All-Male Committee Will Decide South Carolina Abortion Ban

10.1.25

Click to skip ahead: We Will Save Us offers the important reminder that they are losing. South Carolina’s National Blueprint breaks down the first day of testimony for SB 323. Mifepristone Lawsuit Update reports that the suit has been moved to Missouri—which is rife with Trump judges. In the States, bad news in Ohio, good news in Michigan. Ballot Box looks at how abortion is playing out in Virginia races. World News reports on the Pope’s abortion comments. Finally, Clinic Watch has news on Idaho, Oregon, Maine, and Wisconsin

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We Will Save Us

Let’s start with an important reminder: it may not feel like it, but they’re losing. I know that’s hard to believe when we’re watching our humanity treated like political fodder. But just to put things in perspective: Republicans may have been able to pass these awful bans, and they may be loud and in charge—but they are not stopping abortions.

We are saving each other, every day, in every community.

That doesn’t erase the terrible denials of care we’ve seen since the end of Roe—we know these bans have caused unthinkable suffering and death. But for all their political power and bluster, the anti-abortion movement has not been able to stop abortion. That’s a big fucking deal, and something that should make us feel proud.

New numbers from the Guttmacher Institute, for example, indicate abortion medication has likely gone up in states with bans. (The group found that fewer people crossed state lines to get abortion care, and that there was a 5% drop in abortions performed by clinicians in pro-choice states.) That lines up with the most recent #WeCount study, which shows telehealth abortions are increasing in banned states—largely thanks to shield law protections for doctors.

All of which is to say: there are a lot of people working very hard to make sure as many women as possible can get the care they need—no matter what the law says.

It’s like Shout Your Abortion says, “we will save us.”

South Carolina’s National Blueprint

Today, South Carolina Republicans forced a hearing for SB 323—y’know, the bill that would threaten abortion patients with the death penalty, ban certain forms of birth control, and even criminalize speech like pro-choice websites or abortion referrals. Not to mention, this is legislation with national implications: SB 323 is based on model legislation from National Right to Life, spelling out exactly what the anti-abortion movement wants for women in every state.

Before we dig in, let’s take a moment to appreciate the incredible turnout of protesters. We’re in total awe of the abortion rights heroes who showed up to testify, protest, and shout lawmakers down. My favorite detail from The Post & Courier:

“Throughout the day, several members of the audience were physically removed for shouting expletives at lawmakers and supporters of the bill by the sergeant-at-arms staff.”

Okay, divas!

Seriously, though—can you blame them? Just take a look at the makeup of the Senate Medical Affairs Committee that gets to decide what happens to South Carolina women’s bodies:

That’s right, they’re all men.

Two former Republican senators—women who were ousted after taking a stand against the state’s ban—were both there, and noted the telling lack of women. As Penry Gustafson put it, “I cannot comprehend how any of you truly believe that the 11-year-old girl that gets raped and impregnated by her grandfather, that she should be forced to have a baby and carry it.”

We also heard from women who shared devastating pregnancy stories, and doctors like OBGYN Dr. Natalie Gregory, who said, “I will not be able to comply with this law—my oath will not allow it.”

Abortion, Every Day put together a short compilation of the testimony, and it will give you chills:

Could it be any clearer that the goal here is to silence women, in South Carolina and everywhere else?

Some of the country’s worst extremists—abortion ‘abolitionists’—also spoke today. These are the guys who want to see abortion patients punished with life in prison or the death penalty.

Matt Brock, executive director of Equal Protection South Carolina, said, “A lot of people here today tell you that this bill goes too far, I’m here to tell you according to the word of God, S.323 doesn’t go far enough.” John Rice-Cameron from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion (FAA) was also there—this is the organization that drafts and lobbies for ‘equal protection’ legislation.

What happens next is unclear. It’s fair to assume the criminalization piece will get cut—no amount of fire-and-brimstone bullshit from ‘abolitionists’ changes how wildly unpopular it is to throw women in jail. Beyond that, I just don’t know. This isn’t the first time Republicans have tried to pass SB 323, but now they’ve got a stronger majority—and the anti-abortion groups behind it are emboldened and gearing up for a legal fight.

We’ll keep you updated—on this bill, and any others that tell a broader story about their agenda.

“South Carolina consistently falls below the national OB-GYN physicians per capita…six counties already have no obstetric providers and no hospitals or birthing centers providing obstetric care.

Lawmakers who insist they are protecting life need to grapple with the reality that these policies are pushing critical providers and students outside of South Carolina.”

- Medical students Danielle LaPierre and Alex Fossum on what SB 323 would mean for the state’s already-devastated health system

Mifepristone Lawsuit Update

Speaking of extremist agendas: There’s been a quiet but chilling development in Missouri v. FDA, the federal lawsuit targeting mifepristone. (Click here for our full explainer.) The short version: the case aims to ban mailing abortion pills, drag us back to outdated restrictions, and cut off access for minors entirely.

In other words, an informal ban.

The suit was first filed by attorneys general in Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri—in a Texas court, of course, because they wanted it heard by anti-abortion extremist Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. But jurisdiction became an issue since none of the AGs were from Texas.

Over the last few weeks, Texas, Louisiana and Florida scrambled to join the suit, hoping to keep it under Kacsmaryk’s control. Instead of tossing the case out, though, Kacsmaryk transferred it to the Eastern District of Missouri—a court stacked with Trump judges.

