Abortion, Every Day (9.14.23)

WI Planned Parenthoods will resume abortions—even though the state ban stands

Today in the newsletter: In the States is chock full of ballot measure items, along with some terrific news out of Wisconsin. In the Nation gives updates on the Pentagon’s abortion policy; I tell you about Ron DeSantis’ latest fuck-up in Criminalizing Care; and delve into Republicans’ never-ending abortion problem in 2024. In Stats & Studies, new research shows that abortion bans have American women forgoing motherhood altogether. And finally, a warning to Keep An Eye On claims from Polish scientists that they’ve discovered a way to test for the presence of abortion medication.

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In the States

Let’s start with some good news! Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin announced that they’ll be resuming abortion care next week even though the state’s ban has not been repealed. I am so here for this.

You may remember that in July, a judge ruled that a challenge against the 1849 ban could move forward because, she said, the law isn’t actually an abortion ban at all. Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper ruled that the nearly 175-year old law is actually “a feticide statute only”—meaning it only applies to an attack on a pregnant person that ends the pregnancy, and not abortion. Schlipper wrote, “There is no such thing as an ‘1849 Abortion Ban’ in Wisconsin.”

Obviously, Planned Parenthood sat down with their lawyers—and I’m assuming state leaders, as well—and decided that the decision gave them the assurance they needed to resume care. (The group stopped providing abortions when Roe was overturned.) I’m sure it helps that Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul is pro-choice and has filed a lawsuit against the ban, and that pro-choice judge Janet Protasiewicz just took her seat on the state Supreme Court.

In response, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called it “critically important news for Wisconsin women and patients across our state.” Anti-abortion leaders are less thrilled. Because the law still stands, president of Wisconsin Family Action, Julaine Appling, says “what the governor and Planned Parenthood are doing is promoting an illegal activity.” See, I’d call it brave! You can watch the announcement from Tanya Atkinson, president of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, here.

For some reason, there’s still no mainstream media coverage of the fact that the Republican running for Kentucky governor pledged to ban birth control. As I reported last night, state AG Daniel Cameron filled out a 2023 questionnaire from Northern Kentucky Right to Life, affirming that he would criminalize abortion and support legislation that prohibits state funding for abortion—with abortion defined as including hormonal birth control. This lack of media coverage is how people end up being surprised when a vital right is rolled back.

If you’re a regular Abortion, Every Day reader, you know that there is a lot of ballot measure news these days. Getting abortion directly in front of voters has become a major pro-choice strategy (and the bane of Republicans’ existence). But not all states have ballot initiative processes, and some voters—like those in Louisiana, for example—are asking why they can’t have a say on the issue. Generally those questions are coming from folks who want to restore and protect abortion rights, but this week in Mississippi, Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson says that the state should revive the initiative process.

Don’t get too excited, though! Watson’s comments come after his Democratic opponent, Ty Pinkins, called out Watson and other Republicans, saying they “stripped away our ballot initiative process, completely eliminating our right to take issues directly to voters.”

You may recall that earlier this year, Mississippi legislators were taking steps to reinstate the initiative process—but with the specific caveat that it could not be used to restore abortion rights. So, voters could have a little democracy, but not all of it. And certainly not any on abortion!

And so Watson’s call for ballot measures in the state isn’t exactly genuine—especially given that he believes the threshold “should be a little bit higher.” (Which is what Ohio and Missouri Republicans tried to do.) He also claimed that voters in Mississippi are not actually interested in abortion, but that the idea is being pushed by “out-of-state entities.” (Which is what Republicans in every state with a pro-choice ballot measure claim.) So we’ll keep an eye on Mississippi, but we’re not holding our breath.

We’re not done with ballot measure efforts yet: Today, a coalition of Nevada abortion rights groups—including Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice Nevada and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada—filed a petition with the secretary of state’s office to get a pro-choice amendment in front of voters in 2024. This is different than the ballot measure effort I told about in May, which was being done through the legislature.

While Nevada is a pro-choice state, an amendment would add important additional protections—though, as has been the case with so many other proposed measures, it would cap those protections at ‘viability’. You can read the full text of the amendment here. From Lindsey Harmon, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Votes Nevada:

“The fallout of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade has shown us that we have already suffered one year too long without the guaranteed right to reproductive freedom, and we simply cannot afford to stand by and allow any further encroachment on the fundamental right of Nevadans to determine their own reproductive lives and care.”

The activists need to collect over 100k signatures by June 26th in order to move the measure forward. If the measure passes—Nevada requires a simple majority—the state then requires that the amendment pass a second time in the general election in 2026. Fingers and toes crossed.

