A new abortion litmus test for Democratic attorneys general
Democrats debate abortion rights, Texas's dwindling abortion clinics and "abortion reversal" moves to Canada
Hello! It’s Thursday, Nov. 21. Here’s what’s been going on.
In the News
The organization of Democratic state attorneys general has become the first national party committee to enforce a strict stance on abortion: it will only support, endorse and fund those who are pro-choice (as nearly all already are). The Democratic Attorneys General Association recruits candidates for the state office and coordinates state policy (there’s a similar group for Republican AGs), and it made the announcement as part of a concerted campaign to expand and protect reproductive rights. One official said he hoped other national Democratic committees “will follow right along.”
It’s worth noting that Republican state attorneys general play a key role in defending anti-abortion laws in the courts, and Democratic AGs have been pushing back against President Donald Trump’s agenda on a range of issues.
On Wednesday, the latest Democratic presidential debate picked up the issue of whether the Democratic Party should only welcome pro-choice candidates—a question doubly timely after Louisiana re-elected pro-life Democratic governor John Bel Edwards. Elizabeth Warren defended abortion rights as “human rights,” but also said she’s “not here to try to drive anyone out of this party.” The conversation was part of a broader focus on gender equity in America.
A new bill introduced in Ohio would ban all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest victims, and make abortions punishable by the death penalty. Ohio’s governor refused to say if he’d sign such a bill, which has 19 co-sponsors. The state is among a handful that passed six-week or “heartbeat” abortion bans this year—and Gov. Mike DeWine, who signed that law, said the state should first “let that play out” through the federal courts.
The law also asks doctors to perform a medical impossibility: moving an entopic pregnancy (where the embryo has implanted outside the uterus and which is extremely dangerous for women) into a woman’s uterus.
Pennsylvania’s legislature passed a law banning abortions in cases of a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome and another law requiring the burial of fetal tissue, both of which the governor has vowed to veto.
Pro-choice groups have been fighting the nomination of Sarah Pitlyk, an anti-abortion judicial pick for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Their battle gained support from Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who infamously cinched the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Texas has lost nearly half of its abortion clinics in three years, despite pro-choice groups winning a major U.S. Supreme Court victory in the state in 2016 (that would be the Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt case that preceded the abortion lawsuit the Court will hear next year). Also in Texas, anti-abortion groups are planning to offer contraception to unwed mothers in a usual move—it’s far more common for groups that oppose abortion to also oppose contraception.
An “Abortion is Healthcare” billboard in Duluth, Minnesota was vandalized the day after it went up (it’s one of several recently put up in the state).
An Indiana judge has forced a court to give the state information on the number of minors accessing abortions.
There’s more evidence that abortions are not causally linked to depression or suicide, and may be quite the opposite.
This is a good look at the broader issue of maternal health care and reproductive freedom.
Elsewhere in the world: The unproven, fringe idea of “abortion reversal” has moved to Canada; a group in Ontario has also put up a tombstone to “victims of abortion.” And Argentina’s new president says he’ll legalize abortion there.
Photographic interlude
Here’s something pretty: A grainy, purple sea; Hornby Island, Canada.
The 2020 SCOTUS case—Justice Anthony Kennedy’s legacy
Your weekly dive into a pivotal case, this week a look at the man who arguably got us here.
In January or February, the Supreme Court of the United States (aka SCOTUS) is expected to hear arguments in a potentially monumental abortion rights case from Louisiana: June Medical Services v. Gee. If you want to blame (or thank) someone for this situation, one person could be Justice Anthony Kennedy. Most observers agree June Medical Services v. Gee will only appear before the Court because Kennedy has left it.
Kennedy resigned in the summer of 2018. He was not a simple justice to define. (This New Yorker profile is a fascinating exploration of the origins of his atypical judicial philosophy.)
On the one hand, he was dubbed “the first gay Justice” after he wrote the majority opinion in the Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage. He also cast key votes in two pivotal abortion rights cases: Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992 (which he jointly authored with two other justices) and Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt in 2016 (the latter is twin sister to the case being heard by the court in 2020, concerning an identical law requiring hospital admitting privileges for abortion doctors, the only difference being the upcoming case stems from Louisiana, not Texas.)
On the other hand, Kennedy was a conservative, appointed by Ronald Reagan, and he more often voted like one—helping to decide cases that broadened corporate powers, supporting Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban, and voting to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
Still, Kennedy allowed abortion rights to endure, however hobbled, and conservatives saw his resignation as their greatest chance to cement a dramatic turn to the right on the Court under Trump. To that end, they actively lobbied him to retire (not uncommon for either party). And those efforts may have been helped by ties between Kennedy’s and Trump’s families: Kennedy’s son, a banker, aided $1 billion in loans to the president.
Linda Greenhouse at the New York Times predicted Kennedy’s resignation would be “transformative, and not just because the right to abortion may lose its tenuous hold.” Jeffery Toobin wrote in the New Yorker that any replacement to Kennedy would overturn Roe v. Wade, unwind numerous other progressive social gains, and undermine the very basis of government: the regulatory state.
I’ve noted before that even militantly nonpartisan court observers recognize that June Medical Services v. Gee would not be headed for the Court’s ostentatious bench if Kennedy remained on it. The lesson is twofold: We are entering the era of a highly conservative Supreme Court, and the 2016 elections got us here.
Resources
For research on abortion and reproductive health in the U.S. and internationally, including abortion laws and regulations, see the Guttmacher Institute and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH).
For information on abortion clinics and providers, see the National Abortion Federation, which has an incomplete list of providers nationally. Physicians for Reproductive Health works on policy, lawsuits and advocacy. The Reproductive Health Access Project helps primary care physicians provide complete reproductive care.
SisterSong advocates for reproductive justice for women of color, non-binary and minority folks. There’s also the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.
The Center for Reproductive Rights and the ACLU fight reproductive rights lawsuits.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Federation of Americaadvocate for reproductive health and rights, and Planned Parenthood and its affiliates also file lawsuits on behalf of their clinics, doctors and patients.
(Let me know if you think you know a national organization that should be listed here.)