This Week in Abortion: TX legal moves, FL fallout, AZ post repeal
This Week in Abortion: TX legal moves, FL fallout, AZ post repeal
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.
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I was very excited to relax and eat the lollipop I got from my daughter as a surprise advance on the weekend. That is before she took it right back and ate it herself. While the journey can be filled with joy, it’s guaranteed to be a sacrifice, and its one we should each have the choice to make.
Good Reads
Patrick Brown from the anti-access Ethics and Public Policy Center argues that repealing the full ban on abortions in Arizona was a strategic win for the anti-access movement. He thinks that if the full ban was in place in November the ballot measure would have been impossible to fight. But, under a 13/15-week ban, there is a fighting chance. He’s right. People don’t like bans, and it’s in the interests of the anti-access movement to play it low-key until after the election. So, if you think it’s bad now, just wait.
With Florida’s 4-6 week ban in effect, Geoff Mulvihill writes about what it takes for the state’s residents to get an abortion. Thankfully, there are dedicated professionals and volunteers who aren’t just providing medical care but are also giving emotional and practical support with things like aftercare kits that include anti-inflammatories and other small things that aren’t necessarily hard to get but are one less thing to do and a sign that you have friends in your corner.
ACTION ALERT
General volunteer interest and opportunities have fallen from their post-Dobbs high. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. Abortion providers should ideally be financed and focused on the work, not necessarily on new volunteer management. BUT, we also can’t check out entirely.
This is your Mother’s Day prompt to donate or get out there. If you are part of a community group (at a church or school perhaps?) and you’re looking for a project, email/call your local fund and see what kind of help they need.
Planned Parenthood (national)
According to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, states with abortion bans are continuing to see a decrease in residency applicants from US med students. As summarized by Sareen Habeshian, this is not just true for future OB/GYNs, but across all potential residents. Perhaps abortion ban policies should have come with a new tax to attract doctors to the state. Seriously. I’m avoiding the temptation to treat this as “Ha, told you so,” good news. States with bans already tend to have greater barriers to healthcare than states without bans and worse maternal health. Attracting more residents is something legislators in those states should be working hard on, especially after potentially making it worse with these bans.
Tim Sullivan dives into the conservative shift in the US Catholic church that’s driven by a vocal, young minority who are often the ones left sitting in the pews as that same conservatism turns others away. At the same time, over at Catholics for Choice Lisa Fullam thinks, “It’s past time that we examine the gaps in magisterial teaching on abortion.”
A study by Jiaxun Cao and others suggests that we aren’t doing enough to make sure women know what’s at stake when they use period-tracking apps in a post-Roe world. See the summary here. Like, did you know that Federal patient privacy laws don’t apply to most health-related apps or software, including period trackers. This is not just about those living in anti-access states, where the info could be used to prosecute pregnant people or their support network. As Jessica Valenti reported this week, there is a second attempt in Congress (which won’t pass, but still..) to set up a government website to “help” connect pregnant women to crisis pregnancy centers (not good) and collect their personal contact information, none of which would be strictly confidential despite it having the veneer of official government assistance.
Top abortion updates
👍 Advocates in Missouri and South Dakota turned in signatures for their pro-access ballot initiatives.
👎 An effort in Louisiana to create incest and rape exceptions failed this week along with bills aimed at protecting doctors. As I highlighted a few weeks ago, leading the fight for the exceptions was Louisiana state Rep. Delisha Boyd, and across the table from Boyd was a fellow Democrat, Rep. Pat Moore. Moore wasn’t present this week, but it sounds in the tense exchange below like she came around. (It’s also an experience to watch legislators defend laws that force children to give birth.)
Exceptions don’t do a whole lot, and these ones would have only applied to minors. But, I was still rooting for Boyd. It’s important to keep recognizing the uphill battle policy advocates in these states face. I mean, forget abortion access, it’s not immediately clear that IVF protections will succeed in this leading anti-access state.
👎 A man recently asked a Texas court for permission to investigate his ex and her support network after she got an abortion outside the state. As reported by Caroline Kitchener, this is a scary new chapter in anti-access efforts to prevent people from crossing state lines to seek an abortion.
👎 Kansas legislators successfully overrode Gov. Kelly’s veto of anti-access legislation including a bill that will now require doctors to ask patients an invasive and unnecessary set of questions about their choice to end a pregnancy.
👎 Although Arizona legislators repealed their full ban on abortions. The repeal doesn’t go into effect right away, which means abortions could be banned until September.