Boston Globe | Warren, Markey speak to threats facing national abortion access at Boston hearing
Originally Published by the Boston Globe
Two Supreme Court cases expected to be ruled on next month would threaten nationwide access to abortion, even in Massachusetts, US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey told attendees at a Senate hearing Thursday held at the John F. Kennedy Federal Building in Boston.
One case challenges FDA approval of the popular abortion drug mifepristone, claiming the FDA’s actions in approving it were “arbitrary and capricious.” The other could deny women emergency abortions in states where abortion is banned, overriding a federal law that requires hospitals to provide “stabilizing treatment” to patients in emergency rooms.
“If the Supreme Court rolls back these policies, no one will be able to access medication abortion — over Telehealth or at their local pharmacy — no matter where you live, whether Alabama or Massachusetts,” Warren said at the hearing.
Warren chaired the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee field hearing on the topic that is key to the Democrats’ national political strategy for 2024.
Medication abortion accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States. Mifepristone is one part of a two-drug regimen that blocks a hormone that is needed for a pregnancy to continue. When used together with another medicine called misoprostol, it is used to end a pregnancy around 10 weeks. Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA in 2000.
Panelists at the hearing, including Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, spoke of the strides the state has made to uphold reproductive rights after the 2022 Dobbs decision, which stripped away the constitutional right to abortion and led to a wave of abortion bans in states across the country.
In 2023, Campbell launched an abortion legal hotline, which was created by the Reproductive Equity Now Foundation in collaboration with the attorney general’s office, the Women’s Bar Foundation, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and five law firms offering pro bono services. The hotline number, which was announced at Thursday’s hearing, is (833) 309-6301.
But despite Massachusetts’ efforts to protect reproductive rights, Warren warned attendees of what a potential Republican presidency could mean come January.
“Recent legal challenges are a reminder that these safeguards will not be enough to protect women from right-wing politicians who are determined to rip away their reproductive freedom no matter where they live,” she said.
Markey spoke about his legislation that would strengthen the right to contraception. Next week, the bill is slated to be voted on by the Senate after Senate Republicans have previously blocked the bill from advancing.
The right to contraception, he said, is an essential health care right. The federal cases have “placed the bodily autonomy of millions in jeopardy,” not only for pregnant women, but also for people seeking gender-affirming care, he said.
In February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos deserve protection under the law as children.
Carol Rose, executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said these recent measures to redefine “personhood” are the latest push by anti-abortion advocates to block the procedure: “The tactic isn’t new.”
She said Republicans are “threaten[ing] other types of reproductive health care,” including access to contraception, infertility treatments, and miscarriage care. “We are not safe.”
Rebecca Hart Holder, president of Reproductive Equity Now, said Massachusetts residents have called the abortion legal hotline in recent days with “tremendous confusion about what’s legal and what’s not legal.”
She said there have been more than 120 calls to the hotline during which the organization has helped providers navigate Telehealth abortion care.
“In the face of right wing extremists, we’re going to continue to step up,” she said.
Panelists spoke about the impact bans on mailing abortion medication over state lines could have, and how future legislation could outlaw tools and devices that help in abortion care, impacting a clinic’s ability to perform abortions even in states where the procedure remains legal.
“All of these threats interfere with a very personal decision ... the risks and barriers continue to stack up,” Campbell said. “Even in progressive states like Massachusetts, we’re also in trouble.”
