Repro Roundup 12.06
The New Hampshire GOP may have spent six figures trying to mislead Granite State voters about the severity of their anti-abortion records, but new bill filings for the upcoming legislative session put their extremism on clear display.
In the last month, incoming and current representatives in the New Hampshire House have filed legislation to ban abortion (at several different arbitrary points through pregnancy), ban interstate travel for abortion care for young people and impose criminal penalties on trusted adults who help them access this care, and force New Hampshire students to be subjected to anti-abortion propaganda videos in sex ed classes.
These pieces of legislation would have devastating consequences for Granite Staters – especially young people. This could prevent them both from understanding their own bodies and their options for accessing abortion and reproductive health care and prevent them from accessing that care by cutting them off from supportive adults in their lives. These bills would rob young people of their bodily autonomy – just like the anti-trans bills passed last session specifically robbed trans youth of their right to self-determination.
And critically – these kinds of bans would make New Hampshire even more of an island in New England. This would put New Hampshire significantly out-of-step with its regional peers, and force Granite Staters to travel out of state for life-saving, life-affirming care.
Now, Governor-elect Ayotte pledged during her campaign that she would not sign any changes to New Hampshire’s abortion law. So now, we have a message for Kelly Ayotte: we have our eyes on you. Granite Staters will be watching to see if she keeps her promise, or robs her constituents of their reproductive freedom.
On to this week’s headlines –
News from New England
→ Your Location Data is No One’s Business
There’s been a lot of discussion since the election about how to keep yourself – and your data – safe when accessing abortion care. Our friends at the ACLU spoke with WBUR about the Location Shield Act, a bill we’re working to pass in Massachusetts that would protect your data from being sold and weaponized by data brokers. Massachusetts is currently on the front-lines post-Dobbs, serving patients across the nation who both travel to the Bay State for care and access telemedicine care from Bay State providers. It is critical that Massachusetts legislators take bold action to protect the location data of patients and providers and protect everyone in the Bay State from criminalization related to their pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health care decisions.
We are also excited to see that the FTC has released new rules regarding data brokers. The FTC has issued a new order that one of the largest and most notorious data brokers in the nation be barred from “selling, disclosing, or using sensitive location data.” Sensitive locations include medical facilities and abortion clinics, among other places. While we are unsure if this rule will continue to be enforced under a new FTC Commissioner, we are glad to see this decisive action being taken.
While we continue to push for these policy changes, we want to make sure New Englanders know how to keep their data safe – even with the threat of data brokers abound. So check out our blog post, TikTok, and Reel with tips and tricks for staying safe online when seeking abortion care. Information is power, and we have the power to keep ourselves safe when accessing reproductive health care – so make sure to share these resources with your friends and family to keep our communities safe and secure.
→ Standing with our Granite State Community for Trans Day of Remembrance
We were grateful to stand in community with our friends and coalition in New Hampshire on Trans Day of Remembrance. This sobering and moving vigil served as an important reminder of the work ahead of us to undo the harms wrought on young trans people by the legislature last session. The fight for abortion and gender-affirming care access are one fight – for bodily autonomy and the freedom to chart your own future. The same forces behind the attacks on abortion care, birth control, and contraception are attacking the LGBTQ+ community’s right to self-determination, freedom of expression, and human rights. The same providers who empower people to choose if, when, and how to start a family, are the same providers that empower people to live as their authentic selves with the support of hormone replacement therapy and surgical interventions. Control over your own body, your own sexual choices, and your own future are fundamental human rights. There is no reproductive equity without justice for trans people.
→ Long Acting Birth Control Requests Rise Around New England
Planned Parenthood alliances of Northern New England, Southern New England, and the League of Massachusetts have all reported in the last month a strong uptick in patients seeking long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs and vasectomies. These statistics show that people are not fooled by Donald Trump’s shifting rhetoric on abortion access and birth control, and understand the clear and present danger he poses to abortion access. We are grateful to the New England providers filling these requests and caring for patients during this time of confusion, chaos, and anxiety.
