Repro Roundup 10.11
Can you believe it’s officially been one year since we became a regional organization?! Last September, we expanded our work into New Hampshire and Connecticut, working to ensure that New England remains a bloc for abortion access in a post-Roe world.
We’re so grateful to the talented and creative communities of advocates in Connecticut and New Hampshire who have welcomed us into the work and helped us build this expansive reproductive equity coalition. We’ve learned a lot over the last year since we launched operations in New Hampshire and took up the mantle of advocacy in Connecticut. We’ve made new connections, deepened relationships, and built trust among both our fellow advocates and communities in the Granite and Nutmeg states. From helping win expansive paid sick leave in Connecticut to launching our Granite State Voter Guide, Voting for Reproductive Equity — Now! in New Hampshire, we’ve had a busy first year – and we’re still just getting started.
Have you seen our Expansion Anniversary video? Click below to hear from some of our partners in Connecticut and New Hampshire about why regional coordination is so important.
On to this week’s headlines –
News from New England
→ Connecticut’s Inaugural Convening on Reproductive Health Care on College Campuses
We were thrilled to join state leaders, advocacy partners, and student advocates at a convening in Hartford to discuss the work to expand access to a wider spectrum of reproductive and sexual health care services on Connecticut college campuses. Last year, Connecticut passed legislation requiring public colleges with on-campus residences to develop plans that address students’ need for reproductive health care, including prenatal care, contraception, abortion, and gender-affirming care. Connecticut is home to nearly 100,000 college students, and for many of those students, their university health center is the only place they can access medical care. It is critical that we ensure those students have access to the full spectrum of reproductive and sexual health care, and we’re glad to be part of this meaningful step toward increasing access to the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care across public colleges and universities.
→ We’re Getting the Word Out in New Hampshire About Our Voter Guide!
At the beginning of this month, we launched digital ads across New Hampshire, targeting voters in the Seacoast and Concord regions, directing them towards our New Hampshire Voter Guide! Voting for Reproductive Equity – Now has all of the tools Granite Staters need to organize their neighbors and vote for reproductive equity up and down the ballot this year. We’re also launching a new video campaign to accompany our ads featuring our New Hampshire State Director, Christina, explaining why it is important to vote for reproductive equity champions and what’s at stake for Granite Staters this November. Check out our ads below, and stay tuned for those videos!
→ Postcards and Pints at Trina’s Starlite Lounge
We had a great time hosting Postcards and Pints at Camberville’s neighborhood spot, Trina’s Starlite Lounge! Our fantastic group of volunteers enjoyed some “reproductive rum punch” and wrote postcards to voters in support of our endorsed reproductive equity champions on the ballot across Massachusetts. With less than a month until Election Day, it is critical that we get off the sidelines and in the fight to send repro equity champions to state legislatures across New England.
→ Post-Dobbs Abortion Legal Landscape at the Franklin Pierce School of Law
We were thrilled to be invited to speak to law students at the University of New Hampshire about the state of abortion legality and abortion access in the post-Dobbs world last week. We talked about state responses to the Dobbs decision, new legal frameworks regarding reproductive health care, and how the legal community can take action post-Roe. We’re grateful to Senator Becky Whitley and Professor Lucy Hodder for this fruitful discussion!
→ A “Beastly” Performance in Support of Reproductive Equity!
We were honored that local artist Melissa Hale presented Beastly, a one-woman show, in support of Reproductive Equity Now last weekend! Beastly depicts a dystopian future and a journey back in time to protect reproductive health care access – a harrowing tale that may soon become closer to reality unless we defeat Donald Trump in November and elect repro equity champions up and down the ballot. We’re so grateful to Melissa for presenting this important and moving story in support of our work.
→ Jezebel: New Hampshire’s Maybe-Next GOP Governor Is a Mess
A recent article in Jezebel reminds us that we cannot trust gubernatorial candidate Kelly Ayotte when it comes to protecting abortion access in the Granite State. The piece covers how Ayotte un-endorsed Trump after the Access Hollywood tape made clear his misogynistic and violent disregard for women’s autonomy, and then re-endorsed him in 2024, after he bragged about being the president who overturned Roe v. Wade and fully eliminated abortion access for a third of American women (and after being found liable for sexual assault by a jury in New York). As the article highlights, this is not Ayotte’s only major flip-flop on her values – in fact, she makes a habit of it. Ayotte proudly led the charge for an abortion ban at 20 weeks as a United States Senator, and supported two pieces of legislation intended to hinder insurance coverage for birth control and IVF. She helped personally shepherd Justice Neil Gorsuch onto the Supreme Court, who later voted to overturn Roe. Now, she wants Granite Staters to believe that she’s got their back and will protect their rights to access care. But Granite State voters will not be fooled. We know that in order to protect and expand access to abortion in New Hampshire, we must defeat Kelly Ayotte in November.
