This Week in Abortion, February 25, 2023
This Week in Abortion, February 25, 2023
A collection of good reads, events from the week, and policy insights.
Welcome to your weekly roundup of abortion news, articles, and general hot takes from your friends, Rachel and Mollie. A lot of information this week, but you can do it! After all, it clocks in at less than 4 minutes. Plus, at the end we feature a short history of The Satanic Church including the strategies it’s pursuing in service of abortion access.
Good Reads
Last week Mollie told her abortion story. She said, “I am grateful our appointment was on a slow ultrasound day and my provider allowed us to have a quick look. Normally, we would not have learned anything until our 20-week anatomy scan - often the only ultrasound women get, and beyond the termination threshold in many states.” On the same day, the Washington Post published the story of a Florida woman and her family, who were not so lucky.
Some of the most vulnerable individuals - youth in the foster care system - face extraordinary challenges in obtaining abortions, particularly in states requiring parental consent. Not only do these youth have to petition to go in front of a judge (many of whom are elected) for a decision, the time it takes to move through the process often puts them past the period of accessing services. Even if all those obstacles are overcome, abortions are often not covered by Medicaid, the insurance of most foster youth. Today, 37 states require parental involvement in youth’s access to abortion services.
Women are posting “living will” videos on tiktok ahead of going into labor. The trend is stirring up a lot of, often angry, debate. But, as one doctor explains in her own tiktok, "Before getting in a fight with your partner about who they choose to save, know that there isn't a situation where we will ask them that," once a fetus has reached viability and a woman is in labor they can treat both without such sacrifices. Though, for those medical practitioners out there, a glance at her feed shows that many women are specifically asked this question by their practitioner. If it is the case that this sacrifice is not required, it’s pretty alarming that women are still asked this question.
We, along with everyone else in the country, are waiting for Texas U.S. District Judge Kacsmaryk to say something, anything, about mifepristone. For a quick refresher watch this informative PBS Newshour segment or read AP’s Lindsey Tanner’s summary. If the judge voids mifepristone’s FDA approval, what some think is the most effective option for medical abortions would be gone. Tanner points out that another drug, misoprostol, would still be available and is considered effective. In states that allow it, there will still be a safe option for medical abortions. There is also a slim chance that the Biden administration will simply ignore an injunction. Whatever Kacsmaryk decides, legal appeal seems guaranteed so the conversation is far from over. And, if anti-access advocates can win this case, a legal challenge against misoprostol is likely next.
Events in the News
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Primary was Tuesday - In a promising sign, pro-access Protasiewicz won 46% of the vote in a primary with record turnout. She will now face off against anti-access candidate Kelly, who received 24% of the vote. Wisconsin’s Governor and AG are challenging a 1849 law banning nearly all abortions in a case that will likely end up before the new court, which conservatives have controlled for the past 15 years.
Democratic Governors in 20 states launched the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, a nascent coalition “committed to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom in their states.” Such coordination by Governor’s Offices is rare, often limited to policy areas more traditionally associated with collective action challenges such as climate change. We are eager to learn more and would be excited if it was more than a PR campaign (still an important policy lever, but less exciting).
Mississippi’s house passed a bill expanding tax credits for child care expenses, donations to charities that assist women and children, families seeking to adopt, foster care organizations, and pregnancy resource centers (which are generally seen as anti-access). This is almost guaranteed to pass the state Senate and continues the trend we discussed earlier this month of states commingling improved family supports with restricted abortion access.
Some states are continuing to use ballot measures as a strategy for enshrining or eliminating abortion access. This week access advocates in Ohio took the first step in getting language on their November ballot to protect abortion in the state constitution, following states like Mississippi, California, and Vermont. Anti-access advocates in Missouri also filed paperwork this week to propose changes to their state constitution to add “nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion.” Thus far, states who have attempted to eliminate protections for abortion (recently Kentucky and Kansas) have been unsuccessful.
Missouri was on a tear as their period to introduce new bills is almost over, as anti-access senators introduced a slew of bills including one that appears to cut funding to Planned Parenthood clinics even though they don’t perform abortions in the state. At least one lawmaker suggested that “Planned Parenthood could stop providing abortions in other states to continue to be able to operate in Missouri.” We will be watching these bills closely as they are yet another innovative way for legislators to punish their own residents.
Republicans are pulling back from their most extreme positions. As we started to see last year, bans to prevent “elective abortions” with very specific and difficult to use exemptions for rape, incest, and the health of the mother are becoming the norm for anti-access legislators. Recent introductions include Republican sponsored bills in Tennessee and Kentucky. These bills will not change the culture of fear that women and doctors are operating under, even when the exemptions might apply. Notably, the anti-access movement in Tennessee has come out as a hard no on even these changes, taking particular offense to “health of the mother” exemptions.
Legal Updates
Eight people in Michigan were charged for obstructing access to a reproductive health services facilities. Basically, they were blocking the doors. Which is, thankfully, illegal.
12 states are suing the FDA to increase access to abortion medication in the form of fewer restrictions on prescribing and dispensing mifepristone. The suit is led by Washington and includes Oregon, Nevada, Delaware, Arizona, Illinois, Connecticut, Colorado, Vermont, New Mexico, Michigan and Rhode Island.
Short Feature
“Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic”
One of the more quirky - even dare we say funny - outcomes of the end of Roe v Wade, is the public boost it’s given to The Satanic Temple (TST) (possibly the first religion born of the internet) and the related headlines, “The Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic" is a thing that exists now and this Satanic Temple goes after abortion bans. The group started in 2013 and was officially recognized as a religion by the US Government in 2019. This piece highlights some of the creative legal strategies TST is taking in service of abortion access and the separation of church and state. (If you’re looking for a Saturday activity there is also a movie about the group, we plan on making popcorn tonight.)
Our cynic bones are tickled by many of the TST’s actions. We have wondered, though, whether it’s damaging to the movement that their satanic themes invite articles like this HORRIFIC: Satanic Temple makes “abortion ritual,” tries to make killing babies in abortion a protected religious rite.
Not great. But, then again, Jews -all Jews- still get accused of imposing tyrannous child sacrifice on the world. So, maybe it is a good thing that a group is out there dressing up as the antisemitic vision of evil while doing good. As some sage once said, Haters Gonna Hate.
