Abortion, Every Day (8.8.23)

Ohio votes on the future of ballot measures

In the States

Today’s the day, Ohio! Republicans are holding a special election to try to raise the standards on ballot measures as a way to prevent voters from restoring and protecting abortion rights in the state. A brief rundown of the Ohio GOP’s attacks on democracy: This special election for Issue 1, which is costing the state millions of dollars, would require that measures get 60% of the vote instead of a simple majority. It would also make it near-impossible for citizen groups to get a measure in front of voters to begin with, by mandating that they gather signatures from every county in the state, instead of the current requirement of signatures from half the counties. (This would allow a single rural community to quash an amendment that the vast majority of voters want to pass.)

Conservatives have also sued, twice, to keep a pro-choice ballot measure away from voters. First, anti-abortion activists filed a suit claiming that the measure needed to be split into two questions—a tactic they hoped would force pro-choicers to collect twice as many signatures (and have to start their process over from the beginning). That suit failed. More recently, Republicans are arguing to the state Supreme Court that the ballot measure didn’t properly list the laws it would repeal if the measure was successful. That case is still in process.

All the while, anti-abortion groups have spent millions of dollars on an ad campaign that lies to voters both about Issue 1 and the pro-choice ballot measure—trying to appeal to anti-trans bigotry and scare tactics around ‘parental rights’. Essentially, they know that abortion rights are incredibly popular so they’re trying to change the conversation to something they think will garner more support.

All of which is to say: they’re pulling out all the stops because they know the people of Ohio want abortion rights protected. And after months of claiming that all of these moves had nothing at all to do with abortion, Republicans there are finally admitting that it was always “100%” about abortion. They simply don’t want voters to have a say.

Liz Walters, chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, told POLITICO yesterday that voters in the state need to know that Issue 1 is about more than abortion—but democracy itself:

“If you believe in the right to join a union, if you care about voting rights, if you care about having fair maps, this issue transcends any single issue.”

The good news is that early voting shows massive turnout, and recent polls show that the majority of voters in Ohio don’t want to raise the standards for ballot measures. Pro-choice activists have also gathered twice the signatures they needed to get their amendment—which you can read here—in front of voters. So I’m holding out hope that democracy wins today.

If you’re a regular Abortion, Every Day reader, you’re probably an expert on all of this by now—but if you know someone who could use a short explainer on what’s been happening in Ohio, this segment from PBS Newshour is a good place to start:

And for some vital analysis of what’s at stake in Ohio, make sure to read law professors Melissa Murray and Kate Shaw, the brilliant hosts of Strict Scrutiny, at The New York Times:

“Direct democracy is by no means a panacea. But it is an important mechanism for preserving a role for the people. That’s especially true at this moment, with grossly gerrymandered legislatures passing draconian bans that endanger women’s health and freedom—and with threats to democracy extending well beyond the topic of abortion.”

Editor’s note: While I’m ostensibly on vacation, I have been writing about this election way too much to ignore it now. I’ll send out an email blast if we get the results tonight and may start an open thread, as well. So keep an eye out!

More in pro-choice ballot measures and attacks on democracy: In Missouri, where we’ve been following Republican attempts to stop an abortion rights measure, the state GOP and anti-abortion activists have filed another lawsuit seeking to prevent voters from making their voices heard. The suit claims that the cost estimate for the ballot measure is too low, and should account for lost tax revenue because of less people being born:

“These future losses to Missouri from loss of population due to abortion are both absolutely certain (fewer citizens definitely means fewer future taxpayers and laborers) and potentially generational and infinite.”

This false and bold claim comes just weeks after the Missouri Supreme Court ordered the Attorney General to sign off on a cost estimate for the measure. You probably remember that AG Andrew Bailey held up activists for months from collecting signatures by making the same argument this suit does—claiming that restoring abortion rights would cost the state billions of dollars, rather than the $51,000 estimated by the state auditor. This new suit says that the auditor—who is an anti-abortion Republican!—“failed to fulfill his legal obligations to ‘assess,’ ‘estimate,’ and ‘evaluate’ with respect to the proposed initiative petitions.”

