Monday, January 23, 2023 | Kaiser Health News

KHN:
Anti-Abortion Activists Rally In DC In A Watershed Moment For Their Movement

Thousands of anti-abortion activists descended on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20 for the annual March for Life, a long-standing rally held for the first time since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, rescinding a constitutional right to abortion. In this report co-produced by PBS NewsHour, KHN senior correspondent Sarah Varney spoke with activists gathered in Washington about what this moment means for them and the future of the broader anti-abortion movement. (1/23)

Reuters:
Abortion Opponents Call For Stricter Bans At First Post-Roe Washington March

Rally-goers said they wanted to see abortion banned in every state, at every stage of pregnancy. Some held signs that read, “I demand protection at conception” and “abortion is genocide.” “I believe that, just like we wouldn’t want to murder anybody out here, we wouldn’t want to see any of these lives hurt or lost,” said Rob McNutt, a pastor affiliated with a crisis pregnancy center in Maryland. “Life begins at conception,” said Kathleen Stahl, a 60-year-old nurse from Washington, D.C., who works in maternal and child health. (Borter, 1/20)

The New York Times:
Women’s March Holds Nationwide Rallies On 50th Anniversary Of Roe 

National organizers of the Women’s March said their emphasis on widespread local actions — about 200 were scheduled in 46 states — reflected the recent loss of federal protection, and the prime importance, now, of state politics. “The fight at the federal level just has nowhere left to go,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, the executive director of Women’s March, the advocacy group that grew out of the first march. “The theater of the battle has shifted from national protections, which are gutted. All of the fights for the years to come will be at the state level.” (Russell and Sasani, 1/22)

The 19th:
Post-Roe March For Life Showed Anti-Abortion Activists Are Far From Done

The March for Life, an annual mega-gathering of anti-abortion activists in Washington, D.C., started out as a protest of the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. On Friday — ahead of the 50th anniversary of Roe, which was overturned last year — the March for Life carried on as a celebration and put on display that the goals of the nation’s anti-abortion movement go far beyond the end of a federal right to abortion. (Barclay, 1/20)

From Wisconsin —

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Women’s March Draws More Than A Thousand To Madison On 50th Anniversary Of Roe

More than a thousand protesters filled the state Capitol on Sunday to demonstrate their opposition to last year’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that pushed abortion clinics across the state to close and made Wisconsin the epicenter of a national battle over abortion access. (Beck, 1/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
HHS Secretary, On Wisconsin Visit, Hears Complaints About Abortion Ban

The Biden Administration’s top health care official said Friday that he found it a “jarring experience” to be in Wisconsin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision after spending Thursday in Minnesota. “It’s a tale of two cities, and in the worst way,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said during a discussion with health care providers at the Cudahy Health Department. (Looby and Van Egeren, 1/20)

Also —

Axios:
Roe’s 50th Anniversary: Where The Abortion Fight Goes Now

Both sides in the abortion fight are trying to claim symbolic high ground on Sunday’s 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade while looking ahead to a new phase that will be largely fought in state capitals and the courts. (Gonzalez, 1/22)

Roll Call:
Post-Roe, Anti-Abortion Groups Move Toward Policy Push 

Thousands of anti-abortion activists gathered on the National Mall on Friday for the movement’s biggest annual rally, marching this year for the first time to the Capitol rather than the Supreme Court — a signal that their fight against legalized abortion has moved to the legislature, rather than the nation’s high court. (Raman, 1/20)

The 19th:
Roe V. Wade Anniversary: How Abortion Access Has Changed

Few people could predict precisely what would happen if and when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the seminal 1973 decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion. But what was clear — even months before the court did so this past summer — was that gutting the 49-and-a-half-year-old precedent would unleash legal chaos and uncertainty. (Luthra, 1/20)

The majority of Americans still favor abortion freedom —

NPR:
On Roe Anniversary, Americans Say Abortion Policies Are Political

A new NPR/Ipsos poll finds that 3 in 5 Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, although they hold a range of opinions when asked about the exact circumstances. The survey, conducted this January, heard from a representative sample of more than 1,000 adults, including 278 Republicans, 320 Democrats, and 324 Independents. Despite the issue’s high profile, more than a quarter of Americans do not know what the abortion laws are in their state, the poll also finds. (Benshoff, 1/22)

Fox News:
Biden Issues Memorandum To Protect Access To Abortion Pills 

President Biden issued a presidential memorandum Sunday on what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in an effort to protect access to abortion pills across the country. Vice President Kamala Harris made the announcement during her remarks in Florida as she spoke on the administration’s efforts to expand abortion rights.
“Members of our Cabinet and our administration are now directed as of the president’s order to identify barriers to access to prescription medication and to recommend actions to make sure that doctors can legally prescribe, that pharmacies can dispense and that women can secure safe and effective medication,” Harris said during her remarks in Tallahassee, Florida. (Chi-Sing, 1/22)

