The Week in Abortion

(3.27.23 - 3.31.23)

Crisis in the South

This week, a 6-week abortion ban in Florida advanced quickly, while lawmakers in North Carolina proposed a near-total ban. Florida is expected to pass its ban while North Carolina isn’t, but we can’t take anything for granted—if both states banned abortion, the South’s access to care would be decimated.

Florida’s bill, which doctors say will kill patients and leave millions without care, will pass any day now. And while Republicans rush the ban through the legislature, state Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging the Florida Supreme Court to uphold an existing 15-week abortion ban and rule that the state constitution’s right to privacy does not extend to abortion.

And Republicans in North Carolina proposed a bill that would ban abortion from the point of fertilization, language that could also be used to limit certain forms of birth control. The ban doesn’t have exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the pregnant person, and would prohibit treatment for miscarriages where there’s still a fetal heartbeat present. (This has been one of the most common post-Roe horror stories we’ve seen: Women developing life-threatening infections and sepsis after being denied miscarriage care.) If the bill passes, abortion would be punishable by up to life in prison.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper will veto the bill, but Republicans in the state are just one seat short of a supermajority. They have the ability override the veto if they can get a Democrat to support them, or if a Democrat fails to show up to vote—which is what happened with gun laws this week. So we can’t take anything for granted.

Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud

In Idaho, Republicans have been pushing an amendment to the state’s abortion ban, claiming it will ‘clarify’ the law. Doctors, however, have made it clear that it won’t do shit: Maternal fetal medicine specialist Dr. Lauren Miller, says that “imminent death” is the only exception truly recognized in the current version bill.

And here’s what I can’t stop thinking about: Republicans rejected an exception for “life-threatening conditions” because there were too many conditions to list. Republican Rep. Julianne Young said, “The list was endless when we began considering the decisions that would fall under that language.” That’s right, when faced with the fact that there are an “endless” number of things that can go wrong during pregnancy and put someone’s life at risk—conservative lawmakers simply opted to leave out any allowance for them at all.

Watch Me Be Mad

I recorded a quick (and heated) TikTok about yesterday’s news that Arkansas Republicans rejected an abortion ban exception for raped children.

@auntiekilljoyI don’t even know what to say anymore #feminism #abortioneveryday #abortion #fyp #arkansas

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Attacks on Democracy

If you’re a regular reader, you know that Republicans have been relentlessly attacking democracy in their efforts to ban abortion. This week was no exception. In Ohio, a pro-choice ballot measure could be in front of voters by November. In response, conservative lawmakers are seeking to mandate (via a special August election) that the measure receives 60% of the vote instead of a simple majority in order to pass. House speaker Jason Stephens initially said he didn't support the special election, but now suddenly considers it a “possibility.” The Columbus Dispatch editorial board said this effort by Republicans “slaps voters in the face and betrays our democracy.”

Anti-choice activists in Ohio are also doing their part: They’re suing to require that the ballot measure be split into two questions. The state Supreme Court has set a date to hear the suit, which, if successful, would require pro-choice activists to gather twice as many signatures. Opponents of the ballot measure are also running deceptive ads claiming it would allow children to undergo gender-affirming surgery without parental consent. Because if they can’t keep the issue away from voters, they’ll just lie to them about it.

Missouri Republicans are also trying to raise the standards around ballot measures in response to a pro-choice proposal. Lawmakers began debating the issue in the state Senate this week. And in Montana, the House Judiciary Committee passed a proposal to end state Supreme Court elections. Instead, the governor would appoint justices, which would enable Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte to appoint those who would reverse a 1999 decision protecting abortion rights in the state constitution.

OBGYN Exodus

Just two weeks after the closure of Bonner General Health’s maternity ward in Idaho, which left pregnant women with over an hour’s drive to the nearest hospital for delivery, another hospital has followed suit. Valor Health Hospital in Emmett announced the closure of their labor and delivery ward this week, citing multiple factors, including staff shortages. Nearly half of the OGBYNs in Idaho are leaving the state or considering leaving because of the abortion ban.

We’re seeing this trend in nearly all anti-choice states. They’re losing doctors, especially OBGYNs, without the ability to replace them. After all, it’s not easy to recruit physicians to a state that would jail them for simply doing their jobs! Dr. Leilah Zahedi-Spung, a maternal fetal medicine specialist who moved from Tennessee to Colorado, says, “No physician is going to put their life on the line. I'm not going to go to jail or sacrifice my entire life.”

Anti-choice states already have poorer maternal and infant health outcomes compared to their pro-choice counterparts—a crisis that will only worsen as more OBGYNs leave and fewer women can find care. But it’s not only states with abortion bans that are feeling the consequences of Roe being overturned. In Utah this week, five hospitals were acquired by a Catholic health care system—which means those hospitals will not be providing abortions, vasectomies, tubal ligation, IVF, or any other reproductive health care that doesn’t align with their new owner’s “ethical and religious directives.” This comes just after Utah passed a law requiring that abortions only be performed at hospitals.

The Good News

Democrats in Illinois are introducing legislation to allow women to sue anti-abortion centers for lying to them about their pregnancies and health. Oregon is considering similar legislation, and Colorado is pushing a bill to stop anti-abortion centers from using deceptive advertising. And Connecticut is considering a bill that would ban state contracts with any businesses that refuse to dispense abortion medication (not just in Connecticut, but any state).

Maryland voters will decide in 2024 whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Nearly 80% of voters want to see a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, so it’s all but certain that the ballot measure will pass. Nevada Democrats are also pushing to protect abortion rights in the state constitution.

The Kansas Supreme Court is considering whether abortion rights are protected in the state constitution, and all signs point in the right direction.

Something You Might Have Missed

There’s been lots of news this week about the Idaho ‘abortion trafficking’ bill—namely because it’s the first law we’re seeing go after interstate travel. Which is a big fucking deal! Something else was included in that bill, however, that I haven’t seen flagged nearly as much: If a local prosecutor declines to go after an ‘abortion trafficking’ case, the state attorney general will have the power to go after them anyway. We’ve been seeing similar moves in places like Texas, where Republicans want to pass legislation to punish any state attorney who refuses to prosecute abortion. It’s a good reminder that for all their talk about not wanting to punish women, conservatives sure are creating a lot of ways for them to do just that.