How Has the Biden Administration and Congress Responded to the Abortion Crisis?

It is hot and gross in swampy humid, Washington, DC . I am looking forward to not going outside. Yeah. To just staying in and not going out and sweating and being all gross.

Otherwise we'll have links to all of these things available in the show notes. Another option is I have been regularly tweeting about this and I have a tweet thread that I will pin to the top of my Twitter profile, Jenny and DC, that will have all of these resources plus much, much more. That is in that tweet thread.

I don't wanna just read all of them because it's a lot and yeah , that will get boring if I'm just reading a ton of resources, but I wanted to give you some of the most important ones here. So that way you have them and are able to utilize them in the way that works best for you. So again, we'll have links in the show notes, or you can visit my Twitter page, which is Jenny in DC.

And there , my tweet pins to the top will be that thread with all of the resources I wanna talk about here and more okay. Let's get started. I think one of the first things that that is a real challenge for people is finding your closest provider, you know, abortion restrictions, court orders, like so many things aren't changing week, week , day to day , sometimes hour to hour , that it's really hard to find the provider closest to you. Who's going to meet your needs.

So there are two really wonderful resources that are worth checking out. So one is, I need an a, so I need N a.com and the other one is abortion finder.org. Both of them will help you find the provider closest to you. They're updated very regularly to reflect any changes in law or status of abortion near you. You will be able to find the abortion provider who's going to meet your needs.

Both of them, I think will ask you some questions to try to determine how far along you are, what kind of abortion you're looking for. And they will help you find the provider that is closest to you, who is able to meet your needs and wants. So yes, definitely check out . I need an a.com and abortion finder.org. Another thing that some people are going to want to look into is to learn how to access at home abortion pill options online.

And if that is you a really great resource to check out is plan C pills. They are trusted, feel free to use them. They will give you all the information you need. And if you have questions or need some help with self-managing, your miscarriage or abortion , a really wonderful resource is to check out is the M and a hotline. So M and a hotline, and they will help you with your self-managed miscarriage or abortion needs.

You know, one of the things we have talked about on the podcast is that this is not the prerow era, where you have to worry about unsafe abortions, where abortion is illegal in the same way you did. Then there are safe options you can access. You know, we've talked about medication, abortion and plan C pills. There are things you can do where abortion is criminalized in your state, and the risk is not going to be medical. It's going to be criminalization.

So if you have questions, legal questions are you need legal advice. A really great place to check out is the, if when, how repro legal helpline, they can help talk to you about any concerns you may have in that area around criminalization. They're a great resource, check them out. And in the terrible case, you need them. The rele fund covers bail and funds , strong defenses for people who are investigated, arrested are prosecuted for self-managed abortion.

They're definitely worth checking out if you need them, and hopefully you will never need them, but the repro legal fund. And in that vein , one of the things that is gonna be really important in this moment is protecting your digital security and your digital footprint. Um, so you really wanna make sure that you are doing everything you can to protect your digital privacy.

If you are in an area where abortion is criminalized, it's gonna be really, really important, a really wonderful resource to make sure you are doing all the things you need to do and can do to protect your digital footprint is to check out the digital defense fund. They have a lot of great information for you on the steps you need to take to protect your digital footprint. Yes. So that is another great resource to check out.

Another thing that I would like to recommend are some podcasts where you can go to learn more information. And actually both of the ones I'm gonna recommend have been on this show before. So I really do enjoy both of them and always turn to them. So first is boom lawyered with Jessica Mason, pelo and Imani Gandy. Y'all. This is who I turn to when they , I have repro legal questions or concerns. Like I always listen to their podcast. I never miss it. Definitely recommend checking it out.

I also, you know, check out their reporting. It is really wonderful and they are the person people I turn to when I have questions about what is happening right now, another really great podcast and was actually on ours recently is Garnet Henderson who hosts the access pod, a podcast about abortion. Again, highly recommend, always check this podcast out. It's really great. Um, yeah, definitely check out access a podcast about abortion and garnets reporting as well.

Um, she's freelance reporter , so you kind of have to follow her on Twitter to find her reporting, but yeah, definitely check her out. So I know that was a lot of information and a big information dump , but at the beginning of the podcast, again, links will be in the show notes. And again, you can always go to my Twitter page.

I will have all of these resources and more in my pinned tweet, we'll have a thread to all of them, plus more things that I think are important and you should know, but we're too much to include in this introduction. So you can always check out more information there. Okay. With that, let's turn to this week's interview. I'm really excited to talk to the wonderful Layla ABA Foley at the national women's law center, all about what has been happening.

Recently, we talk about the executive action from the Biden administration. We talk about what Congress has been doing. There has been a lot of things happening, and this will be your chance to catch up on all of it. So with that, let's turn to my interview with Layla . Hi Layla . Thank you so much for being here today. Hello.

