Abortion, Every Day (9.25.23)

$20 million in North Carolina CPC funds being sent to private homes & empty lots

In the States, Missouri comes through! A look at the abortion language wars in In the Nation. For 2024, Republican presidential candidates are still framing their next abortion move based on what Trump is up to. Both good and bad news in The Care Crisis, and thank goodness for Media Matters in Right Wing Media Watch. Celebrities speak out in Abortion Storytelling and I look on the bright side in You Love to See It.

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In the States

Love to start the week off with good news! Missouri Republicans have been trying quash a pro-choice ballot measure for months—most recently, by crafting an inflammatory and false ballot summary in order to trick voters out of supporting the proposal. (Some background here.) Well, today a Missouri judge decided against Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and his summaries, ruling that the language is “problematic,” and “do not fairly describe the purposes or probably effect of the initiative.”

As a reminder, Ashcroft’s summary claimed that the amendment would allow “dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth, without requiring a medical license or potentially being subject to medical malpractice.” So, yeah—‘problematic’ is putting it tamely!

Judge Jon Beetem rewrote the summaries for six different measures (Missouri groups are still deciding which version to go with), starting each one with language asking voters if they want to “establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any government interference of that right presumed invalid.”

Fantastic change and fantastic news. Even better, Judge Beetem also rejected a suit by Republicans and anti-abortion activists arguing that the cost estimate for the measure should be dramatically increased.

We just saw Ohio lose a similar case on ballot summaries, so it’s nice to have a positive development somewhere. Speaking of Ohio: If you’re wondering why Republicans there haven’t tried to pass any new anti-abortion legislation recently, it’s because “they don't want to tip their hand to voters,” says Kellie Copeland, executive director of Pro-Choice Ohio. With the state just weeks away from voting on a pro-choice ballot measure, legislators don’t want Ohians to know just how radical their anti-abortion legislation will be if the measure fails.

When asked about their plans for abortion policy, for example, Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens told reporters, “It's hard to tell what we'll do this session.” Sure it is.

For context, Republicans passed a near-total abortion ban in 2019, which was blocked. “They know if they are upfront about their true intentions, voters will reject them,” Copeland says. How much clearer could Ohio Republicans be that they don’t care what voters want?

More in ballot measure news from Florida: A nurse writes at The Palm Beach Post that “my fellow nurses, doctors and caregivers are overwhelmingly against this extremist overreach by the state,” and that her union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, is donating $250,000 to help get abortion in front of voters.

“Do you think for a second that one of these Florida lawmakers would make his own teen daughter carry for nine months and deliver a child that was the result of a rape?  Or if it put her health at risk? Or if the baby was sure to die or have severe disabilities? But those are the unconditional provisions they have legislated upon the rest of us.”

And the gubernatorial race in Kentucky is still very much focused on abortion, with Gov. Andy Beshear hammering opponent Daniel Cameron on his support for a total abortion ban with no exceptions for rape and incest. And here’s something I’m proud of: Less than two weeks ago, Abortion, Every Day flagged that Cameron signed a pledge to ban birth control—something that was going uncovered in mainstream media. Thanks to AED’s (admittedly obsessive) coverage, the story finally broke through to local and national outlets. Now, check out the latest anti-Cameron ad from Planned Parenthood Action Kentucky:

This is why it’s so important to support independent feminist media—we get shit done!

With Colorado’s ‘abortion reversal’ ban going into effect on October 1st, anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers are still trying to stop it: Anti-abortion group Bella Health and Wellness asked for an injunction on Friday. This comes after three state boards—nursing, pharmacy, and medical—all declined to call the so-called procedure accepted medical practice, which allowed the ban to move forward. (In related news, CalMatters has more info on California’s suit against anti-abortion centers’ claims that they can ‘reverse’ abortion.)

Finally, if you ever had any questions about how sketchy funding for anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers is, don’t miss this video of North Carolina Sen. Natasha Marcus breaking down the $20 million in state funding that is being sent to…people’s fucking houses? Seriously, watch the whole thing; I’ll have more on this soon.

