The Quickie: How Advocates Are Fighting the Abortion Access Crisis
For Immediate Release: Feb. 22, 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: how advocates are fighting the abortion access crisis, PP celebrates McClellan’s win in VA special election last night, and PP Advocates of WI endorse Protasiewicz for WI Supreme Court race.
HOW ADVOCATES ARE FIGHTING THE ABORTION ACCESS CRISIS: Yesterday, Well + Good featured the work providers and advocates are doing to ensure pregnant people can access life-saving abortion care in the wake of the Dobbs decision and amid abortion bans and other attacks on reproductive health care across the country.
Danika Severino Wynn, Vice President of Abortion Access at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, explained that Planned Parenthood affiliates work closely with local partners and abortion funds to help resolve the complexities of travel and logistics. Some affiliates have innovated as well, such as Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri who unveiled a mobile abortion clinic that operates in Southern Illinois that helps service patients traveling from Missouri, which has a strict abortion ban.
Planned Parenthood and other providers are also focused on expanding telehealth and medication abortion, both of which are critical for making abortion more accessible to different communities as well as allow pregnant people in ban states to more easily access abortion services. As Severino Wynn notes, “An unprecedented crisis fosters unprecedented collaboration.”
Read more at Well + Good.
PP CELEBRATES REPRO RIGHTS CHAMPION HISTORIC VICTORY IN VA-04 SPECIAL ELECTION: Yesterday, Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF) endorsed candidate State Senator Jennifer McClellan won the special election for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District, making her the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress.
“Tonight we celebrate this historic election of Jennifer McClellan, a champion for sexual and reproductive health care and the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress,” PPAF President Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement. “Jennifer has dedicated her life to serving her community and we look forward to all that she will accomplish in the House. This victory is another win for protecting abortion access and yet another reminder that voters want their elected officials to protect reproductive rights.”
Read more at ABC.
PP ADVOCATES OF WISCONSIN ENDORSES JANET PROTASIEWICZ FOR STATE SUPREME COURT: This morning, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin endorsed Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Protasiewicz garnered the most votes of all four candidates — 46.4% — in yesterday’s primary election after making abortion rights a central part of her campaign; she will face opponent Dan Kelly in the April 4 general election. The outcome of this election will be critical for abortion access in Wisconsin as the court is likely to hear Attorney General Josh Kaul and Gov. Tony Evers’ challenge to the state’s 1849 criminal abortion ban, which has forced providers to suspend abortion services. As Reuters reports:
“Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin plans to invest more resources in the campaign than any previous judicial race, spokesperson Tiffany Wynn said. The group has hired staff to canvass door-to-door and is planning an advertising blitz after Tuesday's primary."
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Read more at Reuters.