Republicans Are Redefining 'Miscarriage'

3.19.25

Click to skip ahead: Criminalizing Care has more on the arrests in Texas and Republicans’ new anti-immigrant messaging strategy. In the States, news from Ohio, Kentucky, Iowa, New York, and more. Post-Roe Deaths shares a short video on Porsha Ngumezi, a woman killed by Texas’ abortion ban. Republican Language Games flags how the GOP is trying to advance a false definition of miscarriage. Attacks on Clinics calls on Democrats to do more. In the Nation, news on ‘equal protection’ bills and telehealth abortion providers. Stats & Studies has a hilarious but infuriating example of how anti-abortion ‘science’ works. Finally, Coming Soon gives a sneak peek at tomorrow’s newsletter.

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Criminalizing Care

Let’s start with the arrests in Texas. Yesterday, I wrote about Republicans’ messaging strategy—specifically about how Attorney General Ken Paxton and his allies are framing this as an issue of people practicing medicine “without a license.” It’s an especially notable attack given that Paxton is charging a midwife. As law professor Mary Ziegler pointed out in Slate, Paxton picked Rojas “to signal that midwives who provide abortions are unsafe, unqualified, and dishonest.”

But the Republican messaging doesn’t end there: As I’ve noted, it’s no accident that Paxton is targeting people who serve a predominantly low-income, non-English-speaking community. The goal is to make those arrested seem as unsympathetic as possible by tapping into American racism and classism.

Now another message is emerging: Right-wing media and anti-abortion groups are stoking anti-immigrant sentiment, pushing the idea that one of the three people arrested was an “illegal” immigrant. Take this headline from the conservative Christian outlet The Lion: “3 arrested, including possible illegal immigrant, in Texas abortion scheme.” Or the Dallas Express: “Paxton Arrests Multiple People, Illegal Alien, For Performing Illegal Abortions In Texas.”

These headlines trace back to a National Review article claiming that one of those arrested, Jose Ley, “entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 and was later paroled for entry by the Biden administration.” (In other words, he had a green card.)

Let’s be clear about what conservatives are doing here: They’re trying to frame this as a story of ‘dangerous’ immigrants sneaking into the country under Joe Biden and ‘performing’ illegal abortions. (The actual allegation is that patients were given abortion medication; by using the word “performing,” they’re trying to make it sound like full procedural abortions were happening.)

Even anti-abortion organizations are playing along, though with a bit more finesse. A press release from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America praised Paxton for arresting an “illegal abortionist”—a term they’ve never used before. When Dr. Maggie Carpenter was indicted by Louisiana, the group simply called her an “abortionist.” But in this case, the extra word is a calculated dog whistle.

A joint statement from the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, the Southern Birth Justice Network, and Physicians for Reproductive Health didn’t mince words, calling the arrests “clearly an attack on immigrant communities.”

“As the Trump Administration perpetuates devastating and harmful anti-immigrant sentiment with every decision they make, we know it was a calculated and intentional decision that Texas’s Attorney General Ken Paxton targeted a Latina midwife committed to working in a primarily Spanish-speaking community, many of whom are immigrants.”

I’ll have more on the case tomorrow, but make sure you’re keeping an eye out for this kind of language.

In the States

You’re going to love this. Remember how I told you that anti-abortion groups in Ohio were trying to shut down telehealth abortion provider Hey Jane, which just expanded into the state? Well, the plot has significantly thickened.

The short version is that Ohio Right to Life filed a complaint about Hey Jane with the state’s Department of Health, claiming that the group was trying to circumvent Ohio law. They say the state requires abortion pills to be dispensed in person by a doctor, conveniently ignoring the fact that an October court decision cleared the way for telehealth abortion care.

When the Ohio health department responded to the complaint, they noted that court ruling—but they also said that they didn’t have “enforcement authority.” Instead, the health department’s lawyer wrote, “This matter would be more appropriately directed to the State Medical Board of Ohio and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.”

But here’s the thing: Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, is on the state medical board! So they’re pushing the decision onto a governing body that contains one of the leaders who brought the complaint in the first place. What could go wrong!

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates (PPAA) is asking folks to contact Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and urge him to veto House Bill 90. This is the legislation I dedicated an entire newsletter to last week, because that’s how bad it is.

In addition to sending the Democratic governor a letter outlining why the bill is so terrible for Kentucky women, I’ve learned that the group also sent a text message blast to followers asking them to contact Beshear’s office.

As I noted yesterday, even if Beshear vetoes the bill, Republicans can easily override him. But it is so important—and heartening!—to see PPAA and their followers focusing in on the very deliberate language the GOP is using to try to trick voters into thinking their legislation would somehow help or protect women.

