Abortion rights roundup: August 14, 2023

This series is a weekly roundup of abortion news, covering various statewide laws and bans, those who stand up to them, and the ongoing push by anti-abortion conservatives to restrict abortion care and erase bodily autonomy.

Ohio voters made their support for abortion rights heard loud and clear 

Voters in Ohio headed to the polls last Tuesday for a special election on a GOP-led ballot measure that would make it harder to amend the state’s constitution. Issue 1 would have required measures to get 60% of the vote instead of a simple majority — the norm since 1912. The Buckeyes soundly rejected Issue 1 with a landslide 57% opposition and over 3 million votes cast.

“Tonight, Ohioans claimed a victory over out-of-touch, corrupt politicians who bet against majority rule, who bet against democracy. … Tonight, Ohioans everywhere have claimed a victory for the kind of state we want to see,” Liz Walters, Ohio Democratic Party Chair, said on Tuesday.

Just to be clear, the word “abortion” did not appear on the ballot, and no laws changed as a result of the summertime special election. However, the defeat of Issue 1 made it easier for abortion rights advocates to gather the necessary signatures to put the issue directly in front of voters.

By adding “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety” amendment to the Nov. 7 ballot, abortion rights groups could enshrine the right to abortion and contraception in the state’s Constitution. 

Arizona abortion rights groups stand together behind the “Arizona Abortion Access Act”

On Tuesday, a coalition of abortion rights organizations announced the “Arizona Abortion Access Act,”  a proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution that could enshrine the right to safe and legal abortion care in the state.

The Act will be sponsored by a new political action committee, Arizona for Abortion Access, which will have the full support of a coalition of organizations, including the ACLU of Arizona, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona, NARAL Arizona, Affirm Sexual and Reproductive Health, Arizona List, and Healthcare Rising Arizona.

“Since the fall of Roe, we have seen our communities come together as a multigenerational and multiracial movement for reproductive freedom to fight for Arizonans’ fundamental rights, and this ballot initiative will continue to build on this momentum,” said Arizona for Abortion Access Chair Dr. Candace Lew said in an email statement sent to the American Independent Foundation. “Thousands of Arizonans will power this grassroots effort to not only pose this question to voters but ensure it passes next November.”

Arizona requires that initiative petitions be filed by July 3, 2024, and all Constitutional Amendments must gather 383,923 valid signatures from registered voters in the state.

Michigan abortion providers say they’re beginning to see an increase in patients from Indiana

Dr. Sarah Wallett, chief medical officer for Planned Parenthood of Michigan, told Michigan Public Radio that since Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana stopped seeing patients last month, Michigan has seen an uptick in patients to the state.

Indiana’s abortion ban was set to begin Aug. 1, but it’s currently on hold after the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana petitioned the state Supreme Court for a rehearing, challenging the law on the grounds that the decision would “prevent profound and potentially irreversible damage to patients who will suffer ‘a serious health risk’ absent an abortion.”

“What we see every time bans are talked about (in other states) is we see an increase, even a little bit more (patients coming to Michigan), even before bans go into effect. … Because people get confused: is it still available? When does it become unavailable? It’s difficult, even as a provider, to keep up sometimes with what is available where. I look it up regularly to try to figure out where I can refer patients, or if there’s someplace closer to home that they can go,” Wallett said.

Iowa conservatives continue to be on the losing side of a ban restricting abortion at the sixth week of pregnancy

The Iowa Supreme Court temporarily blocked an abortion ban in June that would have limited the procedure to the first six weeks of pregnancy, leaving abortion care in the state legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy. 

Gov. Kim Reynolds then called a special legislative session and managed to get the “pro-life” abortion ban signed into law on July 14. Less than 12 hours later, the same group that sued to block the law, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Emma Goldman Climinc and Dr. Sarah Traxler, filed to block it again. The state district court granted another temporary injunction.

While highly unusual, the 3-3 tie on the seven justice high court occurred after Justice Dana Oxley was forced to recuse herself because the law firm she previously worked for, Emma Goldman Clinic, was a plaintiff in the initial case.

For now, abortion in Iowa is legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy while the state supreme court waits to hear the case — a case conservatives say will end in another 3-3 tie.

“I’m in the camp of why wouldn’t she [recuse herself again]? Like, what’s really changed here,” Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa GOP, told NBC News.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sounds a lot like a GOP candidate

Stumping at the Iowa State Fair on Sunday, Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would support a federal ban on abortion if elected. 

While he claimed to support the right to abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, he said, “Once a child is viable, outside the womb, I think then the state has an interest in protecting the child.”

Just a few hours later, Kennedy’s team claimed the known anti-vaxxer candidate had “misunderstood” the question posed to him by NBC News due to noise at the venue.

Ali Vitali posted a transcript of her exchange with Kennedy on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which shows that the reporter asked about a national ban on abortion multiple times. 

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.