Again On Abortion

 11.3.2022

From our Jessica Valenti

What is happening in Tennessee is BONKERS. The AG there all but gave up the game and admitted that abortion bans are about controlling women’s bodies, not when ‘life begins.’ Just another reason that feminist-minded media is so important right now! Please support the work I’m doing here—and ensure that Republicans don’t get one single thing by us.

Florida bans abortion after 15 weeks and requires a 24-hour waiting period—restrictions that have already endangered women’s lives in the state, Black women’s lives, in particular. One pregnant woman went to an emergency room on a Saturday when she started to hemorrhage, for example. But because doctors were concerned about the law, they refused to treat her and referred her to an abortion clinic that wouldn’t be open until Monday. The Palm Beach Post reports that by the time she got to the clinic, she was so incapacitated with the infection that had set in, she needed a wheelchair to get from her car to the front door. Meanwhile, crisis pregnancy centers in Florida are handing out pamphlets filled with misinformation.

Indiana’s Attorney General is using the power of the state to harass abortion provider, Dr. Caitlin Bernard—who came to national attention when she spoke out about a raped and impregnated 10 year-old who had traveled from Ohio for care. AG Todd Rokita has issued subpoenas for confidential medical records from Bernard’s office based on ‘complaints’ made by random conservatives—who don’t live in the state and have never been treated by Bernard—who were angry that the doctor spoke up about the impact of abortion bans. This is obviously meant to be a message to any doctor who speaks up: Reveal how horrific abortion bans are, and we’ll make your life hell.

In Texas, the state’s ban has meant that abortions declined from thousands to less than ten. That doesn’t mean women aren’t getting abortions—they’re going out-of-state and self-managing abortions at home—but it does mean that there’s been a terrible decrease in people getting the legal care they need. The Texas Tribune also reports that the ban, along with out-of-state providers being overwhelmed with patients, means that Texas women are getting abortions later into their pregnancies than usual.

Also in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott continues to blame doctors for women being denied health-and life-saving care as a result of the state’s abortion ban, saying that “some doctors are refusing to provide treatment”—as if the threat of f'n arrest wasn’t hanging over their head. Anti-abortion organizations in the state are doing the same, with a spokesperson from Texas Alliance For Life saying, “If you encounter a doctor who is not aware of what Texas laws really state, and because of that don’t provide good medical care, you need to run far and fast.” This is part of a f'd up messaging campaign that Republicans are launching in preparation for the first reported post-Roe death.

In Louisiana, requests for abortion medication shipped from overseas to the state increased by nearly 170%—virtually no women were able to get legal abortions in the state. Pro-choice activists are using that denial of care to motivate voters; the chair of the Louisiana Democratic Party said, “Not only are we registering more voters than we have in a long time, but we are also seeing women as a much more significant part of that new registration class.” One voter told PBS, “It’s definitely pushing me. As women, we get pushed to the side. Women are starting to step up and really get loud. We need to keep that focus up.”

Republican Bo Hines, who is running for a House seat in North Carolina, wants the state to create a panel that would decide whether a woman could have an abortion if she was the victim of rape or incest. North Carolina Rep. Terence Everitt said of his family’s experience with abortion; his wife needed care when she started miscarrying. “Nobody should be investigated on that day,” he says. Also in North Carolina, abortion providers there have been overwhelmed by out-of-state patients, who they say now constitute more than half of their patients.

Michigan’s gubernatorial race has been very much about abortion, which The Washington Post gets into here. Something of note: Conservatives’ strategy claiming that the pro-choice ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution would allow children to have gender-affirming surgery without parental consent.

Pennsylvania doctors held a news conference to speak out against conman and Senate candidate Dr. Oz and his comments that abortion should be between a woman, her doctor, and local politicians. Dr. Lisa Perreira said, “The patients that I’m caring for right now—this very day—10 minutes ago, do not want to have local politicians in the exam room with them and myself.”

Maryland voters overwhelmingly want abortion protected, with 71% saying they believe the state constitution should be amended to do so; and The American Prospect reports on young voters in Maine who are worried about abortion rights.

Republicans have been trying to run from their anti-abortion extremism for months—doing everything from scrubbing their websites to suddenly coming around on (useless) exceptions. The New York Times has a good comprehensive article that rounds up all that cowardice.

NPR writes about how conservatives are targeting the Latino community with abortion misinformation—from lying about politicians’ stances on the issue to making people believe that abortion is dangerous, or lying about the law. One OBGYN recounted treating a pregnant teenager who believed that if she had an abortion that her mother, who is undocumented, would be deported.

ABC News/FiveThirtyEight has a quick segment on abortion rights across the country: Inside Higher Ed calls abortion bans a “public health crisis,” and warns about the impact that crisis will have on higher education; The 19th reports on Vice President Kamala Harris’ abortion-rights work over the last few months; and I spoke to Lux Alptraum at The Verge about the backlash over those pictures of early pregnancy/early abortion.

Rebecca Solnit—right now she has a piece about abortion at The Guardian that is brilliant as always: “Having no options but to be dead, criminal or a parent is not a sane or moral argument for parenthood, and it’s also pretty different than having certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

My thanks to Jessica Valenti for her tireless efforts in protecting our women. It's bad, y'all. Please help stop this madness. And support Jessica.

Thank you for stopping in.