Abortion, Every Day (4.28.23)

In the States

More news from Republicans’ unending attacks on democracy: The Texas House passed a bill that will allow for the removal of district attorneys who decline to prosecute abortion cases. What’s more, the legislation allows citizens to petition for a district attorney’s removal! Consider what this means, especially in light of existing Texas laws that allow citizens to sue each other over abortion: Take the man who is suing his ex-wife’s friends for allegedly helping her obtain abortion medication. Under this law, he could also petition for the removal of a district attorney who didn’t pursue criminal charges against those same women.

Legislation like this empowers abusers and assholes, upends democracy—after all, these are officials who are elected to use their discretion when deciding what cases to pursue. We’re likely to see more bills like this in other states soon: Remember, fifteen state Attorneys General just signed on to an amicus brief arguing that they have the right to remove DAs who refuse to target certain cases. It’s a mess.

Speaking of disasters: Tennessee’s governor Bill Lee just signed that nothingburger abortion exception into law today. The law claims to allow doctors to use “reasonable medical judgment” when deciding whether an abortion is needed to save someone’s life—language that was changed from “good faith” medical judgement in order to make it even harder for doctors to use. (And remember, this tiny bullshit change was endorsed by Tennessee Right to Life, which is proof that it won’t make any sort of positive impact.)

The new Utah law requiring abortions to be performed in hospitals—which will effectively ban clinics in the state—is set to go into effect next week. Today, a judge considered a request from Planned Parenthood, who (correctly) point out that the law is a back-door abortion ban: Utah hospitals don’t provide abortions outside of those that are medically emergent, and clinics provide 95% of all abortions in the state. If the law does go into effect, clinics will no longer be able to apply to be licensed, and by January 1, 2024, all clinics would be stripped of their existing licenses. Instead of ruling to block the law, however, District Court Judge Andrew Stone said he wants more time to think about it, and will issue a decision next week. (Cutting it kind of close!)

Thanks to Republicans’ override of Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto, Kansas doctors are now required to tell patients that medication abortions can be reversed—a dangerous and unproven claim pushed by radical anti-choice groups. Republicans also were able to undo a veto around millions in funding for anti-abortion clinics. A total nightmare, and not what Kansas voters want.

Let’s talk about Nebraska! Republicans’ 6-week ban was blocked from advancing yesterday after they were unable to break a filibuster, making it unlikely that the legislation will go anywhere this year. This was the scene in the Capitol rotunda when the news broke:

Honestly, I’m so in awe of the pro-choice activists and legislators in Nebraska: They have been absolutely relentless. Jo Giles, executive director of the Women’s Fund of Omaha, told the Associated Press that the decision brought her to tears: “This was unexpected, but we’re so glad to have this win. We have fought so hard. This bill is not what the majority of women in this state wanted.”

We also saw a pro-choice win yesterday in South Carolina, where a near-total abortion ban was also blocked via filibustering— an effort led by the state’s five female Senators, including three Republican women. Republican Sen. Sandy Senn said, “The only thing that we can do when you all, you men in the chamber, metaphorically keep slapping women by raising abortion again and again and again, is for us to slap you back with our words.” (This is the third time that a ban has failed in the Senate since Roe was overturned.)

South Carolina retaining abortion access is incredibly important for the South, especially now that Florida has passed a 6-week ban that will likely go into effect this summer and North Carolina Republicans now have the votes to pass a total abortion ban.

Something positive to note out of Washington, where the governor just signed abortion protections into law: In addition to that shield law, the package of bills will also protect patient data. It’s the first state law of its kind, and will restrict companies from collecting private information from apps like period trackers and location data that might detail visits to abortion or gender-affirming clinics.

A few weeks ago, I told you about the Vermont legislation to protect abortion providers and patients and how lawmakers amended it to add special protections for abortion medication. Yesterday, the state legislature passed those bills, which will not only offer protections from out-of-state abortion prosecutions—but will shield access to abortion medication even if the FDA withdraws it’s approval of the pills. Vermont is the first state to explicitly protect abortion medication in this way: other state should take note.

We also have movement on some great legislation in Rhode Island, where the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act (EACA) passed the House of Representatives. The bill, which ensures that insurance plans (including Medicaid) cover abortion, is expected to pass in the Senate.

