Georgia Fired Their Entire Maternal Mortality Committee
11.21.24
Click to skip ahead: In Hiding Post-Dobbs Deaths, Georgia Republicans have fired every single person on the state’s maternal mortality review committee. In the States, news from Idaho, Kentucky, Illinois, Florida and more. In Ballot Measures, Missouri Republicans are trying to override the will of the voters. In the Nation, Matt Gaetz is out and Students for Life is going all in. In Stats & Studies, more evidence that abortion is an economic issue. Finally,You Love to See It offers huge congratulations to Cecile Richards!
Hiding Post-Dobbs Deaths
Well, this is how it happens. I’m sure you remember ProPublica’s investigation into the the deaths of two women killed by Georgia’s abortion ban, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller. In response to that news, do you think politicians moved to change the law, or tried to protect pregnant people in the state? Of course not.
Instead, they fired every single person on the state’s maternal mortality review committee.
ProPublica reports that commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, Kathleen Toomey, wrote a letter to the committee dismissing all 32 members a few weeks ago. Toomey’s reasoning was that “confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outside individuals.”
In other word, Georgia’s Republican leadership didn’t like that someone from the committee told a reporter that the state’s ban was killing women. (I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the committee also happened to find the two women’s deaths preventable and connected to the state’s ban.)
This is how they cover up our deaths—with bureaucracy and bad data. I warned about this strategy in my book; I wrote about how Idaho disbanded its maternal mortality review committee entirely, and how Texas put an anti-abortion extremist on theirs. (More on that in a moment.) I’ve tracked how the anti-abortion movement has been sowing distrust in maternal mortality data since Roe was overturned, and how they’re drumming up fake statistics on abortion ‘complication’ rates.
They have been planning, carefully and strategically, for how to cover up women’s deaths.
And what does this latest news mean for Georgia women in the meantime? How long will it take for the state to replace the dozens of people on the maternal mortality committee? Just as important—who will they put on it?
For more on how conservatives’ planned for women’s deaths, read below:
In the States
Speaking of how Republicans plan to cover up women’s deaths and suffering, let’s talk about who was in Idaho today, testifying in support of the state’s abortion ban: None other than Ingrid Skop, the anti-abortion extremist OBGYN who travels around the country defending abortion bans and publishing bunk science. Remember the anti-abortion studies that were retracted early this year? That’s her.
Skop was also recently put on Texas’ maternal mortality review committee—in large part because she doesn’t believe that abortion bans ever harm women, nor does she believe that abortion is ever necessary to save someone’s life. It gets worse from there, so make sure to check out Abortion, Every Day’s backgrounder on her.
Like so many other conservatives desperate to make their cruelty seem credible, Idaho Republicans trotted Skop out to testify that abortion bans are perfectly safe and there’s no reason doctors shouldn’t be able to provide care.
Thankfully, the plaintiffs had a lawyer who knew exactly who Skop was. During cross examination, attorney Leah Godesky pointed out that Skop travels to testify in support of bans, that she’s affiliated with multiple anti-abortion organizations, and that she writes anti-abortion papers that have been retracted by their publisher. Lol.
I think Godesky might be my new favorite person, because apparently she also dressed down the state’s other two ‘experts’—including one who admitted on cross that he opposes birth control and thinks rape victims should be forced to give birth.
It says a lot that these are the only kinds of people they can get to back their bullshit ban.
We have good and bad news out of Illinois today. The good news is that Cook County’s new budget includes $2 million for community organizations that provide “wraparound” reproductive rights services. These are groups that fund travel, lodging and medical costs for those seeking abortions. It’s an especially important move as the country prepares for a Trump presidency, and for pro-choice states in particular, which have seen a huge increase in out-of-state patients.
Democratic Commissioner Bridget Degnen said, “This budget really reflects our moral compass, one centered in freedom, autonomy and equity. Reproductive freedoms are a human right.”
In less terrific Illinois news, a coalition of anti-abortion groups are suing over a state law that requires private insurers to cover abortion care. The groups are represented the Thomas More Society, which has been suing all over the place lately. (They’re the group trying to overturn the Supreme Court’s buffer zone ruling, for example.)
Something to watch out for in these suits over insurance coverage: birth control. While this particular case is about coverage for abortion, we’ve seen similar legal challenges conflate abortion and certain types of birth control—and I expect we’ll see more of them soon.
The anonymous woman suing over Kentucky’s abortion ban has traveled out of the state to end her pregnancy, but is still a plaintiff in the suit. A filing says that ‘Mary Poe’ “recently traveled to another state to obtain legal access to the abortion care that she was denied in Kentucky due to the challenged bans.”
Poe’s suit—which the ACLU wants to make a class action—argues that Kentucky’s ban violates her right to privacy and self-determination under the state constitution. Other abortion rights groups brought a similar challenge against the ban last year.
Finally, a Florida Democrat plans to file a bill to clarify the state’s medical exceptions. State Sen. Tina Polsky pointed out that since Republicans ran all these ads against Amendment 4 claiming that women’s health is safe under the state’s ban, they should have no problem codifying as much. In other words, she wants that shit in writing.
Quick hits: An Arkansas Democrat filed a bill to restore abortion rights in the state (a symbolic move considering the makeup of the legislature). And even Massachusetts doctors are getting inundated with calls about long-term birth control and sterilization.
Ballot Measures
As predicted, Missouri Republicans have no interest in adhering to voters’ wishes. GOP lawmakers are already taking aim at Amendment 3, the recently-adopted ballot measure that protects abortion rights until ‘viability.’
House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson told reporters yesterday that targeting Amendment 3 would be one of Republicans’ legislative priorities, saying, “There’s no amendment that’s passed that can’t be changed or improved upon.”
