Abortion, Every Day (9.15.23)

1 in 3 Republicans say Democrats are right on abortion

If you thought Friday meant less abortion news, boy oh boy were you wrong! Lots of ballot measure news and Republican attacks on democracy in In the States. In the Nation I update you on the Pentagon’s abortion policy and a new chatbot that helps people find abortion care. In 2024, a reminder that Nikki Haley is STILL not ‘moderate’ on abortion, along with some worries about Donald Trump & abortion. Stats & Studies highlights a new poll showing that even Republicans know that they’re fucked on abortion rights. And finally, in Care Denied, a reminder that a state being pro-choice doesn’t mean everyone can still access abortion.

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In the States

As Florida abortion rights activists get closer to gathering the nearly 900,000 signatures they need to move a pro-choice ballot measure forward, Republicans are already thinking about how to stymie their amendment.

Floridians Protecting Freedom have already collected approximately 600,000 signatures; half have been validated by the state so far. But the Orlando Sentinel reports that the longer it takes to collect the rest of the signatures, the more time it gives Republicans to add further restrictions to the ballot measure process—like “giving the attorney general more power to interfere with reviews, increasing the signatures necessary to trigger a review, and a ban on paying canvassers per signature.”

Daniel A. Smith, the political science chair at the University of Florida, says that the moves to make citizen-led initiatives more difficult is “quite intentional.” The other potential hurdle pro-choicers face is the review of the amendment’s language—and whether a court decides that it’s clear enough to go in front of voters. (Right now, anti-abortion activists claim that the language is too “vague.”)

Assuming the amendment gets in front of voters in 2024, it would need 60% of the vote to pass. The good news is that Florida voters decidedly do not want the recently-passed 6-week ban: 75% oppose the law, including 60% of Republicans.

Also in Florida, in light of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ claim that the 6-week ban would not criminalize abortion patients, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book is proposing legislation to make good on that promise. Book, who Abortion, Every Day interviewed back in March, tweeted, “The Governor has said ‘that will not happen in Florida’—but we’re not just going to take his word for it, today I filed a bill to ensure it.” Book’s legislation would add a provision reading that the penalties in the state’s abortion law “do not apply to the pregnant woman who terminates the pregnancy.”

Meanwhile, as we get closer to Ohio’s ballot measure vote, conservatives are ramping up their efforts to oppose the amendment. The Catholic Church, for example, has given nearly a million dollars to defeat Issue 1. In fact, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Catholic dioceses have given the most money by a mile among donors in the state.

The archdiocese have also produced advertisements in opposition to the amendment, and are even shaming Catholic voters in Ohio: a spokeswoman for the Cincinnati archdiocese said, “Each person bears moral responsibility for his or her vote.”

Anti-abortion activists are also pointing to Michigan—which recently enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution—as a warning for what could happen in Ohio. (Naturally, though, they’re lying about it.) From a Protect Women Ohio press release:

“Because of Prop 3, Michigan has become the wild, wild west where they have allowed radical abortion ideology to override common sense and compassionate medical safety requirements protecting women and children—not to mention parental rights…Ohio be warned: The tragic consequences of Michigan’s Prop 3 are coming to fruition less than a year after passage.”

Please note the mention of parental rights. I wrote a few weeks ago about how Michigan Democrats didn’t include parental consent in their new Reproductive Health Act—legislation to repeal anti-abortion laws now that abortion is protected in the state constitution. My guess was that declining to repeal of parental consent wasn’t about anything happening in Michigan, but because of fears that conservatives would use it to claim that the amendment in Ohio would lead to the same thing. (Parental rights has been a huge issue around the Ohio ballot measure.)

I also predicted that anti-abortion activists and Republicans would claim Michigan was ending parental rights no matter what the law actually said. Now, here we are—and that’s exactly what’s happening. From the conservative publication the Washington Examiner:

“[P]roponents of the pro-abortion rights measure promised Michiganders the measure would not impede on parental rights or consent for minors. Since its passing, Michigan has seen a concerted effort to effectively end parental consent laws.”

That’s just not true! But they will make these attacks no matter what we do, so we might as well push policy we fully believe in.

