The Quickie: PPAF Celebrates Laphonza Butler's Senate Nomination

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: PPAF celebrates Laphonza Butler’s nomination to the Senate, Federal judge strikes down abortion restrictions in NC ban, 9th Circuit rules on EMTALA in Idaho litigation, PPLM’s new CEO outlines vision to expand access in MA 

“THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT”: PLANNED PARENTHOOD PRESIDENT ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON CELEBRATES LAPHONZA BUTLER’S HISTORIC, BOUNDARY-BREAKING APPOINTMENT TO THE SENATE: On Monday morning, California Governor Gavin Newsom officially appointed EMILY’S List president Laphonza Butler to fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat in the Senate. 

“From leading one of our nation’s largest unions to working to elect women up and down the ballot as the leader of EMILY’s List, Laphonza Butler is a trailblazer whose career has been dedicated to advancing justice, equity, and progress,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “We’ve traveled across the country together to ensure our leaders protect access to abortion and our reproductive rights – and the Senate just gained another reproductive health champion.”

“Senator Feinstein was the first woman to represent California in the Senate and built her career championing women, the LGBTQ+ community, and gun safety. It’s a powerful marker of her legacy that my friend Laphonza will assume her office as another boundary breaker: the first Black lesbian to openly serve in the Senate. This is history and a reminder to Black girls and women everywhere: we deserve to be in all the rooms where decisions are made.” 

 

NORTH CAROLINA JUDGE STRIKES DOWN ABORTION RESTRICTIONS: On Saturday, a federal judge in North Carolina blocked two provisions from the state’s abortion ban – one that would require any abortions after 12 weeks pursuant to the ban’s exceptions to be performed in a hospital and another that makes it more difficult for providers to prescribe early medication abortion. The lawsuit was brought by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Duke OB/GYN Dr. Beverly Gray, represented by Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union.

While the state’s 12-week ban remains in place, this decision will break down some of the barriers to care it creates. In a statement, Jenny Black, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said that Planned Parenthood South Atlantic “remains committed to helping every patient navigate the unjust and inhumane confines of this law, and we encourage anyone in need of abortion care to contact us as soon as possible.”

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein was also a defendant in this lawsuit. In a statement following the decision, he said, “The law is not based in medical reality, and it was sloppily written. Women, not politicians, should be making these decisions. And I will never stop fighting for women’s freedom.”

Read more at CNN.
 

9TH CIRCUIT RULING THREATENS ACCESS TO EMERGENCY ABORTION CARE IN IDAHO: Idaho’s near-total abortion ban has already produced some devastating consequences for Idahoans – there is a shortage of obstetricians that is growing worse – and now, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, all appointed by President Trump, stayed a preliminary injunction protecting access to abortion when emergency medical care is required by the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA). EMTALA requires that if a health care professional determines that a pregnant patient presenting at a hospital emergency department is experiencing an emergency medical condition, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment. The Biden Administration has already filed a request that an 11-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit re-hear the Idaho Legislature’s request for a stay.

As Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai‘i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky CEO Rebecca Gibron explained, “Anti-abortion politicians have already banned abortion in the state of Idaho. And now it’s being taken a step further by taking away people’s ability to access emergency care when they need it the most. We’re dedicated to prioritizing our patients’ health and wellbeing - even if our state won’t. Because beyond the right to have an abortion, people deserve to have their doctors make decisions with their health and wellbeing in mind every time. That shouldn’t be a radical stance.” 

Read more in the Idaho Capital Sun here.

 

PLANNED PARENTHOOD LEAGUE OF MASSACHUSETTS WELCOMES NEW PRESIDENT: Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts has appointed Dominique Lee, a veteran of Planned Parenthood health centers, as their new president and CEO. Lee spent a number of years working at Planned Parenthood health centers in California and Arizona, gaining vast experience in states with vastly different abortion landscapes.

Lee will now lead the way in a state that has been focused on expanding access since the loss of Roe and has seen an increase in out-of-state patients seeking care. She will oversee four health centers that see over 40,000 patients annually and are responsible for more than half of the abortions that take place in Massachusetts as well as providing a spectrum of reproductive health care. 

Lee sat down with The Boston Globe to outline her vision for protecting sexual and reproductive health care. “How do we be stewards for women who aren’t in Massachusetts?” Lee told The Boston Globe. ”It’s incredibly important for us to be a shining example and representation of what good looks like and to maintain that moving forward.”

Read more in The Boston Globe.