One Abortion Rights Bad News Vs. Two Abortion Rights Good Newses, And We'll Take What We Can Get!

It's your reproductive rights roundup!

Hey, you know what's bananas? We actually have some good news this week! And also, more predictably, some very terrible news. Which we will give you first in order to end on a high note.

Alabama Woman Arrested For 'Chemically Endangering' Her Non-Existent Fetus

It is never fun to be mistaken for being pregnant. As a woman with a fondness for empire waist dresses and weight that tends to fluctuate, it's happened to me a few times. I usually like to handle it by welling up and sobbing "Not anymore!" or telling them I actually have a stomach tumor — I consider it my personal duty to ensure that anyone who would ask such a thing is so scarred from the experience that they never do it to anyone ever again. That and I have a rule that if anyone is coming out of any social interaction like that feeling badly, it sure as hell is not going to be me.

But those wrongly accused of being pregnant in Alabama now have more to worry about than just rude older ladies with vendettas against empire waist dresses.    

Stacey Freeman of Etowah County, Alabama, is suing the county Sheriff's Department for false imprisonment after having been arrested and thrown in jail for the "chemical endangerment" of her non-existent unborn child.

Via Reuters:  

Stacey Freeman, who is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, was under investigation by a family services agency for substance abuse when her daughter incorrectly told social workers that Freeman was pregnant, according to her Nov. 7 complaint. Freeman said she offered to take a pregnancy test, but it wasn’t administered.

Sheriff’s investigator Brandi Fuller later issued a “patently false” warrant saying Freeman tested positive for amphetamines, according to the complaint. She was arrested for “chemical endangerment” days later, the complaint said, by sheriff’s deputies who stopped to assist her with a flat tire. [...]

Freeman said she was forced to provide a urine sample in jail — which showed she wasn't pregnant. She was released only after Fuller "admonished" her, saying she would be charged if she were to get pregnant within the next few months, according to the complaint.

Yes, that really happened. And not for the first time, either. 

Situations like this are the natural consequence of grotesque "fetal personhood" laws like they have in Alabama, which give even fertilized eggs the same rights as a living, breathing, born human being and hold people criminally accountable for behavior considered "risky" during pregnancy. In 2019, a pregnant woman in Alabama was indicted for being shot, by another person, while pregnant.

There are no rules on how far this can go and it can apply to those who don't even know that they are pregnant. Theoretically, it would be possible in these states (and some states you wouldn't expect) to be sent to prison for eating sushi or having a glass of wine (which many doctors say is actually fine) while being unknowingly pregnant. Or, one supposes, for being a little bloated while wearing an empire waist dress. It's not great!

New Jersey Wants To Make Sure All Abortions Are Covered By Insurance

The state of New Jersey passed a law codifying abortion rights earlier this year — and now they're going further. Not just to ensure the right to have abortion, but to ensure access to that right.

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance announced on Thursday that they were working to ensure that all health insurance plans in the state cover abortion (abortion is already covered by Medicaid in New Jersey), thereby ensuring that those who need abortions will be able to afford them and will not be forced to pay out of pocket. Nice!

Oklahoma Hair Stylist Leads Initiative to Codify Abortion Access

As soon as the Dobbs decision was final, Oklahoma was one of the first states to ban abortion, with one of the strictest laws on the books — barring the procedure in all situations except to save the life of the mother.

However! That decision has not necessarily been all that popular with the actual people of Oklahoma, and one citizen is hoping to get it on the ballot next year so that they can vote to preserve abortion access the way other states have voted to preserve abortion access.

Oklahoma hair stylist Roger Coody wrote a proposal that would codify the right to abortion in the state — and if he can get approval from the Oklahoma Secretary of State and collect 179,000 signatures in 90 days, he can get it on the ballot next November.

“Oklahoma is arguably the reddest state in the country, but the people of Oklahoma love liberal ideas,” Oklahoma state Rep. Mickey Dollens told reporters from the Associated Press. “This is why the people have to pretty much do the politicians’ jobs and take measures into their own hands.”

This is true for a whole lot of places, really. If you look at polls, there is massive, widespread support practically for almost all liberal and leftwing ideas, but it is so deeply ingrained into the American psyche (especially in places like Oklahoma) that everyone hates liberal and leftwing policies that a lot of politicians don't even want to try. Even many Democrats are willing to concede that point, even if it's not true. Sort of like how Janeane Garofalo goes around pretending to be hideous despite being a very obviously attractive human being. Mickey "Not That Guy From The Monkees" Dollens is not wrong here — ballot initiatives may have to be the way of the future!

You Can Still Get Telemedicine Abortion Care In Kansas (For Now)

Here's another nice one! Last Wednesday, Kansas Judge Teresa L. Watson blocked a very stupid law barring telemedicine care for medication abortion, which existed not for safety reasons but because the people who wrote the law don't want anyone to have abortions.

Two laws in the state barring telemedicine abortions were challenged in 2019 by Trust Women, a chain of abortion clinics with a clinic in Wichita. The laws barred doctors from prescribing abortion medication meant to be taken at home and instead required patients to physically take the medication in the clinics in the presence of a doctor ... which makes absolutely no sense from any kind of medical perspective.

Via Reason:  

The Kansas District Court in Shawnee County originally sided with the state and against the plaintiffs. However, the clinic appealed two of the Court's three decisions in the case to the Kansas Court of Appeals, which sided with the clinic and remanded the case back to the Shawnee County District Court. Last Wednesday, the District Court, in compliance with the Appeals court's ruling, granted the Trust Women's request for an injunction against a state law that required doctors to be in the same room as a patient taking abortion pills and reinstated the claims against the lawsuit's defendants.

It will probably take a few months for clinics to bring back telemedicine abortion in the state and the ruling is likely to be appealed ... but for now this is another pretty important victory for reproductive rights in Kansas — where we'll take any victory we can get.

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