And here’s the kicker: four of the court’s nine judges were just appointed this May, and two of them—Josh Divine and Maria Lanahan—not only filed briefs against mifepristone in this very case, they used the most unhinged language imaginable. Divine and Lanahan argued that abortion medication “starves the baby to death” and that women who take it will get PTSD and be “triggered” by their bathrooms.

We’ll keep you posted as it unfolds, but JFC.

In the States

Given the absolute insanity in South Carolina, it’s easy to get distracted from the other wackadoo bills being introduced across the country: in Ohio, for example, legislators are trying to force an anti-abortion propaganda video into public school classrooms.

That’s right, ‘Baby Olivia’ is back. (If you need a refresher, click here.)

Republican Rep. Melanie Miller has introduced the Baby Olivia Act, which would force kids to watch this non-scientific, ideological nonsense every single year starting in third grade. And it doesn’t stop there: schools that don’t comply would face legal action from the attorney general, and at the start of every school year the education department would audit every school to “verify compliance.”

Not fascist at all!

As you all know by now—Baby Olivia is just one piece of a broader effort to rewrite educational standards around pregnancy and keep young people as misinformed as possible. (Because the more people actually understand pregnancy, the more likely they are to be pro-choice.)

But let’s move to some better news: A judge has officially tossed the lawsuit aimed at repealing Michigan’s constitutional abortion protections. Voters passed a pro-choice ballot measure back in November 2022, and Right to Life of Michigan has been attacking it ever since.

AED has been following this suit for literal years, so it’s satisfying to see it end with a thud. The group’s argument? That the amendment created a brand-new “super-right” to abortion. Yup, a “super-right”:

“At no time in our nation’s history has such a super-right, immune from all legislative action, ever been created by a popular vote outside of the checks and balances of a republican form of government.”

Sounds like sore losers to me. U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney ruled this week that the plaintiffs had no standing because they couldn’t show any actual injury from the amendment. See ya! ✌️

Ballot Box

One of my favorite election nights was when Virginia Republicans lost the legislature after going all in on anti-abortion messaging. Essentially the GOP there followed Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s advice—spending millions on an anti-abortion messaging campaign that failed miserably. It was a delight.

It seems like Virginia Democrats haven’t forgotten that night, either. HuffPost reports that Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger just released a new ad that attacks GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears for her anti-abortion extremism:

Earle-Sears has also argued that women who consent to sex are consenting to pregnancy, so just an all-around charmer. (Spanberger currently holds a seven-point lead in the race—fingers crossed.)

That doesn’t mean Virginia Republicans are giving up on abortion, though: their obsession with rumors about a high school counselor who allegedly helped two 17-year-olds access abortion years ago has arrived at its (il)logical next step: The Trump administration is officially intervening.

The Education Department—without citing evidence or sources—has ordered Fairfax County Public Schools to investigate the claims. Gov. Glenn Youngkin actually ordered Virginia State Police to investigate the matter back in August; the Trump administration’s latest intervention is all about piling on and making even more of a spectacle of this story.

As we’ve already reported, the GOP is wielding the manufactured controversy to try to secure the governor’s office and state legislature, and propagandize against the pro-abortion rights ballot measure, too.

World News

Pope Leo XIV—the first American-born Pope—has finally weighed in on abortion, with the following quote:

“Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life. Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”

Erm. That’s all well and good, but here’s the thing: There’s no comparison whatsoever between abortion and the death penalty. Abortion is a health service. The death penalty is abhorrent, grotesque state violence.

So, I’m not exactly thrilled by that statement. Instead of listening to the Pope on this issue, of course, I’d much rather listen to the bright minds of Catholics for Choice.

Clinic Watch

Idaho 🟡

The last Planned Parenthood clinic in Idaho is staying, says regional president Rebecca Gibron:

“We aren’t going anywhere. While it’s hard for us to operate in such a hostile political environment, we aren’t going to turn our backs on our patients in the same way that lawmakers have done.”

While abortion is illegal in Idaho, Medicaid patients must start paying out-of-pocket at the Planned Parenthood clinic starting today. Gibron says they’re looking for alternate funding sources.

Maine 🟠

Maine is moving from yellow to orange today: While the state allocated $6 million to Planned Parenthood and Maine Family Planning (MFP) in an attempt to bridge the funding gap, MFP announced today that its clinics will stop providing primary care services starting Oct. 31.

MFP is a network of clinics serving low-income Maine patients, and is the largest network of reproductive health care clinics in the state. The group said it will “continue seeing patients who need family planning care, regardless of insurance status, for as long as we are able.”

Oregon 🟠

Oregon is still in the orange zone: State lawmakers are creating a working group to help sort how Planned Parenthood clinics can operate without federal Medicaid reimbursements, but it’s clear from a piece today in the Oregon Capital Chronicle that the group is understandably concerned.

Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon CEO Amy Handler pointed out that the group operates at a deficit even with Medicaid reimbursement—because the reimbursement rates haven’t kept up with the actual cost of care:

“For example, we get reimbursed about $84 for a Pap smear, but it costs us $340 to provide that pap smear. So we make that up by raising money.”

Wisconsin 🔴

We’re sorry to report that Planned Parenthood clinics in Wisconsin stopped providing abortions today—a move the group hopes will help them retain Medicaid funding in the wake of Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill.’ The Wisconsin clinics are the first affiliate to make this move.

A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Federation of America said that the group will continue to be there for local leaders as they move forward, and, “at the same time, there are things we can say with certainty: Providing abortion in every state where it is legal to do so is central to Planned Parenthood’s mission.”