Texas’ trigger ban went into effect today, increasing the punishment for anyone who provides an abortion to life in prison. Because district attorneys in five large counties in the state—Bexar, Dallas, Fort Bend, Nueces and Travis—have said they won’t pursue abortion-related cases, conservatives are planning to introduce legislation that will allow prosecutors to file charges outside of their own jurisdiction. (Also, the civil penalties for anyone providing an abortion is $100,000.)
And as I mentioned yesterday, Republicans have also made clear they will go after abortion funds and reproductive rights organizations—even if they help women obtain abortions outside of the state.
If you missed my story earlier today, something else horrible—though not entirely shocking—out of Texas and the anti-abortion movement: The political director of the largest and oldest anti-choice organization was charged with soliciting a minor online.
Speaking of that article, I guess it must have been good because VICE News decided to lift all of my reporting and pass it off as their own! Just another reason to support independent feminist journalism:
Also in Texas, a woman there has written a column about why the abortion ban made her decide to stop undergoing IVF: “How ironic that reversing Roe could lead to someone like me, who wants more children, to stick with one. While anti-abortion advocates claim their goal is to promote life, the new laws could do the opposite.”
In part, that’s why Beto O’Rourke is calling the state’s abortion ban the “most important thing” that Texas voters need to know about.
Trigger laws have also gone into effect in Idaho and Tennessee. Idaho’s law was somewhat weakened by a judge yesterday, who ruled that doctors must-perform emergency abortions—but there was no block on other parts of the law that ban all other abortions.
Tennessee’s abortion law is also a total ban, save for cases where an abortion is needed to save a person’s life—but doctors have already noted the language and criminal penalties attached make it unlikely that they will feel safe doing so. Women in Tennessee are understandably terrified; The Tennessean talks to some who are leaving the state because of the law.
In Minnesota, where abortion is legal, providers are already seeing an influx of patients from states where they can’t legally end their pregnancy. But the kind of patients they’re seeing tells a very clear story about who has the privilege to travel out-of-state for care. According to ProPublica, 75% of the people traveling to the state for abortions are white.
Abortion providers in Colorado are calling on the state for support and funding as they try to handle a constant stream of patients from out-of-state. They’re also asking politicians for protection. From Dr. Kristina Tocce, medical director at Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains:
“I am harassed every day when I walk into work, and so are my patients. I have patients sobbing because they were harassed by a man on a bullhorn calling them a murderer, and that really takes a toll on an individual and makes people even more scared, providers and patients alike.”
The Republican nominee for US Senate in Washington, Tiffany Smiley, released an ad today demonstrating just how afraid the GOP is of voters pissed off about abortion bans. (Even the Wall Street Journal can see the writing on the wall.)
Some advice: If you're going to try to convince voters you're not an anti-abortion extremist, maybe lay off the Serena Joy cosplay.
Louisiana legislators are insisting that the hospital that denied a woman an abortion even though her fetus was missing part of its head and skull simply misinterpreted the law. Jenny Ma, of the Center for Reproductive Rights says, “Doctors in Louisiana warned about the negative impact these bans would have on pregnant patients...we will absolutely see more and more situations like this if abortion remains banned.”
In Florida, the Jacksonville clinic who says police refused to help with a swarm of anti-abortion protesters, now says that cops knew about the protest in advance and did nothing to warn them.
And a city council meeting in Allentown, Pennsylvania got raucous when debating a proposed buffer zone to protect doctors and patients at clinics and hospitals from anti-abortion protesters. Another proposed ordinance would stop crisis pregnancy centers from disseminating advertisements that are “deceptive,” which a director of a CPC complained would unfairly target his organization. Huh!
A new report from the National Partnership for Women & Families highlights the connection between states with abortion bans and states that refuse to support families. (Hint: They’re the fucking same.)
A special operations combat medic writes in the Army Times that “American servicewomen deserve better” than the military’s response to abortion rights:
“Military members do not choose their duty stations, so the Department of Defense is forcing service women to live where abortions are unavailable and leaving them in a situation where they must pursue other potentially risky options.”
Buzzfeed has a piece on unaccompanied immigrant minors and abortion access; Energy and Policy highlights the gas and electric utilities companies who donated money to anti-abortion politicians; and The Christian Science Monitor profiles young activists furious about the rollback of abortion rights.
That’s it for today, I’m sure—sadly—there will be plenty more tomorrow. Keep your heads up. -Jessica
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