Women Running For Office Are Talking About Their Reproductive History, Once Seen as a Liability
The Washington Post, August 20, 2024
Lucia Báez-Geller, 41, has funneled her anger over the law change into a run for a competitive U.S. House seat in a district near Miami. Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, where she was victorious, she has said she wants to “humanize the issue” of abortion, leaning into her personal story and talking about her failed pregnancy on the campaign trail when discussing reproductive rights. Up and down the ballot, women running for office this year are opening up about their own reproductive health, sharing their experiences with IVF, miscarriage and abortion – topics that for years on the campaign trail were considered, at best, uncouth and, at worst, potentially damaging. But after the Supreme Court reversed abortion protections two years ago, that calculus – Can I talk about these deeply personal issues and still win an election? – has changed. Democrats in particular hope that candidates speaking about their personal experiences will help them connect with voters. Abortion access has proved to be one of the most mobilizing issues for Democratic voters in recent years, with Democrats pointing to wins in red states, like Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s reelection in Kentucky and a state House win in Alabama where the Democrat focused heavily on reproductive health care. Jessica Mackler, the president of Emily’s List – an organization that backs female Democrats who support abortion rights – said there is a “heightened imperative” around female candidates sharing their reproductive health stories due to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court ruling, which overturned the federal right to abortion. “Women talking about their own stories demonstrates that they have an understanding of these issues that is deep and that they are bringing authenticity to this conversation,” Mackler said. “Voters understand that these are people who are going to stand up and fight for them because they know what it’s like to live in this post-Dobbs reality.” After the Dobbs ruling, additional lower court rulings and legislative action spurred even more frank conversations among female candidates.
Beyond Restoring Roe: Democrats See Moment To ‘Reimagine’ Abortion Rights
The New York Times, August 20, 2024
It was one of the opening night’s most dramatic and sober moments. Three women emerged on the main stage, each in a spotlight against the darkness. Amanda Zurawski, standing beside her husband, told of how she nearly died when her baby would not survive and she could not get abortion care in Texas. Kaitlyn Joshua spoke of bleeding, miscarrying and being turned away from two emergency rooms in Louisiana. And Hadley Duvall of Kentucky told a harrowing story of being impregnated by her stepfather at age 12. Such a scene was unimaginable at the Democratic National Convention just four years ago, when the word “abortion” was never mentioned on the main stage. Democrats are embracing the issue in a manner unlike ever before. Long gone are the Clinton-era calls to keep the procedure “safe, legal and rare.” With Roe overturned, they have framed support for abortion rights not only as a fundamental freedom for women but also as a moral call, one that is central to American families and gender equity. The convention spotlight, abortion rights activists said, reflects how the political tides have turned, and the extent to which Democrats hope the issue will help fuel them in November. “That is a huge, big difference from a party that was uncomfortable even saying the word ‘abortion’ a decade ago,” said Mini Timmaraju, the president of Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly NARAL. “How we got here is terrible. We got here because of Dobbs, and the horror and the crisis we are in. But now that we are here, we have a moral obligation to take advantage of it, to maximize wins and to rectify the situation.” Collectively, abortion rights groups talk about Roe as “the floor” – a starting point for expansion of access to the procedure, and for discussion of broader structures that need to change so that women have real choices about their reproductive lives beyond the issue of abortion.
For Abortion Providers, a Tough Business Gets Even Tougher
The New York Times, August 17, 2024
Providing abortion services has always been a difficult business, with tiny-to-nonexistent profit margins and often-challenging logistical obstacles. And the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson two years ago, which eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion, has made the landscape of reproductive services even tougher. The fall of Roe v. Wade has pushed many abortion clinics to explore alternative markets for their services. Some clinics are moving to abortion-rights states or expanding their presence there, hoping to meet the needs of a more concentrated customer base. According to a recent analysis by The New York Times, out-of-state travel for abortions more than doubled in 2023 compared with travel in 2019, and made up nearly a fifth of recorded abortions. Caitlin Myers, a professor of economics at Middlebury College who tracks clinic openings and closures nationwide, estimated that at least 12 new clinics opened directly in response to Dobbs and another six relocated after abortion was banned in their states. Many clinics are finding out, however, that blue states can often be almost as hostile to their presence as red ones. In September 2022, Dr. Matthew Reeves signed a lease for a new branch of the DuPont Clinic in Beverly Hills, Calif., as he sought to expand his reproductive health care clinic beyond its original location in Washington, D.C. In January of that year, as the future of Roe v. Wade looked increasingly uncertain, Dr. Reeves and Jennefer Russo, the chief medical officer of DuPont Clinic, had begun to think about opening an additional practice in a state that allowed access to abortions. “Dobbs was percolating and it became apparent that the Supreme Court was likely to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Dr. Russo said in an interview earlier this year. “Our thinking was that patients could come to L.A. if they lived west of the Mississippi.”
