More Than A Magazine, A Movement
The Center for Reproductive Rights filed Zurawski v. Texas, a groundbreaking lawsuit asking the state of Texas to clarify the scope of the “medical emergency” exceptions under its abortion bans.
The case, filed in state court in Austin, is the first lawsuit brought on behalf of women denied abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022.
Doctors, lawyers and advocates say the state board’s new guidance still doesn’t clarify when doctors can legally perform abortions.
“Unfortunately, the increased requirements for documentation are truly unworkable,” testified Dr. Richard Todd Ivey, a Houston OB-GYN. “These decisions should be made by a patient in consultation with their physicians, because that is the practice of medicine. We as physicians want to work within the confines of the law, but we cannot do so if our hands are tied.”
The 16th annual Global Women’s Rights Awards, hosted by the Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.), convened Tuesday evening in Los Angeles. This year’s awards celebrated the activism to secure final ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and the bravery of both U.S. and Afghan women in the face of misogynistic laws and leadership.
The evening recognized three honorees in particular who have contributed greatly to advancing the rights of women and girls: Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Dr. Austin Dennard, and the Bread and Roses documentary team, including director Sahra Mani.
I am one of an estimated 5 to 6 million women in the U.S. with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)—the most common cause of infertility. PCOS is a difficult disease to manage and a direct threat to my chances of bringing life into this world. But my fear isn’t about not being able to get pregnant—it’s about being pregnant in a country without Roe v. Wade.
This Wednesday, Idaho will attempt to defend its extreme abortion ban at the Supreme Court. Like many other abortion bans in the United States, the Idaho law contains a so-called life exception, which purports to allow an abortion when “necessary to prevent the death” of the pregnant person.
But do these exceptions actually preserve the lives of patients in practice? As Mayron Hollis, Amanda Zurawski, the family of Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick, and countless other women can attest, the answer is no. And the truth is, they’re not designed to.
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 Protect Victims of Digital Exploitation and Manipulation Act aims to ban the production and distribution of non-consensual, deepfake pornography; an award created to honor the life and accomplishments of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is being awarded to four right-wing men (and Martha Stewart); the Texas Medical Board refused to further specify the rules around the state’s highly restrictive ban on abortion; police made their first arrest in connection to an onslaught of unprovoked attacks against women in New York City; and more.
Biden’s State of the Union forcefully outlined the need for reproductive healthcare access and sounded a three-fold warning to the American people about: the dangers of abortion bans passed by Republican lawmakers at the state level; Republican obstruction in Congress to restore abortion rights at national level; and the federal abortion ban Republicans seek to enact.
“There are state laws banning the right to choose, criminalizing doctors, and forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states as well to get the care they need,” Biden said in his Thursday night address. “Many of you in this chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom. My God, what freedoms will you take away next?”
Dr. Austin Dennard is an OB-GYN in Dallas. After Texas banned abortions after six weeks’ gestation (before many women even know they’re pregnant), Dennard’s patients began coming to her with concerns. Then, in 2022, she became a patient who needed an abortion. Now, she is fighting back against the state that’s become a hell on earth for pregnant women—and the extreme Republicans working to make it a reality for every state in the nation.
“There are patients who will choose to continue a pregnancy with anencephaly, and that is okay. But in the state of Texas, there is no choice but to continue. … It didn’t matter in my state that we found this diagnosis early. It did not matter that this baby was never going to survive outside my womb. It didn’t matter that I was a doctor. It didn’t matter that I was a sixth-generation Texan.”
Abortion is currently banned in 14 states and highly restricted in an additional 10, and the average American lives 86 miles from an abortion provider. This leaves many pregnant people with the complex task of traveling across state lines—spending substantial amounts of money and time—to receive essential medical care.
Ahead of the Roe anniversary, a panel of Senate Democrats and activists discussed a range of issues related to abortion rights—including state abortion bans and their desire to pass the Women’s Protection Act to restore abortion rights nationwide.
“It’s so frustrating that we are no closer to giving doctors the clarity they need to help patients like me or Kate,” said Amanda Zurawski when the Texas Supreme Court denied Kate Cox an abortion. “People are left living in fear of prison or losing their livelihood.”
In Ohio, a grand jury is deciding whether to charge Brittany Watts—a woman who went to the hospital twice for care when she was miscarrying, was sent home twice, and miscarried in her bathroom. She could face jail time for “abuse of a corpse,” because fetal parts were found clogged in her toilet. Watts’ case is a chilling preview of what could come: Miscarriage criminalized in myriad ways. And now, the Fifth Circuit is holding that emergency rooms do not have to provide life-saving abortions—further ensuring that women with dangerous miscarriages will simply be sent home and left to manage on their own.
At the heart of the ‘pro-life’ movement is the idea that women are put on this earth for subservience. And so this is the plan: Force women to carry pregnancies against their will.