So much of what conservatives are trying to do right now with legislative language depends on voters, journalists, and Democratic politicians not understanding what they’re really up to. So when a group like PPAA puts it in writing—it makes a big difference.

The incomparable Lyz Lenz has written about how Iowa’s abortion ban has caused an abortion funding crisis across the Midwest. I know you hear about how bad things are for abortion funds quite a lot, but you should really read this piece to get a detailed understanding of how things work on the ground when you’re trying to scrape together a few thousand dollars so that one person can get the care they need.

I know you’re going to want this link once you’re done reading: Donate to the Iowa Abortion Access Fund here.

I appreciated this piece in The Conversation about abortion access for minors in Colorado. (The state still requires parental notification for minors.) Written by one of the researchers who published a recent study on minor’s access in the state, the article is a good reminder that it’s not enough to have expansive abortion laws if they don’t include young people:

“We found that even in a state like Colorado that has expanded abortion access, the law creates barriers to services. It takes time for young people to learn the law exists and figure out how to comply with it. That’s true for both young people who can tell their parents and those who cannot. Delays due to parental involvement laws can increase the cost of abortion services, restrict adolescents’ choice of abortion methods and push adolescents past the gestational limit of the clinic or state.”

Finally, I’m really sorry to see that Planned Parenthood of Greater New York will be shutting down its only Manhattan clinic due to ongoing funding issues. Wendy Stark, president of the organization, said that money from the sale of the building—which is listed at $39 million—will “ redirect those resources to health centers in historically underserved communities.”

Quick hits:

• Maine is considering a bill that would protect doctors by allowing them to keep their names off prescription labels for abortion medication;

• Indiana abortion rights advocates are speaking out against a resolution passed in support of anti-abortion pregnancy centers;

• And Idaho Republicans are advancing a bill they claim will protect providers from lawsuits. Are you suspicious? I sure am!

Post-Roe Deaths

CBS Evening News has a short segment about the death of Porsha Ngumezi, a 35-year-old mother killed by Texas’ abortion ban after being denied treatment for a miscarriage 11 weeks into her pregnancy. Ngumezi’s husband, Hope, says, “I blame the doctors, I blame the hospital, and I blame the state of Texas.”

I know it’s difficult, but as I’ve said so many times before—the very least we can do is bear witness to the consequences of these bans and the lives they’ve ended or destroyed. Watch the segment below, and read ProPublica’s investigation into Ngumezi’s death here.

Republican Language Games

We’re not quite done with this video—because there’s a moment in it that’s incredibly revealing. A CBS reporter asked Texas Sen. Bryan Hughes about the state’s rising maternal mortality rate and women like Ngumezi dying after being denied miscarriage care.

Hughes’ response? “I can show you the definition of abortion in Texas, and it says removal of a miscarriage is not an abortion.” The implication, of course, is that doctors are free to treat patients like Ngumezi. But let’s actually look at that definition:

(1)  "Abortion" means the act of using or prescribing an instrument, a drug, a medicine, or any other substance, device, or means with the intent to cause the death of an unborn child of a woman known to be pregnant.  The term does not include birth control devices or oral contraceptives.  An act is not an abortion if the act is done with the intent to:

(A)  save the life or preserve the health of an unborn child;

(B)  remove a dead, unborn child whose death was caused by spontaneous abortion; 

Despite Hughes’ claims, the law is clear: Texas only allows doctors to intervene once there’s no fetal heartbeat. But that’s never been the problem. The real issue—which Hughes knows damn well—is what happens when a patient is miscarrying but the fetus still has cardiac activity. Texas law says doctors should do nothing until she’s actively dying.

Republicans have redefined ‘miscarriage’ to mean only a completed miscarriage. That distinction is part of the reason why women like Ngumezi are suffering and dying. And it’s not just happening in Texas; I’ve seen the same language game in state after state.

Attacks on Clinics

I need Democrats to step it the fuck up on clinic safety—because things are bad, and they’re only going to get worse.

One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was to pardon two dozen violent anti-abortion extremists, telling them they’d never have to worry about getting arrested again. To no one’s surprise, these maniacs are already planning their next round of attacks.

At the same time, Trump’s Department of Justice abandoned the FACE Act, the federal law protecting abortion clinics. His DOJ announced they’d only prosecute FACE Act violations in “extraordinary circumstances... such as death.” Republicans are also trying to repeal the federal protection altogether.

