The Anti-Abortion Movement's Gutter Politics

4.29.25

Click to skip ahead: Weird Science reports that Republicans are already using that fake study to call for restrictions on abortion medication. Gutter Politics recognizes Marjorie Dannenfelser for her race to the bottom. In the States, news from Iowa, Arkansas, Nevada, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. WTF, MO AG! looks at the Missouri attorney general’s war on a local abortion fund. In the Nation covers Trump’s first 100 days in office and the backlash against the administration’s attempts to pressure women into having more kids. Listen Up has a segment on fetal personhood.

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Weird Science

This past week has been a textbook example of the anti-abortion playbook in action: First, FDA chief Marty Makary said he’d consider restricting abortion medication if “new data” came out showing they were unsafe. Like magic, a new ‘study’ dropped a few days later, purporting to prove that the pills were far more dangerous than previously believed. Less than 24 hours later, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley wrote a letter to Makary, urging him to restrict the medication.

This is exactly what I warned about in yesterday’s newsletter—and why I was so irritated at the initial media coverage of Makary’s comments. This was always the plan.

Hawley’s letter reminds Makary of his promise to review new data on mifepristone, and cites the horseshit ‘study’ from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC). Feigning concern about “women’s safety,” Hawley calls on the FDA chief to restore pre-Biden era restrictions on abortion medication—including mandating in-person visits.

We know what’s happening here: tele-health accounts for 1 in 5 American abortions, so Republicans are eager to do away with it. But they also know that voters really don’t like abortion bans—so they’re pushing for restrictions under the guise of protecting women.

And it’s not just legislators. As soon as the EPPC hit ‘publish’ on that study, anti-abortion activists started calling Fox News.

Christina Francis, president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), said the research revealed a “public health crisis that should be investigated immediately.” In keeping with that woman-friendly messaging, Francis told Fox News, “Women deserve informed consent about the potentially life-threatening dangers of these drugs.”

Please remember that this is a woman who doesn’t believe in life-saving abortions and wants to force women with nonviable fetuses into c-sections—so maybe she’s not the best judge of what women need!

I can’t stress enough how important it is that we’re spreading the word on how absurd this study is. We know that bad data and fake science is a growing anti-abortion tactic, and we’ve seen how it can be weaponized in the courts. Right-wing media headlines and Hawley’s letter are just the first steps—soon, we’ll see legislators citing the ‘study’ in statehouses, and it won’t be long before the Trump administration also hops on board.

The best thing we can do is get a loud, public message out there about how ridiculous this research is. We need to make Republicans embarrassed to even talk about it.

Looking for some images to share? Steal them from my Instagram account!

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Given the above news, I just want to remind folks that if you don’t already have abortion medication in your medicine cabinet—order some now. You can order advance provision pills just in case you (or someone you know) needs them one day.

Trusted sources for abortion medication: Aid Access, Plan C Pills, Abortion Finder, I Need An A.

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Gutter Politics

Just when you think anti-abortion activists can’t go any lower, Marjorie Dannenfelser appears like an MLM rep in your DMs.

In her statement about the bullshit mifepristone study, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America decided it was the perfect moment to co-opt the deaths of women killed by abortion bans. That’s right—Dannenfelser is using the very women whose deaths her work is responsible for to push for even harsher restrictions:

“Even in the corporate media, reports have surfaced of at least three women dying in recent years after drug-induced abortions. All three deaths occurred after Biden’s FDA removed critical safety protections for women and girls…”

The statement links over to SBA’s release about the deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller—two women killed by Georgia’s abortion ban. (The state maternal mortality committee ruled that their deaths were preventable, after which the Republican leaders in the state dismissed the entire board.)

This isn’t the first time Dannenfelser and her group have scraped the bottom of the barrel: In the lead-up to November, SBA launched a half million dollar ad campaign using the women’s names and pictures while declaring, “the Left’s scare tactics are deadly.”

