Abortion, Every Day (5.1.23)

In the States

You may remember the Texas legislation I told you about in February that would block pro-choice websites in the state—and allow citizens to sue internet service providers who who don’t do so. Incredibly, that bill is still around and kicking. In an op-ed at the Austin American-Statesman, Adam Kovacevich, founder of a progressive technology organization, points out that the legislation is so vaguely written that it could force internet service companies to censor messages from doctors advising patients on how to obtain (legal) reproductive health services.

Kovacevich also writes that by banning accurate information about abortion and abortion rights, the law would create a situation where the only websites Texans could access that have to do with reproductive health would be anti-abortion bullshit:

“Effectively, the bill would keep tens of millions of Texans in the dark about reliable reproductive health information, creating a vacuum to be filled by potentially life-threatening misinformation.”

Arguments will begin this week in the lawsuit seeking to overturn Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban. Attorney General Josh Kaul is leading the challenge, which is very likely to end up in front of the state Supreme Court. (Where pro-choice Judge Janet Protasiewicz is set to take her seat this summer!) Hayley McNeill of Reproductive Justice Action of Milwaukee told public radio station WUWM, “Obviously, things take a long time. But to get the arguments actually starting to be heard, means we're one step closer to things actually changing, and something actually happening.”

We’re still waiting to hear from a judge on the Utah law that requires abortions to be performed in hospitals, effectively banning abortion clinics in the state. (Clinics provide 95% of abortions in Utah.) The judge was supposed to put out a ruling on Friday, but said that he needed more time. The law is set to go into effect on Wednesday.

And in the wake of a report published last week showing that Oklahoma hospitals don’t have a clear understanding of when it’s legal to provide a life-saving abortion, legislators in the state are under fire for not having focused on the issue at all this year. Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma told The Oklahoman, “It was a nonissue to the Legislature this year, which proves that it was always a political issue.”

Louisiana doctors spoke to 60 Minutes about how the state’s abortion ban is impacting care, and just how dangerous it is to be pregnant in the state post-Roe:

Florida’s 6-week abortion ban can’t go into effect until the state Supreme Court rules on a challenge to the existing 15-week ban. On Friday, lawyers for abortion providers filed a brief arguing that the state constitution’s privacy protection covers abortion rights and that the 15-week limit “openly flouts that protection and decades of this Court’s precedents.” Conversely, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office filed a brief a few days previous claiming that past rulings were “clearly erroneous” and that abortion rights should be up to lawmakers.

While The Washington Post reported last week that Florida’s state Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz wrote an article arguing that the constitution’s privacy protections did encompass abortion, the prevailing wisdom still seems to be that the restriction will be upheld, making way for the 6-week ban.

You know we’ve been covering Idaho here quite a bit, and how nearly half of the OBGYNs in the state are either leaving or thinking about leaving. Last week, Alanna Vagianos at HuffPo did an investigation on the crisis, and spoke to one of the doctors who left the state after abortion was banned. Dr. Kylie Cooper said she felt like a weight had been lifted after she moved:

“I don’t think it was something I consciously thought about but now that I’m out of there, I realize I didn’t feel safe there and I didn’t feel that my daughters were safe there either.”

Meanwhile, the doctors who remain are struggling with how to work when more and more of their colleagues are packing up every day. Dr. John Werdel, the medical director for women’s services at St. Luke’s hospital told HuffPo, “These laws are decimating our workforce.”

Abortion rights advocates in Alabama are pushing lawmakers to support legislation that would prohibit prosecuting those who have abortions. Courtney Roark, Alabama policy and movement building director at URGE, says, “We think healthcare should be decriminalized. Criminalization creates a lack of access.” Also in Alabama, if you missed it last week, the Los Angeles Times did a profile piece on West Alabama Women’s Center and what it’s like to work at a reproductive healthcare clinic post-Roe. (I’ll have an audio interview out this week with the clinic’s director of operations and author, Robin Marty.)

You know we like good news around here: Maine legislators are debating a proposal today to allow for later abortion if it’s deemed necessary by a doctor. Nicole Clegg, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, says, “Mainers value their reproductive rights and freedoms…they don’t want certain politicians forcing people to continue a pregnancy against medical advice.” The proposal is expected to pass.

Quick hits:

• The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to an Indiana law requiring abortion providers bury or cremate embryonic or fetal tissue;

• New data shows that fewer than 10 abortions were performed in Tennessee since the procedure was banned last year;

• The Austin American-Statesman urges Texas legislators to ‘clarify’ the state’s abortion ban to save women’s lives;

• Vox on the pro-choice wins in Nebraska and South Carolina;

• South Carolina Republican Sen. Greg Hembree is calling for abortion rights to be decided via ballot measure;

• And I love this factcheck of Ohio anti-abortion groups’ claims that a pro-choice ballot measure would eradicate parental consent.

