The Quickie: Judge To Hear Oral Arguments in Case That Aims To Shut Down Planned Parenthood

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: A federal judge will hear oral arguments in a case that aims to shut down Planned Parenthood, high school students prepare to attend college in states with abortion bans, and cost of living remains a major prohibitive factor in equal access to reproductive care.

JUDGE KACSMARYK HEARING ORAL ARGUMENTS TODAY IN FEDERAL COURT CASE THAT AIMS TO SHUT DOWN PLANNED PARENTHOOD: Today, a federal judge in Amarillo will hear oral arguments in a case that could have devastating consequences for Texans — and millions of people nationwide. 

The state of Texas and an anonymous plaintiff are suing Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the three Planned Parenthood affiliates that provide vital sexual and reproductive health care — including birth control, life-saving cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment — in Texas and Louisiana, falsely alleging Planned Parenthood violated the False Claims Act. Planned Parenthood did not commit Medicaid fraud. But the goal of this lawsuit is clear: to shut down Planned Parenthood and strip millions of people in Texas and beyond of critical health care like cancer screenings and birth control.

Read more about the case from the Texas Tribune here and AP here, and learn more from a fact sheet here.

If you are interested in hearing more about this case and want to be added to a potential press call taking place later today, please email [email protected].
 

HIGH SCHOOL GRADS SHOCKED TO LEARN THEIR CREDITS MAY TRANSFER, BUT THEIR ABORTION RIGHTS MAY NOT: Books, check. Dorm sheets, check. Birth control, check. A high school health clinic in Oakland, CA is taking a new approach to preparing graduating seniors for college. For those headed to states with abortion bans, clinic staff are now offering “senior sendoff” appointments during which students are counseled about abortion rights in their destination states before heading off to college. 

Arin Kramer, a family nurse practitioner at the health clinic, shares:

“Many students here are just totally floored when I tell them that these laws are different in the states that they are going to… they can’t believe that they can’t get an abortion in this country.”

During these appointments, clinic staff provide birth control to students — perhaps prescriptions for a year’s supply of birth control pills or patches, or by inserting long-acting reversible contraception like implants or IUDs, possibly even on the same day the student requests it.

Clinic staff were largely motivated by the fact that many students of color would be attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in southern states, where abortion restrictions are more common. 

Read more at NPR.

 

RIGHT COST, WRONG POLITICS: A story published by The Atlantic revealed that cost of living is a major prohibitive factor to living in states with access to abortion and gender-affirming care. While a Redfin survey showed that the majority of respondents wanted to live in states with this access, housing cost was the primary determinant of where they chose to live. The survey found that generally, red states in the south and midwest have significantly lower housing costs than blue states and coastal areas. In a glaring example, the Atlantic reported that housing prices in Dallas are less than half of the average cost of living in Los Angeles. Sam Dickman, Chief Medical Officer for Planned Parenthood of Montana, explained that the lack of abortion access in affordable states only exacerbates the country’s economic inequality, as low-income patients have to pay exorbitant travel fees to receive care:

“I see patients traveling in from Texas, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, all these states surrounding Montana, to get abortion care. The median abortion patient is a young, low-income person of color. These are populations who are struggling to afford rent.” 

As the cost of living gap continues to widen, Dickman stated that it’s unlikely for people to be able to move in order to access better health care.

“If I asked a patient, Have you ever thought about moving to a place with better abortion access? It would be item No. 15 on their radar. They would look at me like, What are you talking about? I can’t afford to have a kid right now. Obviously, I can’t afford to move.”

Read the full story here.