Do the things you can identify the actions, the ways to protect and expand abortion care specifically, noting medication abortion, think about the other reproductive healthcare that people will need. And they name specifically ensuring access to emergency contraception, outreach, public information.

Talk about the ways that people can get reproductive healthcare and just all, you know, look at the existing laws that you have to protect people, including Anala , which is the short way of saying emergency medical treatment and labor act. So that's like the first part that's like age of just go four .

Then there's a piece about the attorney general and the council of the president convening a meeting of private pro bono attorneys, bar associations, basically the law field basically saying the white house is putting its half behind the legal bar, stepping up and , and helping people in the ways that this sea of our legal system is falling apart. Postops and really saying that they are going to be the conveners of this private bar effort.

And so, you know, you could imagine that there're probably, I have connections with lawyers across the country and that's actually a lot of this is a Countrywide problem and we need a Countrywide response. And so the folks in states and various states are raising their hand to help out. And that's what it suggests that they would help getting these people together. The third section is about privacy, safety and security.

Now this is really important because folks have seen a lot about how, how is my data online and how is that gonna be used against me? And so they talk about that actually, and they name specifically the federal trade commission acting along these lines to protect people. So, you know, really putting that, they included that as a separate , um , section in this executive order underscores how important the state of protection issue is right now and how fraught we are in this post dos world.

And then, you know, then it names other laws that the health and human services HHS could act, including people have heard a lot about this in COVID , but HIPAA , the health insurance portability accountability act about protecting people's sensitive information. People should know that HIPAA is not a law that protects all the care from all the people, but it's important to have robust enforcement for what it does.

And it asks the HHS secretary to work with an attorney general and figuring out how to tell people about how to protect themselves online. And then there's a task force that's set up that is between HHS and the director of gender policy council . And this is about what should the federal government be doing across the agencies and letting this task force are really coordinated.

Every agency touches abortion care and what really this executive order acknowledges and says that they're going to address is that every agency is touched by it. People's workers have protections in the law for seeking abortion care. So labor department , um, people seeking abortion care and thinking about the roles of employers and, and so our treasury department who else is involved in this FTC FCC, just every agency imaginable is involved.

And then it talks about the attorney general again, about helping folks. And , and as I think about their legal protections, traveling across state lines, the providers as well, and it really just says in a , in a broad way, go forth agencies and , and , and really use everything that you've got to address the crisis we're in and obviously on abortion specifically, but, you know, HHS had talks about other reproductive healthcare more broadly.

I'm like, what do you all do? You know, they have issued some pretty incredible pieces about data privacy. And so they've init issued stuff to internet providers on what they're doing. And then the days after we had HHS issue, both guidance and section 50 57 guidance for pharmacies. So there's been a slew of actions that happened after that, which is exactly what those of us at the law center were hoping would happen that this executive order was basically like now go forth .

We rely on the agencies to have their expertise and to marry that expertise with how to protect abortion access. And we I've seen that in real concrete ways and encourage folks to read. For example, federal trade commission has a blog talking about, you know, their commitment to fully enforcing the law against legal use and sharing of highly sensitive data. Some really troubling things in there about , about this.

So I think in terms of the day, the executive order came out is, and to acknowledge that we are in, in a nightmare crisis that was manmade by Supreme court justices, right? And, and there is a desperate need for help on the ground and for the patients who are at loss and what they're , what they can do. And the providers who are doing heroic and really should not be asked for, but incredible work to get people care.

So I also wanna level set on where we are when he issued the executive order wise and is that people are absolutely desperate for support and health patients are scrambling, are unable to get the care or unsure about the care the anti-abortion movement is so embolden that the threats is just a scorched earth campaign. They're going after people for travel, they're threatening, right.

And left, and providers are doing the heroic work of trying to figure out care for people moving across state lines, packing up stuff, opening, doing the longer hours, all this stuff that people are doing. And so really we want administration that is there seeing that and, and providing whatever tools they can. And so I think the day the executive order came out, it did feel like words on paper, right? In the sense of what does this actually mean for me and my moment.

And so that's why, you know, I am encouraged by the things I've seen from the , the agencies coming out and that they really are, that, you know, SCC and SPC are out the door with stuff. You know, they're not the ones you think about initially, when you think about abortion care, you think about HHS, you know, that ag Garland and the DOJ is already setting up this task force and getting moving. And I think that is what we need is all these pieces moving together quickly and with an urgency.

And I , I have seen that tick up since the executive order. I think there are some big asks that we would like to see them do to really show more of the , uh , teeth to what the executive orders message is , which is we're really willing to put all of our resources, this whole of government to addressing the crisis.

