U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.
Since our last report…
+ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has continued with his string of lawsuits, suing the city of Austin over its abortion travel fund. Paxton challenged Austin City Council’s allocation of $400,000 to the city’s Reproductive Health Grant, which helps reimburse city residents forced to travel out-of-state to receive an abortion. The fund was first attacked in August when former Councilmember Don Zimmerman filed a similar lawsuit.
“Mothers are dying because they’re having miscarriages, and they can’t get access to abortion care. We are trying to protect Texas families, and that’s clearly not the intent of our attorney general,” said Councilmember Paige Ellis.
+ The number of women who have accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of sexual assault is now up to 27.
Former model Stacey Williams has accused Trump of groping her in Trump Tower in 1993, in what she said felt like a “twisted game” between Trump and his friend the late Jeffrey Epstein, himself a sexual abuser and pedophile. More than two dozen other women have accused the former president of sexual misconduct stretching back decades.
+ In Missouri, more than 150 clergy and faith leaders have signed a letter endorsing Amendment 3, which would end Missouri’s abortion ban and protect access to abortion, miscarriage care and birth control. Rabbi Doug Alpert, from Kansas City, said, “In Judaism the sanctity of human life is of the highest priority. It is the life of those carrying a pregnancy that always takes priority.”
Let’s not forget what else was sent our way in October.
Tuesday, Oct. 1: Louisiana’s Controlled Dangerous Substances Law Takes Effect
Louisiana’s law reclassifying the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol as “controlled dangerous substances” took effect on the first of the month. The law designates these medications as Schedule IV controlled substances, along with drugs such as Ambien and Xanax that have the potential for dependency or abuse. Anyone who possesses the pills without having a prescription or being a licensed provider can be criminalized, with up to five years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine.
Abortion is already banned in the state of Louisiana with limited exceptions. In addition to inducing abortion, mifepristone and misoprostol are routinely used to treat miscarriages, soften the cervix for surgery and stop hemorrhaging, according to the director of the New Orleans Health Department. Now, misoprostol— included on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines—is required to be stored in a locked cabinet in the center of the labor and delivery unit, as opposed to by the patient’s bedside.
A New Orleans-area hospital practiced timed drills in the weeks before the law went into effect, running to retrieve the medication. One drill took more than two minutes. “Every second counts,” said a participating OB-GYN. “Two minutes could leave a massive hemorrhage requiring additional medications, need for blood transfusion and even the need for additional surgery.”
Medical experts fear that this first-of-its-kind law sets a dangerous precedent for other states, misuses the drug scheduling system, delays timely care and ultimately will worsen Louisiana’s already high maternal mortality rates.
Monday, Oct. 7: SCOTUS Rejects Biden Administration’s Request to Return Texas Emergency Abortion Dispute to Lower Courts
The Supreme Court rejected a Biden administration request to send a dispute over emergency abortions in Texas back to the lower courts to reconsider. After reviewing more than 1,000 petitions in their “long conference,” the Court granted 15 cases but denied Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar’s petition without explanation.
The dispute concerned the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals that receive federal funds to stabilize or transfer patients who need emergency care.
In 2022, the Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance reaffirming that hospitals may be required to perform abortions in accordance with EMTALA, even if the state prohibited the procedure. The state of Texas sued to block federal enforcement of the policy and claimed the Biden administration had exceeded its authority. This was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which determined that EMTALA did not mandate abortion care or preempt Texas law.
As the justices declined to intervene, the lower-court ruling is still left in place, leaving doctors hesitant to intervene with life-saving abortion care. The Court heard similar cases from Idaho in June but refused to answer the question of whether federal law precedes state abortion bans. There is still no clarity.
“No doubt, Black women will suffer unnecessary injuries, risk criminal prosecution and worst of all preventable deaths due to this ruling,” said the Afiya Center.
Tuesday, Oct. 8: New York Woman Could be Charged with “Abuse of a Corpse” After Miscarrying
In Manhattan, a 20-year-old woman is facing criminal charges for miscarrying in a restaurant bathroom. According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, she could be charged for concealment of a human corpse, which is a class E felony, despite the fact that the fetus was only at 22 or 23 weeks gestation. Last year in Ohio, police arrested Brittany Watts after she miscarried at home. Watts was similarly charged with “abuse of a corpse,” a felony.
Feminist writer Jessica Valenti pointed out that this newest case is happening not in a state with a history of criminalizing miscarriages, but in New York, where abortion is legal. Meanwhile, local media is covering the miscarriage as a crime story with sensationalized headlines and referring to the fetus as a “baby.”
