Nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections, spurred by a pivotal election, patients, doctors, and activists will fight to renew and expand reproductive rights in 2024, and other People called for more restrictions. These are some of the people and organizations that have influenced reproductive health laws and abortion access this year.
Desiring Pregnant Women Affected by Abortion Ban
In statehouses, in front of Congress, in courtrooms, in presidential campaign ads, and on election stages. Democratic National ConventionWomen across the country are reliving the worst moments of their lives to undo abortion regulations that changed reproductive health care in America.
The year after Kentucky banned abortion, Hadley Duvall She began speaking publicly about being raped and impregnated by her stepfather when she was 12 years old. She championed abortion rights in Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s 2023 re-election campaign ad and appeared in Democratic national campaign ads this year.
kaitlin joshuaThe Baton Rouge native spoke out on behalf of many Louisiana women at this year’s Democratic National Convention about what is increasingly happening. common story Loss of access to treatment for miscarriage after states passed strict anti-abortion laws. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill then challenged Joshua’s social media stories.
Christine LearyThe Wisconsin obstetrician-gynecologist is one of many doctors across the country who have filed lawsuits claiming the state’s abortion ban changes medical practice. This year’s Lyary is Citizen participation experiment In Madison, strangers came together to share life experiences that informed their views on abortion. Even when Roe v. Wade protected the right to abortion, Ms. Leary said she was almost forced to have a stillbirth instead of a less invasive abortion procedure. She also ran a campaign focused on reproductive rights as a Democrat in a conservative-leaning Congressional district. lost.
Allie Phillips She ran as a Democrat for a seat in the Tennessee General Assembly after Tennessee’s abortion ban prevented her from terminating a non-viable pregnancy in her home state, forcing her to travel to New York City for care. She lost the race, but said in november She said she plans to continue fighting for reproductive rights and announced another pregnancy. Phillips is a plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit with other affected women and doctors seeking to clarify the state’s medical health exception. 3 judge panel dominated In October, it ruled that doctors would not be penalized for performing emergency abortions to save a patient’s life.
Amanda Zulawski She developed sepsis after her water broke at 18 weeks in Texas, and doctors waited several days before terminating her pregnancy, fearing prosecution under the state’s strict abortion ban. Since then, she has become an outspoken advocate for abortion rights. She campaigned heavily for abortion rights candidates this year and said she wants to continue being active in politics.
Charlotte Rozier Institute
of High-profile federal lawsuit Medication abortion was made possible with the help of the Charlotte Rozier Institute, the research arm of anti-abortion political powerhouse Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. Data from this laboratory featured prominently in the plaintiffs’ lawsuit seeking to revoke the federal drug approval of mifepristone. used directly As part of the reason why U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmarik sided with the plaintiff doctors. Researchers found a significant increase in Medicaid-funded emergency room visits after medical abortions over a 20-year period, which also coincided with an increase in access to after-hours medical abortions. are. public health expert told the state newsroom Researchers say they may be exaggerating their findings and conflating all emergency department visits with serious adverse events such as sepsis. Their conclusion contradicts a number of studies showing a low incidence of serious adverse events after taking mifepristone, and further research from curious scientists and the academic publisher that published it. He urged scrutiny.
Sage in February retracted three studies The study was authored by researchers at Charlotte Rosier and published in the Journal of Health Services Research and Management Epidemiology from 2019 to 2022 after a reader appeal found flaws in the study’s methodology and data presentation. . The team that supported this research included James Studnicki, Charlotte Rozier Vice President and Director of Data Analytics; Long-time anti-abortion researcherincluded the then-CEO of one of the plaintiff organizations in the medical abortion lawsuit. they are sued the sageargued that the withdrawal was unwarranted and politically motivated.
United States Supreme Court Abortion pill lawsuit unanimously dismissed This summer, we discussed the issue of the position of the plaintiff doctors, rather than the merits of the case. anti-abortion activists vowed Find another plaintiff who might be able to convince the court that abortion pills are too dangerous. After the Supreme Court sent the case back to lower courts, the states of Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri, which intervened in October, amended their complaints to instead cite the retracted research paper. cite new paper Researchers Studnicki and Charlotte Rozier have made similar claims.
alabama supreme court
In vitro fertilization, a common infertility treatment, gained national attention in February when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled 8-1: Frozen embryos should be considered childrenin a wrongful death lawsuit for the accidental destruction of a fetus.
IVF patient vows to fight for access to treatment in Alabama following court ruling
A lower court rejected the claim, ruling that the embryo did not meet the legal definition of a child. but, majority opinion Judge Jay Mitchell sided with the couple who sued the mobile fertility clinic, citing a 2018 state constitutional amendment that guarantees “protection of the rights of the unborn child.” He also cited an 1872 law that allows civil lawsuits for the wrongful death of children and argued that the law does not explicitly include an exception for frozen embryos. Mitchell argued that the law “applies to all children, born or unborn, without restriction.” Chief Justice Tom Parker influential conservative Christian activistquoted Biblical texts in his Agreed opinionwrites, “Before birth, all humans bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without diminishing the glory of God.”
Shortly thereafter, many IVF clinics in Alabama were closed until the state capitol. passed the bill In March, it expanded criminal and civil immunity for procedures performed by IVF clinics. created by this major issues For families who spend tens of thousands of dollars on time-sensitive treatments. Alabama’s ruling also caused fear among people families struggling to conceive Other states with abortion bans showed similar results, showing that infertility treatment is widely supported by voters of both political parties. updated by republican national party platform To include support for IVF access. During his presidential campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised: “All costs associated with IVF treatment will be paid by the government or obliged to be paid by the insurance company” – he said. probably couldn’t without Congressional action. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers has largely opposed the IVF Protection and Access Act.
Mark Lee Dixon and Jonathan Mitchell
This year, attorney Jonathan Mitchell and pastor Mark Lee Dixon brought together experimented with ways to prevent out-of-state abortionsusing the local state of Texas as the primary testing site. Mitchell, a former Texas attorney general, used a little-known state rule to banish abortion funds, doctors and women who left the state for abortions. as The Texas Tribune reportedwhose actions caused fear and confusion but did not lead to charges. Mr. Mitchell previously wrongful death lawsuit The charges were against women who allegedly helped their friends obtain drugs to terminate pregnancies, which were later dropped.
Through their Sanctuary Cities for Unborn Children project, Dixon and Mitchell helped pass about 80 ordinances, primarily in cities and counties in Texas, but also in states where abortion is available, such as Illinois and New Mexico. The same was true for strategically located cities. Some ordinances state that doctors in states where abortion is legal cannot perform abortions on residents who live in towns that have passed one of these laws. Some ordinances prohibit using a town’s highways to drive to an out-of-state abortion clinic. Others argue that the federal government should invoke a dormant federal obscenity law known as the Comstock Act to prevent abortion pills from being shipped through the mail.
Just like Mitchell and Dixon’s 2021 six-week abortion ban in Texas. helped with the designmany of these ordinances are not enforceable by the government that passes them, instead allowing private citizens to prosecute other residents and medical professionals for “aiding and abetting” abortion. Activists suffered a crushing defeat on Election Day with a majority of voters in conservative Amarillo, Texas. vote against a ballot measure Preventing abortion-related movement on busy roads. But just before the end of the year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton New York doctor sued for prescribing abortion pills to Texas residentDixon told State Newsroom this is a victory for the anti-abortion movement. He said he plans to push for local anti-abortion ordinances in 2025 in Arizona and Missouri, which repealed abortion bans in November.
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