Abortion, Every Day (5.2.24)

Arizona's 1864 ban repealed!

Click to skip ahead: In the States, Arizona’s governor signed legislation to repeal the state’s 1864 ban. In Ballot Measure Updates, news from Arizona, Florida, and South Dakota. In the Nation, it’s the second anniversary of the Dobbs leak. What Conservatives Are Saying focuses on “the will of the people.” 2024 looks at how the Biden/Harris campaign is tying Trump to America’s post-Roe nightmare. Finally, just a small Gripe of the Day.

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In the States

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed legislation today that will repeal the state’s 1864 abortion ban. It was just yesterday that the state Senate voted to reverse the 160-year-old law, crafted in a time before women had the right to vote. At a ceremony today, Gov. Hobbs said she would “do everything in my power to protect our reproductive freedoms, because I trust women to make the decisions that are best for them.”

This means that Arizona’s 15-week abortion ban will go back into effect—at least until November, when voters could restore abortion rights by supporting a pro-choice ballot measure. Read more about the votes to repeal the ban in yesterday’s newsletter, and catch up on why Arizona’s ban seemed to be a national tipping point on abortion rights here.

Republicans both in the state and nationally hope that getting rid of that 1864 law will calm voters’ fury over abortion rights. Republican strategist Barrett Marson told POLITICO, that it “bails Republicans out.” He argues that reverting to the 15-week ban gives the GOP the ability to say, “Most abortions happen in this time anyway, so what’s the big deal?”

And Kelsey Pritchard at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America says that pro-choicers will have a hard time messaging against a 15-week ban this November because they’re “incredibly popular across the board not just in Arizona but all across the nation.” That’s actually not true: 15-week bans are just as unpopular as 6-week bans.

Meanwhile, Florida abortion rights activists are running workshops on how to self-manage an abortion and help others do the same. The Guardian spoke to event organizers who said that the idea was to make people understand that they weren’t alone. “We are ultimately here to be establishing a community care network around abortion support,” she said. Another organizer after my own heart called the event, “a big fuck you to Florida.” Love to see it.

This comes as clinics in Florida and beyond gear up for the consequences of the state’s newly-enacted 6-week ban. As you know, Florida has been seeing patients from all around the region since Roe was overturned. Robin Marty, executive director of the West Alabama Women’s Center, says, “Our patients are screwed.”

Abortion providers in states like North Carolina are bracing for an onslaught of patients who otherwise would have traveled to Florida for care. The same is true for clinics in Virginia; HuffPost reports that Virginia League for Planned Parenthood has increased staff and hours, and ramped up tele-health services. In 2022, only 3% of the group’s patients were from out of state. As of April, that number jumped to 20%, and as of this week, more than 30% of patients making abortion appointments were from other states.

From Jade Hurley of the DC Abortion Fund:

“Florida’s limited abortion access has functioned as a band-aid for the South. That band-aid is now being ripped off. We still don’t have the dollars, appointments or capacity to serve everyone who will need us this summer.”

For more on Florida’s ban, read my coverage here with the nitty gritty of the law, this Abortion, Every Day explainer of the state Supreme Court decision that led to the ban’s enactment, and this breakdown from yesterday on everything else. If you missed my piece from earlier today about the dangerous new rules for doctors in Florida, make sure to read it below:

Florida Agency Releases Dangerous Abortion 'Rules'

Meanwhile, Alabama is one step closer to having even worse sex education in the state. A state Senate committee advanced legislation that would prohibit “comprehensive” sex education, and would ban discussion or information about how to use contraception. Charming.

If you think it’s just Alabama that has a problem with birth control, you’d be wrong. Remember, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin just blocked a bill to increase access to contraception.

Quick hits:

• The ACLU says that Tennessee’s governor should veto the travel ban headed to his desk;

• Pennsylvania abortion rights groups say we need federal protections for abortion, pointing out that even ‘safe’ states are actually in danger;

• And the Indiana Capital Chronicle has more on the fight over keeping abortion records private.

“I feel relieved to be able to get in, and I feel lucky that, you know, right now, I do have a voice, and I have a right over my own body. But waking up tomorrow—it’s devastating. I know my daughter and myself are waking up tomorrow with less rights than we do today. I’m terrified. My life matters.”