And, you know, folks have been asking for public health emergency act, which can help and folks have been asking for maybe if they could support abortion travel and the people who are seeking care. Um, they , they said all the things in the executive order about like looking into the legal issues and the DOJ being there. And I think that's right. And then it's also what are the pieces that people need in their lives and real moment.

And, you know, they've indicated a strong support for medication abortion and all of that is gonna be important. And so I think we're at this moment where it's like, okay, you, you kind of unleashed your whole government now let's get going

Because if the anti-abortion movement is in charge of implementing them, right. And, and they are doing the SCOR strategy, then how could anybody be sure of what their legal liability is? And when, and so I think that the point of HHS saying, reminding hospitals, look, you have this federal obligation. And then the state saying, no, no Texas suing to say, no, there's no requirement to save lives. And that is in essence, what they're saying then, I mean, how is this the timeline at this point?

Yeah. It it's a farce that Texas sued just days after to say, no, let's let women die. And I wanna underscore that, that really, that is an emboldened movement that they think they can even get away with that.

We know that girls younger than that, the risk is even higher. Like this is actually a life and death decision. And for them to again, be like doubling down on their hard line stance is just infuriating.

And I'm saying that in the , the sad way and not the motivating way that future is now supposed to be used and what the country is waking up to that those of us who work in the movement and is that this has always been the strategy of the anti-abortion movement, that they are so ex they are extreme. And really in so many ways, cruelty is the point because the end goal here is controlling. It is not anything about protecting people and their lives.

And these stories that the public is seeing is seeing that firsthand. And this is why we've been fighting so hard and to say, you know, what do you start questioning one person's access. We all rise and fall together. And here we are, we are all falling together.

And, and so in moving forward to a , a new world, post ops , as we try to build towards a new protection or right for abortion, we need to be clear that they , all of these cases, these people deserve dignity and they deserve respect and our care and compassion and empathy. And the way the other side, both wants to suggest that these situations won't happen, that there's no life saving abortion care.

And also saying that it's okay, that extremism is , is applicable, whether it is a person needing a termination for life threatening reasons or needing a termination, because they do not want to be pregnant. And if we go back to the core that this is about forcing people to care in pregnancies to term, and what that means, then I , I think that that's what the country's basically waking up to .

And it really goes to show both that. I think they're worried about this position , undermining their cause. But also this is why these people shouldn't be making these decisions about medical care. And, you know, at one point, and the hearing and energy and commerce about the crisis, the AMA president was asked by a Republican lawmaker, the Republican lawmaker accused , um , the AMA president of making decisions based on politics and not what people need.

And the AMA president turned it around and said, I'm here precisely because you guys are stopping us from practicing based on medicine and science. And I think what feels so terrible is that we have real life . Examples of people say, here are my li here is my life. And here is how this happened. And they want to say that it didn't happen. And so it , you know, I , I think back to animal farm, and that's what it, it , it really feels like that they're saying this didn't happen.

This didn't happen, hoping that it goes away. And these are real people with their lives really , um, that they , that they're suffering. And then that they're thrown into this, like the , and , and told that they're , they're actually didn't happen. It did happen that way .

And like, I , I just worry that in the reporting and like, this is like where the storytellers are so important of getting all the stories out, but like, reporters are like really interested in like those extreme stories. And I do worry about like, just your average, just everyday person getting an abortion story is getting lost.

And when she testified on Tuesday from we testify , you know, the night that jobs came out, the night of two things happened to me. I was driving back after an outing with the family and, you know, a song from the eighties came on and I was like, man, abortion was legal back then. Like, I , you know, my life became this idea of like when abortion was legal and when it's not. And my second thought was there are people getting pregnant tonight who will wake up without access to abortion.

And I, my, the nightmare for these people, and we've read a few stories come out, but you're right. There's a whole scores of people. And to think that they're going through all this, which is that this is that then they're in a band state. Are they going to be able to access care?

Are they able to manage it safely at home or cross state lines to seek it at a clinic because that's what they prefer, you know, whatever it is and they have to do so in the shadows that we have forced people into the shadows for something that is not wrong and is very valid. And so how do you tell people you're , you are valid when they see in the papers, the way the anti-abortion movement is so emboldened.

And I, you know, as you bring in the data privacy stuff into this, it just takes on a whole nother level because we are not free row . We are post row where all of our lives are online and what that means for people and their security. And I hate that for us. I hate that for everybody who is experiencing it now, and, and know there are people who are out there who see you, but get that you can't be seen.

The house of representatives, oversight committee, the house of representatives, energy and commerce committee and judiciary committee all had hearings on the issue of abortion. The house judiciary also looked at the attacks on other rights, following Thomas's justice, Thomas's super troubling. Concurrent saying there is no right to substantive due process. Haha. And please lower judges. Listen to me in start doing all those bad things.

