Mondays are no fucking joke on the abortion news front, so buckle in. (Also: Your regular reminder that you can listen to an extended version of Abortion, Every Day by signing up for paid subscription.)
Rep. Matt Gaetz continues to be a total piece of shit: After giving a speech where he claimed that pro-choice women are too ugly to worry about getting pregnant, the Florida politician attacked a teenager on Twitter. Gaetz, under investigation for paying for sex with teenagers, posted the young activist’s picture to insinuate that she was unattractive.
In more helpful news, the Center for Reproductive Rights has an interactive website up that shows abortion laws state-by-state.
A bill introduced in South Carolina would outlaw websites that tell people how to get abortions; the legislation would make it illegal to “aid, abet or conspire with someone” to end a pregnancy. The law is so vague, though, it would outlaw giving out information about abortion on a website or even over the phone. First amendment? Never heard of her!
Medical students in Michigan walked out of an annual event in protest of an anti-abortion speaker. (Highly recommend watching the video for some vicarious righteous energy.) A reminder that abortion is on the ballot in Michigan this fall: Activists got hundreds of thousands of signatures so that voters could decide on an amendment to protect abortion rights and other reproductive health services like birth control.
Lawmakers in Indiana met today to debate legislation that would ban nearly all abortion, save for those required to prevent “substantial permanent impairment” (whatever that means) to the pregnant person, and Vice President Kamala Harris traveled there to speak up for abortion rights. Last week, I mentioned that Indiana Republicans are working to make their abortion ban seem moderate by messaging heavily around the law’s exceptions and the idea that they’re not trying to criminalize women. Well, now state Republicans are claiming they’ll increase services for pregnant people to help them adjust to the whole forced pregnancy thing. Where is that funding going? Crisis pregnancy centers.
Activists are still trying to raise the alarm in Kansas, where there will be a special vote on August 2 on whether to strip abortion rights protections from the state constitution. The polling is looking very close, so reach out to anyone you know in the state and encourage them to vote. (Related: Here’s a moving piece about a Kansas mom who had to seek out-of-state care when her fetus got a tragic diagnosis.)
In Texas, lawyers are gearing up for an onslaught of criminal cases around abortion, and The Texas Tribune looks at that and the ways that digital privacy is going to come into play. For example, experts say the worry isn’t just about period-tracking apps, but pretty straight-forward messaging and web searches, as well. In a separate article, The Texas Tribune also looks at the chilling effect the ban is having on abortion funds and their ability to give patients advice.
A local paper in Colorado investigated how many children in the state are having abortions: Dr. Rebecca Cohen told The Colorado Sun that most of the time these children don’t understand what has happened, and are so young that they may not even understand the very common question: ‘Are you sexually active?’ “These cases are the ones where, to be completely honest, we cry,” Dr. Cohen said. Also in Colorado, a study from the University of Colorado shows that an abortion ban would increase maternal mortality by 24%—and that the increase would be worst for Black women, who would see a 39% increase in maternal mortality.
In better news, a Massachusetts bill that would protect abortion providers and patients from out-of-state lawsuits—and ensure that people who need abortions after 24 weeks wouldn’t have to leave the state to get care—is one step closer to becoming law.
The New Yorker takes an in-depth look at abortion in Pennsylvania—both how the state is being overwhelmed with patients from other states, and how the procedure could be banned outright if Republicans win the state.
Abortion clinics in Minnesota have already been inundated with calls and visits from out-of-staters seeking help. A patient educator at one clinic told the Associated Press that it’s been difficult to explain to people hoping to get abortion pills mailed to them that it’s not possible, and that they can’t offer financial help to patients who don’t live in Minnesota: “Where they live is going to determine the kind of care that they’re going to get. And the people that are most in need of services are going to have the hardest time accessing it.”
Slate continues their coverage of abortion in Illinois, where clinic worker shares what it’s like to work in a place where women are desperate to come from all over to get the care they need—and the fears that they have: “Just this morning, someone reached out and said, ‘I’m afraid. Am I going to get arrested if I come to Illinois? I know that it’s legal there, but it’s not legal in my state. So will I get arrested when I come back?’”
In some not-so-surprising news, doctors in Iowa are reporting an increase in vasectomies since Roe was overturned, with one urologist noting that he’s seen a 90% increase since the Supreme Court decision: “Every email has a sense of desperation," he said, “'I want to get this done as urgently as possible.'”
On the $$$ front: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a piece featuring women talking about the financial risks associated with having an unplanned pregnancy, and making the link between abortion rights and economic security; and Vox takes a look at how billionaires are (or aren’t) funding abortion rights.
The New York Times outlines the upcoming fight over getting abortion pills into anti-abortion states, and the various ways activists and health care providers are thinking about doing that; while FiveThirtyEight examines the link between abortion bans and the ‘great replacement theory’. Short version? Conservatives are looking to create as many white babies as possible.
ABC News has a round up of a trend I’ve been following here—cities in anti-abortion states that are finding ways to protect abortion or decriminalize it; and MSNBC covers former Vice President Mike Pence’s South Carolina speech where he called for a national abortion ban and claimed that “many more are with us than them.” (They rightly point out that the claim is false: The majority of Americans want to see abortion legal and accessible.)
NPR has a nice explainer about what abortions funds are and how they operate, and also looks into the corporations that are publicly supporting abortion, even as they donate to anti-choice politicians. Speaking of companies who aren’t putting their money where their mouth is: Hulu is blocking ads about abortion.
The Conversation looks into the lie that leaving abortion rights to the states means that the law will represent what state residents actually want, while WIRED notes that the right to travel out of state for abortion isn’t as safe as some might think.
Law professor Mary Zeigler has a piece in The Atlantic about the disturbing trend of anti-choicers not supporting exceptions in abortion bans that save women’s lives. If her name sounds familiar, it’s because I linked to an interview she did with Slate not too long ago. She’s definitely someone worth following.
Yahoo advises on how to talk to your sons about abortion, and The Washington Post examines the disproportionate impact that abortion bans will have on people with disabilities.
Whew. I know it’s a lot, but as I’ve said so many times before: Their strategy is to overwhelm us into inaction. We can’t let that happen.
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