This Week in Abortion: That which we call an exception
A collection of good reads, events from the week, and policy insights on reproductive health.
Welcome back to This Week in Abortion - Your weekly Substack roundup of good reads, news updates, and policy insights on abortion.
There is a new anti-Mife study out and state news is heating up as legislatures get ready to lock up for the summer. But first, I’ve been wanting to talk about medical exceptions to abortion bans for a while now, and Texas gave me the perfect excuse.
That which we call an exception.
This week the Texas Senate passed the “Life of the Mother” bill, which it says will clarify when doctors can perform medically necessary abortions. That the legislation passed, with the full support of the chamber as well as the endorsement of anti-abortion groups and medical and hospital associations shows just how dangerous pregnancy in the state has become.
A study by ProPublica found that after Texas banned abortion, “the rate of sepsis shot up more than 50% for women hospitalized when they lost their pregnancies in the second trimester.” People died. People are dying, because of a law that forces doctors to choose between prison time and what they know is best for their patients. As pro-access Sen. Sarah Eckhardt reportedly said, “I want to believe this bill will make things better, because it's hard to believe that things could be much worse.”
Texas is not alone. A study by the Gender Policy Insitute finds that “Mothers living in states that banned abortion [are] nearly 2x as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after giving birth.” (Frustratingly, the study does not break this out by state.) Many of these states have or are contemplating their own form of “exceptions” to abortion bans, most of which require patients to be suffering an active life-threatening emergency.
For a change, the Texas bill actually states that an abortion can take place to treat a life-threatening condition “before the pregnant female suffers any effects of the risk.” So yes, this may save lives. But, it won’t be fully effective unless treating physicians decide what a “life-threatening condition” is in consultation with the patient, without administrative or legal interlopers. I’m not convinced the legislation does this and nor is the Texas-based Board Chair for Physicians for Reproductive Health. The more likely scenario is that the bill will help hospitals and doctors feel comfortable performing abortions in only a handful of extremely clear-cut situations and when there is no hint of survival from the fetus.
That which we call an exception. By any other name would still mean death.
At the end of the day, as long as the law tells a doctor that a wrong call could land them (and maybe even the patient) in jail, there simply is no exception that can account for every case. I would see a law that eliminates criminal penalties altogether as more supportive of the “life of the mother.” But, of course, then you would risk someone getting an abortion when they didn’t “medically require” it - however you happen to define that.
As is often the case it comes down to a question of priorities. Do you want the government to stop as many abortions as possible or to save as many pregnant people as possible? The “Life of the Mother” bill looks like it is trying to create some kind of balance, but there will still be a finger on the scale. However many cases of sepsis will be prevented if it passes, Texas will still have a ban, and one with criminal penalties.
People died. People are dying. People will, still, die.
Good Reads
In a recent study, a conservative Christian non-profit says that Mifepristone is more dangerous than the FDA believes. The study is quickly making the rounds in anti-spaces and is problematic. For example, over 50% of the incidents they cite as serious adverse events are simply visits to an ER and “other abortion-specific complications.” It’s not clear those categories involve anything seriously adverse, especially since sepsis, infection, transfusion, hemorrhage, hospitalization, ectopic pregnancy, “other life-threatening adverse events,” and surgical abortion are all included as separate categories. Someone out there, comment if you know what’s left after all that.
In case you (blissfully) forgot, to commemorate Women’s History Month Trump named himself the “fertilization president,” he was joking but...just…ick.🤮 Or as Lyz Lenz eloquently put it, “millions and millions of embryos in the bodies of women yeet themselves themselves right on out of their respective uteruses.”
But, hey, I would totally, awkwardly chuckle at Trump’s bad humor if it meant addressing parental leave and maternal healthcare deserts. Unfortunately, while those areas seem stalled or even threatened, the administration shared some of the other ideas they're considering with the New York Times like promoting menstrual tracking and other policies straight out of the anti-abortion, and ultra-extreme protonatalist playbooks.
Federal
Federal judge lets Nevada company intervene in abortion pill case [Las Vegas Sun]
Reproductive health group, ACLU sue Trump administration over Title X funding [The Hill]
The States (and Territories)
Alabama
👍Democratic filibuster likely kills Alabama abstinence, ‘sexual risk avoidance’ bill [Alabama Reflector]
Florida
👎Senate votes to codify ‘Faith and Community’ in Governor’s Office, rejects push to bar employees from campaigns [Florida Politics]
Colorado
👍Colorado will cover abortion for Medicaid patients, state employees as Gov. Polis signs public funding law [Denver Post]
Guam
👍9th Circuit dismisses AG appeal in case to lift abortion ban injunction [The Guam Daily Post]
Louisiana
🤷Louisiana ponders IVF protections that anti-abortion groups oppose [Louisiana Illuminator]
Oklahoma
👎Oklahoma bill making it a felony to ‘traffic abortion pills’ advances out of Senate committee [ABC7 News]
Missouri
👎Missouri Senate committee advances reinstating statewide abortion ban [stlpr]
👎Attorney General Andrew Bailey demands records from Missouri abortion nonprofit [Missouri Independent]
👍Nonprofit sues to overturn Missouri’s parental consent laws for minors seeking abortions [Missouri Independent]
Montana
👍👎‘Personhood’ for embryos fails, other [anti] abortion bills head to governor’s desk [Daily Montanan]
North Dakota
👍North Dakota Senate removes funding for anti-abortion campaign, advances budget bill [North Dokta Monitor]
Texas
👎Wide-ranging crackdown on abortion pills passes Texas Senate [Texas Tribune]
👍Bill clarifying when doctors can perform medically necessary abortions clears Senate [Texas Tribune]
Washington
👎WA Democrats include ‘devastating’ $8.5M abortion-access cut in final budget [The Olympian] I’m not surprised this is starting to happen considering the financial pressure states are under right now.