What President Biden’s State of the Union Says About the Politics of Abortion

BY ABIGAIL ABRAMS
MARCH 2, 2022

Following abortion rights groups’ efforts to pressure President Joe Biden into speaking out in favor of reproductive rights in America, the President mentioned the topic just briefly on Tuesday during his first State of the Union address.

“The constitutional right affirmed by Roe v. Wade—standing precedent for half a century—is under attack as never before,” Biden said during the speech. “If we want to go forward, not backward, we must protect access to health care. Preserve a woman’s right to choose.”

Continued: https://time.com/6153102/biden-abortion-state-of-the-union/

USA – Why the Senate is taking a doomed vote on abortion rights

Democrats want to show voters they tried on abortion rights.

By Li Zhouli@vox.com
Feb 28, 2022

The Senate on Monday will take its first vote on the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill aimed at codifying the right to an abortion.

Democrats hope to use the vote to show support for abortion rights as they come under attack in numerous states, and as they face a challenge in the Supreme Court. The vote, however, is widely expected to fail: Republicans are broadly opposed to the legislation and will likely filibuster it. Once filibustered, the bill would need 60 votes to advance, support it doesn’t currently have in a 50-50 Senate.

Continued: https://www.vox.com/2022/2/28/22946299/womens-health-protection-act-senate-vote-abortion-rights

Texas created a blueprint for abortion restrictions. Republican-controlled states may follow suit.

How other states may follow Texas’s restrictive abortion law

By Meryl Kornfield, Caroline Anders and Audra Heinrichs - Washington
Post
September 3, 2021

Republican officials in more than a half-dozen states across the country moved
this week to replicate Texas’s restrictive abortion ban after the Supreme Court
declined to step in and stop the law from taking effect.

GOP officials in at least seven states, including Arkansas, Florida, South
Carolina and South Dakota, have suggested they may review or amend their
states’ laws to mirror Texas’s legislation, which effectively bans abortions
after six weeks. Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Ohio and more are expected to
follow, after a year abortion activists have deemed “the worst legislative year
ever for U.S. abortion rights.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/09/03/texas-abortion-ban-states/

USA – A culture war with real consequences is coming

Ronald Brownstein
Tue May 25, 2021

(CNN) One of the original culture war conflicts may be poised for a resurgence -- with potentially explosive political consequences.

The Supreme Court's recent decision to consider the legality of Mississippi's restrictive law prohibiting abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy could trigger the most serious and sustained political debate over the procedure since the final decades of the 20th century. And that could dramatically widen the already gaping demographic and geographic fissures between red and blue America.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/25/politics/abortion-mississippi-supreme-court-culture-war/index.html

USA – State lawmakers continue crusade against Roe vs. Wade with flood of new abortion bills

By Melanie Mason, STAFF WRITER
April 22, 2021

Energized by the conservative tilt of the U.S. Supreme Court, legislators in Republican-led states have put forward hundreds of abortion restrictions, including near-total bans, eager to offer the vehicle to achieve a longstanding goal: the unwinding of Roe vs. Wade.

The barrage of bills introduced this year — the first legislative session since Justice Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed last fall, cementing the court’s conservative majority — reflects the growing sense of opportunity among abortion opponents.

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-04-22/abortion-bills-state-legislatures-supreme-court

2021 Is Already The Year Of Anti-Abortion Legislation

State legislatures with eyes on a Supreme Court showdown have introduced more than 500 bills restricting the procedure.

By Lydia O’Connor
03/26/2021

Fears that a conservative U.S. Supreme Court would inspire a wave of anti-abortion legislation across the country appear to have been warranted, a study of state-level bills introduced this year suggests.

According to a report the Planned Parenthood Federation of America released Friday, legislation limiting abortion in 2021 has skyrocketed in comparison to a similar time frame in 2019. Compared to bills introduced from January through mid-March 2019, medication abortion restrictions and bans have tripled to 33, anti-abortion constitutional amendments have more than tripled to 14, and states have enacted 12 abortion restrictions this year, compared to just one by this point in 2019.

Continued: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/2021-abortion-bills-report_n_605e17fac5b65d1c28154b24

With Supreme Court in mind, states aim to curb abortion rights

Lawmakers are introducing new bills to restrict abortion rights.

By JUSTIN FRANZ | KAISER HEALTH NEWS
2 March 2021

When Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway introduced a bill in the Montana House two years ago that would have prohibited abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the Republican legislator knew it was unlikely to survive the veto pen of the Democratic governor.

Sure enough, then-Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed that bill and two other anti-abortion measures passed by the Republican-led state legislature. In his veto message, Bullock wrote that “for over 40 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that the U.S. Constitution prohibits a state from banning abortion.”

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/supreme-court-mind-states-aim-curb-abortion-rights/story?id=76201750

Abortion Media Coverage Is “Deeply, and Problematically, Politicized” Says Study

7/1/2020
by Zoe Larkin

Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, anti-abortion advocates have capitalized on the chaos to attack reproductive rights.

Although abortion is time-sensitive, officials throughout the U.S. declared it a nonessential service, denying women the right to reproductive justice under the guise of pandemic control. The move was swiftly condemned by many major medical organizations—but opportunistic attacks on reproductive freedom remain abundant.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2020/07/01/abortion-media-coverage-is-deeply-and-problematically-politicized-says-study/

USA – The Ban on Abortion for Low-Income People Is Now a Litmus Test for Congress

The Ban on Abortion for Low-Income People Is Now a Litmus Test for Congress
People have started calling out Democratic members of Congress for supporting the Hyde Amendment.

by Katelyn Burns
Oct 1 2019

Forty-three years ago this week, Congress first enacted the Hyde amendment, which banned federal funds from covering abortion care. The amendment is now standard rider, or bill language, on all applicable federal spending bills. It primarily affects low-income people who depend on Medicaid for healthcare coverage.

Repealing Hyde has emerged as a flashpoint for Democrats as they enter the 2020 primary season in the wake of repeated GOP attacks on abortion access at both the state and federal level. While the current House of Representatives boasts its first pro-choice majority in more than 45 years, there are still a few anti-choice Democratic holdouts who continue to support Hyde, including Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-IL), Collin Peterson (D-MN), and Henry Cuellar (D-TX). On Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) endorsed Cuellar over Jessica Cisneros, a pro-choice progressive primary challenger. All three anti-choice Democrats face primaries against more progressive candidates.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/kz4n7w/the-ban-on-abortion-for-low-income-people-is-now-a-litmus-test-for-congress