In the States
I’m sorry to say that Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed the anti-abortion/anti-trans law into effect this afternoon. The abortion ban will take effect immediately, and the ban on gender-affirming care goes into effect on October 1. A total nightmare.
In related Nebraska news: At an Omaha concert on Friday, Lizzo made a short speech about the new law, saying, “Anybody who comes to a Lizzo show should know that I am for people to have the right to healthcare, reproductive and gender-affirming.” She continued, “It really breaks my heart that there are young people growing up in a world that doesn’t protect them.”
Eight more women have joined a lawsuit against Texas, arguing that their lives were put at risk by the state’s abortion ban. Two of the women, Kiersten Hogan and Elizabeth Weller, had their water break early and were made to wait until their were ‘sick enough’ to legally qualify for care.
According to the suit, Hogan was told “if she tried to leave the hospital, it would be used as evidence that she was trying to kill her baby; that if she tried to do anything to end her pregnancy, criminal charges could be brought against her.” Weller was similarly denied care, and was even told that she could “discontinue antibiotics and stay in the hospital to wait to develop an infection and get sicker” in order to qualify for an abortion. Just think about that for a moment: Doctors recommended a woman make herself sicker faster in order to receive basic, life-saving care.
Two other women in the suit were forced to carry doomed pregnancies to term, one of whom required a c-section. Just pure torture. From attorney Molly Duane of the Center for Reproductive Rights, the organization behind the lawsuit:
“What happened to these women is indefensible and is happening to countless pregnant people across the state. The Texas government must answer for their laws that have nearly killed these women and that put more lives at risk every day.”
The lawsuit goes after the state, the Texas Medical Board and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Not done with Texas yet! On Friday, the state Senate passed a bill that we’ve been paying attention to as part of the Republican war on democracy: Legislation that would allow for the removal of elected prosecutors who decline to go after abortion cases. I first flagged this in January, when conservative lawmakers were looking to pass legislation that wouldn’t just fire DAs who wouldn’t prosecute abortion cases—but fine them, as well. This latest bill, HB 17, would characterize a refusal to go after certain cases, like those having to do with abortion, as “misconduct.” Keep in mind, prosecutors are elected precisely to use their judgment to decide which cases are worth the state’s time and energy—so it’s a direct attack on democratic norms.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein went on MSNBC this weekend and debunked Republican claims that their abortion ban is a ‘reasonable compromise’. “This bill is a compromise between the extreme right and the radical right,” he said. Indeed. Gov. Roy Cooper also did the media rounds this weekend about the state’s new abortion ban, saying, “It’s amazing how they’ve ignored the will of the people here.” (Something we talk about quite a lot here.)
Meanwhile, abortion providers in the state are preparing for the ban to go into effect on July 1. Dr. Julia Oat-Judge of the Asheville Planned Parenthood say she’s not just worried about patients from North Carolina, but around the South. Clinics have been seeing an increasing number of patients from out-of-state, some of whom have driven over 500 miles to come get care. “It’s hard to fathom how that’s going to impact them,” Dr. Judge-Oat told the Asheville Citizen Times. “It's a sinking feeling.”
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Spokesperson Molly Rivera points out that the law’s stringent requirements for clinics are also going to make it harder for patients to get care in the first weeks of pregnancy that abortion is legal. (You know what I’m going to say: It’s nominally legal, the ban is going to make it near-impossible in many circumstances.) “Many facilities won’t be able to meet the onerous and expensive standards that come with that type of license,” she says.
Pro-choice activists gathered in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida this weekend to protest the state’s abortion ban and to raise awareness of the new campaign to restore abortion rights via ballot measure. From one of the event organizers, Bryce Hackmeyer:
“We currently are represented by a government that has been very gerrymandered. Who should be responsible for making decisions about our bodies other than the people?”
With new abortion bans in North Carolina and Florida (where the ban is expected to go into effect this summer), access across the South has been gutted. Virginia remains one of the last states where patients can get care—and we know that Gov. Glenn Youngkin is already talking about trying to pass a 15-week ban. For a short recap on what’s happening in Virginia and what’s at stake, check out this local TV segment from WUSA9.
Earlier this month, I told you about how Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey was blocking a pro-choice ballot measure by refusing to sign off on the state auditor’s cost estimate. Bailey claims that restoring abortion rights will cost the state billions, and wants to add language into the proposal stating as much (as a way to trick voters). The actual cost that the auditor estimated? $51,000.
The ACLU is suing over Bailey’s clear attempts to stop the measure, and now a judge has set a June 7 date to start to hear arguments. The organization hopes that they can force the state to finalize their work on the ballot initiative so activists can start collecting signatures.
We’re still seeing abortion rights battles on the local level in pro-choice states: In New Mexico, where the town of Edgewood passed an ordinance banning abortion medication in spite of state law allowing abortion, pro-choice advocates are collecting signatures to undo the measure. It’s a nightmare on multiple levels: The ordinances are meant to start legal challenges that anti-choice activists hope will make their way all the way to the Supreme Court; they also suck up precious pro-choice activist energy.
KFF published a really good piece on the local ordinance strategy this weekend, focusing on anti-choice efforts in Nevada and the conservative players behind the move. (But if you want a little hope, make sure to read about the two young brothers who are trying to push back against the local ban in West Wendover. Love, love, love to see young activists.)
In better news, the Illinois Senate passed a bill on Friday to protect people traveling to the state for abortion care: The legislation would prohibit law enforcement from sharing data like information collected by license plate readers to aid out-of-state abortion-related investigations. And in Minnesota, Democrats are set to pass a budget that will formally do away with abortion restrictions that have been declared unconstitutional.
