Abortion, Every Day (9.5.23)

Florida Supreme Court hears abortion arguments this week

In the States

Last week’s news that Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall says it’s illegal to help someone get an out-of-state abortion was everywhere in the media. Which is great! What’s less great is that I haven’t seen one person report that Marshall also argued that Alabama could restrict individual women’s out-of-state travel for abortion. This a big fucking deal story, and I am at a loss for why no one is writing about it. (My column on it here.)

Related: If you missed Caroline Kitchener’s vital piece at The Washington Post on the Texas ordinances that make it ‘trafficking’ to drive someone out-of-state for abortion care, make sure to read it now. And in the last bit of news on abortion rights and travel restrictions (a phrase I can’t believe I have to type), New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie has a must-read piece on the connection it has to the conflicts and contradictions among states during slavery.

In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin isn’t just hoping to pass a 15 week abortion ban because he’s anti-choice, but because failing to do so will mean that he’s not a viable presidential candidate. Youngkin has been courted by major players to enter the race, including Fox News’ Rupert Murdoch. But if the Virginia governor can’t bring home a Republican-run legislature this November—one that can ban abortion—his chances for doing so are pretty much shot.

It doesn’t help Youngkin that Democrats in the state are feeling good about their chances with voters this fall. House Minority Leader Don Scott told The 19th that they expect abortion rights “will be the number one motivating factor for how people vote.” And Democratic Caucus Chair Mamie Locke told The Daily Beast, “Abortion was a major topic of discussion when you knock on doors.” (That’s why Virginia Democrats are campaigning heavily on abortion rights—check out a recent ad here).

Here’s something that validates everything we’ve been reporting here at Abortion, Every Day over the last few months: When Virginia voters in the state were asked about a 15-week abortion ban, which Republicans have been pushing as a ‘compromise’ position Americans will get behind—there was no such enthusiasm. “A ban is a ban,” Locke said. “Voters don’t see that as a moderate position.”

The Florida Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the state’s 15-week abortion ban this Friday—a case that will also determine the future of the 6-week ban passed in April.

Some background: Florida’s 15-week abortion ban is being challenged by abortion providers, but state Attorney General Ashley Moody wants the state Supreme Court justices to upend decades of legal precedent that say the right to privacy in Florida’s constitution protects abortion. If the Court rules that the state constitution does not protect abortion rights via privacy, it would open the door for the enforcement of the newer 6-week ban.

The Court right now is super conservative, thanks to appointments by Gov. Ron DeSantis, and one of the justices—Charles Canady—is actually married to a co-sponsor of the 6-week ban. (Former Chief Justice Barbara Pariente called for his recusal recently.)

If the 6-week ban goes into effect, millions of people will lose access to abortion—the state has as many people in it as the populations of Greece and Sweden combined. And Florida voters decidedly do not want this ban: 75% oppose the legislation, including 60% of Republicans.

That’s in part why abortion rights advocates are working to get a pro-choice ballot measure in front of voters as soon as possible. The good news is that Floridians Protecting Freedom seems to have collected enough signatures to move the process forward! The Sun Sentinel reports that the state Division of Elections website indicated on Friday that the initiative collected enough valid signatures in at least half of the state’s congressional district, as required. (Now the state Supreme Court will have to sign off on the language of the ballot, to ensure it only includes a single subject and that it isn’t misleading.)

More in ballot measure news: As Ohio voters gear up to decide on an abortion rights ballot measure in November, Republicans are still hard at work trying to kill it. Their last ditch effort is an inflammatory ballot measure crafted to trick voters about what the amendment would really do. Abortion rights groups filed a suit with the state Supreme Court over the summary, and we’re just waiting on that result of that case. That said, some experts—even Republicans—believe that the measure will pass regardless of the summary. Ohio GOP strategist Nick Everhart told The Hill, for example, that the state has too many voters who are “just are not in sync with some of these under 15-week abortion laws.” (Here’s hoping!)

In the meantime, anti-abortion groups and conservative lawmakers continue to try to convince voters that a pro-choice ballot measure will allow children to have gender-affirming surgeries and abortion without parental consent. This is something we’ve been covering here for months: Republicans believe that pushing anti-trans talking points will be more effective than hitting on abortion rights, which are undeniably popular with voters. But Elisabeth Smith of Center for Reproductive Rights told the Associated Press that “misinformation about abortion is not winning.”

