Texas seeks to continue its abortion ban past the original deadline
And an abortion ban threatens Louisiana, the eighth state where politicians are seeking to end abortions during the pandemic.
It’s Friday, April 17th, and the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to destabilize abortion access in a handful of states. We’ll tackle those, then a bit of other news.
In the News—coronavirus abortion bans
TEXAS—The Lone Star State has gone the furthest in banning abortion, in part thanks to a favorable (for anti-abortion politicians) ruling from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last week that upheld a near-total ban on abortion (all abortion except in emergencies) for a second time, as part of a state ban on nonessential medical procedures to conserve PPE during the pandemic.
I’ll pause here to note that every district court (the lowest level of the federal judiciary) that’s heard one of these cases has ruled against these bans, and two appeals courts—the 6th and 10th—have refused to hear appeals, making the 5th Circuit the only federal court that’s upheld a near-total abortion ban since the virus’s outbreak.
On Monday, the 5th Circuit lifted the ban for medication abortion. People whose pregnancies would be beyond the state’s 22-week gestational ban on April 22nd can also get the procedure, per an earlier ruling from that court.
BUT WAIT. That date—the original expiration of the ban—might not apply to abortions anymore. Today, Gov. Greg Abbot said that some nonessential procedures will be allowed beginning next week, but explicitly stated abortions weren’t on the list.
Texas’s ban (and the numerous contradicting court rulings over the past few weeks) has sent women traveling hundreds of miles during the pandemic, seeking care.
LOUISIANA—One place they’ve been going is to Louisiana, especially to Shreveport. The clinic there (and the same clinic at the heart of a major Supreme Court case heard this spring) is Hope Medical Group for Women. This week, it sued Louisiana after the state’s attorney general opened an investigation into abortion clinics.
Louisiana’s health department has a similar ban on nonessential procedures, and anti-abortion politicians argue that should shut down abortion producers. Of course, abortion is a uniquely time-sensitive procedure.
TENNESSEE—Abortion-rights groups sued Tennessee this week, as well, after the state’s governor said Tennessee’s ban on nonessential procedures explicitly applied to abortions. Clinics in Tennesee have had to cancel appointments
ARKANSAS—Arkansas was also sued this week, after its governor investigated the state’s only abortion clinic for operating during a ban on nonessential procedures.
KENTUCKY—Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature voted this week to give the state’s anti-abortion attorney general the power to shut down abortion clinics during the pandemic. But local media report that the state’s pro-choice Democratic governor can veto the bill, and the legislature will be out of time to override a veto. (Perhaps the point, though Beshear’s pro-choice views are no secret, and were no secret when he was elected this past fall.)
ALABAMA—The state’s attorney general says he’ll appeal a district court decision striking down that state’s attempt to ban abortion, ostensibly because of the coronavirus. This will be the first chance for the 11th Circuit to rule on pandemic abortion bans (it’s considered an increasingly conservative court under Trump’s judicial appointments).
Elsewhere: Ohio and Oklahoma have also had their abortion bans struck down by district courts. In Iowa, the state and abortion-rights advocates agreed to allow “essential” surgical abortions, as determined by physicians.
Note the role some state attorneys general are seeking to play in this new front in the abortion wars. In states dominated by conservative, anti-abortion politics, even when a Democrat might be governor (as in Kentucky), this position is exclusively filled by anti-abortion politicians who then work to defend whatever anti-abortion laws might be challenged in federal courts. But rarely do they have any role to play in the day-to-day regulation of clinics or even passing of anti-abortion laws. This is an unusual chance for AGs to directly impact abortion clinic functioning, let alone shut clinics down, as Louisiana’s AG is hoping to do.
In the News—other reproductive rights news
Virignia’s governor signed a bill last week undoing a slew of anti-abortion laws in that state. Virginia is the first state to enact abortion-rights protection in 2020, according to this article.
Anti-abortion pregnancy centers are open in Colorado.
Photographic interlude
Here’s something nice: The beach I grew up on.
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.)