The Quickie: Back at it Again: Federal Judge Threatens to End Preventative Care Protected Under Affordable Care Act

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: A federal judge strikes down the ACA’s preventative services, Idaho passes a bill to criminalize adults who help young people access abortion care, Congress reintroduces the Women’s Health Protection Act, Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson is featured on Politico’s Recast Power List, VP of Abortion Access Danika Severino Wynn unpacks stereotypes of virtuous motherhood on the White Picket Fence podcast, and our weekly state fights recap.

BACK AT IT AGAIN: FEDERAL JUDGE THREATENS TO END PREVENTATIVE CARE PROTECTED UNDER AFFORDABLE CARE ACT: Yesterday, Judge Reed O’Connor — a federal judge in Texas notorious for ruling against the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — declared parts of the ACA’s preventive services provision unlawful. For over ten years, the ACA has required most private health insurance plans and Medicaid expansion programs to cover a range of recommended preventive services without any patient cost-sharing. 

This ruling immediately blocks the nationwide requirement for insurers to cover certain types of preventative care recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, such as cancer screenings, HIV prevention medication, mental health screenings, and screenings for pregnant people. This decision does not strike down the ACA’s birth control coverage requirement. The Biden administration is expected to appeal the ruling.

“This decision is as infuriating as it is harmful,” Planned Parenthood Federation of America President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said. “Preventative health care covered by insurance is essential and has helped people live healthier, longer lives. Now, because of one federal judge in Texas, the millions of people who benefit from vital health care like PrEP, cancer screenings, and more may be stripped of their ability to access the health care they need. As we have said time and again, our opponents were never satisfied with just overturning Roe v. Wade. All of our health, rights, and freedoms are at risk.”

Read more at Reuters and CNN.

IDAHO LAWMAKERS PASS BILL TO PREVENT MINORS FROM ACCESSING ABORTION OUT OF STATE:  Yesterday, the Idaho legislature passed HB 242, the nation’s first bill creating the crime of “abortion trafficking.” This bill criminalizes an adult who helps a young person access abortion care when the young person needs to conceal the procedure from their parents. This bill has no exceptions, no matter how extreme the minor’s home situation. It will now go to the desk of Gov. Little.

The bill, which carries a penalty of two to five years of imprisonment, targets trusted adults, family members, and helpers who assist a young person in accessing abortion. It will have a chilling effect that is dangerous and irresponsible, and will undoubtedly impact those it aims to protect the most — already vulnerable young people — and comes as the state faces a maternal mortality crisis. Planned Parenthood has called on Gov. Little to veto the bill. Mistie DelliCarpini-Tolman, Idaho State Director of Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, responded to the news saying: 

“All Idahoans - and people across the country, frankly - should be paying attention to this extreme attempt at government overreach to control our movements in and out of the state. This is merely the tip of the iceberg. The fact that the Idaho government not only wants to say what procedures will be available to us, but also now wants to be policing people assisting those trying to access that legal care in other states, is reprehensible. This bill sets a dangerous precedent of medical surveillance that should worry you, regardless of your position on abortion. The government has no place in your private medical decisions. Governor Little, you owe it to all Idahoans to veto this bill.”

More from NPR and AP.

CONGRESSIONAL CHAMPIONS INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO ADVANCE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: Yesterday, House reproductive rights champions Representatives Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Judy Chu (CA-29), Lois Frankel (FL-22), and Veronica Escobar (TX-16) reintroduced the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would guarantee safeguards for abortion access and create a federal right to abortion, with the support of 204 other representatives. 

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) also reintroduced the Senate companion to the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act to permanently repeal the global rule rule, which was introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this week. She was joined by nearly the entire Democratic caucus and had bipartisan support, which is a significant win for sexual and reproductive rights. The global gag rule has been used by anti-reproductive rights politicians to prevent international organizations from receiving any U.S. global health assistance if they provide, offer counsel on, refer to, or advocate for abortion services — even if these activities are supported solely with non-U.S. funds.

THE RECAST POWER LIST: Today, POLITICO announced its 2023 Power List, which includes 40 of the most powerful people in race and politics who have made a measurable impact. Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson is featured for her work to organize Planned Parenthood’s biggest political push in the 2022 midterms, and continued efforts to push back against abortion bans following the Dobbs decision last summer. 

“None of this surprised McGill Johnson, who came into her role with decades of political organizing experience — from grad school work in war-torn Colombia to the early-aughts ‘Vote or Die’ campaign with Puff Daddy — that taught her how to mobilize people who have traditionally felt powerless and ignored.

‘Abortion, without question, made the midterms competitive,’ she said. ‘Everywhere reproductive freedom was on the ballot, reproductive freedom won.’”

Reproductive health champions, including Planned Parenthood alum Rachel Sweet who led Kansas’s ballot measure work on abortion, Vice President Kamala Harris, New York Attorney General Letitia James, among others are also featured on the list.

Check out the full list here. 