“This is obscene even if this young woman isn’t arrested,” Valenti wrote. “Imagine going through a traumatic pregnancy loss in a public place and instead of getting help, you’re questioned by the police.”
Friday, Oct. 11: Three States File New FDA Complaint Trying to Limit Mifepristone Access Nationwide
Just weeks before the presidential election, the attorneys general of Kansas, Missouri and Idaho have filed an amended complaint against the FDA in hopes of reducing—and, in some cases, removing—access to mifepristone across the country. The new filing seeks to make medication abortion illegal for minors entirely and target abortion providers in states where abortion is legal who have been shipping medication abortion to patients in other states with abortion bans. The lawsuit would also require three in-person patient visits to prescribe mifepristone, reverse FDA approval of a generic brand, prevent nurse practitioners and other providers from being able to prescribe mifepristone and prevent pharmacies from providing the medication.
The new complaint from the three Republican-led states hinges on the Comstock Act—a zombie law from 1873 that prohibits the mailing of “obscene, lewd, or lascivious materials,” which includes any printed information or other material “intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion.” The complaint argues that the FDA “unlawfully removed its prohibition against mailing abortion drugs,” which allows for “a 50-state abortion drug mailing economy, undermining state abortion laws.”
In June, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the original version of the lawsuit, which antiabortion groups filed in 2022, on the grounds that the plaintiffs were not eligible to sue because they couldn’t show that they’d been harmed by the FDA’s approval of mifepristone.
In a statement, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach cited safety concerns about the medication, claiming, “We’re pursuing this case to protect Kansas women.”
After the Supreme Court ruling in June, a statement from Planned Parenthood explained that medication abortion has a safety record of over 99 percent and that mifepristone “has been used by more than five million people in the United States. Limitations and restrictions on access to medication abortion using mifepristone serve no medical purpose, provide no benefit to patients, and are politically motivated to restrict access to safe abortion.”
Tuesday, Oct. 22: Doctors’ Group Files Amicus Brief Explaining that Abortion Bans Keep Doctors from Protecting Patients
The nonprofit organization Physicians for Reproductive Health (PRH) has filed an amicus brief to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit explaining how abortion restrictions, especially Idaho’s total abortion ban, conflict with doctors’ responsibilities to protect their patients under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA).
The brief describes how, according to EMTALA, hospitals must provide medical care to all emergency patients. However, EMTALA-defined emergency circumstances “do not always meet the benchmark set by the Idaho Total Abortion Ban and similar laws, which allow abortion care only if, in that moment, it is ‘necessary to prevent the death’ of the pregnant patient. Indeed, the State of Idaho admits that if a pregnant patient’s condition could, absent an abortion, result in the loss of an organ or serious medical complications, but not the loss of life, ‘abortions in that case aren’t allowed.’”
In a video panel discussion, OB-GYN Dr. Jamila Perritt, president and CEO of PRH, pointed out the connections between abortion care and other kinds of healthcare, including IVF treatment. Meanwhile, a threat to abortion access has the potential to keep many other treatments out of the hands of patients, especially patients from marginalized communities, including young, BIPOC and LGBTQ patients and those in rural areas.
“Although we talk about [abortion] as if it were a separate and isolated issue,” said Perritt, “it is deeply connected to every part of our lives, and it is deeply connected to the desire to restrict and limit the bodily autonomy of folks whose fertility is not valued equitably.”
Thursday, Oct. 24: Ohio Judge Permanently Blocks State’s Six-Week Abortion Ban
Ohio Judge Christian A. Jenkins of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas permanently struck down a state law banning abortion at six weeks, ruling that it violated the state constitution’s reproductive freedom amendment.
The six-week ban was signed into law in 2019, but it could not take effect until the overturning of Roe in 2022. It was blocked that September by a temporary restraining order. After Ohio successfully passed a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution in 2023, the six-week restriction was invalidated.
Jenkins’ ruling removes ambiguity, ensuring that Ohio cannot enforce the ban or any other provisions included in the law, such as felony charges, civil penalties and professional sanctions, which Ohio Attorney General David Yost (R) hoped to keep. It is the first permanent injunction in the country following the passage of a ballot amendment supporting abortion rights.
“We are elated to see the court rule in favor of Ohioans today. This ruling is an important step for access and a strong example of what’s possible when we come together to make our voices heard,” said medical director of Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, Dr. Sharon Liner.
At Ms. magazine, our mission is to deliver facts about the feminist movement (and those who stand in its way) and foster informed discussions—not to tell you who to vote for or what to think. We believe in empowering our readers to form their own opinions based on reliable reporting. To continue providing you with independent feminist journalism, we rely on the generous support of our readers. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today if you value the work we do and want to see it continue. Thank you for supporting women’s voices and rights.