Warren Hern Is One of the Country’s Few Late-Term Abortion Doctors. This is What Drives Him.
Los Angeles Times, August 21, 2024
Warren Hern is every bit as intense as you would expect of someone who has been threatened with death for most of his career. One of the few American physicians who performs late-term abortions, the 86-year-old has perhaps more than any other doctor been on the front lines of the war over reproductive rights. He has been shot at, spat at, cursed and harassed. He has been protected by federal and local law enforcement. He will not sit with his back to the door of a restaurant. Hern has lived in perpetual fear of assassination by political terrorists. That is what happened to his dear friend, the late-term abortion specialist George Tiller, who was murdered in his Wichita, Kan., church by a Christian extremist in 2009. I bumped into Hern at the Denver airport when we were both en route to Tiller’s funeral. I didn’t realize he was traveling with a protective detail until I saw two men in suits tense up as I approached him to say hello.“George was a wonderful guy, a normal person – as distinguished from me – kind and forgiving and a Christian and all that stuff,” he told me Monday from Boulder, Colo., his dry sense of humor evident. His voice softened: “We were great friends, and I miss him.” It is no wonder that Hern wears his contempt for abortion foes on his sleeve. “The criminalization of abortion under Republicans and Trump is a catastrophe for women,” he said. “It has become a collective psychosis. Why should a doctor who helps women have to work in secret behind bulletproof windows?” Hern, a prolific writer, has a forthcoming memoir, “Abortion in the Age of Unreason.” It is a detailed chronicle of his life and times, an insider’s account of internecine struggles in the abortion rights movement, and a 350-page declaration of his enduring commitment to critically needed healthcare despite the danger he faces daily.
IUD Insertion Pain Is Complicated. Doctors Say the New CDC Guidelines Are Only a Start.
NBC News, August 20, 2024
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued new guidance on managing pain during IUD insertion, but doctors say the updated advice – while a step in the right direction – doesn’t tackle all of the sources of discomfort during the procedure. IUDs, or intrauterine devices, are an increasingly popular form of long-term birth control in the United States. The insertion of an IUD – a small T-shaped device that is placed in the uterus – can be painful. As TikTok has grown in popularity, so too have videos of people detailing their experiences of getting an IUD, describing cramps, bleeding and passing out, sometimes even making videos in the exam room. The CDC’s new guidance, published earlier this month, includes a new recommendation: patients should be counseled on pain management before the procedure. Because they are more than 99% effective in preventing pregnancy, the challenge for doctors is helping individuals who want an IUD to manage the pain, said Dr. Deborah Bartz, an OB-GYN at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “A lot of us have recognized that historically, women’s pain has not been adequately addressed, that we’re trying to be much more cognizant of pain that patients feel during procedures,” Bartz said. The updated guidelines also expand options for pain management for the first time since 2016. That year, the agency recommended as an option a lidocaine injection into the cervix as an option to numb the area and reduce pain. This latest update expanded that to include topical lidocaine, in the form of gels or sprays. This, however, only targets a part of the pain felt during an IUD procedure.
ICYMI: In Case You Missed It
Last month, our staff book club read Disability Visibility, a collection of essays edited by @SFdirewolf, for Disability Pride Month. @jaclyndean45 brings you reflections from our staff and favorite excerpts from the collection of essays. https://t.co/i54ww0wMJN
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