“The Missouri legislature has a history of ‘improving’ on citizen initiatives by undermining or refusing to implement them,” said Emily Wales, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes.
Patterson had originally indicated he wouldn’t target Amendment 3, saying he would respect voters’ wishes. But then fellow Republican Rep. Justin Sparks called Patterson out for being too timid on the issue and made a move to block his leadership. Apparently that made Patterson nervous enough to consider legislation to undermine the pro-choice amendment.
The Republican Leader continues to insist, though, that “we respect the will of the voters” and that legislators just want to “address…a number of things in there.”
This is what I mean when I say that abortion is a democracy issue: this is a small group of extremist legislators imposing their will on the vast majority of Americans. Missouri voters spoke! They made clear that they want to restore abortion rights. Anything else is an attack on democracy.
For background on how Missouri Republicans tried to keep Amendment 3 off the ballot, read below:
Before we move on to national news, I had to flag this headline: “Florida voters reject measures to protect abortion rights.”
We need to be absolutely clear: Florida voters did not “reject” the pro-choice measure. The amendment won the support of 57% of voters—not just a majority, but a strong majority!
I promise you I’m not nitpicking, and this is not just about Amendment 4. A huge part of conservatives’ strategy is making Americans believe that this country is polarized on abortion rights. We’re not.
Americans want abortion to be legal. The issue is the powerful minority of lawmakers who work overtime to stop voters from having a say—be it through ballot measure attacks, gerrymandering, voter suppression, or more. And when mainstream outlets repeat the lie that the country is split on abortion, or characterize 57% support as voters ‘rejecting’ a measure, they’re enabling and covering up that attack on democracy.
In the Nation
It’s nice to have some good news every once in a while: Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name from consideration as Attorney General, posting on social media that his nomination “unfairly become a distraction.” In reality, Trump called Gaetz earlier today to tell him he didn’t have the votes.
This all comes as Democrats were pushing to release a House Ethics Committee report into Gaetz, who—among other things—is accused of paying a 17 year-old child for sex. CNN reports that Trump’s team believed that there would be even more damaging information on Gaetz to come, and decided to cut their losses.
I’m sure the anti-abortion movement will be bummed about the loss; they were already lobbying Gaetz to go after providers in pro-choice states who ship abortion medication to patients in states with bans. Just yesterday, Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, told The Washington Post, “If I was a midwife or a rando left activist packing pills in a basement in New York State … I would be really f---ing worried right now.”
Speaking of anti-contraception wackadoo Kristan Hawkins, her group has doubled down on their most off-the-wall abortion medication claim. Students for Life insists that flushed pills and fetal remains are poisoning the groundwater and killing endangered species. And (as I told you last week), they’ve framed the argument as a “Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)” initiative in order to appeal to RFK Jr., who will head up the Department of Health and Human Services.
Rolling Stone did a deep dive into this story today, pointing out that while Kennedy previously “built a reputation as a champion for clean water…[he] has increasingly embraced fringe views without broad support from the medical community.” Like claiming without evidence that chemicals in the water supply are impacting children’s sexuality.
In other words, Hawkins is trying to speak to Kennedy brainworm-to-brainworm.
Just remember that the real goal of this wastewater argument is to shame women who self-manage their abortions at home: Hawkins wants women to be forced to bag up their bleeding and bring it back to their healthcare provider as ‘dangerous medical waste.’
Quick hits:
The Cut breaks down some federal actions President Biden could take to protect abortion rights before Trump takes office;
Predictions from legal experts on what happens next with Trump and abortion;
And Newsweek asked leading abortion rights activists, “Will abortion rights survive Trump's Republican trifecta?”
Stats & Studies
Abortion is an economic issue, and every new study that comes out these days just reaffirms that fact. New research published in the American Sociological Review, for example, finds that banning abortion creates significant economic risks for families, especially for mothers.
The study also highlighted how important abortion is for young people: Researchers found that adolescents who have access to abortion, or have abortions as teenagers, end up having much better financial and educational outcomes over the course of decades. Those with abortion access are more likely to graduate high school and college, earn higher wages and experience more financial stability.
I also had to flag this quote from researcher Bethany Everett of the University of Utah:
“We live in a society that provides little to no support to mothers and parents, so much so that the U.S. Surgeon General recently issued a warning about the stressors of parenthood.”
That’s a vital thing to remember when you’re living in a country that forces women into motherhood.
You Love to See It
In better news, this made me so happy: Cecile Richards was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom yesterday! Richards, abortion rights icon and the former president of Planned Parenthood, recently launched the incredible storytelling project, Abortion in America.
President Joe Biden lauded Richards for her courage and “work to lift up the dignity of workers, defend and advance women’s reproductive rights and equality, and mobilize Americans to exercise their power to vote.”
I couldn’t be more proud to know someone. What a well-deserved honor.
"Researchers found that adolescents who have access to abortion, or have abortions as teenagers, end up having much better financial and educational outcomes over the course of decades"
^^^^^ this is exactly what they DON'T want!!!
They want us subjugated.
So, the MAGApublicians dropped Gaetz when it became clear that backing an animal who repeatedly paid for sex with a 17 year old child- a junior in high school- while taking penile erection drugs was a loosing proposition.
Now, their new bff is Hegseth who raped a woman in California at a republican convention. Despite a graphic police report and a rape kit and the fact that Hegseth paid the woman hush money so that he wouldn’t loose his job on Fox & Friends, Hegseth says the rape was consensual sex.
MAGApublicans hate women! We are nothing but chattel to them. Nothing says that more than their new campaign- Your body- My choice. They are utterly disgusting perverts.