The Quickie: PPAF Prez Alexis McGill Johnson Joins PA Leader To Advocate For Reproductive Rights

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 president joins reproductive rights roundtable in PA, and a state fights roundup

PPAF PREZ ALEXIS MCGILL JOHNSON JOINS PA LEADERS TO ADVOCATE FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: On Friday, Planned Parenthood Action Fund President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson joined Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Department of Health Services Secretary Arkoosh alongside local leaders for a roundtable on reproductive freedom and the ways that the state can continue to be a leader in protecting access to sexual and reproductive health care. Alexis spoke to The Keystone Newsroom about the important role that Pennsylvania is playing in this moment:

“Pennsylvania has been standing in the gap of care, providing patients from near and far with the healthcare they need and deserve. Since the Dobbs decision, Planned Parenthood health centers in Pennsylvania have seen a significant increase in patients seeking access to abortion from out of state coming as far as Texas and Florida.”

Read more here.

 

STATE FIGHTS ROUND UP: Last week in Tennessee and Oklahoma, lawmakers filed bills that substantially mirror the Idaho minors’ “abortion trafficking” law that passed in 2023. Idaho’s law is currently blocked. 

• Maine: Last week, the Maine State House held a public hearing on LD780, a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the right to reproductive autonomy in the state’s constitution. LD780 needs a two-thirds vote in the Senate and House before going to voters for approval.
• Iowa: Several anti-abortion bills are advancing in Iowa. Some highlights include:
  • HF2122 which creates a burdensome certification program for manufacturers, distributors, and providers of medication abortion, aiming to complicate and deter providers, potentially subjecting them to legal consequences, including felony charges and hefty fines, while also mandating counseling on unproven and potentially dangerous "abortion reversals." This bill was referred to Health and Human Services. Similar bills have been passed in Oklahoma and Kentucky over the last few years.
  • SSB 3006 advanced out of the subcommittee last week. The proposed measure permits discrimination by health care providers and health insurers, allowing them to refuse services or reimbursement based on personal beliefs and religious objections. The bill would also impose a substantial procedural burden on hospitals by requiring advanced written consent from all healthcare providers before they can be “involved” in abortion care.
  • An Iowa House subcommittee has moved forward with HF2057, a bill that aims to remove many of the already minimal accountability standards for the state and third-party contractors overseeing the MOMS program, which presently directs $2 million in taxpayer funds to crisis pregnancy centers.
• Tennessee: The Tennessee Legislature introduced HB 1895 which targets adults that help minors access abortion. The bill says an adult who “recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant unemancipated minor within this state for the purpose of” aiding them in getting access to actions that constitute “criminal abortion” under Tennessee law “commits the offense of abortion trafficking of a minor,” despite where the action occurs. It also notes that the minor consenting to the actions would not be a viable “defense to a prosecution.”
• Oklahoma: Similar to Tennessee, Oklahoma has introduced a bill that would punish those aiding a young person in accessing abortion services, potentially leading to up to 5 years of imprisonment. SB1778 in Oklahoma defines “abortion trafficking” in an expansive manner, including anyone involved in the recruitment, harboring, or transportation of a minor with the intention of getting an abortion. The legislature officially reconvenes on Feb 5.
• Wisconsin: The Assembly Thursday to pass a bill that could put a 14-week abortion ban on the ballot in the state. The bill is now headed to the Republican-controlled Senate. It must pass the legislature and be signed by the governor before heading to voters in April. 
• Missouri: A package of bills that would make Missouri ballot initiatives more difficult to pass had their first hearing of the legislative session this week. Among the bills are measures to drastically raise the threshold for qualifying a ballot initiative; to raise the threshold for passing the initiative from 51% to a majority of votes statewide and in a majority of the state’s congressional districts, and there’s even a measure to invalidate qualification signatures if the ballot language changes. This comes following the recent launch of a ballot initiative campaign to restore abortion access in the state. 

Also, anti-abortion lawmakers are once again working to prohibit Planned Parenthood from receiving public funding, including via Medicaid. The proposal was heard in a Senate Committee last week. Both the Missouri Supreme Court and the Circuit Court of Cole County have previously ruled prior defunding attempts unconstitutional, though the legislature is now attempting to execute the defund in a different manner.

• Mississippi: An anti-democracy measure is also moving in Mississippi where the House voted to approve HRC11. The bill would reinstate a referendum process in the state but would prohibit the use of the initiative process to make any constitutional changes or to make statutory changes on particular issues, including abortion, the so-called “right to work”, and local laws, among other issues. The bill now heads to the Senate. There has not been a referendum process in Mississippi in 3 years. A similar bill has been tried in the House in recent years but has failed in the Senate.
• Ohio: Last week, in a 23-9 vote, the Ohio Senate voted to override Gov. DeWine's veto of HB68, legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors and barring transgender girls and women from playing on girls’ and women’s sports teams. The law will take effect in 90 days. 
• New Hampshire: Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on SB 573, a dangerous bill that would prohibit young people from accessing a broad range of essential health care services – including contraception – without parental consent.

A new wave of hostile sex education bills has also emerged this session. These bills would mandate that students watch an anti-abortion video produced by Live Action as part of a “human development” curriculum. This video, titled "Meet Baby Olivia," is misleading, medically inaccurate, and explicitly asserts that life begins at fertilization. So far this year, these types of bills have been introduced in West Virginia (SB 468), Missouri (HB 1576), Iowa (HB 2031), and Kentucky (HB 346).