Reproductive Rights News Roundup – August 25th 2023

Florida

I’m a Florida Republican who believes politicians should butt out of abortion
By Carol Whitmore
Tampa Bay Times
The heart-wrenching story of Deborah and Lee Dorbert’s pregnancy should serve as a wake-up call to every Floridian who values their right to privacy.

How long will Floridians have access to a legal abortion? The fight is on.
By Cindy Krischer Goodman
South Florida Sun Sentinel
In a state where doctors perform more than 70,000 abortions a year, the next few months are pivotal to how much access Floridians will have to the procedure.

Untangling Ron DeSantis’ debate anecdote about an improbable abortion survival story
By Samantha Putterman
PolitiFact
When the topic of abortion came up during the first Republican primary presidential debate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shared a perplexing anecdote about a woman he met who he said had survived the procedure.

Twitter Users Are Skeptical About Ron DeSantis’ Abortion Anecdote At Debate
By David Moye
HuffPost
The candidates at Wednesday’s Republican debate spread a lot of misinformation about abortion, but Ron DeSantis probably won for Most Bizarre Statement.

Asked About Abortion, Ron DeSantis Tells Bizarre Story About a Fetus in a Pan
By Kylie Cheung
Jezebel
In a particularly desperate moment during Wednesday night’s Republican presidential primary debate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) answered a question about abortion by spinning up this little tale: “I know a lady in Florida named Penny.

Florida Reproductive Rights Amendment on Track to Make Ballot
By Khaya Himmelman
The Messenger
A ballot measure that would protect reproductive rights in Florida is on track to move forward, getting more than half of the required signatures needed to make the 2024 ballot.

Democrats Closer to Putting Abortion on 2024 Florida Ballot
Staff Report
West Orlando News
The committee working to put abortion access on Florida’s ballot in 2024 has collected more than 600,000 petitions in the three months since the campaign launched.

Sacred Scheme: How Florida Taxpayers Fund A Christian Campaign Aimed At Pregnant Women
By Bob Norman
Florida Center for Government Accountability
When a pregnant woman walks into the state-subsidized Pregnancy Help and Information Center (PHI) in Tallahassee for help, she’ll likely get a dose of Christian preaching with her ultrasound.

Ron DeSantis says ‘liberal’ New Hampshire would reject Florida-style abortion ‘Heartbeat Bill’
By A.G. Gancarski
Florida Politics
Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’s ready to make America Florida, except when it comes to protecting the rights of the unborn.

Women lawmakers highlight equality’s slip backward for Florida women
By Anne Geggis
Florida Politics
On the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, things looked much more optimistic.

CDC Reports Mistreatment of Patients by Maternity Care Providers
By Trimmel Gomes
Public News Service Florida
People from some racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to have negative experiences during pregnancy and delivery affecting the quality of care and their health outcomes.

Florida fined an Orlando abortion clinic $193K. Its volunteers are crowdfunding the bill
By Caroline Catherman
Orlando Sentinel
Less than two weeks after Florida fined a local abortion clinic $193,000 for breaking state law, the clinic’s volunteer escorts have crowdfunded two-thirds of the bill.

National

GOP candidates clash over national abortion ban
By Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
GOP presidential candidates battled Wednesday night over whether the next president should sign a federal abortion ban — a major question dividing the primary field even as all candidates self-identify as “pro-life.”

The 19th Explains: What are ‘late-term abortions’ — and why are politicians talking about them?
By Mel Leonor Barclay and Shefali Luthra
The 19th
Republicans don’t want to talk about restrictions in the first or second trimester, instead trying to turn the conversation to very rare third trimester abortions.

The Republican Plan to Trick Americans Into Voting Against Abortion
By Christina Cauterucci
Slate
Abortion bans are unpopular. So unpopular that Republican extremists seem to have to invent conspiracy theories to trick Americans into voting for them.

South Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Abortion Law, Reversing Earlier Decision
By Kate Zernike
New York Times
The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the state’s new near-total ban on abortion by a 4-1 vote, reversing a decision it had made in January that struck down a similar ban and declared that the State Constitution’s protections for privacy included a right to abortion.

The anti-abortion movement insists everything is really fine
By Rachel M. Cohen
Vox
The anti-abortion movement is at a political crossroads.