@carolina.forwardWatch State Senator Natasha Marcus (D-Mecklenburg) torch the NC Senate over their funding of fake "crisis pregnancy centers" in this year's state budget! #northcarolina

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Quick hits:

• South Dakota college students are collecting signatures for the state’s pro-choice ballot measure;

• A Texas Democrat hoping to beat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz says that the state’s abortion laws are a “disaster”;

• More on the Shout Your Abortion billboards in Arkansas;

• And the executive director of the ACLU of Iowa called out state Attorney General Brenna Bird for repealing a program that paid for rape victim’s emergency contraception.

In the Nation

The New Republic looks at one of my favorite topics: the abortion rights language war. In addition to getting into Republicans possibly moving away from the term ‘pro-life’, TNR spoke to Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) about their recent name change. Angela Vasquez-Giroux, vice president of communications and research, says that ‘choice’ doesn’t really capture how people feel about abortion rights.

“We discovered that people intrinsically think of abortion as an issue of personal freedom,” she said. The other issue, of course, is that ‘choice’ isn’t really a thing if you live in a state where abortion is restricted or banned. “For us, it’s understanding that you don’t have a choice if you can’t exercise it,” Vasquez-Giroux said.

Make sure to read the whole thing and stick around for Vasquez-Giroux’s take on conservatives considering moving away from ‘pro-life’.

“I hope they spend all their money doing this, right? But it’s not going to be effective so long as the truth remains, and the policy remains, that their goal is to ban abortion.”

Quick hits:

• The Atlantic on “The Republican Betrayal of PEPFAR”;

• Republicans are trying to get Biden to fly the “pro-life flag” at the White House (good luck with that!);

• And finally, just one question: WHY.

2024

The Hill looks at how Donald Trump is trying to play both sides on abortion—criticizing abortion bans while taking credit for Roe being overturned. And while anti-abortion activists and politicians are clearly irritated, GOP strategists like Brian Seitchik think it’s “a smart move.”

“At the end of the day, those Christian conservatives who may leave him in the primary will certainly come back in the general election. They’re not going to vote for Joe Biden.”

Seitchik also says that Trump is trying to win over the women voters who supported him in 2016, but not 2020. Which, as you know, has me really concerned. Because I think most people know Trump isn’t a true believer on abortion (let’s be real, he doesn’t believe in anything besides himself). For Republican women looking for a reason to vote for him, knowing that he actually doesn’t really give a shit could be compelling—they may not be as nervous that he’ll work hard to implement bans and restrictions.

Obviously, that doesn’t mean he won’t do radical, awful shit—he has and he will. And that’s what we need to focus on: not just the fact that he enabled the demise of Roe, but that the way he’s talking about abortion right now is not at all moderate. He’s using the fact that he’s the sole Republican candidate criticizing anti-abortion extremism, to smooth over his own extremist anti-abortion rhetoric. On Truth Social this weekend, for example, he repeated his claim that Democrats “allowed the killing of a baby at any time, including the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th month, and even after birth,” and then followed it with a statement about believing in exceptions and “following your heart.” More coverage of this please!

Ron DeSantis clearly believes that his only way forward is to double down on his anti-choice extremism and attack Trump over the former president’s so-called moderate position. Last week, he told voters that Trump would “sell you out” on abortion; now, in a podcast interview with Glenn Beck, DeSantis says that Democrats are going to “weaponize” Trump’s comments on abortion:

“Do you think they’re going to run ads to Republicans and Independents, showing Trump, Trump voters, saying ‘Trump didn’t like this, vote the other way, for us’? Of course they are. They’re gonna weaponize what he said, to try to defeat the cause of life.”

Meanwhile, Reuters looks at how DeSantis’ 6-week ban “saddled him” with an unpopular position that turned off important donors. (Aw, so sad!)

Sen. Tim Scott is taking a similar approach on abortion—but he’s going after everyone. In Iowa, the Republican presidential hopeful attacked the other candidates about their supposed-softening on abortion:

“President Trump said he’d negotiate with Democrats and walk back away from what I believe where we need to be, which is a 15-week limit on the federal level,” Scott said. “Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis all along with President Trump have said they will not name a week where we stop California, New York and Illinois of having abortions on demand.”

