The Erickson Report - Page 1: Following Up on reproductive rights

Following Up on reproductive rights

Last time, I spent some time talking about the recent attacks on the right to an abortion.

I want to follow up on that by noting that not all the news is bad - for one thing, you know those so-called “heartbeat” bills, the ones banning abortions once a so-called “fetal heartbeat” can be detected, which is usually around six weeks and before many women even know they are pregnant -

Interrupting here to raise something important to remember: I say “so-called” because the term “fetal heartbeat” in this context is completely bogus. It’s a PR ploy. What’s being detected is cardiac activity, more specifically, some pulsing indicating communication among a group of what will eventually become cardiac cells. There is at this point no cardiovascular system so it is not by any sane understanding of the term a “heartbeat.”

Getting back to where I was, four states have passed such mislabeled bills this year, but they failed in several more, including Republican-led ones. Efforts in Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia all fell short.

Just as importantly, there is a form of pushback in that some places are taking steps to protect that right in the unhappy but unfortunately not unlikely event that Roe v. Wade is overturned.

For example, The Guttmacher Institute reported that 2018 was "the first in recent years when the number of proactive policies enacted outpaced new restrictions." 29 states and the District of Columbia enacted 80 measures that expanded access to reproductive health care.

This year, A variety of states are expanding access to abortion services, repealing restrictions, and updating their codes to do away with decades-old measures that are not enforced.

- Early this year, New York enacted a law to enshrine the protections of Roe intro law and removed abortion from the criminal code.
- Vermont lawmakers passed a state constitutional amendment to ensure abortion rights.
- In Maine, a bill is moving through the legislature requiring the state Medicaid program and private insurance companies to cover abortion care.
- Nevada has removed criminal penalties for people who terminate a pregnancy without consulting a physician.
- llinois removing old measures requiring spousal consent, waiting periods and criminal penalties for doctors who perform abortions and now treats abortion as health care.
- At the end of April, the state Supreme Court of Kansas ruled by 6-1 that the state’s constitution enshrines a woman’s right to an abortion.

Beyond that, it turns out that that Alabama law is not particularly popular there: According to a poll done last year but only released in May, only 31% of Alabama voters support a law as extreme as the one passed.

And it's not just Alabama: According to a new USA TODAY/Ipsos poll, by 55%-45% Americans oppose the so-called "fetal heartbeat" laws and by nearly three to one, 73%-27%, they oppose seeing all abortion facilities in their states closed.

Fifty percent say SCOTUS should uphold the Roe v. Wade decision; another 30% say Roe should be upheld but maybe within stricter limits; only 20% say it should be overturned.

And finally for now, in Georgia At least five county DAs say they will not enforce the state's new anti-choice law

So yes,  not all the news is bad. On the other hand, here are two things to keep in mind:

An Indiana law barred abortions based on the fetus’ sex, race, or disability. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the law and SCOTUS recently refused to hear an appeal from that decision. But as part of that, Clarence Thomas took the opportunity to launch a vicious and wholly irrelevant attack on birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger. I told you - if they kill Roe v. Wade,  they'll be coming for birth control next.

The other thing - and never forget this - is that Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Missouri, and Kentucky, all sporting their new more-restrictive anti-choice, anti-women's health, laws, all of them rank among the 10 worst states for maternal mortality, infant mortality, or both. The connection between lack of access to abortion and lack of access to pre- and post-natal health care is very real.