In South Carolina, where the all-male state Supreme Court allowed for the enforcement of a near-total abortion ban, doctors are suing over the definition of “fetal heartbeat.” Physicians in the state are trying to extend the time they can legally give women care; right now, doctors can only provide abortions up until about 6 weeks because of Republicans’ non-medical definition. (At 6 weeks there isn’t even a heart, let alone a heartbeat.)

Back in August, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic petitioned the Court to rehear the case, and adopt a medically-accepted definition that recognizes a heartbeat once the four chambers of a heart are fully formed—usually between 17 and 20 weeks of pregnancy. The Justices declined just a few days later. Given that failure, doctors are now asking for the Court to consider allowing abortion until the 9th week of pregnancy, because that’s when most of the primary parts of the eventual heart have formed.

I hate that the feeling that we’re begging for scraps—especially when the science is on our side—but I understand how badly providers just want to be able to help as many women as possible.

One of the women bringing a lawsuit against Tennessee over the state’s abortion ban spoke to the TODAY Show this week about her experience. Allie Phillips, whose story went viral on TikTok, was 18 weeks pregnant when she found out her pregnancy was doomed. Still, she had to travel all the way to New York in order to get care. Phillips couldn’t afford the travel and procedure, so she raised money through a GoFundMe—where strangers who had seen her videos chipped in.

“It just kind of gave me faith in humanity and made me feel very supported and loved,” Phillips said. (Please remember, this is the kind of community support that states like Texas and Alabama call ‘aiding and abetting.”)

Phillips says that she’s scared about the lawsuit, but that she’s preparing for whatever happens:

“I'm waiting for the next wave of people to tell me I murdered my daughter. I also feel empowered as a woman and a mom. I'm showing [my other daughter] that you can fight for change. If anything, I feel like this is a pivotal moment in my life.”

Finally, Abena Abraham, campaign director of UnRestrict Minnesota, writes in the Duluth News Tribune that Minnesota abortion clinics and organizations need increased funding as the number of out-of-state patients continues to rise: “Our work now must be focused on ensuring we give providers and patients the resources they need to continue expanding and delivering reproductive health care across the region.”

Quick hits:

• With early voting in Virginia starting next week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin is out on the campaign trail talking up his 15-week abortion ban proposal;

• Tulsa World has an interview with the Oklahoma woman who was denied an abortion and told to wait in a hospital parking lot until she was dying;

• The San Antonio City Council passed a budget that included a $500,000 abortion travel fund that will help people leave Texas;

• Abortion is a top issue for Latino voters in Colorado;

• Finally, Louisiana’s gubernatorial debate is tomorrow—and Democrat Shawn Wilson is the only candidate who supports a rape and incest exception for the state’s ban, and who believes voters should vote directly on the issue.

In the Nation

The political stand-off over the Pentagon’s abortion policy continues on. Yesterday, Defense Department spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said, “we are not changing our policy.”

“We have to make sure that a service member serving in Alabama has the same rights and access to reproductive health as a service member in California or a service member in Korea. We need to make sure that there is equity across our military and that all of our service members have access to reproductive health care.”

Singh’s comments come in the wake of Sen. Tommy Tuberville calling for a vote on the policy—which allows service members time off and travel reimbursement if they need to leave their state for care. Hundreds of military promotions and nominations have been held up because of Tuberville’s ‘protest’.

Former president George Bush has been reaching out to members of the GOP about PEPFAR funding, which is in danger of being renewed because of campaigning from conservatives and anti-abortion organizations. The global HIV-AIDS relief program has been incredibly successful, and saved millions of lives—yet the so called ‘pro-life’ movement wants it ended. Go figure.

Make sure to read this important Rewire piece from Kelsey Rhodes about how people with disabilities are excluded from conversations about abortion bans. In part, Rhodes writes, it’s because of the way that conservatives “try and lay claim over how abortion is ableist.” But the issue goes far beyond that—and directly into how the pro-choice movement operates:

“Because folks within the reproductive health, rights, and justice spaces haven’t made physical spaces, events, and social media spaces accessible for disabled people and chronically ill people to participate, the realities of disabled people accessing abortion aren’t there. They were never invited or given space to be there to begin with. And when their voices aren’t even present to be heard or included, it leaves much more space for the claims of anti-abortion extremists to take up space in the public dialogue around abortion access.”

Definitely take the time to read Rhodes’ full piece.

Finally, Vice President Kamala Harris is embarking on a college speaking tour to rev up young voters. I bet you can guess one of the issues she’s focusing on! Because anti-abortion activists never cease to be absolute jokes, Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins heard about Harris’ speaking tour and has decided to challenge her to a debate on abortion. Part of me would love to see this, purely for the pleasure of watching Hawkins get absolutely trounced. But mostly I just can’t believe Hawkins thinks Harris would ever deign to share a stage with her. As the kids say, delulu.

