The Quickie: Alabama's Supreme Court Ruling "Will Wake Up Another Constituency"

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: PP prez talks about impact of Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling, PPFA’s lawsuit in South Carolina, and Idaho obstetricians stop practicing after state ban.

ALABAMA’S SUPREME COURT RULING “WILL WAKE UP ANOTHER CONSTITUENCY”: Yesterday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson joined CBS News’ Caitlin Huey-Burns to discuss the impact of the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that deemed frozen embryos “children.” As reproductive rights advocates have long warned, this decision is directly tied to the ongoing assault on reproductive rights — predating and following the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The court’s ruling has already devastated Alabamians and could have devastating repercussions across the country as personhood laws multiply in state legislatures. 

As Alexis explained, “When you impose abortion bans in states, what you’re also doing is making pregnancy outcomes more dangerous…you’re inviting politicians into the exam room, you're inviting them into your bedroom, and you’re essentially allowing them to make decisions about how you create or not create a family.” She added that “this IVF decision will wake up yet another constituency of folks” who are seeing the implications of these attacks on reproductive health unfold.

See the interview here. 

 

SOUTH CAROLINA WOMAN WHO TRIED TO GET AN ABORTION SAYS IT WAS “UNBELIEVABLY HARD”: Earlier this month, a woman named Taylor Shelton, who was unable to get an abortion in South Carolina, joined abortion providers from Planned Parenthood South Atlantic in filing a lawsuit challenging the scope of the state’s six-week ban. Taylor was about four weeks pregnant when she found out but was unable to get an abortion in South Carolina due to the volume of patients in the state’s clinics, which have been overwhelmed by the ban. The lawsuit is led by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and is asking the state to clarify its ambiguous definition of “heartbeat”.

Shelton faced a number of obstacles trying to get an abortion in South Carolina before ultimately needing to travel to North Carolina, spending about 20 hours on the road, including a stop at what turned out to be an anti-abortion clinic. Shelton told NPR that her experience was “unnecessary and traumatizing”. She continues, "The government wants us to be responsible. Well, I'm telling you right now — I had birth control. I tracked my period. I took the pregnancy test as soon as possible. And even then, I could not figure out how to get this procedure done." Vicki Ringer, Vice President of Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, added, "This is what happens when you have legislators that try to practice medicine".

Read more in NPR.

 

IDAHO OBSTETRICIANS STOP PRACTICING AFTER STATE ABORTION BAN: Over 50 obstetricians have stopped practicing in Idaho following the state’s near-total abortion ban in August 2022. According to a report released by the Idaho Physician Well-Being Action Collaborative, half of counties in Idaho are now left without access to any practicing obstetricians in their county. The report also indicates only two obstetricians have moved to the state to practice in the past 15 months. Dr. Caitlin Gustafson, an OB-GYN and the board president of the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare Foundation, explained “Idaho laws that criminalize the private decisions between doctor and patient have plunged our state into a care crisis that unchecked will affect generations of Idaho families to come”.

Read more in AP