And in Ohio, the state chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has come out in support of the pro-choice ballot measure advocates hope to get in front of voters. A representative from the group said, “ACOG looked closely at the amendment and felt that it was a common-sense amendment that will restore vital reproductive rights that were guaranteed by Roe and bring in protections for women for all aspects of reproductive health care.” You can read the full endorsement here.

Quick hits:

• In Colorado, a judge lifted the ban on enforcing a law prohibiting ‘abortion reversal’ (largely because the state agreed not to move forward with it until the state’s three medical boards weigh in);

• The Associated Press on the newly-enacted abortion protections in Minnesota and Washington;

• And Al Jazeera with a list of states to pay attention to in abortion rights fights.

Correction: In yesterday’s newsletter, I wrote about the legal challenge to Wisconsin’s abortion ban, noting that if it’s successful the law would revert to a 2015 20-week abortion ban. That was incorrect (it counted pregnancy from conception as opposed to last menstrual period), the ban would revert to a 22-week restriction.

In the Nation

In the least surprising news of all time, it looks like the Senate investigation that claimed there was “no evidence” to substantiate the sexual assault claims against Brett Kavanaugh, omitted some vital information. The Guardian reports that the committee’s findings indicated that a woman who came forward about Kavanaugh exposing himself to her was likely mistaking him for someone else. But, they write, that claim of mistaken identity came from somewhere very specific:

“[It was] sent to the judiciary committee by a Colorado-based attorney named Joseph C Smith Jr, according to a non-redacted copy of a 2018 email obtained by the Guardian. Smith was a friend and former colleague of the judiciary committee’s then lead counsel, Mike Davis.”

Smith also happens to be a member of the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative group that essentially places extremist judges on the bench. What a coincidence! Read The Guardian’s whole investigation, it’s infuriating. And just more fodder for the column I wrote earlier this month.

In other total fucking nightmare, young anti-abortion activists have started posting videos of themselves on TikTok initiating “rescues” in abortion clinics: they storm into the building and try to convince patients to leave, harassing them and staff along the way. VICE has the full story, and I highly recommend not reading it unless you’re ready to throw your laptop across the room.

And we’ll have an explainer on the Comstock Act here at Abortion, Every Day soon, but in the meantime here are two pieces that get into the law’s relationship to abortion rights and the fight ahead: one from CNN and another from States Newsroom.

2024

Democrats and pro-choice activists know that abortion is going to be top-of-mind for voters in the presidential election. Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America told CBS News, “It's going to be the top issue in the election, if not one of the top two issues.” Republicans, however, Timmaraju said, are getting “more and more wobbly” on the issue.

Indeed, that wobbliness is coming through in some of the reactions to Nikki Haley’s abortion speech—which apparently not everyone was a fan of! Radical anti-choice groups Live Action and Students for Life didn’t think she was strong enough, and apparently Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (who hosted the speech) was confused about Haley’s actual vision. A representative from the group told The Atlantic that Haley would be supporting a federal 15-week abortion ban, but Haley’s team said, “She committed to working to find a consensus on banning late-term abortion. No specific weeks.”

Sort of fascinating that even a candidate who just gave a speech about abortion can’t relay their position without confusing everyone.

Conservative Corruption

You already know that conservatives and Republican lawmakers don’t really care what voters want—that’s why they’re trying to make it harder (if not impossible) for us to make our voices heard on abortion rights. But for the most part, they’ll never admit that. Not today, though! The American Conservative admits today that while most Americans don’t want to see abortion banned, it doesn’t really matter:

“Ours is not a directly democratic government, but a republican one. In the latter, the legislators consider not only the will of the people but what is good for them. It is good to prevent people from killing their children.”

They’re just outright arguing that America isn’t a democracy and that legislators need to pass abortion bans against the will of voters. Cool stuff!

Keep an Eye On

Laws about minors. After Idaho passed their bullshit ‘abortion trafficking’ law, I flagged that this is the way Republicans would limit travel: not with a sweeping restriction, but chipping away at the right one piece at a time. Today, law professor and author Mary Ziegler argues the same over at The Atlantic. (And if she’s worried about it, we all should be worried about it.)

“Starting with a law centered on minors may make justifying other such travel-related laws easier down the line, even if states try to apply them to adults. But the distinction between minors and adults does not matter in the big picture. The point of this law, and others like it, is to restrict access to abortion as much as possible. Today, it may be minors whose rights are on the line, but if the anti-abortion movement has its way, it will soon be the rest of us.”

Minors are the canary in the coal mine here, and we’d all do well to pay close attention.