This Week in Abortion - October 8
A collection of good reads, events from the week, and occasional insights from me, Rachel Leven.
As more and more news centers on elections, I want to make it clear that nothing I am writing here should be considered a personal endorsement or comment on a candidate beyond the narrow issue of abortion. And if, as will become relevant, I call someone an asshole it is, again, only in the light of this particular topic. Importantly, it does not mean that their opponents aren’t equally shitty people. That’s politics, baby.
Good Reads
I found a whole article about unicorns - and their increasing rarity. Some names will be familiar like Susan Collins, but there are more interesting ones too. Like, former Texas State Rep Sarah Davis. Davis was often the lone pro-access voice among her Republican colleagues. (In fact, she was a lonely moderate on a lot of issues.) In 2017, she told a magazine her position on reproductive rights is, “a pretty traditionally Republican stance, because to me being a Republican means personal freedom, individual responsibility, and limited government.” More recently, she co-published this op-ed in the Houston Chronicle.
A new documentary looks at the anti-access movement, how they won, and who they are. (Sorry, I know it’s no replacement for Blonde.)
An NYTimes article goes into the growing conflict between states with, and states without, access. A handful of states have taken steps to protect abortion providers with “shield laws.” For example, a doctor in New York can perform an abortion for a Texas resident while in the Big Apple. Thanks to a shield law, New York state will not come after them. But, if the doctor travels to, say, Ohio she might be in trouble. If Texas has a warrant out for her arrest, Ohio will enforce it. Massachusetts’s shield law (signed by a Republican governor) even protects MA doctors who send pills and provide telehealth for patients that are physically in a state that bans the practice. Each state protecting its own feels like the next policy frontier and, at the same time, represents a scary and divided future for the country.
Events in the News
Planned Parenthood launched its first mobile abortion clinic, and it’s in Illinois! The location, on my state’s southern border, has become a critical service area for patients from Missouri and elsewhere.
Herschel Walker. You know what happened. But, you probably haven’t read the original story from The Daily Beast, yeah that Daily Beast (says an aging millennial). Putting aside that Walker is an asshole, this story should serve as a reminder that the right to access abortions affects men too. An estimated one in five men in the United States has been involved in an abortion. In fact, it almost seems inevitable that something like this would happen. In response to the revelations, some of Walker’s supporters fell back on the old playbook of demeaning the woman involved. Thankfully, we aren’t living in the 1950s. Calling a woman a skank for getting pregnant, will get you hate clicks, but it’s ultimately a losing strategy.
Legal Updates
Arizona’s near-total abortion ban is again on hold and abortion care can resume.
Three women are suing the state of Kentucky arguing that its abortion restrictions violate their religious rights as Jews. These cases are popping up all over the country. I am fascinated by them and the implications they may have beyond abortion. To be fair, Jews are not the only religious communities suing. But, Judaism has the benefit of generations of meticulously recorded debate and annoying prescriptions for just about every aspect of life, including abortion. If it were a proselytizing religion, I’d say we’re going to need a bigger table at Rosh Hashanah next year.