This isn’t just shameless—it’s depraved.

In the States

All I want is one single day where I don’t have to write about these fucking ‘Baby Olivia’ bills. Today, however, is not that day. Legislation requiring public schools to show students an anti-abortion propaganda video has passed the Iowa Senate and is on its way to the governor for signing. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed near-identical legislation into law last week.

Sigh.

As I noted yesterday, Republicans are trying to avoid the ‘Baby Olivia’ controversy by not mentioning the video—which is produced by anti-abortion extremist group Live Action—by name. Instead, legislation in states like Arkansas, Iowa, and Indiana have mandated a video that just so happens to match the ‘Baby Olivia’ video exactly.

But everyone knows what Republicans are really up to. In Iowa this week, for example, state Sen. Jeff Taylor said, “Embryos, fetuses, babies, adolescents and adults are all humans and that fact should not be hidden, that every life no matter how small contains humanity and dignity from the very start.” (While I always try to be my best self, I’m just going to share this pic of Sen. Taylor with no comment.)

As you all know by now—because I can’t stop screaming about it—mandating these videos in public schools are just one part of a broader plan to change national education guidelines, indoctrinate children, and build the next generation of conservative voters.

Abortion surveillance tactics are everywhere these days—even in state budgets. A few weeks ago, I told you how Ohio Republicans had added a provision into the state budget that would mandate the creation of a publicly available “electronic dashboard” that publishes abortion data every month.

Instead of only collecting basic information about abortion patients, like the state does now, this new mandate would require doctors to list everything from a patient’s education level and menstrual history to their marital status and number of “living children.”

As was the case in Indiana—where Republicans want to make abortion reports public records like birth and death certificates—people may be able to reverse engineer someone’s identity using that public-facing information. (Especially for those in low-population, rural areas.)

The goal isn’t just to scare people out of getting care—but to give anti-abortion groups information to scour through, when they look for reasons to sue providers.

Democratic state Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney told Ohio public radio station WOSU that any move to “create public lists” is stigmatizing and invades patient privacy. More than that, she says, Republicans hope to override the will of voters—who passed an abortion rights ballot measure in 2023:

"Yes, they can't legally undermine the Ohio Constitution and outright just ban abortion as they have attempted to do in the past, but there's other ways that they could try to harass, demonize and actually find out who these women are.”

In better news…

We have some good news for Nevada teens: A federal judge has blocked the state from enforcing a 1985 parental notification law. The anti-abortion mandate was dormant for decades because of Roe—but the law was set to go into effect this week, now that Roe is gone.

Thankfully, U.S. District Judge Anne Traum ruled that the notification law can’t be enforced just yet; she said Planned Parenthood needs time to file a challenge. The organization, which argues that the law violates minors’ rights, has seven days to file its request with the appellate court.

You all know how I feel about anything related to parental consent or notification: It makes zero sense. As a parent, I understand wanting to know what your kid is up to, but you can’t logically tell me that a teen is too young to decide to have an abortion but old enough to parent or go through childbirth.

Finally, you love to see it: When a religious anti-abortion group organized a protest outside of a Pennsylvania Planned Parenthood, the Philly Abortion Rights Coalition was ready and waiting for them. When over 100 members of “Mission Youth Philly” showed up to block access to the clinic, they found that the local abortion rights activists had gotten there early—setting up all around the block, forming a wall of bodies, to prevent the protesters from intimidating or harassing patients.

I couldn’t love this more.

Quick hits:

• Arkansas abortion rights activists held an immersive clinic tour/reenactment to show people what access was like before Roe fell;

• Don’t miss this Washington Post piece about the incredible people running the West Alabama Women’s Center;

• And the Texas Senate just passed the ‘clarification’ bill that AED has been covering for the last month (I’ll have lots more about this tomorrow).

WTF, MO AG!

We need to talk about what’s going on in Missouri, because it is wild. Republican leadership there isn’t just trying to override the will of the voters, but has launched an all-out attack on a local abortion fund in an effort to take out the organization.