And then in the Senate judiciary committee and Senate help committee, there were hearings and they really told the story. We had a wide range of folks who testified, really telling the compelling story of the nightmare and chaos we are in. And it is so terrible.

And so alongside that there were slew of bills that have been introduced the right to travel a bill that would protect the right to travel the house voted on that last week, along with another vote on the women's health protection act, the women's health protect act would give a federal right to abortion. And so that would strike at all the five, 500 medically unnecessary restrictions that are in place and at the bands that are now stopping care in dozens of states, nearly dozen.

And so then the Senate had a, basically an up or down vote on their right to travel bill last week to really energized floor statements from the senators. And, and also I should say the house members, I mean , people are feeling this , uh , house senators and representatives are really feeling this. And so really talked about that. And then this week there was both a right , uh , bill to protect same sex marriage and also a bill to provide a right to birth control.

In addition to you still have a constitutional right to birth control just to be clear and also marriage that has not been struck down, but they are under a threat nearly by Thomas's concurrence and also actions that are happening across the state to undermine a birth control access. The house voted on those two this week.

And then the Senate did an up or down on vote on emergency funding for title 10 clinics, title 10 clinics are the backbone of critical primary care in our country providing family planning services. They were so undermined and hurt under the Trump administration and their rebuilding. And they're gonna be keyed to a future of building back comprehensive access to reflective healthcare . So they did that , um , today or yesterday. So what remains we'll see, there are more bills being introduced.

I will note house of represent members of the house of representatives were arrested and on Tuesday in an action outside the capital and really some of the social media coming out from them, you know, this is, this is real, this is raw feelings from these members and, and truly, you know, I keeping the drum beat going as the drum beat keeps going in the media about just what a chaos nightmare we're in.

And nearly every Republican voted against it and the birth control bill is simple. It gives a right to birth control. And to your point about, oh, it's not at risk it's, you know, we have been fighting for nearly a decade just to eliminate copays for military families. They pay copays for their birth control for nearly a decade. It is a small fix that should have been done the first year and every year the Republicans block it.

And so it's just astounding to me because the common point yesterday, when they were arguing against the bill, Republicans said they support contraception and wish that the Dems had worked with them. But proof is in the pudding as they say that it's been nearly a decade doing even this small thing and they opposed it and same for VA birth control access and the veterans , uh , healthcare system . So I it's just, it's astounding to me.

And it really does show the through line of this is about controlling and who has power and who doesn't. And that there are people who really still haven't got over the fact that women they're thinking of women in particular, although it's not just women that use birth control or need abortion care, but that women got freedom when they were given the right to these decisions.

And now they wanna take us back and not just to the 1970s or 1960s , but just Alito was talking about the 1850s when we were not separate entities, that we were an entity of our husbands. And so to me, it is a broader conversation too. It's not just birth control. It's not just abortion. It's how do we view women in this country? And how do we view diversity and people living out their true selves? And one side is basically saying, no, you have to be like me and only me.

And we think about the people who are just trying to get by in life and are just trying to get this healthcare and the clinic workers and the clinic staff and you know, just the stories of people just going the extra 30 miles, right. Not physically and meta physically for people. And so you're right. Is to say, I have to keep going because these people are keeping going and they, they need all of us. And I think, you know, I'm reading wrinkle of time with a kid for the first time.

I guess it should admit that I think , um , like a total, what happened to me that I haven't read it before, but there's

And so fighting back includes the broader democracy work that you may have thought of doing or may do, which is, you know, protecting people's right to vote and showing up in your local community, in the civic affairs there and then showing up in your local community for whoever's doing the abortion work there, people are doing abortion work in your community. So take their lead, be patient. If they're slammed, they are slammed .

And really listen to them, become a monthly contributor to funds abortion funds. Those are the people providing practical support. So become a sustaining member to them and just commit to that going forward. And don't get complacent. Remember this in a few months, remember this in a few years, remember this intent 20, 30 years and keep doing the things to help us get to this new world that Jenny just outlined we're gonna get there, but I'm not overstating it.

That it's gonna take all of us that to fight back against this anti-abortion movement that is pursuing scorched earth. We all have to link up hands and be that force against it. And so however, that way is in your life, you know, whatever is the thing you Excel in. See if you can contribute that to supporting people in seeking abortion access.

Otherwise I will see y'all in two weeks. Bye. For more information, including show notes from this episode and previous episodes, please visit us at our website at repro, fight back.com . You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at repro, fight that and on Instagram at repro FB , if you like our show, please help others find it by sharing it with your friends and please rate and review us on apple podcast. Thanks for listening .