Abortion, Every Day (5.9.23)

Kentucky woman denied abortion despite fetus having no brain

Content warning: Today’s newsletter contains descriptions of severe fetal abnormalities

In the States

It was inevitable: Republicans in multiple states are using North Carolina’s ‘12-week’ abortion ban as an opportunity to revisit their so-called ‘moderate’ bills:

Nebraska Republicans are trying to ban abortion again, less than two weeks after their previous effort failed. State Sen. Ben Hansen introduced a 12-week ban on Monday evening, touting it as compromise legislation (where have we heard this before??) after the GOP’s 6-week ban was killed via filibuster. Hansen proposed the ban as part of an anti-trans bill, and tried to liken it to the 12-week ban introduced by Sen. Merv Riepe—the Republican who voted against the 6-week ban. In truth, Hansen’s bill would ban abortion 12 weeks after a woman’s last menstrual period, which is earlier than Riepe’s ban (which would prohibit abortion 12 weeks post-fertilization).

Democratic Sen. Megan Hunt responded to the bill by saying, “You are so unable to lose fair and square that you’re seriously willing to blow up the entire session…This is not a compromise.”

And in Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin is renewing his push for an abortion ban, saying, “I think we can come together around a 15-week bill.” Again, it’s not a coincidence that this is coming up again so soon after North Carolina passed its ban; Youngkin is using the moment to argue again that he’s just seeking a moderate, “reasonable” solution. (Just as a reminder: the last time Youngkin proposed this bill, he allocated money in his budget to the Department of Corrections for the women who would be arrested under the new law.)

Virginia Public Media points out that if North Carolina Republicans are able to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto (and the expectation is that they will), Virginia will be one of the last states in the South with access to legal abortion. Related: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper released a video a few days ago detailing how extreme this abortion ban really is, and says he is going to lobby Republicans in the hopes of getting one vote on his side to prevent the GOP from overriding his veto.

Meanwhile, South Carolina Republicans are trying to rush through a 6-week abortion ban right now—even though they failed to do so just a few weeks ago. You can watch the live debate here. Also in the state, Vicki Ringer, Director of Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood Votes South Atlantic, pointed out on twitter that the state House Judiciary Committee voted to stop minors from being able to get a judicial bypass for abortion:

“This is how they hide sexual abuse of girls by family members. If dad, brother, uncle raped a girl, they deny an abortion and no one will know. Girl has no recourse.”

Exactly right. And Republicans know it.

You know that Ohio Republicans have been working hard to try to get an August special election going in order to raise the standard on ballot measures—a move to make it harder for pro-choice activists to pass a proposal that would restore abortion rights in the state. Well, tomorrow is the last day that lawmakers have to make it happen, when the resolution will be up for a House vote. I’ll definitely keep you updated as I find out more.

And something important to keep an eye on: Pennsylvania has a special election on May 16 that will determine who has control over the state House—and subsequently, who will dictate what abortion rights will look like this legislative session. What’s especially worrying is that Republicans have proposed an anti-abortion constitutional amendment (which they put forward during a “midnight raid”)—a proposal that they’re just one vote away from putting before voters as a referendum. The amendment states that the Pennsylvania Constitution doesn’t guarantee abortion rights, and would limit future challenges to any abortion restrictions.

Quick hits:

• Indiana’s Attorney General Todd Rokita has not stopped his harassment campaign against abortion provider Dr. Caitlin Bernard;

• Louisiana Democrats are trying to pass legislation to ensure that women who have miscarriages aren’t charged with crimes;

• In some rare good news, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is allocating $8 million for physical and digital security upgrades at abortion clinics;

• The TODAY show covered Jaci Statton’s story of being denied health- and life-saving abortion care by an Oklahoma hospital, and instead was told to wait in the parking lot in case she crashed;

• And here’s some more information on the pro-choice ballot measure activists are working on in Florida.

In the Nation

Yesterday, the Center for Reproductive Rights sued the FDA on behalf of abortion providers in Kansas, Montana and Virginia; they argue that the agency needs to expand abortion medication and “follow the science.” The CRR says that the FDA’s restrictions on mifepristone are medically unnecessary, and that the pills are safer than over-the-counter pain killers and Viagra.

Also in FDA news today: The agency is considering whether to approve a hormonal birth control pill for over-the-counter status. You will not be surprised to learn that despite anti-abortion groups pretending that they have no interest in going after contraception, they are, in fact, going after contraception. Axios reports that conservative groups are petitioning the FDA to deny approval to the drug on the basis that women should make medical decisions in consultation with their doctors. Which is…rich.

