Repro Roundup 04.19
If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the last few weeks, it’s something we frankly already knew – Donald Trump and the GOP cannot be trusted when it comes to abortion policy. After Trump publicly signaled he would sign a 15-week abortion ban, and after his allies released a host of contingency plans to enact a national abortion ban within his first hypothetical week in office, Trump said last week that while he’s proud of having been able to “kill Roe v. Wade,” he thinks abortion legality and access should be left to the states.
We’ve seen time and time again that “returning the abortion issue to the states” is, to be blunt, a total lie. If Trump and his allies were truly satisfied with abortion policy being handled by states, why would the Supreme Court be considering a case that could eliminate access to the gold standard protocol of medication abortion for the entire nation? Why would Congressional Republicans still be working to include abortion bans in their budgets? Why would anti-abortion extremists be pushing for “fetal personhood” in both the Alabama IVF case and the EMTALA case before the Supreme Court?
As Maya Angelou wisely said, “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” We cannot trust Trump.
Not only that, but we cannot just let 21+ states continue to deny people access to life saving care. As our President Rebecca Hart Holder told NBC Boston, it’s wrong to leave people behind. One in three women live in a state with an abortion ban and our rights are not negotiable. We must not only defend access in New England, but fight for equitable access to reproductive health care and abortion nationwide. Read our statement here.
On to this week's headlines —
News from New England
→ Everyone Looked FABULOUS at the 2024 Reproductive Equity Now Gala!
We had so much fun celebrating with you at our Gala last Thursday! We were proud to honor the movement we’ve built together by uplifting local leaders advancing reproductive equity in our communities and sharing an exciting vision for regional power we’re building across New England. We are immensely grateful to our fabulous guest speakers, our amazing development team for putting the whole event together, and to all of you for joining us!
If you joined us last week, make sure you check out the photos by clicking here!
→ New England Abortion Care Guide & Abortion Legal Hotline Now Available in Spanish
Two of Reproductive Equity Now’s key abortion access resources—the New England Abortion Care Guide and the Abortion Legal Hotline—are now available in Spanish! Our goal is to reach as many communities as possible with accurate, up-to-date information on how and where to access abortion care. Check out the translated resources today!
→ We’re Asking John Deaton Where He Stands on Abortion
Rhode Islander and crypto guy John Deaton is challenging Senator Elizabeth Warren and running to represent Massachusetts in the United States Senate—and we have some big concerns about his stance on reproductive equity. Deaton has said he doesn’t think abortion “is a big issue in Massachusetts,” so we know he is not putting in the work to understand all of the barriers to care that exist in our commonwealth, nor ready to take action to dismantle them. He also hired an extremist anti-abortion politico to run his campaign who has a history of posting wildly dehumanizing anti-abortion statements on social media. We wrote a letter to Deaton asking him to make his stance on abortion and reproductive equity clear. Read more about it here.
→ New England Tops Health Care Quality But Disparities Persist
A report from the Commonwealth Fund showed that Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire have topped the charts in terms of access to high quality health care. However, this data also reveals major disparities across racial groups in all three states, signaling that while we have made great strides in terms of health care quality, we have a lot of work left to do to achieve reproductive and health care equity. That’s why we are pushing for legislative agendas that go beyond Roe v. Wade to improve maternal health, remove barriers to accessing reproductive health care, and eliminate racial disparities in birthing outcomes.
→ NH Dems Call Out Kelly Ayotte
Republican frontrunner for New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte has been attempting to rewrite her long anti-abortion history as we approach this November’s election. But Democrats are working to set the the record straight: Democratic candidates for Governor Cinde Warmington and Joyce Craig teamed up last week to call out Ayotte’s history on abortion and make clear that we cannot trust her to protect our reproductive rights.
→ Childcare and HUSKY expansion get days of action in CT
Over the last two weeks, coalition partners in Connecticut held two major days of action to advocate for expanded access to childcare and to fight for HUSKY coverage for immigrants. These are two critical issues for reproductive equity – new parents need to know that they will be able to access affordable, available childcare when they are planning to start a family. And in order for everyone in the Nutmeg State to thrive, every person needs access to health care coverage—regardless of immigration status. We hope to see this legislation advance before the end of the short session in May!
