April 19, 2023
Judges making medical decisions. Guns having more rights to cross state lines than women.
Brain-dead babies dying hours after birth. And Florida.. ‘Merica in a post-Roe hellscape..
SCOTUS set to weigh in on mifepristone
The availability of one of the two drugs used in medical abortion hangs in the balance.
Since 2020, medical abortion accounts for more than half of abortions in the United States.
But that could change imminently; if the Supreme Court upholds Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision to withdraw market approval for mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in medical abortion.
If the ruling stands, removal of the drug from the market could have drastic consequences for healthcare and the prescription drug approval process.
Mifepristone is also used for a rare disease called Cushing’s syndrome. Also, women who have miscarriages use it to help the process go faster and be less painful.
The idea that a single judge with no medical training could reverse the Federal Drug Administration’s approval for a drug that has been safely on the market for over 2 decades is absurd.
We can guess how this story ends..
This same conservative court has already overturned Roe v Wade less than a year ago.
But the hope lies in the GOP rationale for this decision. See, with the Dobbs decision, SCOTUS has kicked the issue down to the state level for the various states to make their own legislation about abortion.
But as we have warned, one Trump-appointed judge in Texas ruled mifepristone be pulled off the market in ALL 50 states.
This directly contradicts the original intent of the Dobbs decision and the GOP state-rule philosophy.
So, now we wait for the same court to make a ruling that could even more drastically alter the landscape for reproductive rights in the United States.
Can someone wake me up when we are “great again”?
Florida Bans Abortion at 6 weeks
Catching up to other red states in a race to the bottom, Florida passed their 6 week abortion ban. And in the dead of night, no less!
6 weeks! That is before many people even know they are pregnant.
Gov. DeSantis may realize that the abortion issue is unpopular even with Republicans.
He signed the ban quietly, with no fanfare, and released the news just before midnight.
He also didn’t even mention it the next day when he spoke at Liberty University.
Exceptions Require Hoop Jumping
The ban includes exemptions for rape and incest up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.
However, the victim would have to provide proof that the pregnancy was a result of rape, incest or human trafficking in order to qualify for an abortion up until 15 weeks of gestation.
And if you miss the 15 week deadline to provide this documentation..?
Congratulations, you get to carry your rapist’s spawn to term..
Idaho bans travel out of state for abortion
Previously we discussed the exodus of medical doctors in the state.
Well now the Idaho legislature has banned women traveling out of state to get an abortion.
Going further than any other state, the law makes it illegal to travel out of state to get an abortion.
How on earth are they planning to enforce this law?
Well, unfortunately Idahoans are about to find out..
They really don’t care about women in Idaho, apparently.
Democrats Work to Protect Travel
Washington Senator Murray and other democratic colleagues predicted this type of legislation last summer.
They introduced the ‘Freedom to Travel for Health Care Act’ in the Senate in order to get ahead of this type of attack.
The bill would protect every woman’s constitutional right to travel across state lines to receive abortion care.
Providers would also be protected from being sued under red state vigilante laws.
Cliché alert – Republican Senator James Lankford (R-OK) blocked the legislation.
Biden admin protects abortion patient and provider data
In this post-Roe hellscape, at least we should protect patients and providers in states where abortion is still legal.
Well, the Biden administration has finally done that.
And not a moment too soon, especially as seekers may need to go underground if the pill is pulled from the market.
The new rule adds language to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — commonly known as HIPAA.
It prevents health care providers and insurers from turning over information to state officials for the purpose of investigating, suing or prosecuting someone for seeking or providing a legal abortion.
The rule also covers people who cross state lines to obtain a legal abortion. Will be interesting to see how this plays out in Idaho..
NPR shares horrific story about a woman in Texas:
A Good Friday funeral in Texas. Baby Halo’s parents had few choices in post-Roe Texas
She lived for four hours, dying in the arms of her father. Halo’s parents knew their baby wouldn’t survive with anencephaly, where part of her brain never developed.
Finding out about the diagnosis at 20 weeks was heartbreaking. They were crushed, but even more so when told that since they were in post-Roe Texas, they had no options.
Because the fetus’ heartbeat was detectable, SB-8 applied, and the mother was banned from receiving abortion healthcare.
A narrow exception allows for abortions when the mother’s life is in imminent danger.
However, there are no exceptions for a fetal anomaly, no matter how severe.
The mother wishes she would have had the choice to end the pregnancy in Texas as soon as she got the anencephaly diagnosis.
Well, that about wraps up another installment of RePro Roe-D-O.
Fingers crossed that we aren’t fast-tracked into Gilead with another blow by SCOTUS in a few days.
