The Quickie: Planned Parenthood Sues To Expand Six-Week Ban In South Carolina

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: Planned Parenthood challenges SC abortion ban, PPAV invests over $1.5 million into upcoming VA elections, Republican candidates try to walk back extreme abortion stances, and the House Select Committee gets called out for hypocrisy.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD SUES TO EXPAND SIX-WEEK BAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA: On Thursday, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Greenville Women’s Clinic filed a new challenge to South Carolina’s abortion ban asking the South Carolina Supreme Court to resolve ambiguity raised in its decision to uphold a ban on abortion that has forced providers to stop providing abortion care after approximately six weeks of pregnancy. The filing is in response to the uncertainty of the definition of “fetal heartbeat” in the law, as highlighted by the Court in last month’s majority opinion.

“The court itself has raised this issue and we think it needs to answer this ambiguity that it’s left open,” Catherine Humphreville, an attorney for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told The Associated Press.

In the lawsuit, abortion providers assert that the ban should apply at a later point in pregnancy, rather than only when embryonic electrical activity can first be detected via ultrasound (around approximately six weeks of pregnancy) “It means the difference between turning away 50% of people and turning away 90% of people,” Susanna Birdsong, the general counsel for Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, told the AP, referring the fact that about 91% of patients have been turned away in South Carolina since the ban went into effect last month.

Planned Parenthood South Atlantic Communications Director Molly Rivera said the group is now fighting “for every inch of ground” to try to expand access for South Carolinians.

Read more in AP.
 

PLANNED PARENTHOOD VIRGINIA PAC INVESTS MORE THAN $1.5 MILLION TO SUPPORT REPRO CHAMPIONS IN UPCOMING ELECTION: Today, a week before voting begins for the 2023 state senate and house of delegates election, Planned Parenthood Virginia (PPAV) PAC announced its first digital ads of the cycle focused on competitive races. The ads will be part of an initial $150,000 digital spend highlighting anti-reproductive rights candidates’ plans to ban abortion in Virginia. PPAV plans to reach more than 150,000 Virginia voters in key districts through door knocking, digital ads, and mail with their $1.5 million investment. 

As Jamie Lockhart, Executive Director of PPAV, made clear, “Virginians know that abortion is on the ballot….Our goal: stop an abortion ban. Virginia is the last state in the south without new abortion restrictions since Roe was overturned and it’s imperative that we win majorities to keep it that way. Extreme anti-abortion politicians will stop at nothing until they’ve banned abortion outright. Virginians, and the nation cannot afford to let that happen.”

Read more here

 

VIRGINIA REPUBLICANS TRY TO WALK BACK STANCE ON ABORTION: This week, reports of several Republicans in competitive state races scrubbing their websites of their extreme abortion views have surfaced. This includes SD-17 Republican candidate Emily Brewer, who removed a mention that she ‘fought tirelessly to add language in the state budget that prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions;’ SD-24 Republican candidate Danny Digg, who removed, ‘I will also vote to repeal reckless policies passed in recent years that spend taxpayer dollars on abortion and allow abortion into the 3rd Trimester;’ and HD-21 Republican candidate John Stirrup, who scrubbed all language about abortion from his website entirely.  

Jamie Lockhard, Executive Director of PPAV, called them out on their hypocrisy: 

“Anti-abortion Republicans will stop at nothing to ban abortion entirely, so it makes sense that they’d try to solicit votes through deception. Voters are vehemently opposed to banning abortion. These extremists know that they can’t win with their out-of-touch views on abortion, so they’re trying to back-peddle to distract voters. Abortion is on the ballot, and we simply cannot afford for anti-abortion politicians to keep control of the House and gain control of the Senate.”  

 

HOW IRONIC: Yesterday, the House Select Subcommittee on COVID held a hearing where the Republican anti-sexual and reproductive health majority incorrectly claimed that COVID-19 safety measures and vaccines harmed confidentiality and transparency between doctors and patients. This is rich coming from them given that they have ignored the wave of abortion bans, gender-affirming care bans, and other restrictions that have been enacted into law across multiple states that dangerously interfere with the relationship between patients and providers. However, several reproductive health care champions in the room called them out on their misinformation and @PPACT got the highlights. 

Read the statement from Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, here.