→ Healey-Driscoll Admin Wins Federal Grant for Expanding Repro Health Care Services and Information
The Healey-Driscoll Admin announced last week that they were awarded grant funding from the federal Department of Health and Human Services to increase awareness across the Bay State of coverage for reproductive health care services, including contraception, maternity care, IVF, and more, on MassHealth. Many Bay Staters are on public health insurance, but don’t know that their insurance covers a broad array of reproductive health services, and that many private insurers operate under mandates to cover that care as well. We’re excited to see Massachusetts once again leading the way for access to reproductive health care.
National Notice
→ Emergency Abortion Care Updates
There were two major news items in the last couple of weeks about the state of emergency abortion care access post-Dobbs. First, Senate Democrats once again attempted to pass a bill protecting emergency access to abortion care even in states with abortion bans. This life-saving bill was blocked by Oklahoma Senator James Lankford and the Senate GOP. Then, the Supreme Court decided not to review a decision by a lower court blocking the Biden Administration from enforcing rules about emergency abortion care in Texas, where the state’s extreme abortion ban has eliminated all forms of abortion care. This means that Texas can continue to enforce its ban on emergency abortion care, leaving pregnant patients facing complications the choice of either fleeing the state or risking their lives. This decision comes after a damning report from Texas showed that maternal mortality in the Lone Star State skyrocketed after SB 8, the Texas Heartbeat Act, was enacted.
Meanwhile, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta is suing Providence Hospital, a Catholic Hospital in Eureka, for allegedly discharging a patient experiencing severe pregnancy complications without treatment because she was in need of abortion care. Not only did the hospital send the patient away, but nurses allegedly offered her a bucket and towels as they discharged her to seek care elsewhere, despite the fact that Providence has the only labor and delivery unit for nearly 100 miles. Even guidance to provide emergency abortion care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) has a gaping hole: Catholic Hospitals that operate under Ethical and Religious Directives can elect not to perform procedures on the basis of religious refusal.
→ Voters Support Abortion Ballot Measures – But Aren’t Making the Connection Up and Down the Ballot
A new poll from The 19th (frighteningly) reveals that nearly a quarter of women who believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases plan to vote for Donald Trump in November. This means that despite the fact that the Republican Party’s official 2024 platform argues for fetal personhood, propaganda rewriting Trump’s history on abortion access is getting across to some voters. In Arizona, the state’s abortion ballot referendum is polling higher than Vice President Harris. Anti-abortion politicians are running from their records on repro because they know access to the full spectrum of reproductive and sexual healthcare are extremely popular – even Melania Trump released a video declaring her support for abortion rights, without mentioning that her husband is responsible for that right being denied to millions of American women. But as our President, Rebecca Hart Holder, told the Boston Globe, “J.D. Vance and Donald Trump pose an existential threat to abortion access and we cannot let our guard down for even one second when it comes to protecting reproductive freedom.” We have to remind voters that a vote for Donald Trump is a vote against our reproductive freedom.
→ Georgia’s Courts Affirm, then Deny Right to Abortion
An appeals court in the state of Georgia temporarily halted the state’s extreme abortion ban last week, only for the Supreme Court of Georgia to reinstate the ban a few days later. With the legal landscape for abortion access changing every day post-Dobbs and courts and politicians playing games with people’s rights, patients are struggling to navigate seeking care – with deadly consequences, as we learned last month from ProPublica. Without uniform protected access to abortion care, patients will continue to have to risk their safety to access basic health care.
Get Involved!
📍NORTHAMPTON, MA! Join us TONIGHT for Potluck and Postcarding
Join new friends and old for a fall potluck and political postcarding in Northampton hosted by Kate Glynn. Swing by at 5:30PM tonight to send a little pro-repro activist energy out into the world! We'll snack, chat, laugh, and write some pro-repro postcards. No need to bring a potluck dish unless you want to. RSVP for the address HERE.
📍WESTPORT, CT! Join us for a screening of Preconceived!
We’re bringing Preconceived to Westport, CT for back-to-back screenings on Wednesday, October 16th! Preconceived is a new documentary that exposes anti-abortion centers' deceptive and dangerous practices. In Connecticut, these centers outnumber legitimate abortion clinics by nearly two to one. We will be hosting one matinee screening at 10am and one evening showing at 7pm with a panel of local leaders following the film.
📍HARTFORD, CT! Join us for Politicians Make Brunch
On Sunday, October 20th, come celebrate Connecticut's leadership in reproductive equity over brunch made by our local elected leaders! Purchase your tickets and get more information HERE.
📍NEW HAMPSHIRE (AND BEYOND)! Join us to Canvass in Rochester, NH
The Reproductive Equity Team will be canvassing in Rochester, NH on November 2nd in solidarity with our colleagues and friends at Planned Parenthood Action Fund of NH! Come up to New Hampshire, knock a few doors, and then join our team at Back Hill Brewery in Rochester for snacks, drinks, and community. Sign up HERE.
📍NEW ENGLAND! Save the Date for Repro Equity Now’s 2025 Gala!
Reproductive Equity Now will be hosting our 2025 Gala on May 15th at the InterContinental in Boston, and we would be thrilled to have you join us! Please save the date and keep an eye out for information on tickets and sponsorship opportunities in the coming weeks.
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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