Then there are buffer zones, the protections that keep extremists a few feet back from patients and clinic staff. Conservative legal groups have been working overtime to overturn the Supreme Court precedent that allows them, arguing that anti-abortion activists have a First Amendment right to scream in women’s faces.

In other words, anti-abortion legislators, activists and organizations are going all in on attacking clinics. But as POLITICO reports today, the Democratic response has been weak at best.

Multiple cities have rolled back their buffer zone policies and ordinances, seemingly too afraid of ‘free speech’ lawsuits to take the fight to the courts. And despite having opportunities to pass state-level FACE Act protections, many Democratic-led legislatures haven’t done it.

Take Michigan, for example. Renee Chelian, founder of a network of clinics there, has dealt with violent protesters for decades—so much so that her clinics have security cameras, panic buttons, bulletproof glass, and armed private guards. When Michigan Democrats failed to pass a state-level FACE Act while they had the power, she said “it felt like a blow.”

“Democrats really fell down on the job,” she told POLITICO.

Thankfully, some states—like New York, New Jersey and Illinois—are working on similar protections. But we need more, and we need them faster. Because anti-abortion extremists are already mobilizing. Just this week, a group of anti-abortion activists—including two Trump-pardoned extremists—were let off with probation for attacking a clinic.

For more on how Republicans and the Trump administration are making it easier to attack providers, patients, and clinic staff, read Abortion, Every Day’s past coverage:

"God Demands Justice": The GOP's Chilling Plan to Attack Clinics

In the Nation

I’m really glad to see mainstream outlets catch up on ‘equal protection’ bills—the legislation that seeks to punish abortion patients as murderers. TIME has a piece on it this week, talking to experts who point out that these bills are part of a larger, growing criminalization trend since Roe fell.

What I especially appreciate about the article is that while it notes that these bills haven’t passed yet, it makes clear that doesn’t mean they won’t. TIME highlights the increase in these proposals over the last few years and connects them to broader fetal personhood efforts and the arrests of providers.

Speaking of criminalization and good reporting, NPR’s “Morning Edition” covered abortion providers who are still shipping pills into banned states—despite the recent indictment of New York provider Dr. Maggie Carpenter.

Reading through, I kept thinking about the immense personal risk providers take on to do this work. Julie F. Kay, who co-founded Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT) with Carpenter, talked about the fact that providers can’t visit banned or restricted states for fear of being arrested.

That limits who can prescribe pills to patients in those areas. “I've talked to doctors where it's not a good fit because they have an elderly parent in Florida, or a college student somewhere, or family in the South,” she notes.

Dr. Samantha Glass, who lives in New York, told NPR that she travels to provide abortions in Kansas and plans on sending pills to banned states:

“Someone has to do it. So why wouldn't it be me? I just think access to this care is such a life saving thing for so many people, that I just couldn't turn my back on it.”

If you haven’t thanked an abortion provider today, you should.

Stats & Studies

I thought this might put a smile on your face: Some of the country’s biggest anti-abortion groups really stepped in it today.

The Charlotte Lozier Institute and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America are proudly sharing maps of the “best states for physicians”—most of which, they claim, have abortion bans. “According to Becker's Hospital Review, 13 of the best states for physicians have laws protecting unborn life at 12 weeks or sooner,” the Charlotte Lozier Institute tweeted today.

This seemed very unlikely to me, so I took a closer look. First off, this ranking didn’t come from Becker’s—it’s from Wallet Hub. Becker’s Hospital Review just linked to it. More importantly, the ranking has nothing to do with patient health or medical outcomes. It’s about physician salaries.

Which raises an obvious question: Why do these groups think this makes them look good? Of course states with abortion bans have to pay doctors more to work in places where they could be arrested for doing their jobs!

This kind of nonsense actually perfectly captures the ‘science’ of the anti-abortion movement. They latch onto some random study or ranking, twist it beyond recognition, and present it as ‘proof’ that their laws aren’t harming anyone. They’re desperate for any scrap of medical credibility—because they know the truth: their bans are killing people, and OB/GYNs are fleeing their states en masse. (They can’t replace those doctors so easily, either—residency applications in anti-abortion states have plummeted.)

The thing that kills me, though, is that you know we’re going to see this ranking pop up in an anti-abortion legal brief somewhere, trotted out as ‘evidence’ that abortion bans are great for doctors.

You know what map they won’t post? One showing maternal mortality.

Coming Soon

Keep an eye on your inbox for news on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race (and Elon Musk’s infusion of cash); efforts to codify fetal personhood efforts in Kansas; the pro-choice amendment in Delaware; and crisis pregnancy centers and ‘free speech.’