National Notice
→ Arizona Turns Back to the Clock on Abortion Access
Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court announced that the state’s pre-Roe, Civil War-era law (passed before Arizona officially became a state) banning abortion is enforceable and will take effect in a little over a week. Arizona is a critical access state for patients in the southwest, and if patients cannot get the care they need, they will have to travel to California, New Mexico, or Colorado – states already struggling to keep up with the post-Dobbs demand for appointments. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says her office will not enforce the ban, but that will likely not stop providers from having to cease practicing abortion care out of fear of prosecution. Meanwhile, Arizona Republicans who fought to bring this zombie law back and stacked the state Supreme Court with anti-abortion judges are now saying they think the ban is too extreme – but blocked Democratic state lawmakers’ attempts to repeal it this past week. Another reminder that we cannot trust the anti-abortion right – they know abortion bans are unpopular, but they won’t actually do anything to stop them.
→ Idaho Given Permission to Ban Gender Affirming Care for Minors
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted an injunction on Idaho’s ban on gender affirming care for minors, allowing the state to enforce the 2023 law and cut off life-saving health care for young people. The decision, which did not address the merits of the lawsuit but rather whether the law could take effect while litigation continues, would subject physicians to up to 10 years in prison if they provide hormones, puberty blockers or other gender-affirming care to people under age 18. The law had previously been blocked by a federal judge in the state, and the Ninth Circuit Court will now consider the merits of the case.
→ EMTALA Oral Arguments are Next Wednesday
This Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Idaho’s lawsuit against the federal government regarding the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). EMTALA has been settled law for nearly 40 years, and requires that hospitals with an emergency department provide stabilizing or life-saving care to patients in the case of an emergency—including life-saving abortion care. Now, Idaho is arguing that the state’s abortion ban supersedes EMTALA, meaning patients who are experiencing life-threatening pregnancy complications like PPROM, a miscarriage, or placental abruption would be denied life-saving abortion care at emergency rooms in the state. This case is a beyond cruel attempt by anti-abortion extremists to ban abortion in any and all circumstances, and stop doctors from doing their jobs to provide the best standard of medical care.
→ Your Employer Has to Give You Time Off for Abortion and Pregnancy Loss
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, passed in 2022, requires that workplaces with more than 15 employees allow workers to take unpaid time off for childbirth, abortion, and pregnancy loss, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced earlier this week. This is an important step to ensure workers have the time to obtain the medical care they want and need, especially in a post-Roe world, but financial barriers to taking time off of work to access care still persist. Also, no one should be forced to disclose that they are seeking abortion care or experiencing pregnancy loss to their employer if they don’t feel comfortable—and in many cases, it may not be safe to do so.
Get Involved!
📍ANYWHERE! Sign up to be an Abortion Access Advocate!
The next Abortion Access Advocate training will take place on Monday, May 13th at 7 PM, with a focus on how to spot anti-abortion centers, or facilities that pretend to be reproductive health clinics, but really exist to dissuade people from accessing abortion care. We’ll dig in on what you need to know—and what we can all do—about anti-abortion centers (AACs), also known as crisis pregnancy centers. Plus we’ll debut a new volunteer toolkit all about AACs! RSVP here!
📍MASSACHUSETTS! Sign up for Common Start Lobby Day!
In March, the Senate unanimously passed the EARLY ED Act - and brought us one step closer to the full Common Start Vision! We will continue to build on this incredible momentum by joining with our partners for a Common Start lobby day on Tuesday, April 30th. This is our opportunity to advocate directly to (and thank!) legislators in the House and Senate for their past support, and urge them to continue taking steps to pass comprehensive child care legislation in the House and by funding early education and care in the FY25 state budget. RSVP to join the Common Start Lobby Day here.
📍CONNECTICUT! Sign up to take action in CT this session!
The end of the short session in Connecticut is approaching, but before we wrap up, we will have plenty of opportunities to take action to advance reproductive equity in the Nutmeg state! Sign up here so you are the first to know when there is an opportunity to take action to advance our repro equity agenda.
Our Resources
Need to understand your legal rights to provide or access abortion care? Reproductive Equity Now’s Abortion Legal Hotline will help connect Massachusetts-based health care providers and helpers, as well as patients obtaining care in Massachusetts, with free legal advice and resources about abortion access.
Looking for an abortion provider in your area? Our New England Abortion Care Guide allows you to search by zip code for legitimate abortion clinics near you. It even flags dangerous and deceptive anti-abortion centers to avoid at all costs.
Do you want to help advance reproductive equity in your community? Our Win & Deliver Toolkit offers policy proposals and supporting materials to serve as a starting point for municipal leaders looking to move the needle forward on reproductive equity.
Thank you so much for powering this fight. We’re grateful to have you in the movement with us.
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