The Quickie: VP Harris Discusses Reproductive Rights with Planned Parenthood Los Angeles

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: VP Harris discusses reproductive rights in Los Angeles, S.C. Supreme Court to hear abortion ban oral arguments, new polling shows majority of Americans are motivated to vote by their disapproval of the Dobbs decision, Cosmopolitan highlights Ohio Supreme Court race as part of midterm election series 

VP HARRIS DISCUSSES REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD LOS ANGELES: Yesterday, Vice President Kamala Harris sat down with Celinda Vázquez, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA) Vice President of Public Affairs, and U.S. Rep. Karen Bass to discuss the fight for reproductive rights and the state of abortion rights across the country and in California. They talked aboutthe intersection of attacks on reproductive rights, abortion rights, and voting rights, and touched on Black maternal health and PPLA’s flagship health center for their Black Health Initiative, which opened earlier this year. 

Watch the full conversation here and read more at Los Angeles Blade. 

S.C. ABORTION BAN TO BE HEARD AT STATE SUPREME COURT WEDNESDAY: Tomorrow, the Supreme Court of South Carolina will hear oral arguments in the case against South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban. The ban was blocked by the court on August 17, allowing abortion services to resume while the case proceeds. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and other plaintiffs will argue that the ban violates South Carolinians’ state constitutional rights to privacy and equal protection. South Carolina is currently a critical access point for those seeking abortion care across the South and Southeast where many states are enforcing total or near-total abortion bans.

Watch the arguments on livestream on October 19 at 10 a.m. EST and read more about the lawsuit here. 

THREE MONTHS AFTER THE OVERTURNING OF ROE, MAJORITY OF AMERICANS DISAPPROVE OF THE COURT’S DECISION, REMAIN MOTIVATED TO VOTE: New data from Navigator shows that by a 20-point margin, Americans disapprove of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade (37 percent approve – 57 percent disapprove), including three in four Democrats (76 percent), a majority of independents (54 percent), and even more than one in three Republicans (35 percent). In particular, only one quarter of independent women approve of the Court’s decision to overturn Roe (net -33; 24 percent approve – 57 percent disapprove).

Three in four Americans overall see abortion rights at risk nationally, which is in line with a recent survey from the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies, which found eight in 10 American adults say abortion is important to their vote in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, including a 56% majority who say it is very important. Additionally, Navigator also found that Americans overwhelmingly oppose a national ban on abortion and support Congress creating a national right to abortion. Two in three Americans oppose a national ban, while three in five support creating a national right to abortion, including a majority of Americans living in states with abortion restrictions post-Dobbs. 

FROM THE BENCH: HOW THE OHIO SUPREME COURT RACE CAN SHAPE ABORTION RIGHTS IN THE MIDTERMS: As part of Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s partnership with Cosmopolitan, we’re taking a deep dive into the importance of the Ohio Supreme Court race and what’s at stake for abortion access. Earlier this month, the state supreme court stepped in to block a ban on abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy. Without the court’s intervention, access would have been virtually eliminated, underscoring the importance of maintaining a pro-abortion rights majority on the bench.  Ohio has seven justices and limits their terms to six years and their maximum age to 70 — and all seven justices are elected in statewide elections. 

“In recent weeks, we’ve been fortunate enough to have Ohio’s statewide ban on abortion temporarily blocked. However, a long-term solution is needed, and that begins with electing leaders that our patients and supporters can count on. It is imperative that we elect justices to the court who will protect a person’s individual right to choose what is best for them,” said Iris E. Harvey, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio.

Read the full feature at Cosmopolitan and tune back in tomorrow for day 4 of our midterm highlights series.