#Republicans initially resisted Democrats’ attempts to repeal the #law last week. But as Democrats slammed the ban — which allows only an exception to save the life of the mother, & says #doctors prosecuted under the law could face fines & #prison terms of 2-5 yrs.
#Arizona’s near-total #ban means that any woman who wants/needs to end a pregnancy must leave the state to do so unless her life is determined at risk.
#Florida's top court on Apr 1 cleared the way for a #Republican-backed #law banning #abortion after #6weeks of pregnancy, down from 15 wks, to take effect in May.
FL’s law means that women after 6 wks - before most know they are pregnant - would need to leave the state to do so.
The 2 rulings put the 2 states in the “most restrictive” category for #AbortionAccess & policies, acc/to the Guttmacher Inst, a research & policy org that advocates for #ReproductiveRights & tracks #abortion#access.
The rulings could lead to the closure of reproductive #health#clinics in the 2 states.
#Florida’s new restrictions would put the #Miami & #Tampa metro areas -w/a combined population of ~9M people- >500 miles from the nearest clinic in a state w/o a near-total or 6wk #AbortionBan.
“The [Arizona] decision should serve as a warning for the rest of the country…In the hands of a far-right court, a dead, openly misogynistic, wildly unpopular abortion ban can spring back to life with a vengeance.”
"The next time someone tells you they really worry about abortion rights, but that President Biden is just too old, please gently remind them that Joe Biden is not, in fact 160. That is the age of the law that will soon be sending abortion providers to prison in Arizona if they attempt to assist a victim of rape or incest."
#Iowa’s Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thurs in a case that could decide the future of #abortion in that state, the latest in a series of #legal battles that threaten abortion #access across the country during a historic #election year.
At issue is a ban passed by the legislature last July that restricts the procedure after 6 wks of pregnancy…. #PlannedParenthood & others immediately sued to block the #law & won a preliminary injunction from a lower court.
During the…hearing in DesMoines, the justices on #Iowa’s highest court asked lawyers for each side how the state’s past #abortion rulings —which in recent yrs narrowed #protections for abortion—apply to the pending law. #AbortionBan#ReproductiveRights#AbortionIsHealthCare
For now, #abortion remains #legal in #Iowa up to 22 wks of pregnancy. The #law, if upheld, would limit the procedure to a time frame in which many women don’t yet know they are #pregnant. It has limited exceptions for #rape & #incest or if the woman’s life is in danger.
This latest legal battle comes at the end of a flurry of abortion developments nationwide that could have major implications for the presidential election in Nov.
"Indeed, for most of her life she had thought of herself as a normal citizen of the 21st-century United States, endowed with the same rights and privileges as anyone else, and certainly not possessed of any special capacity for time travel."
Donald Trump's conflicting abortion stances are coming back to haunt him — and his party.
NBC News reports: "In the past three days, the former president has energized scores of Democrats across the country, elevated the marquee issue of his opponent’s campaign, potentially put a key battleground state at risk and drawn fire from onetime allies in his own party."
Trump thinks he's pulled a fast one and staked out a mythic "middle ground" on abortion that will have both diehard MAGA "pro-lifers" and "moderates" queasy about a national ban on abortion happy. Paul Waldman disagrees:
"Dobbs has been a catastrophe, Donald Trump is why, and if he is elected again, abortion rights in America are only headed in one direction. There is no middle."
"Trump doesn’t have to give a clear answer on abortion—he didn’t then, and he doesn’t now. Just look at what happened immediately after he broke with the position of nearly every significant pro-life advocacy group this weekend: Each one reaffirmed its support for his 2024 campaign. Like everyone else in MAGA world, they are simply along for the ride."
Trump and Republicans get the blame for this. This ruling would have been unconstitutional under Roe, but Trump is proud that he stacked SCOTUS with anti-abortion justices who overturned it. There are many effects of losing those protections, and this is one of them.
As always, don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do. #AbortionRights
President Biden called the ban “cruel,” and said that it was a result of “the extreme agenda of Republican elected officials who are committed to ripping away women’s freedom.” #WomensRights#ReproductiveRights
“Millions of Arizonans will soon live under an even more extreme and dangerous abortion ban, which fails to protect women even when their health is at risk or in tragic cases of rape or incest,” he said in a statement. #ProtectWomen#StopTheBans#AbortionRights
Arizona's top court revived a #law dating to 1864 on Tues that bans #abortion in virtually all instances, another setback for #ReproductiveRights in a state where the procedure already was barred starting at 15 wks of pregnancy.
"Unless we summon the political will to stop Trump, MAGA extremists, and reactionary judges, hundreds of millions of women will be denied their right to make the most fundamental decisions regarding their lives and bodies."
"Here he is, in April 2024, stuck with a position that’s politically unpopular and clearly hurt Republicans in 2022 in key swing states. What’s to be done?
Maneuver. Obfuscate. Lie. And ultimately retreat to a position of states’ rights. Which is what Trump did, or tried to do, yesterday."
"Trump hoped, as he said, to take the issue off the table. But it turns out it’s not so easy to hand wave away a 5-4 Supreme Court decision overturning an almost 50-year-old precedent on an issue a lot of voters care about."
"It takes quite an ego to tell pro-lifers that your re-election is paramount and that the fate of unborn children is a distraction. But that’s the kind of guy Trump is. ...
He doesn’t really care about abortion. He doesn’t value babies any more than he values women. He’s a danger not just to one party or one group but to everyone, because there’s no one he won’t betray."