Repro Round Up 10.20.23
This week, Repro Equity Now wrote to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Executive Office of Health and Human Services calling for the agencies to investigate Your Options Medical’s anti-abortion mobile unit that is preparing to operate on Cape Cod.
Your Options Medical is an anti-abortion center, or so-called “crisis pregnancy center,” that operates in several locations across Massachusetts and poses a serious threat to public health in our state. Now, they are launching a mobile van to drive around Cape Cod and offer so-called “immediate ultrasound results.” We have serious concerns that the facility is engaging in deceptive advertising, and we’d like for the state to investigate whether registered nurses are practicing out of their scope to diagnose ultrasounds on site. Read our full letter HERE.
A reminder: Anti-abortion centers present themselves as pregnancy health care providers offering the full range of reproductive health care options, but in actuality, aim to dissuade people from accessing abortion care. Anyone who has had a negative experience with anti-abortion centers can call Reproductive Equity Now’s Abortion Legal Hotline at 833-309-6301 to report their case and be referred to pro bono attorneys. Patients can also file a report with the Attorney General Office’s Civil Rights Division online or at 617-963-2917.
Want to learn more about anti-abortion centers and what you can do to help? Check out our "Get Involved" section below.
Now let’s get into the rest of this week’s headlines:
New England Round Up
→ Repro Equity Now Testifies in Support of Affordable Child Care at Massachusetts State House
This week, our team joined dozens of parents, child care workers, and community activists to testify in support of Common Start, a bill to create a five-year pathway to universal, affordable child care in Massachusetts. We know that reproductive equity is not only the ability to decide if, when, and how to start a family, but also about ensuring that people have the ability to parent with dignity when they do. That means not breaking the bank on child care. Read more.
→Massachusetts is Making Contraception More Accessible
Last week, the Massachusetts Public Health Council approved emergency regulations that will allow pharmacists to directly prescribe and dispense hormonal birth control to patients without needing to see a clinician. The council approved these regulations on an emergency authorization basis, and will vote to make this change permanent after a public hearing and comment period next month. One third of adult women who have ever tried to get a prescription for hormonal birth control report problems either obtaining a prescription or refills, often due to an unnecessary clinical visit or examination requirement. Until this change, Massachusetts had fallen behind the 29 states across the country that already authorize pharmacist prescribing of birth control. Read more.
→ Boston Globe New Hampshire: New Hampshire has a Child Care Crisis
Data from the New Hampshire Institute for Fiscal Policy suggests that the Granite State is lacking nearly 8,300 child care slots, leaving parents without any options, and many paying exorbitant out-of-pocket costs. The state has taken some steps to address the child care crisis, like expanding eligibility for child care assistance scholarships and ensuring families who are below the federal poverty guidelines do not have to pay out-of-pocket, but much work remains to ensure parents can afford care, children are receiving high-quality care, and workers have the resources to create sustainable, long term careers. Read more.
→Kelly Ayotte Campaigns with Anti-Abortion Center
Last weekend, Kelly Ayotte, the leading Republican nominee for New Hampshire Governor, attended an event for an anti-abortion center in the state and even said that she was proud “to support the important work of the Options Pregnancy Resource Center.” A reminder that anti-abortion centers like Options Pregnancy Resource Center present themselves as unbiased reproductive health care providers, but they actually exist to dissuade people from accessing abortion care. Kelly Ayotte’s campaign stop shows exactly where she stands on abortion. She’s not afraid to support organizations that spread disinformation, deceive pregnant people, and aim to ban abortion care in New Hampshire.
→Connecticut Comptroller Expands Healthcare Coverage for State Employees to Be More Inclusive of LGBTQ+ Families
Connecticut Comptroller Sean Scalonn announced revisions to the state employee health plan and Partnership Plan last week to remove discriminatory barriers to family planning and to require the Plan to cover fertility services for LGBTQ+ and single members. The state employee health plan and Partnership Plan covers more than 265,000 state and municipal employees, retirees, and their dependents throughout Connecticut. The decision about if, when, or how to become a parent is one of the most important life decisions we make, and everyone should be able to make that choice without barriers – which includes equitable access to fertility care. Read our full statement.
→ Repro Equity Now, Beyond Roe Coalition Receives Award from the Boston Bar Association
This week, the Boston Bar Association recognized the Beyond Roe Coalition—made up of Reproductive Equity Now, the ACLU of Massachusetts, and Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of MA—for its work to preserve and protect “a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom.” Claire Teylouni, Repro Equity Now’s Director of Government Affairs, accepted the award on the organization’s behalf.
→We Had a Blast at Lovering Health Center’s Cheers for Choice Event!
Repro Equity Now New Hampshire State Director Christina Warriner spoke at Lovering Health Center’s Cheers for Choice event last week about the critical care that independent abortion providers offer to New Hampshire communities. Working with partners across New Hampshire’s advocacy landscape, we will continue to uplift and strengthen the essential work that Lovering does each and every day.
National Notice
→ What You Need to Know About Ohio’s Issue 1
Election Day is swiftly approaching, and Ohio voters this November will vote on Issue 1, the Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative. This constitutional amendment would enshrine the right to abortion into Ohio state law, mere months after the GOP lost a bid to ban abortion in the Buckeye state. Ohio state lawmakers have also passed a 6-week abortion ban, which is currently blocked by preliminary injunction from a Cincinnati judge. If Issue 1 passes, the matter of abortion will be settled law and the six-week ban will not be enforced. However, if Issue 1 fails, the matter will be taken up by the state Supreme Court. Read more from Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom.