“It didn’t win in Michigan. It didn’t win in Vermont. It didn’t win in Kansas. It didn’t win in Kentucky. So instead, we are seeing anti-abortion factions in search for that new, winning talking point.”

A different AP piece does a deep dive into the misinformation around the measure—specifically the ‘parental rights’ nonsense—and what the truth really is. If you’ve had the unfortunate experience of arguing with someone who believes the bullshit conservative talking points about the Ohio pro-choice amendment, this is a good piece to refer to for a point-by-point takedown of the lies.

Also in Ohio: a new report commissioned by the Columbus City Council and conducted by Pro-Choice Ohio found that anti-abortion centers continue to lie and mislead women about pregnancy. Two notable takeaways from the report: Despite the public messaging from conservatives that anti-abortion centers are there to be a resource for pregnant people considering adoption, the report shows that the staff at these centers didn’t discuss adoption substantively at all. Instead, the focus was on relaying misinformation and scare tactics about abortion. The second thing to note, which should come as no surprise, is that the centers refused to discuss birth control and one staff member said that birth control “causes an abortion.”

If you’re a regular reader, you know that I believe abortion rights compromises and tradeoffs are a losing strategy. When it comes to policies with language restricting abortion after ‘viability’, for example, the pro-choice fear is that not including a viability line opens us to false attacks about ‘abortion up until birth’. But as I’ve pointed out again and again—conservatives make that claim no matter what. And what’s happening right now in Missouri today is one of the best examples of that to date.

As I mentioned last week, a Republican strategist in Missouri has filed a handful of new ballot measures seeking to reach a ‘compromise’ on abortion: the measures would add rape and incest exceptions to the state’s abortion ban, and legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Check out what the Missouri Independent reports today about the response from anti-abortion groups:

“Missouri Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion organization, sent an alert to members warning them that Corley’s proposed amendments seek to ‘nullify current Missouri laws that protect pregnant women and their unborn babies.’ Sam Lee, a longtime anti-abortion activist with Campaign for Life, contends that adding exceptions for ‘health or safety’ of the mother would mean ‘abortion-on-demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy.’”

It doesn’t matter how much you ‘compromise’; these groups will always argue that any protection at all will allow for abortions throughout pregnancy!

Meanwhile, the so-called middle ground that strategist Jamie Corley proposed, pro-choice groups say, would actually enshrine the right to deny contraception in the state constitution. Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri, called the measures “an anti-abortion trap.” (You know how I feel about it: exceptions aren’t real, and 12-week ‘compromises’ never bode well for women.)

With abortion rights ballot measures getting so much press, states without the right to vote directly on the issue are starting to take notice. Louisiana columnist Stephanie Grace writes that readers have been asking her how they can vote on abortion rights, “and I had to tell them that they can’t.”

“Louisiana, along with about half the states around the country, has no mechanism for putting citizen-led questions of policy and governance on the ballot. Instead, all proposed constitutional amendments must originate in the Louisiana Legislature—yes, the same Legislature that adopted the unpopular abortion policy by a wide margin in the first place. Fat chance of that happening.”

Democrats have had wins in unexpected ways thanks to abortion rights over the last year. I have to wonder if watching other voters have a say on abortion while they can’t will light a different kind of fire under the asses of Louisiana voters. (And remember: most voters in the state want abortion to be legal.)

Abortion rights advocates in Oklahoma are wondering something similar. Tamya Cox-Toure, head of the state chapter of the ACLU, told The Oklahoman, “We believe that a vote to protect abortion access will be successful in our state.” A recent poll showed that the majority of voters in Oklahoma believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

The group considered most likely to bring a ballot measure forward is We are Rising, though leadership is staying pretty mum on if and when they might start that process. Republicans in Oklahoma, however—like conservative lawmakers in other states—want to make it harder to pass ballot measures and restore abortion rights. Democratic Rep. Mickey Dollens said that Republicans are likely to propose raising the standards on ballot measures in the next session. Another day, reminder that anti-abortion lawmakers don’t care what voters want!

