The Quickie: Breaking News: Rulings on North Carolina and Indiana's Abortion Bans
For Immediate Release: June 30, 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: NC abortion restriction blocked, IN total abortion ban to go into effect, reaction to this week’s decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, and standing against criminalization of health care.
As a note, the Quickie will take a brief hiatus until Thursday, July 6th. Please anticipate our dramatic return!
**BREAKING: JUST NOW: FEDERAL COURT BLOCKS PROVISION IN NC’S ABORTION RESTRICTIONS. RSVP FOR PRESS CALL @ 1:30 PM HERE**
Abortion providers have asked the court to address and clarify several restrictions within the law which is set to go into effect tomorrow. This week, in response to abortion providers’ suit, the General Assembly passed H.B. 190, which clarifies several vague or contradictory provisions in S.B. 20.
At 1:30pm ET today, plaintiffs and litigators will hold a virtual press conference to discuss the law and ruling. RSVP here.
Read more from The News & Observer.
INDIANA SUPREME COURT ALLOWS TOTAL ABORTION BAN TO GO INTO EFFECT: Today, the Indiana Supreme Court allowed S.E.A. 1, a total abortion ban, to take effect as soon as August 1, making Indiana the 21st state to ban all or some abortions. S.E.A. 1, the first new abortion ban to pass after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, went into effect for one week last September before being blocked while the case continued.
On top of being a total abortion ban, S.E.A. 1 threatens providers with criminal penalties. The ban contains limited exceptions: serious risk to the health or life of a pregnant person; diagnosis of a “lethal fetal anomaly,”; and rape or incest before 12 weeks of pregnancy. S.E.A. 1 requires that any abortions allowed under law's narrow exceptions be provided in a hospital, which is neither affordable nor widely accessible for many patients. The plaintiffs — including PPFA and Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky — said in a joint statement:
“We are devastated by the Indiana Supreme Court’s ruling today which will deprive more than 1.5 million people in Indiana— particularly Black, Latino, and Indigenous people, people with low incomes, and LGBTQ+ people, who already face the most challenges when seeking medical care — of life-saving, essential health care. Now, patients will be forced either to flee the state to access abortion if they have the means, seek abortion outside of the health care system, or carry pregnancies against their will with profound medical risk and life-altering consequences. Despite this setback, we’ll keep fighting to restore reproductive rights in Indiana and to help Hooisers get access to the services they need. Today’s decision is not the end of our fight for equitable, compassionate care in Indiana, or the patients in surrounding states who rely on Indiana for access to abortion.”
Another block remains in effect as a result of a separate lawsuit, brought by the ACLU of Indiana, which claims the law violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This block aims to allow abortion access for Hoosiers who have sincere religious beliefs that they must be able to obtain an abortion.
Read more at the Indianapolis Star and AP.
Check out PPFA’s release here.
SUPREME COURT GUTS CIVIL RIGHTS, UNDERMINING EQUALITY NATIONWIDE: In a pair of stunning and devastating rulings issued on the last two days of the Supreme Court’s term, the Court has attacked our rights from every angle, turning back the clock on the progress this country had made in the march toward justice and equality.
Read more about what these decisions mean for our country from Lambda Legal and NAACP.
CONDEMNING CRIMINALIZATION OF ESSENTIAL HEALTH CARE:
