legislation—The Flathead Beacon has more.)
Another Idaho hospital has shut down its maternity ward, just weeks after Bonner General Health closed their labor and delivery unit because of the state’s abortion ban. Valor Health Hospital in Emmett announced the closure this week, citing multiple factors including staff shortages. Nearly half of the OGBYNs in Idaho are leaving the state or considering leaving over the abortion ban.
Doctors in the state have been raising the alarm about the danger of the law—including Republicans’ latest attempt to ‘clarify’ the ban, which is more about PR than actually helping women. The bill redefines abortion as not including treatment for an ectopic pregnancy or a miscarriage where the fetus has died in utero. There is no exemption for miscarriages where the fetal heartbeat is still present, and Republicans rejected language that would have added an exception for “life-threatening conditions” as too broad. Republican Rep. Julianne Young said, “The list was endless when we began considering the decisions that would fall under that language.”
Almost as if an endless number of things can go wrong in a pregnancy and it should be up to a patient and their doctor what to do about it! Democratic House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel said, “If this is supposedly the fix, then the women of Idaho are in real trouble. I don’t want to be a part of a charade that fixes nothing.”
Also in Idaho, the ‘abortion trafficking’ bill passed the legislature yesterday and is expected to be signed by anti-choice Gov. Brad Little. The law would not only make it a crime punishable by two to five years in prison to take a minor out-of-state for an abortion, but would criminalize in-state travel for abortion care as well. (Like picking up abortion medication at the post office.) If a local prosecutor declines to go after an ‘abortion trafficking’ case, the legislation also gives the state attorney general the power to prosecute people who they say violated the law. Planned Parenthood has said they plan to bring a legal challenge.
Speaking of Planned Parenthood: In Missouri, Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey is targeting the organization. Bailey’s office is investigating the group for providing gender-affirming care to a teenager. (Planned Parenthood offers such care to people 16 and older.)
In response, Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri sued the AG to block access to patients’ private records. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Colleen McNicholas says the investigation is “an attempt to help him work outside of the legislative process and eliminate access to transgender care for Missourians.”
“If we are to learn anything from our past experience with the state targeting us for the provision of lawful abortion care, we know that other folks who are providing this care are certainly going to be targets,” she said. Just more proof that abortion rights and LGBTQ rights are inextricably connected.
All eyes are on the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, where abortion has been a central issue in the race. It’s gotten so contentious that a local church has been reported for engaging in illegal political campaigning by telling parishioners on a flyer, “do not vote for her in the Supreme Court race on April 4.” (While the flyer doesn’t refer to the candidates by name, the pronoun makes clear which judge they’re talking about.)
In an op-ed about the state Supreme Court decision allowing life-saving abortions, an Oklahoma law professor tells us about some of the horror stories doctors in the state have seen since Roe was overturned. One physician says they had to leave a patient nearly-septic because the hospital’s ethics board didn’t want them to act while the fetus still had a heartbeat. Another doctor, Dr. Dana Stone, relayed having to deny care to a woman whose water broke too early for the pregnancy to be viable. The woman survived, but Dr. Stone says, “this is just torture for the patient, and it is torture for the doctor, as well.” And stories like this, she said, aren’t rare.
If you’re a regular reader, you know that one of the fastest-growing anti-choice strategies is banning abortion via local ordinances in pro-choice states. We’ve seen this quite a bit in Nebraska and New Mexico. Today, the New Mexico Supreme Court granted the Attorney General’s request to block those ordinances while the issue is battled out in court. (New Mexico also recently passed legislation to stop local governments from restricting abortion despite state law.)
North Dakota classrooms will be required to show a three minute long “high-definition ultrasound video” to students in an attempt to dissuade them from having abortions. What they really should show students is pictures of what early pregnancy and abortion really look like. Here’s a 6-week pregnancy:
In a gross move, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed two bills that will allow pregnant women to petition courts for child support payments and reimbursements for pregnancy and delivery expenses at an anti-abortion center.
And in my continued effort to enrage myself and all of you, please check out the pictures of the two Republican legislators in Wyoming who wrote an op-ed defending their abortion ban and abortion medication ban. These are the faces of the men who want to control us.
Quick hits:
South Carolina Democrat Rep. Heather Bauer introduced legislation that would prohibit the arrest and prosecution of women who have abortions;
Colorado Democrats advanced legislation that would ban deceptive advertising from anti-abortion centers;
More on a similar effort against anti-abortion centers in Illinois;
The Minnesota Star Tribune on the dangers of misinformation at anti-abortion centers;
Pennsylvania Democrats held a hearing on expanding reproductive healthcare;
And if you’re in the Summit County area in Ohio, there’s a petition drive to get signatures for the pro-choice ballot measure planned for the November ballot.
In the nation…
POLITICO has a piece looking at the ways Republican legislators are trying to win back voters’ good will with policies that they’d normally oppose: Expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage, increased access to birth control, etc. They’re calling it “the new pro-life agenda”—I call it a bunch of bullshit. We all know what this is about, and it has nothing to do with wanting to help women and families. They are terrified of what’s going to happen at the polls now that they got a taste of voters’ fury during the midterms.
In a symbolic effort, House Democrats reintroduced the Women’s Health Protection Act yesterday, which would enshrine abortion rights—it’s the seventh time the bill has been proposed.
And some abortion rights wisdom to end your week off:
Quick hits:
Vox on the ruling this week rescinding the mandate that insurance companies cover preventative health care services;
Forbes on how workplaces can support Black mothers in light of the increasing maternal mortality rate among Black women;
Human rights lawyer Julie Kay writes at The Hill how states can protect access to abortion medication no matter what a judge says;
And The New York Times covers Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s efforts blocking military promotions as a protest over the Department of Defense’s abortion policy.
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