In the states…
Top news in the states, of course, is Florida’s proposed abortion ban—which is about as horrible as you can imagine. Their ‘exception’ for rape and incest victims is as useless as all the others, and the language is so vague that someone who drives a patient to an abortion or gives them money to help pay for the procedure could be guilty of a felony. If it passes, which it’s almost certain to do, the entire South will be impacted. Those who have been traveling to Florida for abortion care will have to go elsewhere, likely North Carolina or South Carolina—where doctors are already inundated with out-of-state patients and stretched thin.
The other big state news this week is that a Texas man is suing three friends of his ex-wife who he claims helped her get an abortion. His lawyer is the asshole who created the piece of the law that says citizens can sue over abortion. I’ll keep you updated as I find out more.
Let’s talk ballot measures real quick: You already know that Republicans are doing everything that they can to make it harder for voters to weigh in on abortion—but that’s not stopping abortion rights activists!
In Ohio, we’re on track to get abortion in front of voters before lawmakers have a chance to change the standards so that you need 60% of the vote as opposed to a simple majority. So, great news there. But that also means that conservatives in the state have started their messaging campaign against the proposed amendment, which would enshrine “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in the state constitution.
Because they know abortion rights are incredibly popular, conservatives are focusing on ‘parental rights’. We’ve seen this tactic before in Michigan and know where it’s going: Straight to anti-trans rhetoric about how the amendment would allow minors to have surgery and medical care without parental consent. So be on the lookout for that.
Missouri voters will also be able to make their voices heard on abortion, despite Republican efforts to stop them. And in Mississippi, voters will be able to change laws using ballot measures—unless it has to do with abortion. Why? Because Republicans don’t want them to. (In a similar move, West Virginia’s governor just signed a ‘religious freedom’ bill into law that specifies it can’t be used to argue for abortion rights. )
Other top state-news reminders:
Five Texas women are suing after being denied care because of the state’s abortion ban (and conservatives continue to blame doctors for the laws that they wrote);
Utah’s governor is set to sign a bill that will effectively ban abortion clinics in the state, even though abortion is legal;
California dropped at $54 million contract with Walgreens over their refusal to dispense abortion medication in certain states;
And Idaho has advanced legislation that would make it ‘abortion trafficking’ to take a minor out-of-state for abortion care, and is starting to censor folks who talk or create art about abortion. (It’s no wonder that nearly half of the state’s OBGYNs are either leaving or thinking about leaving.)
In the nation…
We’ve all been anxiously awaiting Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling on abortion medication, which could come down any day now. Health secretary Xavier Becerra thinks that maybe he hasn’t ruled yet because he’s “realizing that he may put in jeopardy a whole lot more than just mifepristone.” In the meantime, experts remind us that even if the ruling comes down against abortion rights, that doesn’t mean it will be the end of abortion medication.
Also on abortion medication, the public continues their (very justified!) outcry against Walgreens while political leaders from New York to California make their disappointment clear. Democratic Senators have also called on the company to reverse their decision.
Meanwhile, anti-choice activists are protesting outside of pharmacies in an effort to intimidate them out of carrying the legal medication—something national anti-abortion leaders say will now be “standard protocol.” At the same time, these groups are claiming that abortion medication is dangerous using hilariously wrong and disingenuous numbers.
Abortion, Every Day in the media…
If you didn’t catch my appearance on MSNBC this week with Alex Wagner, I’ve included the clip at the top, and you can listen to my chat with the wonderful folks at the Hysteria podcast below:
Hope everyone has a terrific weekend, and don’t forget to support the work that Abortion, Every Day is doing with a paid subscription!
The Week in Abortion