Trump, Arizona, and National Minority Health Month

A collection of good reads, events from the week, and policy insights.

Welcome back to This Week in Abortion - Your weekly substack roundup of good reads, news updates, and policy insights on abortion. This week I’m covering Trump’s abortion position, the Arizona Supreme Court Ruling, along with good reads and other updates.

But first, it’s National Minority Health Month and Black Maternal Health Week. Check out the links for events in your area and other ways to get involved. 

• Check out some ways to amplify BMHW.

• Things to consider bringing into in your own work - especially doctors. 

Good Reads and Videos

• Nada Hassanein writes about five states (California, Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, and New Jersey) that have mandated implicit bias training as one way to address inequities in maternal health. (7 min)

• Tonya Mosley and Carter Sherman talk about fetal personhood efforts around the country and the fallout of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Florida. (31 min)

• Bracey Harris profiled Louisiana state Rep. Delisha Boyd (5 min), who was conceived in rape and who is now fighting to add exceptions for rape and incest to the state's ban. On the other side of the table from her is another Democrat - Rep. Pat Moore (3 min)- who was also conceived in rape and, as a result, is against the exceptions. 

• Amber Ferguson at the Washington Post wrote a touching story about adoption. Within the story are two great nuggets:

  • Taking medication for an abortion requires compliance, you need to take the pills a certain way. Many patients need support for that which is not available in states with bans.

  • There is a shortage of Black sperm donors in the country, the causes of which overlap with the inequity in maternal health.

  I also feel like this article is a contender for “views from the other side.” It leaves readers with a sense that if not for Texas’ strict ban on abortion the adoption at the center of the story would not have happened. I am not a fan of whataboutism, nor for that matter, is the subject of the article but the feeling persists. (30 min)

Arizona

A ruling by Arizona’s Supreme Court will allow a full ban on abortion from 1864 to go into effect in the state. The ruling creates chaos for patients and providers, including uncertainty about who can be prosecuted and when the law will go into effect. It also adds new pressure to the November election. 

• Gloria Rebecca Gomez does a great job explaining the ruling. 

• Alicia Victoria Lozano and Aria Bendix cover the chaos and pain for patients and practitioners, as well as the pressure that’s now on supportive states. The one bright spot is that Arizona’s State’s Attorney said that she would not be enforcing the law. 

• Jacques Billeaud And Morgan Lee at the AP cover the general political fallout.  

• Reagan Priest and Jimmy Jenkins write that two of the judges in the majority opinion are up for reelection.

• Wisconsin would like me to remind you, it has been fighting over an even older law. 

• Oh, and then there is the Comstock Act: Coming from 1873 to a pharmacy near you! 

Competition makes for fun bedfellows. Matt Gress - a Republican member of the Arizona House - tried to force a vote on a Democrat-sponsored bill to repeal the law. His effort was shut down as the rest of his party called for a recess. Gress is running in a major metropolis in a tight race, as is State Senator Shawnna Bolick. Both previously voted for the 15-week ban, which failed to repeal the 1864 law, but are now coming out against the ruling. Bolick has her husband to thank for her predicament. Clint Bolick is on the State Supreme Court voted in favor of enforcing the law. (Some bedfellows might be in separate rooms for a while.) Kari Lake is attempting an even trickier 180 after her previous endorsement of the 1864 law. See the Morning Joe segment below.

Trump

Trump revealed his position on abortion to be a steaming pile of….nothing. 

• This is smart. Sure, anti-access conservatives are disappointed with him. But, what are they going to do, vote for Biden? 

• Watch the whole video. Trump’s mouth might say “I believe this is a state’s issue” but what I hear is, “I really don’t care much about this one way or the other, you set up the pins, I’ll knock them down.” I don’t think he is alone. Plenty of the thousands of politicians out there are taking default positions on abortion rather than deeply considered moral stances. The great thing about Trump is that there is no pretense, we know that he will do what is best for him at the moment. So, I don’t give much weight to Trump reportedly saying a solo “No” when a reporter asked him whether he would sign a federal ban as president. If it makes political sense to sign it, he will. Isaac Saul does a spectacular job laying out the politics of it all.

• Republicans are already following Trump’s lead and “softening” their messages. Take Florida Sen. Rick Scott,  who said this week that abortion is a states issue while also saying he opposes the current ballot measure in his state.

More Abortion Updates

• Kansas legislators ended the session by sending a couple of last-minute anti-access gifts to Gov. Kelly. 

• Tennessee senators passed the same anti-trafficking bill that was recently rejected by a federal court in Idaho. The law makes it a crime to help a minor seeking an abortion and will likely be approved by the House.

• In Virginia, Gov. Youngkin signed a law protecting the privacy of abortion patients in the state but vetoed a bill to prevent extraditions related to abortion services.

The wider world of women and uteri

• A bill in Pennsylvania explains why I steal my husband’s razors.

• As reported by States Newsroom, nearly every state has or is considering expanding Medicaid coverage to 12 months. The only holdout is Arkansas.