THE POLITICAL IDENTITY OF MOTHERS: As part of PPFA’s ongoing partnership with White Picket Fence, Danika Severino Wynn, VP of Abortion Access for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, joined the podcast this week to continue unpacking normative ideas of motherhood. Danika explained that the perception of good motherhood often centers whiteness, which stereotypes Black motherhood and erases the contributions of Black women to parental activism movements:

“The first thing I would want to point out is that women of color, particularly Black women, have been in this fight the whole way, carrying a lot of the work that has gotten us to where we are. They just haven’t gotten the acknowledgement of it because we are steeped in a racist system. It’s incredibly important that we center, as Planned Parenthood, the patients that are most impacted by policies that are put in place in a racist system that leads to inequities in our health care system and inequities in our communities. 

I look forward to a time where we don’t have to justify the importance of women of color in that fight because it is just a given that they’re there and they’ve always been there, where we’re not relying on white-dominant culture as the virtue.”

Listen to the full episode here, and listen to previous episodes here.

STATE FIGHTS ROUND UP: Florida’s six-week abortion ban is one step closer to becoming law, while Maryland and Nevada advance measures to protect abortion rights in their state constitutions.  

Proactive efforts

• The Maryland General Assembly has approved legislation to codify protections for abortion in the state constitution. The measure will go before voters in 2024. 
• On Thursday, the Nevada Senate and Assembly Committees on Legislative Operations and Elections held a joint hearing on SJR7, a constitutional amendment that would enshrine protections for reproductive freedom. If passed during the 2023 and 2025 legislative sessions, the amendment would appear on the 2026 general election ballot for statewide approval.
• A critical bill that would have required the Tennessee Department of Health (DOH) to seek federal funding for HIV prevention, testing, and treatment has been deferred in the Senate Health and Welfare Committee until the next legislative session. Earlier this year, the DOH turned down funding from the federal HIV program, forcing community health organizations, including Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, to scale back their essential public health services.
• This week the Alaska House Labor & Commerce held a hearing on an LGBTQ+ non-discrimination bill and legislation requiring insurers to cover 12 months of contraception at a time.

Defensive efforts

• Yesterday, the Idaho legislature passed HB 242, legislation banning people from helping minors travel out of state for abortions with the intent to conceal the abortion from the minors’ parents. Abortion has been banned in Idaho since the summer. This bill is designed to have a chilling effect on those who would help young people get basic health care, putting them in dangerous and isolating situations. The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Little who is expected to sign it. Yesterday, Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador also issued an opinion claiming — contrary to any previous enforcement of abortion bans and going much farther than current law — it is a violation of Idaho law for a medical provider to refer people across state lines for an abortion.
• Yesterday the Florida House Health and Human Services committee passed the proposed six-week abortion ban (HB7) sending it to the full chamber for approval. The Senate also held debate on the senate version of the bill (SB300). A final version of the bill is certain to be signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has pledged to sign the bill and “work to expand ‘pro-life’ protections” in the state. Should it be enacted, this law would decimate a critical abortion access point for the southeast, Caribbean, and Central and South America. 
• A slate of anti-abortion measures were debated in hearings in Montana this week including a bill that would ban the most common method of abortion after approximately 12 weeks (HB721), a 24-week ban (HB575), a so-called “born alive” measure (HB625), and legislation to prohibit public funding for abortion with few exceptions (HB862). Additionally, a parental notification bill (HB968) is headed to the House floor and an abortion clinic licensure bill was introduced this week. 
• Arizona’s Senate Committee of the Whole passed HB2427, legislation to increase sentencing for knowingly assaulting a pregnant person. It is part of a larger strategy by anti-abortion politicians to advance the dangerous narrative of fetal personhood. The House also passed a so-called “born alive” measure (SB1600) sending it to the governor’s desk for signature or veto. 
• This week, the Ohio Senate held a hearing on SJR2, a measure to make it harder to run and win a ballot initiative in the state. 
• On Wednesday, the Kansas House passed legislation requiring abortion providers to post medically inaccurate propaganda about so-called abortion “reversal” — an unproven protocol based on faulty science and advanced by anti-abortion activists.

Anti-LGBTQ+ bills continued to sail through hostile legislatures this week:

• This week, West Virginia became the latest state to enact a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Indiana Gov. Holcomb is poised to sign a similar measure in the coming days. 
• In Ohio this week, an education censorship bill (SB83) was heard in the Senate Workforce and Higher Education Committee an anti-trans sports bill (HB6) had a hearing on Wednesday.
• Legislation banning transgender and gender-nonconforming youth from participating in private school sports that align with their gender identity (SB1237) was heard in the Tennessee Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. The House version (HB0306) was voted on on the House floor yesterday.
• The Idaho Legislature has approved HB 71, legislation to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth, including banning puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and gender-affirmation surgery has passed the Idaho Senate. If this bill becomes law, doctors, pharmacists, and any provider who assists youth in obtaining gender-affirming prescriptions or care could be charged with a felony and up to 10 years in jail. The bill now heads back to the desk of Gov. Little who is expected to sign it.
• On Wednesday, the Kentucky Legislature voted to override Gov. Beshear's veto of SB150. The anti-LGBTQ+ omnibus bill includes a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, forced outing and “Don’t Say Gay” provisions, and a sex education ban. 
• A “Don’t Say Gay” bill will be heard in the Alaska House Education committee today.