Speaking of Michigan’s Reproductive Health Act (RHA): Yesterday, the House Health Policy Committee heard arguments over the RHA, which would repeal onerous anti-abortion TRAP laws. During the legislative hearing, anti-abortion activists claimed that restrictions like waiting periods and ‘informed consent’ mandates are necessary and that the RHA “recklessly endangers women.” Meanwhile, actual doctors and providers described the harm done to patients by these laws.

Dr. Sarah Wallett from Planned Parenthood of Michigan talked about being forced to show a woman whose fetus had a fatal anomaly materials about fetal development and prenatal care:

“I have never once been able to provide care to my patients that’s solely focused on them. Because with every patient, I have to make sure I'm following state laws that cause my patients harm…This isn't okay, and I'm tired of having to pretend like it is.”

The RHA would also end the prohibition on insurance coverage for abortion. Right now, a whopping 97% of abortions in Michigan are paid for out-of-pocket.

You know that Idaho’s anti-abortion ‘trafficking’ law led to the new legislative trend seeking to restrict out-of-state abortion travel. Idaho’s law criminalizes taking a minor out of the state for abortion care, or even driving them to a post office within the state to pick up abortion medication. Now, a judge will rule whether or not to temporarily block enforcement of the law while the challenge against it makes its way through the courts. Again, this was the law—a restriction directed at young people—that started the domino effect we’re watching now in Texas and Alabama. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.

Speaking of Republicans trying to confine women to anti-choice states: In response to Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall going after women’s right to travel out-of-state for abortion care—and threatening anyone who helps them to do so—Mayday Health used trucks and billboards in Tuscaloosa this week to advertise abortion medication shipped to your door. From Executive Director, OBGYN Jennifer Lincoln:

“There are so many people out there who say well if you don’t like it just leave Alabama you live in that state that’s what you get, and that’s not true at all we need people to understand that they shouldn’t have to leave their state to get care.”

The legal battle over Nebraska’s abortion ban and anti-trans law continues on. As a reminder: Republicans passed a law that combines an abortion ban with a ban on gender-affirming care for people younger than 19 years-old. Planned Parenthood and ACLU Nebraska are suing over the law, arguing (correctly) that it violates the state constitution’s single-subject rule. They’re now waiting for a hearing date before the state Supreme Court. In the meantime, the Court ruled this week that the law can remain in effect while the case is heard, declining to grant the groups’ request for an injunction.

I told you a bit yesterday about the legal challenge against South Carolina’s abortion ban: providers there are asking the (all-male) state Supreme Court to expand the definition of ‘fetal heartbeat’ to be at least a little closer to a medical and scientific reality. Right now, the law is being interpreted to mean that abortion is banned after about 6 weeks into pregnancy—when there isn’t a heart, let alone a heartbeat. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic is asking the court to allow abortion until the 9th week of pregnancy because that’s generally when the main parts of the eventual heart have been formed.

As I wrote previously, it’s difficult to see legal challenges that don’t seek a full reversal of a ban, but instead just incremental asks. But as Vicki Ringer of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic told a local reporter, the difference between a 6 week ban and a 9 week ban is the difference between having to turning away half of their patients or 90% of them.

Finally, if you’re in Arizona and want to help get abortion rights restored and protected in the state, Abortion Access for Arizona has started to do volunteer training for signature gatherers. Click here to find out more!

Quick hits:

• Mother Jones and The New York Times on Wisconsin Planned Parenthood’s decision to resume abortion care in the state;

• HuffPost and The Hill have more on the Nevada abortion rights ballot measure effort I told you about yesterday;

• And I love this: the New School in New York offers students free abortion medication.

In the Nation

Republicans are not taking nearly a strong enough stance against Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who has held up hundreds of military nominations and promotions in ‘protest’ of the Pentagon’s abortion policy. Tuberville told USA Today that in part it’s because some Republicans are quietly supporting him. Those who oppose him, he said, “don’t say anything.” (Meanwhile, POLITICO points out that very few people even use the Pentagon’s travel allowance for abortion care to begin with.)

The Washington Post took at a look at the newly-launched chatbot, Charley, that helps people find abortion care. Charley is a collaboration between Planned Parenthood, IneedanA and Plan C. Given post-Roe concerns about digital privacy, WaPo asked Davi Ottenheimer, vice president of trust and digital ethics at data security company Inrupt, to review Charley:

“[He] found that the webpage wasn’t sharing data with third parties, a common marketing practice even for health-care organizations. He also didn’t immediately identify vulnerabilities in the site or the bot, he said. ‘You can see that they took care in developing it,’ Ottenheimer said.”