→ No Abortion Bans Are Okay – No Matter How the GOP Spins It
It seems that the GOP has caught on to the fact that abortion bans are extremely unpopular with a majority of Americans, and is trying to walk back some of their stances or disguise them as less extreme. Stories this past week detail how Kari Lake (running for Senate in Arizona), Glenn Youngkin (Virginia Governor), and Nikki Haley (running for president) are reworking their campaign language to disguise their anti-abortion stances. Instead of calling gestational bans what they are – bans on our bodies – they are referring to them as “limits.” We see right through that campaign jargon and we know that no abortion ban – or restriction on our bodies – is acceptable.
→As Maternity Wards Shutter, Maternal Mortality Crisis Grows
Three hospitals in Alabama announced this week that they are shuttering their maternity wards, leaving pregnant patients without a local option for clinical or hospital delivery. Alabama, a state with the fourth worst maternal mortality rate in the nation, now not only has 100-mile-wide abortion deserts, but equally large maternity care deserts. Several counties in the state already operate in these maternity care deserts, and the two counties losing these maternity wards have large predominantly Black neighborhoods. Read more.
→Justice Department Works to Strengthen Clinic Protections
As violence against abortion providers rises post-Dobbs, with attacks on clinics in D.C., Michigan, Montana, and Wyoming in the last two years, the Justice Department is working to reinforce the strength of the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act. Under Attorney General Merrick Garland, the DOJ seems to be more intently pursuing FACE Act violations and pushing for harsher penalties. Read a Washington Post story that details how the Biden Administration sees the FACE Act as critical to the federal defense of abortion here.
→Brittany Spears Shares Her Abortion Story
In an excerpt from her new memoir, The Woman in Me (out October 24th), Britney Spears shares her abortion story from 2000. We look forward to reading more than the excerpt available to understand Britney’s journey and we applaud her for sharing her abortion story and helping end abortion stigma.
Get Involved With Reproductive Equity Now
- Massachusetts -
📍Somerville: Magen Tracy & the Missed Connections Concert
Have plans tonight?! Join Reproductive Equity Now at Sally O’Brien’s in Somerville to listen to the band, Magen Tracy & the Missed Connections, release their new song. (It’s all about choice, motherhood, and awesome feminist themes!) The band will be raising money for Repro Equity Now and we’ll have a table at the venue to organize the crowd. Event info here.
📍Holyoke: Organizing for Equity: The Roe’d Show
Join us for the next stop of our ‘Organizing for Equity: The Roe’d Show’ series in Holyoke this upcoming Monday, October 23. We’ll be talking all about the abortion landscape in Massachusetts and nationwide, how to talk about abortion “like an advocate,” and ways you can help advance repro equity in your community. RSVP for the specific location today.
📍Somerville: Abortion Rights & Digital Privacy Discussion
Every day, patients are traveling to Massachusetts to access protected abortion care. But how can we ensure these patients’ privacy is protected when our locations are being digitally tracked 24/7? Join Repro Equity Now and the ACLU of Massachusetts for a conversation on digital privacy in a post-Roe world on Tuesday at 6:30 PM. RSVP for the specific location.
📍Salem: Organizing for Equity: The Roe’d Show
We’ll be headed to Salem this November to continue our Roe’d Show! (Don’t worry…the event is AFTER Halloween!) We’ll discuss how we can build movement power and reimagine reproductive equity post-Roe. RSVP for the specific location details.
📍Brookline: Private Screening of Preconceived
Join Repro Equity Now on December 5th for a private screening of Preconceived, a new documentary by Sabrine Keane and Kate Dumke that sheds light on the ways in which anti-abortion centers, or “crisis pregnancy centers,” deceive and manipulate pregnant people while they are trying to make deeply personal decisions about their reproductive lives and futures. The film exposes the coordinated national anti-abortion network and shares the stories of two women, Maleeha and Maria, who have been impacted by these facilities. Purchase your tickets today!
- New Hampshire -
📍Concord: Equality Health Center Fall Gala
Equality Health Center, one of New Hampshire’s two independent abortion clinics, will host its First Annual Fall Gala on October 26th in Concord. The evening of celebration will honor Dr. Patricia Glowa, who has been a provider and educator at Equality Health Center for over 20 years. Purchase your tickets for the Gala HERE.
- Connecticut -
📍Milford: Pints & Policy with Senator James Maroney
Repro Equity Now Connecticut State Director Liz Gustafson will join Senator James Maroney and Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz for a Pints & Policy discussion on Oct. 23 at Dockside Brewery in Milford. Register for the discussion HERE.
Our Resources
Need to understand your legal rights to provide or access abortion care? Reproductive Equity Now’s Abortion Legal Hotline will help connect Massachusetts-based health care providers and helpers, as well as patients obtaining care in Massachusetts, with free legal advice and resources about abortion access.
Looking for an abortion provider in your area? Our New England Abortion Care Guide [http://reproequitynow.org/abortioncareguide] allows you to search by zip code for legitimate abortion clinics near you. It even flags dangerous and deceptive anti-abortion centers to avoid at all costs.
Do you want to help advance reproductive equity in your community? Our Win & Deliver Toolkit offers policy proposals and supporting materials to serve as a starting point for municipal leaders looking to move the needle forward on reproductive equity.
Thank you so much for powering this fight.
We’re grateful to have you in the movement with us.