Quick hits:
The Tallahassee Democrat outlines the questions before the Florida Supreme Court on the state’s 15-week restriction (which must be decided before the 6-week ban can go into effect);
The Des Moines Register reminds us that Iowa’s Supreme Court has until the end of June to issue a ruling on the state’s currently-blocked abortion ban;
The editorial board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Missouri calls for over-the-counter access to birth control;
The Washington Post speaks to the South Carolina women senators filibustering the state’s abortion ban, who say “It’s always about control;”
And anti-abortion centers in Massachusetts plan to fight back against the state’s $1 million public awareness campaign telling citizens what these centers really do by launching an ad campaign of their own.
In the Nation
Conservatives aren’t planning to go after birth control in the future—we’re already well into a years-long attack on nearly all forms of contraception. Anti-choice groups and legislators try to avoid talking about the issue, of course. They don’t want to remind Americans how radical they really are. But the FDA’s possible approval of over-the-counter birth control may force their position into the spotlight.
We know that anti-abortion group Students for Life, for example, believes that hormonal birth control are abortifacients—they want nearly every kind of contraception made illegal. But instead of outright saying that to the media, the group frames their stance as mere concern for women’s health. In a press release, Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins says, “It’s astounding that an agency established to keep women safe when using any substances is more interested in a quick sale than patient safety.” She also claims that “hormonal birth control causes women many terrible problems.”
But it’s not just anti-abortion groups who want to make it harder for women to obtain birth control; Republican lawmakers also refuse to support legislation to increase access to contraception. Last week, for example, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington re-introduced legislation that would mandate insurance companies cover birth control pills as soon as they become available over-the-counter. She’s called on her Republican colleagues to co-sign the legislation, but so far none have done so.
What makes me worried, though, is that if and when Republicans do sign onto this legislation or something like it, they’ll frame it as a compromise or concession. (We’ve already seen South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace trying to reframe the “middle” as supporting contraception access.)
Speaking of fake ‘middle grounds’…
The Washington Post published a piece this weekend about Republicans’ “new playbook” on abortion rights: claiming their 12-week bans are a reasonable middle ground. It’s a good piece, and I’m glad they’re on it—but just a reminder that I’ve been writing about this ‘new’ strategy for over eight months. Like, a lot. Here’s me in November 2022:
“My prediction is that the GOP’s 2024 strategy on abortion will be two-fold: Yes, they will harp on the idea that Democrats don’t want abortion restrictions at all, but they’re also going to try to paint the idea of 15-week bans as a ‘compromise’ on the issue. (Like I’ve said before, they’re going to use messaging that says a law like this will be ‘commonsense’, ‘reasonable’ or ‘sensible’.)”
No shade to WaPo because the article is a good one! Just pointing out that reading and supporting Abortion, Every Day means you’re way ahead of the game. :)
Quick hits:
States Newsroom looks at the ridiculous way that the conservative judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals are embracing fake science and anti-abortion bullshit;
Bloomberg on “another bad week for abortion rights”;
The Hill on the Republican war on ballot measures and its connection to abortion rights;
And the Associated Press on the far-right organizations behind the new push for anti-trans legislation and the connection it all has to abortion rights.
2024
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis can’t seem to decide whether to tout his 6-week abortion ban as a conservative victory or, given the polls showing how unpopular abortion restrictions are, ignore it altogether. This weekend, it was the latter. DeSantis gave a speech in front of an audience of anti-choice groups yet skimmed over his state’s abortion ban. “DeSantis’s reticence, even among his most enthusiastic anti-abortion backers,” Vanity Fair reports, “underscores the difficult high-wire act he faces as he prepares to officially enter the presidential race.”
The groups who hosted his speech, however, say that they aren’t bothered by his hesitance to take a ‘pro-life’ victory lap. John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, told The New York Times, “He’s giving us action, and that’s what I’m interested in.”
Related: USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke, on the position that Republican presidential candidates are in on abortion, writes, “In geometry, that’s called a box, and I wish all Republican candidates good luck finding their way out of it.”
On Meet the Press this weekend, a panel talked about how the Biden administration sees the fury over abortion bans as an opportunity to expand the map in places like Florida and North Carolina:
Keep An Eye On
If you’re a regular reader, you know that one of the most disturbing post-Roe trends has been the exponential increase in funding for anti-abortion centers. Today, Mark Joseph Stern at Slate has a terrific piece that gets into the history of the groups and how these (non-medical!) centers are being positioned as an alternative to the real care women are losing in conservative states:
“[A]bortion clinics and maternity wards have dwindled. The problem is especially acute in red states, whose abortion bans are driving away OB-GYNs who are fearful of receiving a prison sentence for providing obstetric care. Ironically, the states with the most stringent abortion restrictions have also declined to expand Medicaid—a decision they can make only because the Supreme Court let them opt out of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. That decision is hastening the closure of maternity units in red states and depriving millions of pregnant people of affordable insurance—people who may turn to “free” CPCs for lack of any better options. And so they are increasingly likely to end up at CPCs.”
Make sure to read the whole article; it’s an important one.
What Conservatives Are Saying
I’ve warned in the past that anti-abortion activists would be doubling down on making themselves out to be the victims, even as they harass and harm women. And here we are: Over the last few days, conservative media has been ablaze with the news that Elise Ketch, who works at the organization Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, had FBI agents show up to her childhood home looking to interview her. They’re framing it as harassment or intimidation, with Ketch calling it “another attack on the pro-life movement.”
What these pieces fail to mention, of course, is that Ketch and her group coordinate abortion “rescues,” in which they storm clinics to try to stop women from obtaining abortions. (VICE reports that one of their other members was indicted on FACE Act charges last year for for blocking access to a clinic.)
This is all part of a broader effort by conservatives to claim that anti-abortion groups are under attack, even when they’re the ones attacking. (Remember this?)
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Abortion, Every Day to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