Abortion, Every Day will have more on Charley next week.

Quick hits:

• MarketWatch on how questions remain about how affordable and accessible the new over-the-counter birth control pill will be;

• Texas Public Radio on the lawsuit seeking to bankrupt Planned Parenthood;

• An interview with Rewire reporter Garnet Henderson on her (excellent) work reporting on anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers;

• And NBC News on how Democrats haven’t come to a consensus on when its appropriate to restrict abortion (the answer is NEVER).

2024

The Republican presidential candidates are speaking tonight at the “Pray Vote Stand Summit” hosted by the ultraconservative Family Research Council. Folks are paying particular attention to the expected clash between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, and what the candidates will say on abortion.

The Associated Press reports today on how Trump has been able to maintain his strong lead despite his hesitance to pledge to sign a national abortion ban. I’ve been saying this for months, but Trump makes me nervous on abortion: he knows that bans are extraordinarily unpopular, and that agreeing to sign a federal law does him no favors. After all, he’s already taking credit for Roe being overturned, so as far as he’s concerned, his anti-abortion bonafides are air-tight. His messaging plan is to talk about ‘exceptions’ as much as possible as a way to woo women voters—and it just might work. So again: I’m worried.

Trump is also scheduled to be speaking tonight at the Concerned Women for America (CWA) leadership summit—so it will be interesting to see how he talks about abortion there, as well.

In other 2024 news: How many times do we have to remind the mainstream media that Nikki Haley is not moderate or reasonable on abortion? And while it’s one thing for opinion writers and pundits to paint Haley as something she’s not in the interest of creating some sort of political narrative (as false as it may be), it’s quite another to mis-report the facts of Haley’s actual stance on the issue.

In an ABC News piece this week outlining Haley’s position on key issues, reporters wrote the following about abortion:

“As governor, she signed a 20-week abortion ban in South Carolina but during the GOP debate declined to raise her hand in support of a nationwide 15-week prohibition on the procedure. She's been criticized by some anti-abortion advocates for not committing to a specific limit for abortion access.”

As I’ve pointed out so many times before, Haley pledged to sign a national 15-week ban! She’s promised Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America that she would do so, and she’s said in interviews that she would “absolutely” sign a 15-week ban. Just because Haley has pointed out that it would be difficult to get the support to move a national ban forward doesn’t meant she doesn’t support one. It’s not too much to ask that reports get this right.

Stats & Studies

We already knew that abortion rights are helping Democrats, but it’s always nice to have another poll proving as much: A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that 86% of Democrats rated abortion rights as important to how they will vote, with one in six voters saying it was the most important issue, or the only issue they really cared about. I can relate!

And here’s something interesting: one in three Republicans reported believing that Democrats stance on abortion was the best approach on the issue, and Independents preferred Democrats on abortion rights over Republicans by more than two to one. Love to see it!

Care Denied

In New York last year, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office wouldn’t allow an incarcerated woman to have an abortion, and medical staff tried to pressure her out of making the choice for herself. The story is a perfect example of how a state being pro-choice doesn’t mean that everyone can still access abortion. (Especially when it comes to incarcerated people.)

After the woman found out she was pregnant and decided to have an abortion, her appointment was canceled by the sheriff’s office nurse without cause. The woman says she was then told by a jail sergeant that the appointment was canceled because the jail didn’t want to pay for her abortion.

Later she was taken to a holding area, where she was told she wasn’t going to be taken to her appointment and that her ‘request’ for care was a legal matter. The medical staff at the jail also told the woman that if she went through with the abortion, she’d be put on suicide watch for three days—even though she wasn’t in mental distress outside of the delay in care.

It took her nearly 30 days to finally be able to obtain her abortion—a delay that almost put the patient over the limit for when she would able to legally get an abortion without showing that her life or health was at risk.

In response, New York Attorney General Letitia James is mandating that the sheriff’s office provide training on incarcerated people’s abortion rights and adopt new policies to protect those rights. James’ office said that they will also be monitoring the jail for the next five years. That’s a start, I guess—but how many more of these stories have we not heard about?