In the States
The destruction of abortion access in the South continues: South Carolina’s House voted to pass a 6-week abortion ban; the bill now goes back to the Senate for a vote. The female Senators who blocked the last abortion ban via filibuster said they will do the same again, but even if it does pass the Senate the law would still need to be okayed by the state Supreme Court (which blocked a previous 6-week ban).
Meanwhile, Republican politicians in the state continue to say the most outrageous shit you can imagine. State Rep. Thomas Beach, for example, compared abortion to slavery, Trail of Tears, the KKK and Japanese internment camps this week:
In response to the bill’s advancement, Democrat Rep. Heather Bauer said, “They voted for women to carry their rapist’s babies, voted for women to give birth to dead babies, and voted for 10-year-old to become mothers.”
As you know, if a South Carolina ban goes into effect, it will be disastrous for the entire region. Jamie Lockhart, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, for example, told the Associated Press that between the North Carolina ban, the Florida ban, and potentially now this, “It would be just devastating for abortion access in the South.”
In North Carolina, where that 10-week ban will soon go into effect, abortion providers are scrambling to sort out if their facilities will meet the new law’s stringent requirements. (Requirements, naturally, that were deliberately crafted to shut down abortion clinics.)
From Alison Kiser of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic:
“These are requirements that involve your HVAC system, the width of the hallways, and your facility. And again, this is completely medically unnecessary, particularly when you really think about the fact that 60% of abortions in North Carolina are actually medication abortions.”
The reality of what North Carolina’s legislation will do to abortion providers and patients in the state stands in stark contrast to what Republicans promised: that this was a ‘moderate’ bill allowing abortion in the early weeks of pregnancy. We know that’s not true. You can’t get an abortion if there’s zero abortion clinics!
What’s especially infuriating is seeing Rep. Tricia Cotham, who switched parties and gave Republicans the votes they needed to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, repeat this ‘moderate’ lie. She claims that the law “strikes a reasonable balance” and will still allow abortions in “the timeframe when most abortions occur.” Meanwhile, the law does everything it possibly can to ensure that no one is able to get an abortion within that limited legal timeline.
Related: WRAL in North Carolina did an investigation into what it will cost for women to travel out-of-state for abortion care when they need it—what they found was hours of travel and at least over $1k in costs.
No new news at the moment on Nebraska, where an anti-abortion/anti-trans bill moved forward this week—the final round of debate looks like it will be tomorrow. I did have to share this quote from Sen. Megan Hunt, though, who blasted Republicans for sneaking out of the Capitol building through a side exit yesterday in order to avoid protesters: “What, were you afraid to bump into a queer teen?”
Meanwhile, in Ohio, the Ballot Board has approved language for Republicans’ proposal to change the standards necessary in order to pass a ballot measure. As a reminder, right now a ballot measure needs a simple majority to pass—Republican lawmakers want to raise that standard to 60%, in order to make it more difficult for voters in the state to restore abortion rights. The issue will go in front of voters in a $20 million special August election, but activists argued that Republicans’ language doesn’t make clear to voters what their proposal would actually do. From the Dayton Daily News:
“Don McTigue of One Person One Vote argued that the above description of Issue 1 does not highlight the actual changes it would bring. ‘It does not inform voters, in any way, what the change is from current law,’ he said, later highlighting how important he believes it is to tell voters how long current law has been in practice.”
Confusing voters, of course, is the point. Before Missouri Republicans failed to get advance a similar proposal, for example, they tried to push it through with language hiding the fact that it would raise ballot measure standards. The New York Times reported that the proposal was only going to be described as a requirement that voters be registered U.S. citizens and Missouri residents.
By the way, just because Missouri was unable to move their proposal forward this time around, doesn’t mean they’re done trying. Republicans in the state have said they’re going to try to raise ballot measure standards again next year, perhaps going even further than before. The Kansas City Star reports, for example, that Republicans may try to require that amendments win a majority of congressional districts, not just a simple majority of votes: “The change would empower residents in the rural areas to block amendments even if a majority of voters support them.”
In Kansas, where Republicans continue to pass anti-abortion legislation, despite abortion being legal in the state, OBGYNs are starting to make noise about leaving the state. Kansas already has an OBGYN shortage, especially in rural areas—and one study found that only 24 out of 89 rural counties will have maternity care by 2030. And as we’ve seen in states like Idaho and Tennessee, abortion restrictions and bans drive OBGYNs and maternal fetal medicine specialists out en masse. And it’s not just the legal hurdles making it hard for anti-choice states to retain and recruit doctors, but emotional ones.
OBGYN Dr. Elizabeth Wickstom says, “If I go to my office every single day being afraid that the next thing will happen is I will lose my medical license, never practice medicine again and go to federal prison, it’s hard to go to work in the morning.”
Let’s talk good news:
I told you earlier in the week that Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte had signed a law banning D&E procedures; a judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of that ban until he can hear arguments on the challenge.
In Indiana, the state’s currently-blocked abortion ban looks like it will stay that way for the next few months: the Indiana Court of Appeals scheduled oral arguments in the lawsuit against the ban for September.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on MSNBC that he would consider defying the Supreme Court and provide mifepristone no matter what the court rules. “When I say everything is on the table, I mean that,” he said. Love to see it.
And Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation that prohibits companies from retaliating against employees who obtain abortions. Apparently the state’s civil rights law previously only banned employment discrimination on abortion if the pregnancy was ended to “save the life of the mother.” (?!)
Quick hits:
How Heather Boyd’s Pennsylvania House win was largely about abortion rights;
The Rhode Island Senate is set to vote on a bill that would require insurance providers, including Medicaid, to cover abortion care;
Illinois Democrats tell people seeking abortion care, “you’re safe here”;
And The Palm Beach Post speaks to one of the Republicans who voted against Florida’s abortion ban.
In the Nation
One of the judges in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals repeated anti-abortion talking points yesterday, in yet another sign that the conservative judges plan to side with Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s mifepristone ruling.
In an exchange with a lawyer from Danco, a company that manufactures mifepristone, Trump appointee Judge James Ho said, “Pregnancy is not a serious illness.” He later added, “When we celebrated Mother’s Day, were we celebrating illness?”
One of the most common anti-abortion arguments—one that’s been used by the anti-choice group in this case, in fact—is that pregnancy isn’t a disease and shouldn’t be treated as such. (No one treats pregnancy as a ‘disease’, but it is, obviously, a medical condition that can be dangerous—especially in this country.)
NPR has more on the oral arguments and the various ways judges signaled their bullshit anti-choice bias, and you can watch an MSNBC segment on the case below:
Quick hits:
NBC on Democrats’ strategy to regulate and restrict anti-abortion centers;
The Hill on Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s continued efforts against the DoD’s abortion policy (and how white nationalism came into the mix);
RollCall on how Dems expect abortion rights to drive elections;
And the Los Angeles Times on the history of the Comstock Act.
Stats & Studies
I told you yesterday about the new study from ANSIRH at the University of California, San Francisco—a chilling report outlining how doctors across the country have been unable to give the standard of care to patients because of abortion bans. I wanted to flag it again—in part because it’s so important, but also because it leads into another, related, study. From The Washington Post on ANSIRH’s study:
“The findings include examples of one patient who developed a severe infection after she was sent home from the hospital, leaving her in critical condition — and another who could not obtain an abortion for a Caesarean scar ectopic pregnancy, a life-threatening condition where a pregnancy implants in the scar of a prior Caesarean section.
The medical exceptions to protect the life of the mother that are included in abortion bans are often described in vague language, [ANSIRH director Dr. Daniel] Grossman said, creating uncertainty among medical providers who say the laws do not clearly allow them to terminate pregnancies for patients with serious health risks.”
So let’s talk more about those vague ‘exceptions’. For months, I’ve been writing about how these so-called exemptions aren’t real. They’re written deliberately so that people can’t use them—now we have a new analysis from KFF (formerly Kaiser Health News) proving as much. “A Review of Exceptions in State Abortions Bans: Implications for the Provision of Abortion Services” outlines how the national conversation about abortion ban exceptions “often obscure the reality that many of these exceptions can be unworkable in practice.” The study goes through all the different kinds of exceptions and shows how, as we know, none are actually usable. It’s definitely worth reading, but most importantly—it’s a reminder that we should not be talking about exceptions unless it’s to point out that they don’t really exist.
Listen Up
Over at The New Yorker podcast, The Political Scene, Jia Tolentino and Stephania Taladrid spoke about what’s been happening since Roe was overturned—and Abortion, Every Day got a nice shoutout!
2024
You know that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump have been trading barbs over abortion for the last few days. CNN reports that DeSantis has decided to go all-in on running to the right of Trump (!!), a move that puts his ability to woo suburban women in jeopardy. That said, he doesn’t have much of a choice—at least when it comes to abortion. He passed the law, now he has to defend it. That attachment to the bill is already hurting DeSantis with donors, and the Trump team believe that it will hurt the governor with female voters. (That said, none of this has stopped Trump from taking victory laps over Roe being overturned.)
All of this gets back to something I’ve said previously: I am terrified that Trump will be able to successfully frame himself as the most moderate on abortion rights, and that white women voters will fall for it.
Meanwhile, when former Vice President Mike Pence was asked about Trump’s abortion position, he said he disagreed and that “I believe there is a role at the federal level to advance the sanctity of life.”
And as all the candidates hone their talking points (aka a bunch of old men use our bodies and human rights as political fodder), anti-abortion groups are getting increasingly worried that they won’t be able to support Trump if he doesn’t come out in support of a federal ban.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, for example, told POLITICO, “We’re looking for an unapologetic champion on this issue.” Side note: Is anyone ever in mainstream media going to ask Hawkins or Students for Life about the position on contraception? (Namely, that they want to make it illegal!)
What Conservatives Are Saying
Speaking of Students for Life…I’ve written before about the way that anti-choice groups have been co-opting feminist language—and this latest example is pretty illuminating. Kristan Hawkins had the following to say about rape and incest exceptions:
Discriminatory! This group is legitimately the worst, but I do find it super helpful when they give up the game like this: They know that their movement is perceived as misogynist (because they are), and that feminist language is culturally powerful. They wouldn’t be working so hard to craft language like this if they didn’t. So while it’s infuriating, it also gives me a little bit of hope.
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Abortion, Every Day to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
