Repro Roundup 05.03
Next week marks the first days that the U.S. Supreme Court could release this term’s opinions, meaning that at any point between next Monday and the end of June, we will receive decisions in the two biggest abortion cases the Court has considered since Dobbs.
Here’s a quick reminder of the cases the Supreme Court will be deciding:
The Future of EMTALA
The state of Idaho is arguing that its state abortion ban, which went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, supersedes EMTALA, a nearly 40-year-old federal law that requires Medicare-funded emergency departments to provide emergency care to save the life or health of a patient. If the Supreme Court rules with Idaho, it could mean that emergency room doctors in states with abortion bans would be prohibited from offering life-saving or stabilizing abortion care in the case of an emergency. This cruel and callous attempt by anti-abortion extremists to ban abortion in any and all circumstances—no matter the consequences to pregnant people’s lives or health—could have deadly consequences for people with pregnancy complications like a miscarriage, PPROM, or placental abruption.
The Future of Medication Abortion Access
The Supreme Court will also decide a case that challenges the availability of medication abortion in all 50 states. The Court will decide whether to uphold the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal’s purely political ruling to reinstate pre-2016 restrictions on mifepristone, the first drug used in a gold standard medication abortion protocol. This would mean that patients could not access medication abortion with mifepristone after seven weeks of pregnancy, and would be required to visit a clinic THREE times to obtain medication abortion care. It would also eliminate telehealth access to medication abortion with mifepristone, impacting care for patients in states with abortion bans and those who live in abortion access deserts. Additional trips to the clinic would disproportionately restrict access to care for both rural and low-income communities, who may not be able to afford to take time off of work or find child care in order to travel to a clinic. REMINDER: Mifepristone is totally safe and effective. This is a scientifically-baseless, politically-motivated case.
On to this week's headlines –
News from New England
→ Boston Globe: Midwives want to be formally licensed in Mass. What does that mean?
The Massachusetts legislature is considering a pair of bills that would create a pathway to licensure for midwives and empower them to more effectively and safely provide birthing care across the Bay State—and good news, the bills were just advanced from the Joint Committee on Public Health! We spoke with the Boston Globe about why midwives deserve the respect, institutional access, and support that comes with formal licensure and certification. Right now, midwives in Massachusetts cannot accept insurance, write prescriptions, create emergency plans with hospitals in advance of clients’ at-home deliveries, or work as professional midwives in birthing centers. Licensing Certified Professional Midwives would expand birthing options in our state, improve patient safety and maternal health outcomes, and reduce health care costs. Help us spread the word about the importance of this legislation by sharing the Globe story!
→ Paid Sick Leave Moves Forward in Connecticut!
We’re thrilled to see legislation expanding paid sick leave to nearly all workers in Connecticut pass the House and move to the Senate. This is a huge step to ensure every person has the time to access essential health care without risking their economic stability—a key tenet of reproductive equity.
→ Risky Abortion Data Collection Bill Moves to the House, Fertility Bill Receives Hearing
This week, Reproductive Equity Now submitted testimony to the New Hampshire House opposing legislation to collect abortion data in the state. As an organization that works across several New England states that do have formalized structures for reporting of abortion data, we understand that data collection has the potential to be used to inform positive public health outcomes. But when it comes to this bill, we are concerned that the lack of investment in New Hampshire’s family planning infrastructure, the lack of trust Granite Staters report regarding the privacy of state health data, and the concerns reproductive health care providers have raised regarding data confidentiality make data collection too risky. In a post-Dobbs world, anti abortion extremists have the ability to weaponize health data against patients and providers. And without a clear and explicit explanation of how abortion data will be protected and used by the state, we can’t support a bill that could jeopardize patients.
The House also heard testimony on a fertility equity bill this week that would take an impactful step toward expanding the ways in which LGBTQ+ and single people can become parents in the Granite State. By requiring insurance companies to cover up to six rounds of intrauterine insemination (IUI) without necessitating a medical diagnosis of infertility, New Hampshire can create more affordable and medically efficient pathways toward family formation for people who are not in heterosexual relationships.
→ Repro Equity Now Joined Common Start Lobby Day!
We had a great time at Common Start lobby day this past week! We’re proud to be members of the Common Start Coalition, advocating for robust and accessible early child care across the Bay State. We’ve already had a win this session with the passage of the EARLY ED Act in the Senate, and we’re looking forward to continuing to push for a bold child care agenda for all Massachusetts parents and families.
