The Quickie: A Weekend of Dobbs Defiance and Determination

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: recap of Dobbs weekend of action, AZ Gov signs order protecting abortion providers, SC Supreme Court oral arguments tomorrow, and Latinos are part of the pro-abortion majority. 

THOUSANDS MOBILIZE ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO DEFEND REPRO RIGHTS 1 YEAR POST-ROE: This weekend, thousands mobilized across the country to protest the one year anniversary of the loss of their federal constitutional right to abortion. Some of the highlights of the weekend included: 

• On Friday in Washington, D.C., President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and EMILY’s List to discuss the administration’s actions since the overturn of Roe v. Wade and to reiterate their commitment to protecting access to basic health care for all Americans. On Friday morning, all three organizations endorsed President Biden and Vice President Harris for reelection. Dr. Serina Floyd, a Planned Parenthood provider, introduced President Biden at the rally. Read more at AP and The Guardian.

Credit: Shannon Finney

• On Saturday, Vice President Harris joined abortion rights supporters, including many representatives from Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, and Gov. Roy Cooper, at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, to mark one year since the Dobbs decision. As the abortion restrictions and 12-week ban that was rammed through the legislature is set to go into effect in North Carolina on July 1, the Vice President and advocates urged supporters to continue to fight back against state legislators’ attacks on our rights. Read more at WCNC. 

• Across the country on Saturday, people joined rallies hosted by Women’s March and other advocacy groups, calling on national and local politicians to protect their abortion access. Read more at the Washington Post.  

• On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visited two Planned Parenthood St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri health centers, one in Fairview, Illinois, where abortion is legal and protected and one in St. Louis, Missouri, where there is a near total ban on abortion. As Sec. Becerra noted, these two clinics, much like post-Roe America is a “tale of two cities”. Read more at ABC and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

AZ GOV. HOBBS SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO STOP LOCAL PROSECUTION OF ABORTION PROVIDERS: On Friday, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed an executive order that took away power from local prosecutors to criminally charge abortion providers. The power would instead rest with the state’s attorney general, who has vowed not to prosecute abortion providers. While abortion is still banned after 15 weeks of pregnancy in the state, this move is crucial to protect access to basic health care and empower doctors to provide the most medically sound care without fear of prosecution. 

In response to Governor Hobbs’ executive order Planned Parenthood Arizona released the following statement:

“We applaud Governor Hobbs for issuing this critical executive order and continuing to hold true to her commitment of being a Governor who would champion reproductive freedom,” Planned Parenthood Arizona President and CEO Brittany Fonteno said. “This executive order will help ease the fear and uncertainty that swept through Arizona in the year since Roe was overturned, and protect all those seeking and providing necessary health care. Make no mistake, there is always more work to do – Arizonans are still living under a restrictive 15-week abortion ban, and anti-abortion extremists continue to threaten our fundamental right to bodily autonomy – but today sets us on a promising and welcome path.”

Read more at the New York Times and AZ Family. 

TOMORROW: SC SUPREME COURT TO HEAR ORAL ARGUMENTS IN 6-WEEK ABORTION BAN CASE: Tomorrow, the South Carolina Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case against the state’s newly passed ban on abortion after six-weeks of pregnancy. This is the second case regarding the state constitutionality of abortion bans in South Carolina this year; a nearly identical six-week abortion ban was already struck down in January. 

WHAT: Oral arguments in the case against S.C.’s six-week abortion ban (S. 474)

WHEN: Tuesday, June 27, at 9:30 a.m.

WHERE: Supreme Court Building (1231 Gervais Street, Columbia, SC)

Non-local interested parties can watch the live-stream here. 

The lawsuit — brought by Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and other partners — asserts that S. 474 violates South Carolinians’ constitutional rights to privacy, equal protection, and substantive due process. The ban is temporarily blocked while the Supreme Court considers the merits of the case. 

YES, LATINOS ARE PART OF THE PRO-ABORTION MAJORITY: Last week, Ed Kilgore at New York Magazine dispelled the assumption that Latino voters are becoming more conservative on abortion rights. In 2008, Pew found that 47% of Hispanics believed abortion should be legal in “all or most cases” when 54% of Americans in general believed this. Now, in 2022, 60% of Hispanics favored abortion being legal in all or most cases, roughly equal to the 61% in favor overall. According to the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), 54% of Hispanic Catholics in 2013 opposed legal abortion and in 2022 only 37% opposed abortion with 61% in favor. As Kilgore writes: 

“Indeed, one analysis of the 2022 midterms showed intense pro-choice opinion definitely helped produce better-than-anticipated Democratic results among Hispanics/Latinos in the latest election: ‘Latinos who chose abortion as their top issue, wrote Equis, while a smaller group, voted in dominant fashion for Democrats, and they turned out beyond predicted rates.’ Don’t be surprised if that trend continues until Republicans change their tune on abortion policy.”

Read more at New York Magazine.