Quick hits:

• NPR on the new lawsuits in three states brought by women who were denied vital care;

• Rewire on the Biden Administration’s push to get the Supreme Court to weigh in on mifepristone;

• And The Los Angeles Blade on how attacks on doctors providing gender-affirming care mirror the attacks on abortion providers we’ve seen for decades.

Criminalizing Care

A Nebraska mother who helped her teen daughter self-manage an abortion is scheduled to be sentenced next week. Jessica Burgess pled guilty to breaking the state’s abortion law; her daughter, Celeste, who was 17 at the time, pled guilty to concealing and abandoning a dead human body. Celeste served 53 days of a 90-day jail sentence before being released, and will be on probation for two years. I’ll keep you updated about Jessica’s sentencing as I find out more.

As we watch women and girls be prosecuted for abortion, Republicans continue to claim that they would never, ever punish women for ending their pregnancies. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, told CBS News this weekend that his state’s recently-passed 6-week ban would not criminalize abortion patients—just providers. Thank goodness CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell pushed back, pointing out that the language of the bill says that anyone “who willfully performs or actively participates in a termination of pregnancy” would be guilty of a felony.

When O'Donnell asked, “Is a woman not actively participating in the termination of her pregnancy?” De Santis responded that “she's not a medical practitioner.” But here’s the thing: When someone takes an abortion pill, that ‘participation’ is about as ‘active’ as you get! Besides, we know that women will be criminalized because it’s happening elsewhere.

2024

Speaking of DeSantis and abortion—his stance has done him no favors at the polls, where he’s been surpassed by Nikki Haley. As Grace mentioned earlier this week, Republicans are counting on Haley and other female Republicans to carry their anti-abortion message to voters, now knowing that when women talk about abortion bans, it polls much better than when male politicians talk about them. (Ya don’t say!)

Despite Haley’s surge, she still lags behind Donald Trump. What’s interesting about the latest polls (though not entirely shocking) is that Trump’s supporters are far more likely to be strong opponents of abortion—much more so than supporters for the other candidates.

That divide in support reflects the divide in the party itself, which just can’t seem to get their act together on abortion. The GOP knows that voters absolutely hate abortion bans, but they’re also unwilling to actually soften their policies—hence the messaging that feigns concession. Take this piece in The Hill, for example, that reports the National Republican Senatorial Committee “is encouraging Republicans to clearly state their opposition to a national abortion ban and support for reasonable limits on late-term abortions when babies can feel pain with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.”

Please take note of that switcheroo! They want Republicans to say that they don’t support a national ban, just “reasonable limits.” Sure sounds like a fucking ban to me!

I have to say, though, there was an anecdote in that article that made me laugh aloud: A female Republican strategist explained to The Hill why the GOP didn’t talk about abortion in the midterms:

“I was personally sitting there with all men and a pollster and I said, this is going to be a huge issue. [They said], ‘No, no, women are going to vote with their pocketbooks.’ I said no they’re not; I said they’re absolutely not. And they didn’t.”

It’s almost as if you aligned yourself with a party that doesn’t listen to women and never will!

Stats & Studies

We knew this was coming: New research shows that abortion bans have American women deciding to forgo having children altogether. (And honestly, who can blame them?) Thirty-four percent of women aged 18-39 reported that they or someone they know decided not to get pregnant over fears of being able to manage a pregnancy-related medical emergency. And more than a third of young people said that either they or someone they know has “faced constraints” when trying to manage a pregnancy-related emergency.

It’s not surprising that abortion bans and restrictions make motherhood seem a lot less appealing. What’s interesting about the data, though, is that the results were the same for women living in states without abortion bans. From Lauren Leader, CEO of All In Together, whose organization commissioned the polling:

“The consistency between red and blue states suggests that the statistics on maternal mortality and the stories and struggles of women navigating the new normal on abortion access have penetrated the psyche of young people everywhere. The Dobbs decision, it seems, has fundamentally altered how people feel about having families and the calculus for getting pregnant.”

Also in abortion data news: A new study from researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) found that after Roe was overturned, Google searches for self-managed abortion increased in states hostile to abortion rights.

Keep An Eye On

Some international news with implications for American abortion care: The New York Times reports that Polish scientists claim to have found a way to test for the presence of abortion medication—something they also report has been used to investigate pregnancy outcomes. (This week, Human Rights Watch released a warning about Poland’s ramped-up efforts to criminalize women and doctors.)

If the claims about a detection test are true, this has the potential to be a real problem in here in America. Right now, abortion rights activists are able to assure patients that they can seek medical care after self-managing an abortion without fear that hospitals will be able to tell that they’ve taken abortion medication—it’s indistinguishable from a miscarriage.

My prediction is that conservatives and anti-abortion groups will jump at the chance to find a way to test for abortion medication, despite their insistence that they have no interest in criminalizing women. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.