In the Nation

Back in October, I told you about Mylissa Farmer, a Missouri women who was denied an abortion despite a doomed pregnancy that was putting her life at risk. After Farmer’s water broke 17 weeks into her pregnancy, she was at risk of sepsis, severe blood loss, hysterectomy and death; still, she was denied care because her fetus still had a heartbeat. Farmer even called her state representative for help—in response, he referred her to an anti-abortion center. Farmer eventually traveled to Illinois for an abortion, an experience she called dehumanizing and terrifying.

Today, the Associated Press reports that after an investigation by the federal government, the two hospitals who refused to treat Farmer were found to have broken federal law mandating abortion care when someone’s life is at risk. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said, “Fortunately, this patient survived. But she never should have gone through the terrifying ordeal she experienced in the first place.”

The Biden administration has been pushing anti-choice states to adhere to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA); some states, like Texas, have sued in response, arguing that the White House is trying to “force abortions” in the state. It’s unclear how much going after hospitals, however, will help the situation on the ground—these are doctors who are already fearful of prison time because of their state’s abortion bans. Law professor Mary Ziegler told the AP, “I don’t know how much this approach really helps matters.”

In the three months after Roe was overturned, consultations for vasectomies more than doubled, according to the University of Michigan Health System. The results were presented at the annual meeting of theAmerican Urological Association (AUA), where physicians talked about being booked for vasectomies months out and questioning whether urologists would be able to handle any more of an increase. This matches up with what we’ve seen across the country: Late last year, I told you how web searches for vasectomies increased by 300% after the Dobbs decision was leaked, and by 600% after the decision was finalized. It’s a good reminder that the strain on reproductive health services is not limited to OBGYNs.

Quick hits:

• The Washington Post on how Democratic Attorneys General are protecting abortion rights;

• The Los Angeles Times on why the anti-abortion movement needs to cut it out on calling abortion ‘eugenics’;

• Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America isn’t just holding presidential candidates to their 15-week federal ban litmus test, but House and Senate hopefuls, as well;

• And finally, some very sad news: Abortion provider Dr. LeRoy Carhart has passed away. NPR has an obit here.

2024

Well this is a hilarious turn of events: Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson claims that Republicans are only pursuing federal abortion legislation because of Democrats. Here’s what Hutchinson told a local television station:

“Democrats have made it clear that if they get control of Congress, they’re going to put a national standard in place that will open up abortions, even until the full term. And so because of that, I think Republicans have reacted and said, well, if we’re going to have this debate at the national level, that we need to have a national policy that is more pro-life.”

Remember, it was just a few weeks ago that Hutchinson claimed abortion should be left up to the states. And so I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a talking point for candidates; they want the support of anti-abortion groups, but those organizations will only endorse those who support a federal ban. Putting the blame on Democrats is a novel way to say you don’t really want federal abortion legislation, you’re being forced into it.

Meanwhile, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told Fox News this weekend that candidates need to address abortion “head on” and be on offense; she said they should put Democrats “on the defensive and articulate where you stand.” (That’s another way of saying that they want Republicans to hammer on later abortion, something Democrats have not done a good job of responding to.)

Listen Up

• NPR has a segment on what’s been happening in New Mexico, where anti-abortion activists are trying to ban abortion via town ordinance, despite abortion being legal in the state;

• Morning Edition on the Oklahoma woman with a molar pregnancy who was told to wait in a hospital parking lot until she crashed;

• And WCAI on the abortion access desert in Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Keep An Eye On

I’ve been writing a lot lately about how conservative’s new messaging is all about a 15-week ban. And that despite poll after poll showing that Americans overwhelmingly support abortion rights, Republicans were still going to try to pass a federal ban under the guise of it being ‘reasonable’ or a ‘compromise’. I also warned readers just last week about South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, who has been positioning herself as a moderate on abortion while moving the goalposts on what “the middle ground” really means. Well, it looks like I was right to be concerned: This weekend, Mace and other Republicans did a mini-press tour to float their oh-so-“reasonable” federal ban.

Mace, who has been doing an inordinate number of interviews calling out fellow Republicans for being too extreme on abortion, said on Face the Nation that Democrats and Republicans should be able to agree on gestational limits and “that's something that can happen at the state and the federal level.” Mace went on to say that “15 to 20 weeks is the sweet spot here.”

It’s an interesting turn of phrase, especially because Republican pollster Whit Ayres used the exact same language when talking to The Daily Beast this weekend, when he called a 15-week federal abortion ban “the sweet spot nationally.”

It wasn’t so long ago that Republicans were furious that Sen. Lindsey Graham floated a federal ban—now everyone seems to be falling in line. I’m sure Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s line in the sand has something to do with it. (Also this weekend, the group’s president Marjorie Dannenfelser called a 15-week ban a “very modest piece of legislation.”)

While Republicans are working overtime to make an extreme abortion restriction seem reasonable, Democrats would be wise to remind Americans that the vast majority of horror stories that we’ve seen come out of anti-choice states have been from women who were beyond 15-weeks of pregnancy.

You Love to See It

Whole Woman’s Health, which just opened a new clinic in New Mexico, is targeting social media ads to Texans, reminding them they can get abortion care out-of-state: