Abortion, Every Day (5.16.23)

In the States

Three states are set to have votes that will determine the future of abortion rights today: North Carolina, South Carolina and Nebraska. As I’m writing this, debates are being held in all three states—we’ve only had a vote in North Carolina thus far. If more votes come in tonight, I’ll send a separate email with the results. In the meantime, here’s what’s happening:

In North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed conservatives’ 12-week abortion ban, but Republicans have the votes to override that veto and today the Senate voted to do just that. Now the effort moves to the House. It’s just terrible news.

North Carolina Republicans continue to claim that their 12-week ban is moderate and reasonable, but we know the truth: You can read more about what the bill would actually do at my column here or check out some quick facts on the legislation from the ACLU.

Vox also has an explainer of just how extreme the North Carolina ban really is, and if you want an in-depth examination of the bill, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy are on it in their Boom! Lawyered podcast:

In terms of Republicans’ strategy: Conservative lawmakers in the state apparently spent some time today making a lot of false claims about later abortions, even though keeping North Carolina’s abortion law as it is would mean that abortion would be restricted after 20 weeks. This is a surefire sign that they know voters don’t want abortion bans, so they’re focusing on messaging over substance.

Meanwhile, South Carolina Democrats filed 1,000 amendments to the proposed abortion bill in order to stall (and hopefully stop) the legislation from moving forward. Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb Hunter says, “We’re here for the long haul.” And Rep. Beth Bernstein said with this bill, “We are voting against women. I can’t say that more strongly than that.” As a reminder: South Carolina Republicans passed an abortion ban that was blocked by the state Supreme Court, who ruled that the law was unconstitutional. These latest efforts to pass new bans are lawmakers way of trying again.

In Nebraska, Republicans are trying to pass their abortion bill by attaching it to another attack on bodily autonomy—legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors. (For some background on the bill and what happened the last time Republicans tried to pass an abortion restriction, click here.) Hundreds of protesters showed up today to demonstrate against the bill.

To get a sense of what a law like this would do in Nebraska, read this piece from Lynn Zeleski in The Grand Island Independent:

“If this bill passes into law, it will cause Nebraskans pain and possibly cost their lives, despite having exceptions. I know exception clauses do not work, because I had a pregnancy that nearly killed me due to an abortion ban policy.”

Pro-choice politicians plan to filibuster today in hopes of stopping the legislation. Also noteworthy: The bill includes an emergency clause, meaning it would go into effect immediately.

This is just wild: Louisiana Republicans seem absolutely hellbent on proving just how little they care about women. Today, lawmakers rejected two pieces of legislation that would have stated that Louisiana’s abortion ban doesn’t prohibit ending molar pregnancies, ectopic pregnancies, and pregnancies that are no longer viable. Republicans, however, killed the bills after deeming them unnecessary—despite doctors begging them for clarification for months. Rep. Mary DuBuisson, who sponsored one of the bills, said, “There is nothing natural about leaving a doctor’s office or a hospital with a dead or dying baby inside of you.”

There’s a good Twitter thread here about how this all went down from New Orleans Public Radio reporter Rosemary Westwood, if you’d like the play-by-play.

The other thing to remember is that it was just last week that Louisiana Republicans rejected a bill to add rape and incest exceptions to the state’s abortion ban. Democrats have been pointing out that their conservative colleagues know what voters want—and what the right thing to do is—but still refuse to act. Rep. C. Denise Marcelle said, “It does not matter how many people we get into the room and say that 75% of Louisianans support an exception for rape and incest; it’s their way or the highway.”

Why would Republicans reject bills that they know their constituents want and doctors are desperate for? Because in both cases—the rape and incest exception and the medical clarification bill—Louisiana Right to Life, the state’s most powerful anti-abortion group, is making sure the law stays exactly as it is. The Advocate points out that the group pressured Republicans on rape and incest exceptions; and today, legislators rejected the bills about doomed pregnancies after testimony from the organization.

Please remember: this is exactly what happened in Tennessee, when the state GOP wanted to add some kind of exception for the life of the pregnant person, but were too afraid of Tennessee Right to Life to make it happen. Tennessee legislators went back and forth for months trying to craft language that the organization would sign on to (because apparently that’s more important to them than voters), and finally ended up adding in an absolutely nothingburger exception that the group agreed to. (And of course, the reason Tennessee Right to Life agreed to it was because it was a nothingburger.)

It looks like Louisiana Republicans are similarly beholden to anti-choice groups over their own constituents. The fact that these anti-abortion organizations wield so much power is truly terrifying. (Also in Louisiana: the state Senate approved a tax credit program benefitting anti-abortion centers that will cost the state $5 million a year.)

I told you yesterday that Missouri Republicans were unable to raise the standards on ballot measures (thank goodness) and that they openly admitted that the effort was always about keeping abortion banned against voters’ wishes. Just to expand on that, check out this full quote from Republican House Speaker Dean Plocher:

“I think the Senate–it should be held accountable for allowing abortion to return to Missouri. I think we all believe that an initiative petition will be brought forth to allow choice. I believe it will pass.”

