Abortion, Every Day (7.18.23)

How abortion patients will get 'caught'

In the States

Yesterday, a judge blocked Iowa’s near-total abortion ban from taking effect while the case makes its way through the courts. Judge Joseph Seidlin pointed out that the new law was “virtually identical” to one passed in 2018, which the state Supreme Court recently declined to reinstate. (They were deadlocked, 3-3, because one of the justices recused herself.)

Dr. Abbey Hardy-Fairbanks, medical director of the Emma Goldman Clinic—one of the plaintiffs in the legal challenge—said that they were relieved that abortion care could continue on in the state. “We are also acutely aware that the relief is only pending further litigation and the future of abortion in Iowa remains tenuous and threatened,” she said.

Indiana’s near-total abortion ban goes into effect on August 1, which will have a devastating impact on people both in the state and in the region. Maternal fetal specialist Dr. Caroline Rouse says, “The exam room is no place for the legislature, and that's exactly where they have put themselves, into a position where they are preventing physicians and patients from being able to have evidence-based discussions for the best health care decision for that patient.” Dr. Rouse spoke to a local television station about the real life impact the law will have on women:

Meanwhile, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, running for governor, was endorsed by the powerful anti-abortion group, Missouri Right to Life this week. Not so surprising, given that Ashcroft has used the power of his office to push an extreme anti-aboriton agenda. In fact, he’s being sued over his ballot summary for the pro-choice ballot measure making its way towards Missouri voters. Ashcroft’s summary—the official language people would see before casting a vote—says that the proposed amendment would “allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth, without requiring a medical license or potentially being subject to medical malpractice.” I wish I was fucking kidding.

Missouri’s ballot measure has also been attacked by the Republican state Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who refuses to sign off the state auditor’s cost estimate for the measure. Bailey—who is being sued by the ACLU over his attempts to stymie the measure—argues that restoring abortion rights in the state would cost billions of dollars, not the meager $51,000 estimated by the (Republican, anti-abortion) auditor. Until the cost issue gets resolved, Missouri abortion rights advocates can’t collect signatures for the ballot measure. The state Supreme Court heard arguments in the case today,

Another abortion battle is taking place in Missouri, this one led by a Democratic Kansas City prosecutor seeking to strike down the state’s criminal penalties for abortion. The Kansas City Star has a comprehensive rundown of prosecutor Jean Peters Baker’s filing—and the religious freedom challenge to Missouri’s abortion ban.

In Ohio, where voters are gearing up for the August special election that will decide the future of ballot measures in the state, longtime Republican leader Betty Montgomery has come out against Issue 1—calling it “anti-democratic.” Montgomery, who served in the state Senate and was Ohio’s first female state Attorney General, is one of a number of established Republicans in the state who have called out the moves to raise standards on ballot measures as a dangerous encroachment on democratic norms. Here’s hoping voters are listening.

In better state news, I really loved this piece from Slate’s Christina Cauterucci on all the excellent abortion rights work being done in Maryland. Not only has Gov. Wes Moore signed shield laws into effect that prohibit helping other states with abortion-related investigations or handing over patient medical records to anti-choice states—another new law expands the kinds of medical professionals who can provide abortions, the state now requires insurance companies cover abortion care, and soon voters will decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. As Cauterucci puts it, “in this unpredictable era of reproductive health care in the U.S., Maryland is about as safe a place an abortion provider can be.”

And in Oregon, the state’s Reproductive Health Equity Fund has distributed $5 million in grants to help marginalized communities access abortion care. It’s an incredibly important move, given how inundated Oregon doctors are with out-of-state patients. Mariana Garcia Medina, co-chair of the fund, says the end of Roe exacerbated disparities in reproductive health care in the state. “The fund helps individuals in communities that need more support to obtain the care they need and deserve,” she said. “It’s the start we need, but it’s only the start.”

Quick hits:

• Prism on the bipartisan attacks on abortion rights in Louisiana;

• Abortion patients from Oklahoma are having to travel hundreds of mile to get care;

• The Chicago Sun-Times spoke to Abortion Access Front’s Lizz Winstead about crisis pregnancy centers in Illinois;

• A Utah student relays why her state isn’t pro-family;

• And The New Yorker on how Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made the state a Democratic stronghold (hint: it had a lot to do with abortion).

In the Nation

Secretary of State Antony Blinken weighed in on Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s hold-up of military promotions over the Pentagon’s abortion policy, writing a letter to lawmakers that “a handful of senators are keeping our best players on the sidelines” and that “vacant posts have long-term negative impact on U.S. national security.”

His comments come after National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the policy—which allows for paid leave and out-of-state travel for abortion care—was necessary for military retention. “If you don't think there's going to be a retention and morale issue, think again, because it's already having that effect,” he said.

The Pentagon’s abortion policy isn’t even that great—it’s more like bare minimum. Which makes Republicans’ stand against it all the more irritating. If we’re looking for policies that are actually proactively great, Lauren Rankin at Truthout argues that the Abortion Justice Act is the real deal. Introduced by Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Cori Bush, the legislation has little chance of passing. But Rankin argues—and I believe she’s right—that it doesn’t matter, “because it boldly lays out a vision for what a truly reproductively-free U.S. would look like.”

“If nothing else, it’s a reminder that there are, in fact, members of Congress who understand and embrace reproductive justice as a fundamental tenet and are willing to attach their name to it. For abortion providers, funders, clinic escorts and staffers, it’s a reminder that the work they do, work for which they often risk their safety and lives, is recognized by someone in a position of power as worthy and venerable.”