A refresher: Missouri voters passed protections for abortions until ‘viability’ this past November. Republicans have been fighting the passage of Amendment 3 every day since, insisting that people didn’t really understand what they were voting for. They’re now pushing for a new ballot measure that would ban abortion in the state.

But there’s more! In the wake of Amendment 3, a judge moved to permit abortion clinics to resume care by blocking two laws—the state ban, and an onerous licensing requirement. What did the GOP do in response? They passed a law that gives the state attorney general the power to appeal preliminary injunctions against state laws.

As soon as the governor signed that law, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey went straight to the state Supreme Court—asking them to review the two injunctions that allowed abortion care to resume. To no one’s surprise, Bailey’s office insists the AG is just trying to protect women:

“The women of Missouri deserve basic health and safety standards that safeguard their health and lives. AG Bailey is fighting to defend these standards and uphold the rule of law.”

I wish that were the end of it. But Bailey—who seems to have a personal vendetta against abortion rights—is also targeting the Missouri Abortion Fund (MAF). He’s subpoenaed the group for years of records (thankfully, not patient or donor files) as part of a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, accusing them of "trafficking" minors for abortions.

Just to repeat that: MAF is not a party to this lawsuit! Bailey is just using the Planned Parenthood suit as an opportunity to target a small, local organization that helps patients get care. It’s a disgusting abuse of power.

With only two staffers, the group says it would take over 2,900 hours to sort through 35,000 records—yet Bailey wants it done in just two weeks. It’s a massive effort, they told the court, that would “substantially interfere with the day-to-day operations” and “impose heavy financial costs on the organization.”

And while a judge temporarily blocked Bailey’s records demands on MAF yesterday—the threat remains. That’s to say nothing of what the court battle has already cost the group.

MAF executive director Jess Lambrecht says, “I imagine that this will eat at least at this point a full month of patient coverage.” And how much is that? About $50,000.

To recap: The attorney general of Missouri is dragging a small, local organization into a legal fight they have nothing to do with—all in an effort to drain the resources and keep patients from accessing vital healthcare.

Lambrecht says while they know Bailey “will stop at nothing” to attack abortion access, “we are experts at adapting to ever-changing landscapes and threats.”

All of which is to say: Donate to Missouri Abortion Fund. The group is in the middle of their Fund-A-Thon, so it’s a perfect time to be generous!

In the Nation

It’s Trump’s 100th day in office (🫠), and today’s roundups are full of reminders of how his administration has attacked reproductive rights—from Title X cuts to emboldening and empowering anti-abortion extremists. I’ll send out Abortion, Every Day’s breakdown tomorrow, but in the meantime, check out the analyses from Ms. magazine, The 19th, and HuffPost.

Remember when I raged out last week over the White House’s ‘bro-natalist’ agenda? Well, I wasn’t the only one pissed off. The 19th reports that the House Democratic Women’s Caucus has sent a letter to Trump, expressing their anger over proposals meant to push and pressure women into having more babies:

“None of these proposals offer real, lasting solutions to the soaring costs of raising a family, the challenges many women face in conceiving or carrying a pregnancy, or the very real dangers of childbirth. Even more appalling is that while your administration explores hollow incentives for childbirth, you’ve simultaneously worked to dismantle the very systems that help women and families.”

If you need a reminder of what the White House was considering, read Abortion, Every Day’s coverage below:

Bro-Natalists Are Ruining America

And in some cool culture news, Olivia Rodrigo won a Catalyst of Change award from Planned Parenthood. The young singer said, “When I play shows, I look out at crowds filled with young girls and the bond I feel with them is profound… I often wonder, ‘What happens to those girls when they leave those venues? What are their dreams? What kind of world are they returning to?’”

Congratulations to her!

Listen Up

Want to spend some time digging into fetal personhood? NPR’s “1A” podcast has you covered: