Let’s start with some good news for a change. The teenage activist that Matt Gaetz targeted on Twitter used the Republican’s nasty attack to raise over $200,000 (and counting!!) for abortion funds. Superstar!
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On the less happy front, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the doctor who provided an Ohio 10 year-old with the abortion she needed after being raped, is still being harassed and is still being investigated by the Indiana attorney general’s office. The attorney general is questioning if she reported the abortion, even though records clearly show she did—which makes this a pretty clearcut harassment campaign.
“It’s honestly been very hard for me, for my family,” she told NPR. “It’s hard to understand why a political figure, a prominent figure in the state, would want to come after physicians who are helping patients every single day in their state.”
I’ve said before, but it needs to be repeated: this doctor is not being targeted just because she provides abortions. She is being targeted because she spoke up about a horrific case that showed just how cruel and fucked up abortion bans are—and how they hurt the most vulnerable among us.
More on Indiana: Republicans there continue make the anti-abortion law even more extreme after pressure from anti-choice groups; their bill would now mandate that doctors who perform abortions could face six years in prison. They also put time limits on when rape victims would be allowed to access care: Those 16 and older could only have an abortion up until 8 weeks of pregnancy, while those under 16 years old would have until 12 weeks.
If you know anything about child rape victims, you know that they often have no idea that they are pregnant for months, if ever. Because they are children. When this particular amendment was passed, Sen. Minority Leader Greg Taylor became emotional, spoke about his sister’s experience, and walked out.
Activists and abortion providers in Georgia filed a new lawsuit yesterday in an effort to block the abortion ban there. One of the groups bringing forward the suit is SisterSong—if you’re not familiar with the organization, you should remedy that. It’s one of the longest standing reproductive justice organizations started by and for women of color.
The National Abortion Federation said they would resume funding abortions in Kentucky, where the state’s trigger law is currently blocked. This is a big deal for people who need financial help with abortions, because NAF’s money accounted for a large bulk of the funding for patients in Kentucky, and the pause in donations put a real strain on care in the state.
Idaho’s trigger ban goes into effect on August 25th; the law makes performing abortion a felony, and would require rape and incest victims to give a copy of a police report to doctors before they could receive care.
The trigger law in Texas will also go into effect on August 25th. This is different than the state’s existing law, which already bans abortion. The trigger law increases penalties for doctors who perform abortions: They would have to pay $100,000 in civil penalties per abortion, and face life in prison. The Texas Tribune reports on how abortion clinics in the state are trying to decide whether to relocate, or stay in Texas and provide whatever limited care they can.
Beto also has a new ad out in Texas that is worth watching:
The biggest professional research ethics organization in the country has pulled out of its annual conference in Utah because of the trigger law there. Which made me think about the Sundance Film Festival, set to take place in the state in January. Seems like this would be a good time to make some changes...
Speaking of asking folks to take a stand, the New Jersey Star-Ledger has an op-ed up asking Bruce Springsteen to cancel his concerts in anti-abortion states; and Bloomberg points out that Hollywood puts billions of dollars into anti-abortion states like Georgia.
IN NATIONAL NEWS:
Activists are pushing the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency (which he should have done a long time ago), and Democrats have introduced a long-shot bill that would allow the U.S. to fund abortions abroad.
Coverage for contraception is currently at risk thanks to an anti-Obamacare lawsuit. The suit, brought forward by two Texas residents, is asking the court to strike down the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that insurers cover certain preventative medicines like birth control and drugs that prevent HIV, because it violates their religious beliefs.
Attorney generals from 17 states have sent Google a letter threatening legal action if the company limits or blocks crisis pregnancy centers from web searches. (The Alabama attorney general threatened to sue Google for the same reason.) CPCs are known for their scare tactics and misinformation—as well as lying to women about how far along they are in pregnancy in order to make it harder for them to get abortions.
In your “Yeah, no shit” news of the day, a study found that states with abortion bans also tend to have the worst track records on sex education. The Scientific American has this handy graphic that is worth checking out.
InsideHigherEd has an article up about the post-Roe hurdles that colleges are facing; The Washington Post looks at how one HR and payroll services company is helping small business give abortion travel coverage; and Detroit’s NPR station has an interview with an ethicist about whether doctors are morally obligated to break abortion laws to save women’s lives.
The Christian Science Monitor is profiling the abortion stories of three different couples, with a focus on the men; and the Los Angeles Times has an op-ed pointing out that if men were being targeted by abortion laws, the response would be a whole lot different.
TIME has a piece from a woman who decided to leave Texas after Roe was overturned, and why she’s not swayed by the calls to ‘stay and fight’. And Lauren Rankin at The Cut looks at what it took for a North Dakota clinic to pack up and move to Minnesota so they could keep operating.
I’ve mentioned a bunch of times now that cities, especially those in red states, are trying to support abortion rights in innovative ways. In St. Louis, mayor Tishaura Jones signed a law that allows the city to tap into federal funding to help get city residents help in getting abortion services. The Missouri attorney general has already filed a suit against the city. Seattle declared itself a sanctuary city for those seeking abortions, which means law enforcement there will not cooperate with investigations related to abortion bans in other states. The Spokane city council passed a resolution that does the same.
WHAT I MISSED:
Apparently Oklahoma librarians can’t even use the word abortion: Librarians in the state were sent a memo threatening them with civil penalties and jail time if they gave out any information on how to obtain an abortion or help someone locate abortion-related information. The memo went as far as to say, “Don’t talk about it, and especially don’t use the word abortion.” Since VICE broke the story, Oklahoma officials have tried to walk back the guidance, saying that the memo was just a legal “placeholder.” Sure.
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