The Quickie: Dearest Readers, Lady Budgeton Has Grown Weary

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 Lady Budgeton update, Michigan court blocks unnecessary abortion restrictions, and AMJ joins theSkimm’s 9 to 5ish podcast.

Dearest gentle readers, 

While a scorching heat wave descends upon our nation’s capital and indeed much of the country, leaving us all in a state of wilting disarray, there is a distinct chill coming from the House side of the marble dome as we approach yet another week of this appropriations season. Thus, I take up my quill.

Throughout this season, certain members of the Grand Old Party have been intent on using their positions of authority to dictate matters that intimately concern our bodies and our access to vital sexual and reproductive health care services. 

This week, alas, appears no different. The House Rules committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee will consider appropriations bills to advance the anti-abortion agenda of controlling our bodies, lives, and futures. 

Keep your wits sharp and your judgment keen, gentle readers. For in the shadowed corners of governance, ambition often conceals its true motives. But this author’s vision is sharp and, after all, sunlight is the most effective of disinfectants. Read my comprehensive correspondence here.

Until next time,

Lady Budgeton

MICHIGAN’S FORCED DELAY FOR ABORTION IS NO MORE:  In a ruling that hinged on Michigan’s voter-approved Reproductive Freedom Amendment, a Michigan court blocked several medically unnecessary abortion restrictions, including a 24-hour forced delay period, biased counseling requirements, and a ban on advanced practice clinicians providing abortion care. The injunction means that starting today, abortion providers like Planned Parenthood of Michigan will no longer be required to turn away patients who forgot to bring their timestamped counseling form or to give their patients materials designed to dissuade them from having an abortion.

“The abortion restrictions we’ve challenged in this case make it harder for patients to get abortion care and disproportionately impact Michiganders who already face health inequities, while having no medical justification whatsoever,” said Rabia Muqaddam, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “We hope the Court will ultimately strike down these harmful restrictions for good.”

PPFA PREZ ON PAVING A PATH FOR THE FUTURE: Recently, Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America joined the 9 to 5ish podcast with theSkimm to discuss her journey to Planned Parenthood and the path forward. Alexis talks about the fight ahead saying, “We always prepare for the worst case scenario because that's the place to not be disappointed, to be focused on what the work is, and to not let it jar you when you have to step in and step up.”

Alexis also shared her perspective on how to stay optimistic saying, “Since 2018, every time reproductive freedom has been on the ballot, we have won. We have powered through. We've transformed state houses, we've won ballot initiatives, we've won elections, major federal elections, senate races, and politics really got us into this situation. It's a really key component to getting us out. But we have to believe that it is achievable, right? We have to believe that what we do matters in this moment, and so I do feel that hope generally and genuinely from the wins.”

Listen to the full interview here.