Tag: Anti-Abortion Laws

War on Women Report: New House Speaker Is Anti-Women and Anti-Gay Rights; Shooting at Montana Planned Parenthood; Maine’s Deadliest Mass Shooting

and

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: The U.S. Coast Guard covered up an investigation of systemic sexual misconduct; a man fired two rounds from a shotgun into the front entrance of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Montana; the deadliest mass shooting in Maine’s history; some of Rep. Mike Johnson’s most eyebrow-raising beliefs; President Biden called for $16 billion in emergency childcare funding; and more.

‘Comstocked’: How Extremists Are Exploiting a Victorian-Era Law To Deny Abortion Access

In June 2019, the all-male city council in Waskom, Texas, unanimously voted to make the tiny town of just 2,000 residents the nation’s first “sanctuary city for the unborn.” Characterizing fetuses as the “most innocent among us [who] deserve equal protection under the law,” the ordinance expressly bans abortion within its municipal boundaries. The man behind the ban, anti-abortion zealot and pastor Mark Lee Dickson, has since expanded his campaign to outlaw abortion “one city at a time” into at least six other states.

(This article originally appears in the Fall 2023 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

This November, Abortion Is on the Ballot in Ohio. Here’s What You Need to Know to Vote

This November, Ohioans will decide whether to add to the state’s constitution the right for individuals to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions, including abortion. Early voting in the election has already begun. 

A coalition of reproductive, women’s and civil rights organizations, Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, is urging voters to vote YES on Issue 1 to protect reproductive freedom.

Ohioans, here’s all you need to know about how to vote in this election.

Brick-and-Mortar Pharmacies Begin Dispensing Abortion Pills Across the U.S.

In January of 2023, the FDA announced the new certification process for pharmacies to dispense mifepristone. Last week, the pharmaceutical company GenBioPro announced the names of 18 brick-and-mortar pharmacies that are now dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone.

They are the first pharmacies to publicly acknowledge doing so after the FDA in late 2021 finally loosened medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone that blocked pharmacy distribution for decades. 

The 2024 Election Will Be a Referendum on Abortion and Women’s Equality, According to New Ms. Poll

Next year’s election will see many voters turn out who are motivated by abortion and equal rights for women, according to a new poll by Lake Research Partners for Ms. and the Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms.  The poll showed that abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) are strong voter turnout issues separately, but even more powerful when combined.

Candidates talking about abortion and the ERA together are particularly mobilizing for Democrat and Independent voters—especially Independent women, younger women, voters who support abortion rights, college-educated women, Latinas and Black voters, and voters ages 30-39. 

Republicans Want to Control Your Pregnancy, Not Just Your Abortion

A new Pregnancy Justice report illustrates an alarming rise in pregnancy criminalization, increasing three-fold over the past 16 years. The report finds that just five Southern states are largely responsible for this increase in arrests.

Despite the major concerns brought forth in the report, feminist organizers are not backing down. Instead, they see the findings as “a call to action, and anyone working to achieve greater bodily autonomy ought to heed that call.”

California Brings First-of-its-Kind Lawsuit Against Anti-Abortion Movement’s ‘Abortion Pill Reversal’ Scheme

and

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s lawsuit charges RealOptions Obria, a five-site crisis pregnancy center chain in Northern California, and the Ohio-based Heartbeat International with violating California’s False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition law by falsely advertising “abortion pill reversal” as safe and effective.

“Those who are struggling with the complex decision to get an abortion deserve support and trustworthy guidance—not lies and misinformation,” Bonta said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit.

Judge James Ho’s Connections to the Anti-Abortion Movement

and

If allowed to take effect, an August ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals would sharply restrict access to medication abortion nationwide and eliminate telemedicine abortion. Three Republican-nominated judges issued the Fifth Circuit ruling. But one of the judges, James Ho, issued a concurring opinion, arguing the ruling did not go far enough.

Ho clerked for Clarence Thomas and has close ties to the Federalist Society, led by Leonard Leo. The judge has referred to abortion as “the immoral, tragic, and violent taking of innocent human life.” He and his spouse, Allyson Ho, have been running in the same circles as key players in the assault against abortion access in the U.S. for years.