In response, a spokesperson for the ACLU of Missouri said, “The bogus lawsuit parrots the already court-rejected claims of the Attorney General,” and called the move “another attempt by power-obsessed politicians to prevent Missourians from voting on reproductive rights.” Sounds about right! Just as a reminder, an anti-abortion activist in Missouri was caught on camera recently outlining the way that they’ve been colluding with Republicans to keep abortion away from voters.

The ballot measure efforts in places like Ohio and Missouri have set off a national trend: This week, abortion rights groups in Arizona taking the first steps towards getting a pro-choice constitutional amendment in front of voters in November 2024. A new PAC, Arizona for Abortion Access, filed proposed language for the measure today with the secretary of state’s office. The coalition—made up of the Arizona chapters of Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the ACLU and more—will need to collect over 380,000 signatures to move the measure forward. So this is great news.

Worth noting: The Washington Post reports that the language being proposed in the Arizona measure would protect abortion rights up until fetal ‘viability’, after which abortion would be allowed to protect the pregnant person’s life, or their physical or mental health. ‘Viability’—something we know is an arbitrary standard—has been the source of a lot of conflict among reproductive rights activists, especially as more abortion rights ballot measures have been proposed across the country. Some activists support language about ‘viability’ because they’re afraid doing otherwise will open them up to conservative attacks. Others, myself included, believe we shouldn’t be basing our work on the bad-faith framing of those who will say we want abortion ‘up until birth’ no matter what kind of policies we support.

I wish I had better news out of Texas. Just hours after a judge ruled in favor of the 15 women who sued after their lives and health were endangered by the state’s abortion ban, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court. His appeal has blocked the ruling, which means abortions are still banned in cases where a pregnancy is doomed or dangerous. In a press release this weekend, Paxton’s office said, “Texas pro-life laws are in full effect…this judge's ruling is not.”

These brave women recounted the worst experiences of their lives—re-traumatizing themselves—in the hopes that they could prevent others from similarly suffering. This is what their lawyer, Molly Duane with the Center for Reproductive Rights, had to say about Paxton’s appeal:

“It's never been clearer that the term 'pro-life' is a complete misnomer. What our plaintiffs went through was pure torture, and the state is hell bent on making sure that kind of suffering continues.”

That’s exactly right. As we say a lot around here: the cruelty is the point. That doesn’t mean that the lawsuit was in vain: quite the opposite. The women who came forward to share their stories made sure that the world was forced to acknowledge the suffering that abortion bans cause. In KFF Health News, reporter Sarah Varney looks at how their trial has changed the way people think about abortion rights, and the importance of personal experiences and storytelling. (Long used by groups like the fantastic organization We Testify.)

Law professor Greer Donley (who you may remember from our mifepristone lawsuit explainer) told Varney, “We’re in this moment where all of the stories are coming out and it’s raw.” She continued to say that “Storytelling is the future…That’s how you change hearts and minds.”

In better news…

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul wants to speed up the challenge to the state’s abortion ban. After filing a motion for an expedited decision, Kaul said that the filing “marks another important step in our fight to protect the freedom and safety of women in Wisconsin.” His move for an expedited decision is surely related to the new makeup of the state Supreme Court—this month, pro-choice judge Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in.

And in Pennsylvania, the state is ending a multi-million dollar contract with a network of crisis pregnancy centers. In announcing the decision, Gov. Josh Shapiro said that the Real Alternatives program had received taxpayer dollars for decades, and “my administration will not continue that pattern.” He said, “We will ensure women in this commonwealth receive the reproductive health care they deserve.” Love to see it. (Especially now, when so many anti-abortion centers across the country are getting massive boosts in their funding.)

Quick hits:

• A Kansas judge will decide whether to pause the state’s 24-hour waiting period for abortion;

• How California students bound for college are preparing to live in anti-choice states;

• More on the lawsuit from Alabama providers that seeks to prevent the prosecution of anyone who helps a pregnant person get out-of-state abortion care;

• And the 73 year-old man who tried to burn down an Illinois abortion clinic is pleading no contest.

Expert Voices

Democracy Now interviewed activist, author and scholar Dorothy Roberts about what’s happening with abortion rights across the country. (If you haven’t ready Roberts’ Killing the Black Body, considered one of the most vital contributions to the abortion rights canon, you really should buy the book today.)