The Washington Post reports that despite Google’s promise to stop collecting users’ private abortion-related data, they continue to do so. Reporter Geoffrey Fowler investigated the company by visiting a dozen clinics in California over the course of a few weeks using Google Maps, while a coworker visited a few in Florida. In half of those visits, Google retained the private data. Fowler also reports that the organization Accountable Tech found found similar results in their own tests—Google didn’t delete users’ data in about 60% of the cases.

Policy manager Aditi Ramesh, “No one should be tracked or targeted for their personal health decisions. But that’s exactly what Big Tech’s business model of surveillance advertising right now is designed to do.”

Quick hits:

• HuffPo interviewed abortion doula Hannah Matthews about her book, “You or Someone You Love: Reflections From an Abortion Doula”;

• MSNBC with an op-ed against judge shopping;

• Salon asks what’s wrong with Republican women;

• And a new study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that patients who obtained medication abortion care via telehealth were just as satisfied, if not more so, as the patients who went to a clinic.

Care Denied

A woman in Kentucky has been denied an abortion even though her fetus was diagnosed with anencephaly. “I see my baby that has no brain, that has no life and it hurts,” Heather Maberry says. Still, Maberry’s doctor told her that there was nothing they could do because of the state’s abortion ban.

Maberry used to consider herself anti-abortion, but says now that she couldn’t bear the idea of carrying her daughter—who will never be able to take a breath—to term:

“We’ve been called hypocrites. We’ve been told that they hope we have to carry this baby to term and be made to. Those people that say that, they don’t know our story. They don’t know our pain. And I hope to God they never have to.”

Keep An Eye On

One of the things I’ve been flagging the past few months is the way that Republican-led states are putting more money into anti-abortion centers, and focusing on how to ‘streamline’ the adoption process. (Meaning, how to terminate someone’s parental rights more easily.) And late last year, I warned that we were going to see an increase in Christian-led maternity homes. Today, NPR reports on an Idaho anti-abortion maternity home and the way it controls and punishes the women who live there.

“They're free—but not without conditions. Faith struggled to accept the rules: phones turned in at night, home by 11 p.m., visitors only in common spaces, clean drug tests, compliance with the program and contributions to the household. Permission to leave overnight—even for just one night—must be earned through good behavior.”

Faith didn’t feel like she had a choice, though, she was pregnant, unemployed, homeless and had no place to go. I really hope we see more investigative pieces like this one; especially articles that focus on the relationship these ‘homes’ have with for-profit adoption agencies. What a fucking nightmare.

Stats & Studies

I know that you know that Americans support abortion rights. But every new poll and study that comes out continues to show that voters are only getting more pro-choice every day. A new ABC News/Washington poll shows that 78% of Americans believe the decision whether to have an abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor, rather than regulated by law. That is a big fucking deal, especially because anti-choicers will frequently claim that while most Americans want abortion legally restricted in some way. This poll shows that’s just not true.

What’s more, the majorities of Republicans (58%), conservatives (60%), evangelical white Protestants (56%), Catholics (75%) and non-evangelical white Protestants (83%) also believe abortion should be decided between a woman and her doctor. Republicans are right to be afraid.

2024

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, has been hammering Donald Trump for weeks—saying that the former president’s comments that abortion should be decided by the states “is an endorsement of abortion up until the moment of birth.” Her criticism was part of the organization’s line in the sand for Republican presidential candidates, who the group expects to support federal legislation in order to get their endorsement.

But today, Dannenfelser met with Trump, calling their conversation “terrific.” Apparently she got what she wanted: Dannenfelser said that Trump promised that he’d support a federal abortion ban so long as it included exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the pregnant person. (Your regular reminder that exceptions aren’t real.) Trump got what he wanted too; Dannenfelser called him “the most consequential in American history for the pro-life cause.”

It seems like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is covering all their bases; but given Trump’s propensity for dishonesty and saying anything and meaning nothing, I also can imagine a scenario where he’s promising the group whatever they want. Dannenfelser also knows that exceptions aren’t real, and that they can enact so many hurdles that no one would actually be able to access them—so anything Trump says about being more moderate on abortion won’t really mean anything in reality.

What Conservatives Are Saying

Conservative media is still harping on the study I told you about yesterday. Today’s piece is from the Washington Examiner, who say men are “silently suffering” because they don’t have a say in whether or not a woman gets an abortion. It’s easy to make fun of—because it’s fucking absurd—but it’s also something we should keep an eye on. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see bills requiring women to get men’s permission to have abortions (we’ve certainly seen that sort of thing before). This study may be the first step in laying the groundwork for a new spate of legislation.

This newsletter was compiled with the help of researcher Grace Haley.