[[link removed]] Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest
Letter from an Editor | June 15, 2024
Dear John,
This past Thursday, in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration , the Supreme Court ruled to strike down a challenge to the FDA’s approval of the abortion medication mifepristone and subsequent regulations. As contributing editor Carrie Baker writes, “… a unanimous Court ruled the anti-abortion plaintiffs did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit because they were not harmed ...”
This means that the medication—which is safe and effective and has been used in abortions around the world for more than 30 years—can remain available. It was a narrow decision: as Baker explains: “The Court did not address the merits of the case, including whether the FDA had adequate scientific support for loosening restrictions on mifepristone in 2016 and 2021 and whether allowing telemedicine abortion and mailing of abortion pills violated a nineteenth-century anti-obscenity law called the Comstock Act.”
This ruling is a relief for reproductive rights advocates and women and girls across the U.S., but as advocates and leading medical and scientific experts pointed out the fact that the case ended up before the Court in the first place is of grave concern. “A case based on junk science that would undermine public health should never have been brought in front of the court,” said Dr. Daniel Grossman, director of the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health Institute at UCSF.“Decades of evidence demonstrate that medication abortion is safe and effective, and any attempt to restrict access is unscientific.”
Now we await the Court’s ruling in a second abortion case, involving whether states with severe abortion bans, like Texas and Idaho, can ignore the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act that requires hospitals to provide whatever emergency medical treatment is necessary to stabilize a patient, including an abortion .
Because these states ban abortions almost entirely—the only exception being cases when a woman’s life is at stake, but not in cases where abortion is necessary to preserve her health—emergency room physicians have to wait as a matter of law until a patient’s condition deteriorates to the point where she faces imminent death before they can provide the necessary care to stabilize her. Doctors face prison time should they defy the state’s ban.
This is not an academic debate.
Increasingly, women are presenting at hospital emergency rooms actively miscarrying and being denied surgical procedures or medication for treatment; women whose fetus has been diagnosed with a fatal condition and women with severe pregnancy complications are routinely denied abortion care, jeopardizing their health—and in some cases, their lives. Maternal mortality rates, already a crisis in Black communities, are worsening in states with strict abortion bans.
Also this week, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate navigated dueling proposed bills around IVF in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that could restrict access to the fertility treatment, with Republicans overwhelming voting to block a bill that would guarantee access to IVF. And in the House, Republicans added an amendment to the must pass FY25 National Defense Authorization Act to end a Department of Defense policy allowing service members and their dependents to be reimbursed for travel expenses if they must travel for abortion care.
As the ongoing battles over abortion access, IVF, Title IX, and more show us, our rights are under increasing attack and are far from secure. You can count on Ms. to keep you informed as the fight for equality continues.
Onward!
[[link removed]]
Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor
P.S. — If you’re in the Los Angeles area, join us at the Ms. offices at 8 PM on Thursday, June 27 for a chat with Dr. Sharon Malone, author of Grown Woman Talk—she’ll be discussing her NYT bestselling book, perimenopause and menopause, and the health needs and realities of Black women in the U.S. Click here [[link removed]] to RSVP—and join us before the event at 6 PM to watch the presidential debate!
This Week's Must-Reads from Ms.
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Supreme Court Allows Continued Access to Abortion Pills … For Now [[link removed]] ‘Tragedy Upon Tragedy’: What the Justices’ Questions on EMTALA Revealed [[link removed]]
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Midwives Save Lives, but Only if We Let Them [[link removed]] ‘Evil in Washington Flooding Into Amarillo’: Abortion Travel Bans at the City Level [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on
Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
In this episode, we continue our series: Fifteen Minutes of Feminism—The Trump Indictments: Found Guilty! (with Moira Donegan). On May 30, 2024, Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts by a New York jury. In this episode, we unpack the criminal charges that Donald Trump engaged in illegal business, electoral and campaign activities. This week, we’re rejoined by Moira Donegan to discuss why the New York trial was about more than about “hush money” and how the case marks the first time a former president has stood trial for criminal prosecution and been convicted .
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
U.S. democracy is at a dangerous inflection point—from the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Left unchecked, these crises will lead to wider gaps in political participation and representation. For 50 years, Ms . has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Amendment, and centering the stories of those most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we are redoubling our commitment for the next 50 years. In turn, we need your help, Support Ms. today with a donation—any amount that is meaningful to you [[link removed]] . We are grateful for your loyalty and ferocity .
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