The Quickie: Advocates Rally Across the Country for Abortion Pill Access
For Immediate Release: April 17, 2023
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: thousands rally for mifepristone access, SCOTUS temporarily blocks lower court decisions restricting access to mifepristone, and CO Gov. signs abortion and trans* rights bills.
ADVOCATES RALLY ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR ABORTION PILL ACCESS: This weekend across the country, Planned Parenthood affiliates and partners organized rallies, marches, and events to demonstrate support for access to mifepristone and abortion rights more broadly. Thousands joined those gatherings from coast to coast, including the Los Angeles rally where Vice President Kamala Harris gave a surprise speech, and the Washington D.C. rally on the steps of the Supreme Court. See pictures from the rallies in Austin, Los Angeles, and outside the Supreme Court below.
Read more at NPR, Washington Post, and Austin Chronicle.
SCOTUS DELAYS IMPACT OF MIFEPRISTONE DECISIONS UNTIL THURSDAY: On Friday afternoon, Justice Samuel Alito granted an administrative stay that preserves the status quo regarding mifepristone’s FDA-approval until this Wednesday, April 19th, at 11:59:59 PM ET. The stay comes after the Department of Justice, representing the FDA, and manufacturer Danco Laboratories filed emergency requests with the court to stay the lower court decisions.
On Saturday morning, Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Alexis McGill Johnson spoke to MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart about the stakes of this case for access to reproductive health care nationwide and our country’s drug approval system.
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Read more at NPR and the Washington Post.
CO GOV. SIGNS TRIO OF REPRODUCTIVE AND TRANS RIGHTS BILLS: On Friday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed three bills into law that reaffirmed protections for reproductive and transgender health care in the state. The new laws include:
- Senate Bill 188: a shield bill that aims to protect people who either receive or provide abortions and gender-affirming care in Colorado from criminal prosecution or civil lawsuits initiated in other states where those services may not be legal.
- Senate Bill 189: a bill that requires larger employer plans to cover the cost of abortions without deductibles, copayments, or coinsurance beginning in 2025.
- Senate Bill 190: a bill targeted at reducing the medical misinformation peddled by anti-abortion centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers.
“Now, as a Trump-appointed judge in Texas is trying to ban the most common form of abortion care nationwide, and states all around us are banning lifesaving gender-affirming care—we will not let them harm our patients or providers, here in Colorado,” Jack Teter, Regional Director of Government Affairs at Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains, said. “The policies signed into law today are the result of years of movement building and community and partner collaboration. We are so grateful to the lawmakers who listened carefully to advocates and community members and swiftly took action to make sure Coloradans can access the care they need safely, affordably, and free from misinformation.”
Read more at Colorado Sun and AP.