The Quickie: Today: South Carolina Senate Considers Six-Week Abortion Ban

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: South Carolina Senate debates a six-week abortion ban, Gov. signs Nebraska’s combined ban on abortion and gender-affirming care, and Montana to hold preliminary injunction hearings on abortion restrictions.

TODAY, SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE CONSIDERS SIX-WEEK ABORTION BAN: Today at 11AM ET, the South Carolina Senate will reconvene for a special session to debate and vote on a six-week abortion ban. While the Senate had previously passed a six-week ban, they will be considering the House-amended version, which was approved last week and is even more extreme than the law recently struck down by the state Supreme Court for violating South Carolinians’ constitutional rights. Under this new bill, people would only be allowed to access abortion past the earliest stages of pregnancy under narrow circumstances.

Read more from the Associated Press.

NEBRASKA ENACTS 12-WEEK ABORTION BAN; POP SUPERSTAR LIZZO CALLS OUT LEGISLATURE FOR ATTACKING ABORTION AND TRANS RIGHTS: Yesterday, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed a bill banning abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy and gender-affirming care for people under 19, making Nebraska the 20th state to prohibit all or some abortions. The abortion ban took effect immediately, while the ban on gender-affirming care takes effect on Oct. 1.

Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States said

“We are devasted about the cruel and harmful bans signed into law today. We will do everything we can to help patients in Nebraska. We will continue offering abortion as allowed in the new law, and we will help patients get connected to the help they need to get to appointments out of state. We are working every day to provide people the health care they need. Politicians have made our work unnecessarily harder, but our doors are open and we’ll keep doing everything we can for patients and communities.”

People across the country are speaking out against this ban, including pop superstar, Lizzo.

At her concert in Omaha on Friday, she decried the bills, saying, “there have been some anti-trans laws passed, some anti-abortion laws passed [in Nebraska] and anybody who comes to a Lizzo show should know that I am for people to have the right to health care, reproductive and gender-affirming.” She went on to say “it really breaks my heart that there are young people growing up in a world that doesn’t protect them.”

Read more at Billboard and The Associated Press.

TODAY AT 1:30 MT: COURT HEARINGS ON MULTIPLE ABORTION RESTRICTIONS IN MONTANA: Today, a Montana District Court will hold preliminary injunction hearings on multiple abortion restrictions that have been challenged by abortion providers in the state including:

A rule from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services eliminating abortion access for most Medicaid patients;
HB 721, a law banning dilation and evacuation procedures, the safest and most common method of abortion after approximately 15 weeks of pregnancy;
And HB 575, a law requiring all patients to undergo an ultrasound before getting an abortion, effectively banning direct-to-patient telehealth for medication abortions.

WHEN: Today, May 23rd, 2023 at 1:30 pm MT

WHERE: First Judicial District Court, 228 E Broadway St., Helena, MT 59601

WHAT: Hearings on multiple abortion restrictions in Montana.

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