Candace, a 35-year old abortion patient in Florida who got in for care just under the wire, CNN

Ballot Measure Updates

The Washington Post takes a look inside the ballot measure campaign to get abortion restored in Florida. In addition to the hurdle around getting 60% of the vote instead of a simple majority, the campaign for Amendment 4 also has a Democrat problem: Abortion rights activists want to keep the initiative bi-partisan, but the Biden-Harris campaign is eager to campaign in the state. The re-election team hopes that the folks who come out to vote for Amendment 4 will stick around to vote for Biden and other Democrats.

WaPo writes, however, that “in a state where Biden’s favorability is consistently behind former president Donald Trump’s, keeping the party at arm’s length is at the center of the Yes on 4 campaign.”

Speaking of Florida: Think Big America, the abortion rights group founded by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, is giving the Amendment 4 ballot measure campaign $500,000. The group has also given $1 million to the abortion rights amendment activists in Nevada, and $250,000 to the campaign in Arizona.

The Hill has more on the South Dakota ballot measure campaign, which announced yesterday that they gathered enough signatures to get abortion on the ballot. Dakotans for Health co-founder Rick Weiland says, “[We] feel pretty good about our chances of qualifying, and…feel that we’ll have plenty signatures and we’ll be on the ballot this November.” Weiland also told the Associated Press that South Dakota’s abortion ban is “practically identical to the 1864 abortion ban in Arizona,” pointing out just how extreme his state’s law is.

In the Nation

• A new survey shows that 1 in 5 Trump voters want to live in a place where abortion is legal;

• “The Daily” at The New York Times has an episode on the Supreme Court case over EMTALA;

• NPR looks at how we date when a pregnancy begins;

• Joan Walsh writes at The Nation that Trump is afraid of women voters;

• Vogue looks at the lack of mental health exceptions for abortion bans;

• Finally, today is the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court Dobbs leak, which is wild to think about. I remember finding out about the leak after my husband and daughter were already sleeping; I woke Andrew up to sob. This is what I wrote afterwards:

I'm Done

What Conservatives Are Saying

Last month, I predicted we’d be seeing the term “will of the people” a whole lot more from anti-abortion groups—who are desperate for voters to forget that Republicans are passing bans against voters’ wishes. Lo and behold, check out what Stephen Billy, vice president of state affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told the Associated Press about the anniversary of the Dobbs leak “With the Dobbs decision, the will of the people is now able to be adhered to.” He went on to say that abortion rights advocates are lying about abortion bans, and are “sow[ing] political division.”

They need so badly for people to believe that abortion bans have voters’ support—that despite all the horror, this is something we want. Because if Americans realized just how unpopular these policies really are, anti-abortion groups would have to admit that they simply don’t care what citizens want.

2024

President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign is going all in on blaming Donald Trump for America’s post-Roe nightmare. (As they should.) And with Florida’s 6-week ban going into effect this week, Democrats are tying Trump to that state law directly.

The DNC, for example, recently hired a plane to fly over Palm Beach, Florida with a banner reading, “Trump’s Plan: Ban Abortion, Punish Women.” They also put up billboards around the state with Trump’s face and how many miles someone would have to drive to get to a place where they could get an abortion.

The Associated Press says Democrats also plan to use anger over Arizona’s 1864 ban to beat Trump, even though the law has been repealed.

Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign also didn’t waste any time before using Trump’s comments on abortion to TIME magazine in an ad. The spot, featuring Dr. Austin Dennard (who I spoke alongside at a Senate press briefing this year), juxtaposes Dr. Dennard’s story with Trump’s comments.

As both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris campaign against Trump, POLITICO looks at the difference in their approaches:

“During his speech in Tampa last week, Biden used the word ‘abortion’ twice. Harris used it 15 times on Wednesday in Jacksonville, sometimes coupled with the ‘Trump abortion bans’ phrase she coined as she crisscrossed the country speaking out about the issue.”

It’s clear that Harris is far more comfortable speaking about abortion than Biden, who we know has a frustratingly difficult time with the issue. The contrast really is pretty striking. The kind of energy that Harris brought in Florida yesterday is exactly what we need more of.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats in state elections, is planning to use ballot measures on abortion to win seats. From DLCC president Heather Williams:

“We need to win federally and we need to win in the states, we need to win these ballot measures and we need to build power in state houses, because that is how we are able to be responsive to a really harmful Republican agenda.”

The group is planning to spend a record $60 million this year to flip state legislatures across the country.

Gripe of the Day

I wish the folks at Salon wouldn’t use the term ‘abortion tourism’. It’s an anti-abortion catchphrase meant to make medical refugees sound like they’re going on vacation.