In the Nation

• MSNBC and Jezebel both have pieces on how Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s ‘protest’ of the Pentagon’s abortion policy has left a gap in military leadership;

• Axios on how Democrats are thinking about getting around Tuberville’s blocks of nominations and promotions;

• Amy Littlefield at The Nation braved a Moms for Liberty summit where the group used ‘parental rights’ to talk about abortion;

• And Lauren Rankin at Truthout reminds us that while fighting for increased access to medication abortion is vital, we can’t forget that procedural abortions will always be necessary;

Stats & Studies

A new poll from CNN shows that voters are just as pissed about abortion rights as they were a year ago, and that a record-high number say a candidate’s stance on abortion is important to them. The poll shows that 64% of Americans disapprove of Roe being overturned, with half strongly disapproving; and that 29% of Americans report that they’ll only vote for a candidate who shares their views on abortion (up from 26% right after the Dobbs decision was leaked). Only 16% of Americans say they don’t see abortion as a major voting issue, which CNN reports is a record-low since they started doing polling in 1996.

Meanwhile, a new study from researchers at Stanford University shows that a national abortion ban would increase cardiac defects in newborns by nearly 54%. The research, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, also points out that cardiac malformations are the most common type of congenital abnormality and that most anomalies are found in the second trimester. The study authors warn that abortion bans will “significantly increase” infant surgeries and deaths related to cardiac defects:

“States considering limiting abortion access should consider the implications of such policies on the resources required to care for the increasing number of children that will be born with significant and complex medical needs, including congenital heart disease.”

Of course, we know that conservatives don’t much care about all that. When Texas’ infant mortality increased sharply after the state banned abortion, representatives from the Charlotte Lozier Institute (the ‘research’ arm of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America) argued that it was fine that more babies were dying because it meant that the law was “preventing unborn children from being aborted due to their medical condition.”

Quick Stats & Studies hits:

• Yahoo has more on the study I told you about last week showing that nearly 42% of U.S. women of reproductive age have to drive 30 minutes or more if they want to get to an abortion clinic;

• And a Vermont economist looks at how abortion access is changing across the country

2024

No wonder Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America is so mad at Ron DeSantis: in a recent interview with NBC, the Florida governor said there’s “not enough consensus” for a federal ban. He insulted their absolute favorite word! Let’s not even get into the fact that DeSantis—again—has claimed that there’s such a thing as a ‘post-birth’ abortion. I wish that interviewers would take him to task for repeating this nonsense, and ask him to explain exactly what he means. I really do believe once voters understand what Republicans’ reasoning is for the talking point—the kinds of laws they’re referring to—people will be furious. (I talked about this on TikTok recently.)

DeSantis also said he doesn’t believe women should be punished for having abortions, which we all know is a bunch of bullshit. When you make something a crime, people tend to be criminalized! DeSantis still managed to insult women in the process, though, saying that those of us who get abortions are victims who’ve been “abandoned” by men. I’ve always found this line of thinking so condescending—the notion that women shouldn’t be punished because we’re not really responsible for our own actions. It’s so insulting.

Quick 2024 hits:

• Political analysis at CNN about how the special election in Ohio could give us some hints about how the abortion-related backlash against Republicans will play out in 2024;

• Mike Pence made a video in support of Issue 1 in Ohio, which would make it harder to protect abortion rights in the state;

• Mother Jones on how Ron DeSantis is being criticized by the anti-abortion movement;

• Semafor points out that Donald Trump remains in the lead despite the fact that he’s ignoring anti-abortion activists;

• CNN looks at anti-abortion infighting over a federal ban litmus test for presidential candidates;

• And Catholic publications and anti-abortion activists are raising the alarm about which Republican candidates haven’t committed to a 15-week national ban.

Listen Up

FiveThirtyEight’s podcast gets into the special election in Ohio today, if you’d like to take a listen:

Also in audio news today:

• NPR’s 1A podcast looks at how anti-abortion politics are endangering the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR);

• And Wisconsin public radio on the history of the state’s 1849 abortion ban and prosecutions related to the law.