I know I’ve said it before, but this is so important: They know that voters want abortion rights restored. And they just don’t care. No matter how people feel about abortion, they should care about this absolute misuse of political power.

Some good news out of Rhode Island today, where the state Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation that would require insurance coverage for abortion care—including Medicaid coverage. The Equality in Abortion Coverage Act will go to the full Senate for a vote this week.

Finally, I’ve written before about the impact that religiously-affiliated health centers and hospitals have across the country—even in pro-choice states. It’s something we’re going to need to pay closer attention to as more states ban abortion (and pro-choice states become destinations for medical refugees). In Washington, for example, we know that abortion providers have been seeing an increasing number of patients from out-of-state, but certain hospitals are also seeing women come from within the state as well. OBGYN and professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Dr. Sarah Prager, says, “It may be surprising to some people, that because of the high percentage of Catholic health care facilities in our state…many counties in the state of Washington actually don’t have a secular hospital.”

Quick hits:

• Rolling Stone on the Alabama bill that would mandate women who have abortions be charged with murder;

• The Nation on Texas lawmakers’ failure to amend their extreme abortion ban, even in the face of multiple horror stories coming out of the state;

• Tone Madison looks at how Wisconsin’s abortion ban could impact IVF and fertility treatments;

• The Current on how abortion rights will impact Democratic turnout in Georgia;

• A California man has been sentenced to over 2 years in prison for his year-long BB gun attacks on a Planned Parenthood in Pasadena;

• And as a result of a Republican boycott in Oregon, three senators are now automatically disqualified from being re-elected.

In the Nation

Oral arguments begin today in front of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the mifepristone lawsuit. Gonna be honest, I really enjoyed our short break from this insanity—but here we are.

As a reminder, this New Orleans-based three-judge panel will decide what to do with Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling, which sided with anti-choice groups trying to end access to abortion medication. (The Supreme Court temporarily blocked his decision from being enforced as the case moves through the appeals process.)

The judges hearing the case are Republican appointees, and law professor Stephen I. Vladeck tells The New York Times that “by virtually any measure, it is the most conservative appeals court in the country.” (Related: The Associated Press looks at the conservative judges and their track records.)

If you need some background on the case, you can read our “Abortion Medication Lawsuit Explainer,” and “A Tale of Two Lawsuits” (on the dueling mifepristone rulings), both written by Abortion, Every Day researcher Grace Haley.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is reportedly considering keeping Space Command’s headquarters in Colorado instead of moving it to Alabama (a move initiated by former president Donald Trump). The decision to possibly keep Space Command in Colorado comes in large part because of Alabama’s extreme abortion ban. (The fact that Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville has been holding up military nominations and promotions doesn’t help either.)

NBC News has the story below:

Quick hits:

• At Ms. magazine, Jill Filipovic writes about how Republicans are trying to make it harder for Americans to vote and the connection that strategy has to abortion rights;

• And Media Matters looks at Americano Media (the first national Spanish-language conservative radio and streaming news service) and their dangerous misinformation about abortion.

Stats & Studies

This could have gone in our ‘You Love to See It’ section because it made me so happy. New polling from NARAL Pro-Choice America shows that Americans are not falling for Republican messaging that claims 15-week abortion bans are ‘reasonable compromises’. The nationwide survey found that Americans reject that idea by a more than 2-to-1 margin, and only 26% of voters reported believing that 15-week bans are ‘reasonable’.

In a statement, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju said, “There is nothing moderate about banning abortion, and there are simply no so-called compromises to be made when it comes to our fundamental freedoms. This polling unequivocally reaffirms that.”

This is incredibly important—and it gives me some hope. I’ve said before that I don’t believe Republicans can message their way out of this: not when so many Americans know, or will know, someone impacted by an abortion ban. Seeing that suspicion supported by actual numbers made me feel a little lighter today.

Some more good news from the NARAL survey: 73% of those polled agreed that abortion restrictions “have gone too far,” including a majority of Trump voters. I’m going to repeat something I wrote in my last column, so forgive me—but I think it stands: The reality of abortion bans has done far more damage to the conservative agenda than Democrats ever could have. 

2024

After Donald Trump attacked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over his 6-week abortion ban, DeSantis is hitting back. He said, “I signed the bill. I was proud to do it. He will not answer whether he would sign it or not.” In response to Trump’s claim that “many people within the pro-life movement feel that [the bill] was too harsh,” DeSantis said, “Protecting an unborn child when there’s the detectable heartbeat is something that almost, probably, 99% of pro-lifers support.”

In other 2024 news, the latest poll from Reuters/Ipsos shows Biden ahead of Trump in a hypothetical match-up, 44% to 38%.