Bloomberg:
White House Will Protect Abortion Pill Access, Harris Says

Harris spoke in Florida, a likely battleground state in the 2024 presidential race, and more specifically in Tallahassee, the capital, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure banning abortion after 15 weeks. DeSantis is considered a leading candidate for the Republican nomination — and Biden has said he intends to seek a second term. (Jacobs, 1/22)

NPR:
VP Harris Calls For Federal Abortion Protections On Roe V. Wade 50th Anniversary

Vice President Kamala Harris commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision by imploring Americans to work to enshrine abortion rights into law. “For nearly 50 years, Americans relied on the rights that Roe protected,” Harris said at a speech delivered in Tallahassee, Fla., on Sunday. “Today, however, on what would have been its 50th anniversary, we speak of the Roe decision in the past tense.” (Heyward, 1/22)

In updates on the Supreme Court leak —

CNN:
Supreme Court: Lead Investigator On Dobbs Leak Makes Clear She Spoke To All Nine Justices

The Supreme Court marshal who investigated last year’s leak of a draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade has revealed that she spoke to all nine justices and found nothing to implicate them or their spouses. Friday’s remarks by Marshal Gail Curley come after the court’s investigative report on the leak, which was released Thursday, did not specify whether justices had been interviewed, leading to questions as to whether investigators had considered their potential role. (de Vogue, 1/21)

The New York Times:
Inside The Supreme Court Inquiry: Seized Phones, Affidavits And Distrust

Last spring and summer, employees of the Supreme Court were drawn into an investigation that turned into an uncomfortable awakening. As the court marshal’s office looked into who had leaked the draft opinion of the decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, law clerks who had secured coveted perches at the top of the judiciary scrambled for legal advice and navigated quandaries like whether to surrender their personal cellphones to investigators. (Kantor, 1/21)

In other abortion news —

KHN:
Abortion Debate Ramps Up In States As Congress Deadlocks 

Anti-abortion advocates are pressing for expanded abortion bans and tighter restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned the national right to abortion. But with the debate mostly deadlocked in Washington, the focus is shifting to states convening their first full legislative sessions since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Although some state GOP lawmakers have filed bills to ban abortion pills or make it more difficult for women to travel out of state for an abortion, others seem split about what their next steps should be. Some are even considering measures to ease their states’ existing bans somewhat, particularly after Republicans’ less-than-stellar showing in the 2022 midterm elections and voters’ widespread support for abortion on state ballot measures. (Rovner, 1/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Groups Push Georgia Lawmakers To Completely Ban Abortion

Drawing a slightly smaller crowd than in previous years, anti-abortion advocates gathered outside the Georgia Capitol on Friday to stress that last year’s overturning of Roe v. Wade was not enough — they want a total ban on abortion. The annual event organized by Georgia Right to Life is held to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the now-moot U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion. (Prabhu, 1/20)

The Texas Tribune:
In Texas’ First Post-Roe Legislative Session, There’s A New Political Power Dynamic On Abortion

For decades, the abortion battle lines in the Texas Legislature were as clearly drawn as they were deeply entrenched. Every two years, Republicans would try to find new and novel ways to outwit Roe v. Wade, while Democrats relied on the courts as a bulwark against further restrictions. But now, the deed is done, the war is won and abortion is almost entirely banned in Texas. The number of monthly legal abortions in the state has dwindled into the low single digits. (Klibanoff, 1/23)

Reuters:
Judge Rules For Florida’s DeSantis Against Prosecutor For Abortion Stance 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, considered a possible 2024 Republican presidential contender, will not be forced to reinstate an elected state prosecutor he suspended over his pledge not to bring criminal cases against people seeking or providing abortions, a federal judge ruled on Friday. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in the state capital, Tallahassee, ruled against prosecutor Andrew Warren, a Democrat, in his lawsuit seeking to be reinstated as head of the state attorney’s office in Tampa. DeSantis on Aug. 4 barred Warren from performing any official “act, duty or function of public office.” (Scarcella, 1/20)

NPR:
Post-Roe, Abortion Providers Are Shifting Their Strategies

The CHOICES clinic in Memphis, Tenn., opened in 1974 in direct response to the Roe v. Wade decision a year earlier. When the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would take up the Dobbs case, CHOICES president and CEO Jennifer Pepper says it was clear what was coming. “We knew immediately that meant we would lose abortion access in Tennessee in the next 12 months, and so we began to plan,” Pepper says. “It has been a wild ride.” (McCammon, 1/22)

MPR News:
Minnesota, Seen As Abortion Haven, Still Funds ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’

Fifty years after Roe v. Wade was decided and seven months after it was overturned, Gov. Tim Walz is set to debut his latest budget that may include the possible end of a little-known 18-year-old program that supports “crisis pregnancy centers,” which are non-medical anti-abortion organizations that deceive pregnant people and discourage abortion. (Stroozas, 1/23)