Quick hits:

• A judge denied a no-contest plea from the man who drove his car into an abortion clinic in Danville, Illinois;

• ABC News on the end of Pennsylvania’s support for anti-abortion centers;

• Vending machines stocked with emergency contraception have come to New York University;

• And The St. Louis Post-Dispatch warns that the Texas ordinances that make it ‘trafficking’ to drive someone out-of-state for abortion could easily make their way to Missouri.

In the Nation

The secretaries of the Navy, Air Force and Army co-wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post yesterday, calling on Sen. Tommy Tuberville to stop his “dangerous hold on senior officers.” As you know, Tuberville has blocked hundreds of military nominations and promotions in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion policy—which isn’t all that progressive to begin with! (It allows for service members to take time off and get travel reimbursed if they need to leave their state for abortion care.)

Navy secretary Carlos Del Toro, Air Force secretary Frank Kendall, and Army secretary Christine Wormuth write that Tuberville “is putting our national security at risk,” and that “any claim that holding up the promotions of top officers does not directly damage the military is wrong—plain and simple.”

Quick hits:

• Bloomberg Law reports that the anti-abortion activists found guilty of violating the FACE Act will remain incarcerated pending sentencing;

• POLITICO on the ongoing danger to PEPFAR funding;

• And In These Times spoke to Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL – CIO, about the connection between abortion bans and workers’ rights.

The Care Crisis

Idaho abortion patients are streaming into neighboring states, the Idaho Statesman reports. Planned Parenthood clinics in Washington saw a 56% increase of abortion patients from Idaho; Oregon clinics saw an increase from 31 patients in 2022 to 400 in just the first 6 months of 2023; and in Montana, women from Idaho make up the largest increase in abortions for out-of-state patients.

Idaho really has been at the center of the post-Roe care crisis. The state’s strict abortion ban has driven medical professionals to leave—nearly half of Idaho’s OBGYNs are leaving or thinking about leaving, and only a handful of maternal fetal medicine specialists remain. The state has also seen multiple hospitals shut down their maternity wards, a direct result of abortion bans and institutions being unable to recruit or retain doctors.

Thankfully, not all abortion patients have to leave the state. Co-founder of the mutual aid group Idaho Abortion Rights, Kimra Luna, says that they’ve helped more than 600 people in the state get abortion medication. (Thank goodness for abortion funds and activists.)

Safe websites to find & buy abortion medication:

Aid Access, Plan C Pills, Hey Jane, Abortion Finder, I Need An A

More in care crisis news: Indiana OBGYNs are being forced to leave the state in order to get abortion training. Louisville Public Media reports that Indiana University’s School of Medicine is sending doctors out-of-state, which is putting a strain on their budget. (They program covers travel and lodging.) A reminder that Indiana has the third highest maternal mortality rate in the country.

Anti-Choice Strategy: Hiding Criminalization

An anti-abortion group in Nebraska has successfully pressured an outdoor advertising group to pull down a series of billboards warning people that the state prosecutes women for abortion. (A teenager in the state was recently sentenced to 90 days in jail for self-managing an abortion.) Nebraska Right to Life rallied their supporters to call Lamar Outdoor Advertising to complain; the Sioux City Journal reports that the company relented within just an hour.

Groups like this know that the truth about criminalization makes them look awful—and that voters don’t like it. Naturally their strategy doesn’t seek to decriminalize abortion, but hide the fact that women are being punished for it.

You Love to See It

There’s always one story a day that gets me right in the gut. Today it was this one: Four middle school girls in Washington won a tech award for an app they developed that helps women coming to the state for abortion care find a safe and vetted place to stay. The girls, two 14 year-olds and their two 12-year old sisters, came up with the idea after volunteering at women’s shelters and meeting multiple women who were traveling from Idaho to get abortions.

This both filled and broke my heart. Because while it’s such an incredible reminder of what girls are capable of, it also paints a bleak picture of how we’re living in two distinct Americas. It used to be that local papers featured stories of kids winning awards or raising money for their efforts to help impoverished people in other countries. Now, they’re trying to help the less fortunate just an hour’s drive away.

“We’re lucky to live in a state where abortion is legal and we had an opportunity to help others. For people our age, we’re not taught to think about issues in our community,” Isabel Xu said. Whew.