Finally, thanks to the Associated Press for reminding readers that despite Nikki Haley’s attempts to paint herself as moderate on abortion, her record speaks volumes:

“While serving in the state House, Haley co-sponsored legislation in 2009 mandating a 24-hour waiting period between a woman’s abortion consultation and the procedure itself. The bill, signed into law the following year, also required that women receive information about calculating a fetus’ gestational age and a list of free ultrasound providers.

The following year, she voted to end abortion coverage for victims of rape and incest in the state health plan for employees; the Senate defeated that proposal.”

When Haley was governor of South Carolina, she also signed an abortion ban that prohibited abortion after 20 weeks without exceptions for rape and incest. All of which is to say: don’t believe her bullshit, and make sure your friends and family don’t either.

The Care Crisis

The OBGYN exodus and maternal mortality took center stage this weekend at the Texas Tribune Festival, when State Rep. Donna Howard spoke to Evelyn Delgado, chair of the Texas Women’s Health Care Coalition. Anti-choice states across the country have been losing OBGYNs and maternal fetal medicine specialists over abortion bans—medical providers understandably don’t want to live and work in a place where they could go to jail for doing their jobs. (Not to mention, they don’t want to be somewhere where they can’t get adequate healthcare themselves!)

Texas hasn’t been immune from the trend, with Howard noting that the state ban has “exacerbated the problem, in terms of workforce shortage.” She also discussed how OBGYN residents must leave the state in order to get abortion training, and “when people—doctors, medical students and residents—go someplace else, there’s a possibility that they don’t come back to Texas.” 

In better care crisis news: New Jersey may soon allow midwives to perform abortions—a move to help slow the overwhelm providers are feeling in the pro-choice state. The expansion was proposed by the state Board of Medical Examiners, and would allow nurse-midwives and midwives to perform procedural abortions through the 14th week of pregnancy.

In a statement, state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said, “Expanding the pool of licensed professionals eligible to perform early aspiration abortions helps to ensure these critical services remain readily available for those exercising the right to choose them.” (Since Roe was overturned, abortions increased in New Jersey by 7%.)

This comes at a time when multiple states have been broadening the rules around who can prescribe medication abortion or perform abortions—both because of how safe they are and because of how desperately providers are needed.

Right Wing Media Watch

Thank goodness for Media Matters, doing the work no one else wants to do: consuming right wing media for hours on end. This week, they report on Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, who claims that “every single abortion clinic in the United States has a satanic coven attached to it.” I wish I was joking.

Abortion Storytelling

Actor Kerry Washington shares her abortion story in a new memoir out this week. While promoting the book on Good Morning America, Washington told host Robin Roberts that she wrote about her experience because “we stay in our circles of shame because we don’t talk about it.”

“I challenged myself to try to write about my experience having an abortion to sort of let go of the shame about having an abortion and say, like, ‘This is what—this happens. A lot of women do this. This is a form of health care. This is okay.’”

Leslie Jones of Saturday Night Live fame also has a memoir out this month where she writes about having three abortions. “Planned Parenthood saved my life,” she writes.

“I still give money to them to this day. When I went to Planned Parenthood, I finally learned how to prevent pregnancies and take care of myself.”

I’m so grateful to these women for speaking up, especially in a time when the rhetoric around abortion rights is so hateful and harassing. And a reminder: if abortion storytelling is important to you, make sure to check out the terrific organization, We Testify.

You Love to See It

“Before, the women from Sonora would go to the United States to access abortions in clinics. And now the women from the United States come to Mexico.” -Andrea Sanchez, Mexican abortion-rights activist, The New York Times

We could see this piece in The New York Times about American women seeking abortion care in and from Mexico as another post-Roe nightmare, or as a hopeful sign of women helping each other. Today, for my own good, I need to choose the latter. From Verónica Cruz of Las Libres:

“The truth is that years ago, we neither had nor envisioned collaboration with the United States. But faced with the urgency, the increasing restrictions, and having a model, resources like the pills, and as our territory progresses, it became evident that we needed to build international solidarity.”

Cruz estimates that she’s helped 20,000 women obtain abortion pills since Roe was overturned. And I couldn’t be more grateful.