→ Frank Edelblut Spreads Disinformation About Abortion
Some absurd news that may have flown under your radar last week – the New Hampshire Commissioner of Education Frank Edelblut, in his efforts to terrorize LGBTQ+ students and educators, published an op-ed thanking god that “someone is protecting the children.” That “someone” is apparently him? Buried in the 800-word op-ed about why it’s important for him to institute Orwellian book bans and forcibly out students was an accusation that an unnamed New Hampshire educator took a sick day to help a student access abortion care without their parents’ consent. When asked about this by the Globe, Edelblut’s office could not produce any proof that this actually happened.
→ Repro Equity Now Spoke to Kent Street’s Abortion Freedom Project
Our NH State Director Christina Warriner spoke to Kent Street Coalition’s Abortion Freedom Project about how we can bring a reproductive equity agenda to the Granite State and energize voters to support repro candidates up and down the ballot. We’re grateful to be partners with Kent Street Coalition and be members of a immensely strong and creative statewide coalition working to advance abortion access and reproductive rights in New Hampshire.
National Notice
→ Biden Administration Advances Privacy Protections, But More Must Be Done
The Biden Administration announced this past week that new rules from the Department of Health and Human Services will bolster the protections of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to protect the medical records of patients seeking abortion care outside of their home states. Prior to this rule change, physicians could be pressured by law enforcement to disclose information about their patients reproductive health histories when those patients are investigated for pregnancy outcomes. A study by If/When/How found that in 39% of cases of criminalized self-managed abortion, the patient was reported to the authorities by a physician.
This move to strengthen HIPAA is a step in the right direction for protecting patient privacy in post-Dobbs America. We’re also excited to see Congress take seriously the threat data brokers pose to our privacy and consider national legislation to protect our data privacy. But we also know that more work needs to be done at the state level to protect abortion seekers and providers. As the 19th reported recently, abortion providers and care workers are under the constant threat of surveillance, which is why it is so critical we pass the Location Shield Act in Massachusetts to protect patients’ and providers’ location data.
→ Trump is Totally OK with States Surveilling Pregnant People
Last Roundup, we told you we wouldn’t fall for Trump’s lies about abortion care or his attempt to cover up his record. This past week, our instinct was proven correct. In a bombshell interview with TIME Magazine, Trump declared that he would allow states to surveil and criminalize patients for seeking abortion care. In fact, he said he wouldn’t intervene if states prosecuted patients for abortion care beyond what local or federal law allows. He also refused to answer any questions on his stance on the mifepristone case, but hinted he’d “have a statement on that in the next few weeks.” Eyeroll. We cannot trust Trump on abortion, and this interview was a painful reminder of that.
→ November is Coming, and the Polling is Good for Abortion
Can you believe the election is only six months away? As November draws nearer, abortion only gets more popular across America. Support for national protections on abortion have reached an all-time high since the Dobbs decision, with 54% of Americans saying they support Congress taking action to restore the nationwide protections Roe provided. Not only that, but even voters who plan to support Trump… support abortion. One in five Americans who plan to vote for Trump in November want to live in a place where abortion is legal, according to a survey by Redfin. We have work to do in advance of November reminding those voters that they can’t have it both ways – if Donald Trump is elected in November, there might not be anywhere to live where abortion is legal. We know he’s coming for nationwide restrictions on our care.
→ Dobbs Era Brings Massive Changes to Pregnancy Care
The Supreme Court heard arguments on how EMTALA is enforced, but we know from reporting that patients are being denied emergency pregnancy care even under EMTALA. What we are also learning is that abortion bans have majorly changed how pregnancy care is delivered in this country, severely limiting patients’ options and often putting patients in dangerous and medically unnecessary situations. C-section rates have increased dramatically, with some being performed instead of abortion care in places with strict bans, such as Louisiana. Reckon News also reported that doctors may not be performing as much prenatal testing as they did pre-Dobbs because some prenatal tests involve a very minor risk of miscarriage. They also noted that the cost of pregnancy care is rising steeply. This is what we mean when we say abortion bans harm pregnant people who do intend to continue their pregnancies as well – pregnancy can be extremely risky or dangerous for some patients, and when lawmakers insert themselves between doctors and their patients, doctors cannot always provide the highest standard of care or follow the science.
Get Involved!
📍MASSACHUSETTS! Help us get the Location Shield Act across the finish line!
We need your help to pass our Location Shield Act in Massachusetts! This bill will protect the digital privacy of abortion providers and patients in the state by prohibiting data brokers from selling their personal cellphone location data. 92% of Massachusetts residents support the Location Shield Act. We’ve already written a letter for you to send to your representatives – it couldn’t be easier to help us pass this important bill.
📍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!
📍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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