If you are in New England and seeking abortion care, you can always find resources at our New England Abortion Care Guide. If you are interested in long-acting contraception or want to learn more about your options, talk to your local reproductive health care provider.
→ State Leaders Prep for Oncoming Trump Admin
Reporting over the past several weeks has given us some insight into how leaders in Connecticut and Massachusetts are preparing themselves to defend their constituents against attacks from the Trump Administration, including attacks on abortion and contraception access. One way leaders in CT and MA are doing this is partnering with us on the Abortion Legal Hotline, which provides free legal resources to patients and providers across the Bay and Nutmeg states. Both Attorney General Campbell and Attorney General Tong have also made clear their intent to fight the Trump Administration in the courts when they attack New Englanders’ reproductive freedom.
As Repro Equity Now prepares to face another Trump Administration, we want to make sure our community is clear on what we’re facing. That’s why we joined Commonwealth Beacon’s the Codcast to discuss what Massachusetts could see in terms of attacks on abortion access from DC, and spoke to Western Mass News and the Daily Free Press about what we’re expecting in the fight to defend access to abortion care in the Bay State.
National Notice
→ What it Means to Get Abortion Care Later in Pregnancy
We’re grateful to our friend and board member Kate Dineen for illuminating that abortion care is still inaccessible for Bay Staters later in pregnancy. In this article in TIME Magazine, Kate’s story is featured as an example of how even in states with abortion protections, arbitrary gestational bans prevent pregnant people from accessing the care they want and need. No one-size-fits-all law can account for every unique and complex pregnancy experience, and bans on abortion at certain points in pregnancy – even with limited exceptions – are still abortion bans. Patients deserve autonomy over their pregnancy outcomes, and should be allowed to make difficult decisions for themselves, with the support of their physician and without interference from the government.
→ Our Continued Response to the Incoming Trump Administration Appointees
We are continuing to beat the drum about the anti-abortion extremism we see on the horizon at the hands of the Trump Administration. President Trump has announced his intention to appoint “Doctor” Oz, the television physician and previous Republican Senate candidate, to run the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which helps enforce rules regarding EMTALA and supports continued access to birth control and contraceptives on Medicaid, as required by the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Oz has famously said that decisions about pregnancy should be made between “women, doctors, and local political leaders” – so we know he doesn’t trust patients to make their own decisions about their care, which means we can’t trust him to protect our access to abortion care and contraception. Trump also announced his intention to appoint D. John Sauer, an anti-abortion extremist attorney, to serve as the top litigator for the nation as Solicitor General. Sauer built his career defending extreme abortion bans at the state level – so we know we cannot trust Trump’s Department of Justice to prioritize reproductive justice.
→ SCOTUS Hears Arguments on Gender Affirming Care
The Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, a case challenging Tennessee’s ban on providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth. This case has the potential to severely restrict access to life-saving, life-affirming care for trans youth across the country. The case may also impact the enforceability of New Hampshire’s newly passed ban on providing gender-affirming care services to young people in the Granite State. We are following closely as this case makes its way through the court, with a decision expected this spring.
Get Involved!
📍ANYWHERE! Join the Abortion Access Advocates!
YOU know your community best. That means YOU are the most effective messenger to advocate for your community and ensure that they are empowered to access the abortion and reproductive health care they want and deserve. We’re assembling a regionwide network of abortion access advocates and training them to be community leaders for reproductive equity. Join us by signing up for AAA here!
📍ANYWHERE! Take Action with Repro Equity Now!
Looking for ways to take action or share with your networks ideas to take action? We’ve developed three one-page guides on how to educate your communities for abortion access, advocate to your legislators for reproductive equity, and invest in the reproductive equity movement. Check them out below and share them with your friends and family!
📍ANYWHERE! Save the Date for Reproductive 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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