The Quickie: PPFA Announces Expanded Court Reform Position 

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 announces support for Supreme Court expansion and term limits, Gov. Cooper vetoes NC abortion ban at rally, press call on mifepristone case today at 2 PM ET, and press call on NE anti-trans and anti-abortion attacks today at 1 PM ET. 

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR SUPREME COURT EXPANSION, TERM LIMITS, AND OTHER COURT REFORMS: Yesterday, Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced support for a number of policies to reform our federal courts, including Supreme Court expansion, term limits, ethics reform, an expanded federal judiciary, and ending forum shopping. 

As Alexis McGill Johnson, PPFA President, told Jen Psaki on MSNBC this weekend: 

“We have been very clear, particularly with the attacks on abortion rights, that these are attacks on our democratic rights and freedoms… Abortion rights isn’t just about bodily autonomy. At the end of the day It’s about trust. It’s about whether people trust us to make decisions about our own bodies because we have fundamental rights that allow us to do so... And whether or not we have systems that allow those freedoms to live on perpetuity. If you don’t challenge the systems that are taking those rights away then you’re not fighting the fight at all levels.”

Planned Parenthood’s call for court reform comes nearly a year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Read more about PPFA’s court reform position from Axios. Check out Alexis’s full interview on MSNBC here. 

Following yesterday’s announcement, this morning, Just Majority announced that Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF) will join their ongoing Supreme Court accountability campaign. Just Majority is currently traveling across the country on a national bus tour to highlight ethical problems at the Supreme Court and emphasize the need for reform. The bus tour includes partners from more than 35 organizations, including advocates for reproductive rights, racial justice, gun violence prevention, and more. 

Check out the PPFA release. 

GOV. COOPER VETOES RESTRICTIVE NORTH CAROLINA ABORTION BAN DURING RALLY: On Saturday, Gov. Roy Cooper and AG Josh Stein joined reproductive rights advocates, including Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic and Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson, for a rally to protect North Carolinians’ right to abortion. Gov. Cooper officially vetoed a law that would ban abortion after 12 weeks and implement numerous additional restrictions on accessing care.

Gov. Cooper’s veto, however, is in danger of being overridden by anti-abortion politicians who hold a supermajority in the North Carolina legislature. Planned Parenthood Votes! South Atlantic and partners have been pressuring select legislators through ad campaigns and other efforts to sustain Gov. Cooper’s veto. Just one or two legislators more voting to sustain the governor’s veto would protect North Carolinians from this devastating restriction on their health care. 

The Senate could move for a veto vote as early as tomorrow. A Meredith poll from February showed that 57% of respondents supported North Carolina’s status quo abortion laws or wanted expanded abortion rights in the state, a 22-point margin over those who said they wanted further restrictions. 

Read more at Spectrum News, WRAL, and the New York Times. 

PRESS CALL TODAY AT 2 PM ET: EXPERTS DISCUSS THREATS TO MIFEPRISTONE AHEAD OF 5TH CIRCUIT ORAL ARGUMENTS: Ahead of Wednesday’s oral arguments inAlliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA in front of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, reproductive rights, health and legal experts are gathering to discuss the implications of this threat to mifepristone, the medication commonly used in abortion and miscarriage care.

WHO:

• Jennifer Dalven, Director of the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
• Angela Vasquez-Giroux, Vice President of Communications and Research at NARAL Pro-Choice America 
• Jen Castle, NP, National Director of Abortion Service Delivery, CAPS, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

WHEN: TODAY, Monday, May 15 at 2PM EST

WHERE: Click here to RSVP. 

PRESS CALL TODAY AT 1 PM ET: NEBRASKA ADVOCATES DISCUSS ATTACKS ON ABORTION AND TRANS RIGHTS: Today, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska and OutNebraska will host a press call at 12 PM CT/1 PM ET on the impacts of LB 574, a proposed gender-affirming care ban that now includes an amendment banning abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Debate on the harmful bill is scheduled for tomorrow. Advocates narrowly defeated a six-week abortion ban earlier this session, before anti-abortion politicians introduced the 12-week ban as an amendment just two weeks later. Whether it is banning gender-affirming care or banning abortion, these bills are attacks on patients’ bodily autonomy and put politicians in charge of personal medical decisions. 

WHO:

• Andi Curry Grubb, State Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Nebraska
• Megan W., Omaha, impact of restricted abortions
• Justice Banks, IBBG doula in training
• Jayden Perkins, Heartland Workers Center, young Nebraskan
• Aryn Huck, to be confirmed, OutNebraska

WHEN: Monday, May 15, 12 p.m. CST/1 PM ET 

WHERE: The press conference will be virtual and members of the media can register for the event here.