Meanwhile, Steve Benen at MSNBC writes that Republicans’ continued doubling down on abortion is going to bite them in the ass. (Again.) “The more the American mainstream tells policymakers that abortion should be legal—both at the ballot box and in polling—the more GOP officials thumb their noses at voters’ wishes,” he writes.

And The Guardian covered something I’ve been writing about quite a lot lately: the conservative attacks on vending machines stocked with emergency contraception on college campuses. Remember, we can expect to see a lot more of this in the coming months: they’re going to conflate emergency contraception with abortion medication in an attempt to deliberately confuse Americans.

Quick hits:

• Democrats are proposing legislation to impose new ethics rules on the Supreme Court;

• KFF Health News has a round-up of articles on the move by Republican AGs to get medical records for out-of-state abortion patients;

• NBC on how ‘centrist’ Republicans are warning those on the far right that they’re mucking things up on abortion and other issues;

• And Ms. magazine with a list of places you can access abortion medication for free if you live in a state with an abortion ban.

Criminalizing Care

I told you last week about the 19 state Attorneys General who want to be able to access the medical records of women who leave their states for abortion care. (A clear sign that Republican promises that they don’t want to prosecute women or keep them from traveling out-of-state are bunch of bullshit.) Last night, Rachel Maddow did a segment on the story:

Essentially, Republicans are upset over an expansion of abortion-related privacy protections in HIPAA, and want the Biden administration to reverse the policy. Democrats, however, think that the HIPAA rules don’t go far enough.

Sen. Ron Wyden told POLITICO the policy “doesn’t come close to dealing with the risk women are facing,” and that he’s worried specifically about pharmacies that might be dispensing abortion medication:

“I’ve been investigating pharmacy chains for the last two months on their privacy practices, and I can tell you that health care providers are turning over Americans’ sensitive health records without a warrant every single week. And, for the most part, the patients are never going to be told that the information was turned over. That’s why this rule is so unacceptable. We’re talking about uterus surveillance.”

In related news, a new report from STOP (Surveillance Technology Oversight Project) warns about the increasing danger of law enforcement’s ability to track abortion and gender-affirming care. From social media messages to automated license plate readers (ALPR), technology has made it a whole lot easier for those seeking to prosecute abortion patients. (And again, no matter what Republicans say about not wanting to arrest patients—we know better than to listen to them.)

Abortion, Every Day has covered quite a few reports on digital privacy and surveillance, but STOP’s research stands out in the way it lays plain exactly how patients could be targeted. Consider someone who took their car to an abortion clinic: The report points out that it’s not just ALPRs that you have to worry about—but data from the cars themselves, “retained a long while and accessible without a warrant according to companies’ business policies.” We haven’t even gotten to street camera footage!

Eleni Manis, a senior researcher at STOP, told HuffPost that they’ve identified some lower-risk ways of traveling:

“If I needed to seek criminalized care, I would take a plane, or a train, or a bus to a big city where anybody might go see a play, go shopping, do anything else, and I’d obtain my care there in an anonymous city…it’s preferable to stay in a private home than to stay in a short-term rental or in a hotel.”

2024

In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wouldn’t directly answer whether he would sign a 6-week national abortion ban as president. He pivoted instead, saying that Congress wouldn’t let it happen. The real danger, DeSantis says, is that if Republicans lose the election, “they’re gonna try to nationalize abortion up until the moment of birth.”

I’ve mentioned this term ‘nationalizing’ abortion before. It’s clever, really, because it makes abortion protections sound much more aggressive and proactive—as if Democrats are trying to enact a country-wide abortion mandate. It takes the focus off the fact that Republicans are actively passing bans that Americans don’t want.

Also in 2024 news, the new ‘moderate’ group No Labels seems to be laying groundwork, possibly, for a third-party candidate. Their stance on abortion, as you might expect, is middling bullshit: The Washington Post reports they say the issue needs “to be reframed with ‘empathy and respect’ to reflect the mixed results of public polling.” Last time I checked, the public polling was pretty clear!

Keep An Eye On

The attacks on college campuses and professors. I’ve previously flagged the way that conservative media outlets are going after individual professors who have the nerve to publicly support abortion rights. It’s a growing strategy that does a tremendous amount of damage: After all, if you know that putting a supportive sign on your office door or writing a pro-choice paper will make you the target of the right-wing media media machine, you’re a lot less likely to do those things. It has a chilling effect.

It’s not just professors who are getting attacked, though—but institutions. The most recent trend I’ve noticed is conservative outlets singling out universities that cover abortion care in their student health insurance policies, especially when a college has a religious background or connection. (As always, I don’t link to pieces like these so they don’t get the traffic they so desperately want.)

What worries me about this—targeting health insurance plans, in particular—isn’t just that it might lead universities deciding to do away with such coverage. It’s also that the attacks are part of a broader strategy to go after access to abortion and contraception for young people. It’s the same reason that anti-abortion groups are suddenly focused on Plan B vending machines: anything that helps young people prevent or end pregnancies is a problem for them.

Quote of the Day

“Medication abortion is a lifeline. It’s a lifeline for the person working multiple jobs who can’t afford to take the day off work because wages are too low or they don’t have paid sick leave. It’s a lifeline for the mom of two who can’t afford childcare or who can’t find that affordable childcare. It’s a lifeline for the person who lives hundreds of miles away from the nearest clinic and does not have reliable transportation. It’s a lifeline for the trans folks who face transphobia and bigotry because of anti-LGBT+ laws and outrageous bans on gender affirming care.”

- U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, at a roundtable abortion rights discussion this week