Between the shooting deaths of three people
at a Colorado Planned Parenthood, the Supreme Court's decision
to hear its first abortion-related case in nine years, and the
more than 50 new abortion restriction laws enacted by state
governments, abortion access was one of the most important
issues of 2015. With presidential politics and ongoing legal
challenges in the states, abortion rights will continue to be
under fire in 2016.
"Last year's big events, like the Planned Parenthood videos and
the Supreme Court case, have actually ginned up even more
interest in restricting abortion," Elizabeth Nash, a senior
state issues associate at the Guttmacher Institute, tells Mother
Jones. "If it was possible, they've actually added more energy
to decreasing abortion access."
And that is despite the fact that even-numbered years are
generally slow when it comes to legislative pushes—elections cut
off the legislature calendars, and general assemblies in many
states don't even meet. But Nash says next year will be
different.
Here are some of the abortion-related activities to watch for in
2016:
Supreme Court
For the first time in nine years, the US Supreme Court will hear
a case on abortion as the justices review a 2013 Texas law. They
must decide if HB 2 unconstitutionally restricts access to
abortion by subjecting outpatient abortion clinics to some of
the same standards as hospitals. The law also requires providers
to obtain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Pro- and
anti-choice activists alike have said the case has the potential
to end the right to safe and legal abortion in the United
States. The law has already lead to the closure of more than
half the abortion clinics in Texas, leaving huge swathes of the
state without a provider and forcing women to travel hundreds of
miles to get care.
The Supreme Court will also rule next year on whether the
Affordable Care Act's contraception coverage requirements
infringe on nonprofit religious groups' freedom of conscience.
The Court decided to consolidate seven appeals from religious
nonprofits, ranging from nursing homes run by the Little Sisters
of the Poor, a Roman Catholic religious order, to religiously
affiliated schools such as Southern Nazarene University and
Geneva College.
Presidential election
Planned Parenthood and the Supreme Court cases are sure to come
up during next year's presidential campaign. Republican
presidential hopefuls have competed to claim the most extreme
anti-abortion position by defending their anti-abortion legacies
and attacking Planned Parenthood and other women's health care
organizations. All the GOP candidates have said they oppose
abortion in most cases, the vast majority of them say they want
to overturn Roe v. Wade, and about half of them think abortion
should be outlawed, even in cases of rape or incest.
Republicans have doubled-down on that issue during debates.
During the second GOP debate, Ted Cruz called Planned Parenthood
a "criminal enterprise" guilty of "multiple felonies," and in
October he called himself a leader in the fight against the
women's health care organization. Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News
host Megyn Kelly that he believes "every single human being is
entitled to the protection of our laws, whether they…have their
birth certificate or not." And following her now-debunked claims
during the first debate that babies are born alive during
abortions so their organs can be harvested, Carly Fiorina told
Fox News that she believes most Americans agree with her that
abortion should be banned "for any reason at all after five
months."
Democratic candidates all say they're pro-choice, but they
differ on the specifics. Hillary Clinton, who in 1995 said
"women's rights are human rights," recently compared
anti-abortion Republicans to terrorist groups. She has been
outspoken in her support of Planned Parenthood during debates.
But she has also come under fire in the past for saying abortion
should be "safe, legal, and rare," a sentiment some advocates
say stigmatizes abortion.
In comparison, Bernie Sanders, Clinton's main rival, has offered
no qualifications to his support for abortion, saying he wants
to increase funding for Planned Parenthood and believes "the
decision about abortion must remain a decision for the woman and
her doctor to make, not the government."
State battles
Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion advocacy group that
has been a powerful force in shaping abortion legislation by
writing model legislation for state and local governments,
helped push through at least 38 pro-life laws at the state level
in 2015. Its legislative priorities for 2016 include
restrictions on late-term abortions and those based on the sex
of the fetus, a ban on the sale of aborted fetal tissue, and an
"Unborn Wrongful Death Act," which would allow civil charges to
be brought against anyone responsible for the death of an
"unborn child at any stage of development."
"Already, AUL is receiving requests for a legislative package to
address not only the barbaric trafficking in infant body parts,
revealed by the Center for Medical Progress videos, but also the
inhumanity of late-term abortion procedures which cause
excruciating deaths for infants and carry substantial health
risks for women," said Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans
United for Life, in a statement.
In addition to new legislative pushes, ongoing legal battles in
a handful of states may be resolved in 2016 and have the
potential to affect abortion restrictions across the country.
More are sure to crop up, but here are some of the most
significant women's health issues that courts will be asked to
resolve in the states:
♦ Telemedicine abortion: In most cases, a woman getting a
medication abortion meets in person with her physician, who
prescribes pills and then sends the woman home. But for rural
women who have no access to a clinic, telemedicine, where a
physician provides medication via video conference, is often the
only option. Though telemedicine has the potential to create
"sweeping change in abortion access for rural women," 18 states
have laws on the books that require a clinician be in the same
room as the patient when prescribing the pills, effectively
banning the practice. Telemedicine isn't actually outlawed in
other states, but abortion via telemedicine is only available in
Minnesota and Iowa. In 2015, Gov. C.L. Otter of Idaho signed
into law two bills that ban the practice. The local Planned
Parenthood sued Otter in federal court in early December,
arguing the measures violates the Constitution's equal
protections clause by forcing rural women to travel farther to
access abortion care. The case recently got a new judge, after
US district judge Edward J. Lodge recused himself, and it will
move forward in 2016.
♦ Dilation and evacuation abortion: Dilation and
evacuation restrictions are "on the front burner" for state
legislatures next year, according to Nash of Guttmacher. The
Center for Reproductive Rights sued Kansas earlier this year,
challenging the state's ban on the technique known as dilation
and evacuation, which is used for 95 percent of second-trimester
abortions. The center argues the law forces doctors to
needlessly complicate their method of providing abortions, at
greater risks for patients. The district court judge agreed, but
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt appealed the judge's
decision, sending the case to the state Court of Appeals. In
December 2015, the Kansas Court of Appeals decided to take up a
lawsuit, and it will likely be decided in 2016. The Kansas court
battle could have a big impact on the rest of the country
because laws banning dilation and evacuation are becoming
popular among conservative state legislatures.
♦ Waiting periods: Laws requiring women to meet with a
physician at least a day before getting an abortion are in
effect in 27 states across the country. In June, Florida
lawmakers passed a 24-hour waiting-period bill, and only hours
after Gov. Rick Scott signed it, the Center for Reproductive
Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit
challenging the law. A Florida district court judge blocked the
law from taking effect until the case is resolved, which will
happen in 2016.
Planned Parenthood
State attacks: Planned Parenthood faced an
onslaught of congressional, legislative, and physical attacks
following a widely debunked video campaign accusing the nation's
largest health care provider of selling aborted fetal tissue.
Even though investigations have found no wrongdoing, the
organization will continue to be under fire in 2016. Planned
Parenthood will battle to keep its funding after governors in at
least five states—Alabama, Utah, Arkansas, Louisiana, and
Texas—cut it off. This fall, Planned Parenthood sued the states,
arguing that the blocking of its funding was preventing women
from accessing their chosen health care providers, in violation
of federal law. In December, Alabama settled its suit with
Planned Parenthood, and a federal judge in Utah reversed the
lower court's ruling, saying the state could defund Planned
Parenthood. But the legal battles in other states will continue
into the new year.
Aside from the issue of funding, state legislatures will
continue to push bills restricting fetal tissue donation and
disposal. These bills, which prohibit the donation of aborted
fetal tissue and require clinics to offer burial and cremation
to women as options along with incineration (the standard
medical practice for a lot of biohazardous waste), have started
appearing already but will gain even more traction in 2016,
according to Nash.
Congressional battles: In October, then-House Speaker John
Boehner announced the creation of a 13-member subcommittee,
which reports to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to
investigate Planned Parenthood. Though three other Congressional
investigations into the health care organization found no
evidence of wrongdoing, the House panel, made up of seven
Republicans and six Democrats, received $300,000 to fund their
investigation, which will begin in 2016.
"There are still many questions yet to be answered surrounding
Planned Parenthood's business practices and relationships with
the procurement organizations," said Tennessee Rep. Marsha
Blackburn, who's chairing the subcommittee. "This is exactly why
the House is investigating abortion practices and how we can
better protect life." |