🔥July’s Hot Topic🔥:

In Light of Dobbs – Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice

Just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, we are seeing and feeling the devastating consequences of a 40-year battle to limit reproductive freedom. As of August 1, abortion is completely or effectively banned in 12 states, with more bans expected in the coming weeks.

In some states, the fight for abortion access has shifted to the courtroom. As of the time of writing, bans and restrictions have been blocked, at least temporarily, in Arizona, Louisiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. A Georgia law banning most abortions and granting “personhood” to embryos and fetuses went into effect this month. SisterSong and other reproductive justice organizations are currently challenging it in courts. In other states, the right to abortion is on the ballot. California, Vermont, and likely Michigan will have ballot measures to establish a state constitutional right to abortion in their upcoming elections. On the other hand, voters in Kansas and Kentucky will face anti-abortion ballot measures to deny that any such right exists in their state constitutions.

The Biden Administration has taken steps to protect abortion access, but abortion rights supporters have criticized the White House and some Democrat lawmakers for being too slow to act. Steps taken by the administration include 1) pledging to protect the right to travel between states to seek medical care and access to medication abortion, and contraception, 2) releasing guidance reminding doctors that they’re protected by federal law if they terminate a pregnancy as part of emergency treatment, and 3) attempting to strengthen the Affordable Care Act by prohibiting health care providers, including telemedicine providers, from denying care based on a person’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy status or need for abortion. On July 8, Biden signed an executive order protecting access to reproductive healthcare services, but its reach was limited. More administrative and Congressional action is needed to protect and expand abortion access!

This was the first full term with the Supreme Court’s new radically conservative majority. SCOTUS decisions this term, Dobbs included, clearly signal that the right to abortion is not the only fundamental human right on the chopping block. In a chilling Dobbs concurrence, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas warned that other substantive due process rights, such as birth control, same-sex marriage, and same-sex sexual intimacy, could be the next to fall. And anti-LGBTQ actors were paying attention.

The lawyer who pioneered and co-authored Texas’ extraordinarily cruel abortion ban, S.B. 8, is now coming for PrEP. Last year, PrEP was added to a list of preventative services insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) must cover at zero cost. The Texas lawyer argues that requiring PrEP coverage violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, citing that PrEP “encourages and facilitates homosexual behavior, drug use, [and] sexual activity outside of marriage.” The judge presiding over the case previously ruled the ACA was unconstitutional (but the U.S. Supreme Court voted to uphold it). The current climate of the U.S. Supreme Court and their recent decisions in favor of religious arguments makes this case exceptionally worrisome. We will be watching it closely and will keep you updated!

Congress is trying to safeguard fundamental rights. In the last two weeks, the U.S. House of Representatives passed bills to protect abortion access, contraceptives, and same sex marriage. Unfortunately, these bills are unlikely to pass the Senate because of the filibuster – a mechanism that allows one Senator to object to a bill, and then the bill needs 60 votes to pass instead of the simple majority vote of 51 – a much higher, and often insurmountable hurdle. (You can sign a petition to abolish the filibuster, here.) In light of the Dobbs decision and the imminent danger it presents to same-sex marriage, here are some steps LGBTQ Americans can take now to help secure protections for their relationships and families preemptively ahead of any court rollback in LGBTQ rights.

Healthcare Access

  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation has announced more than $5 million in funding to support 53 community-based organizations in expanding their HIV self-testing programs.

  • A new bill in the U.S. Senate would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies to curb the rising cost of drugs, one step in reviving President Biden’s economic agenda.

Criminalization and Policing

  • The Safer Streets for All Act, which eliminates a provision of California law that prohibited “loitering in a public place” for sex work, has been signed by California’s governor. Any person who has been convicted under the previous law will be able to petition for dismissal and sealing of their case.

  • In Arizona, a new law has been passed that makes it illegal for people to record the police if they are within 8 feet, an apparent violation of the First Amendment right to photograph and record police officers in public places. (Know your rights when filming the police, here!)

  • In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered state police to return migrants and asylum seekers to the Mexican border. RAICES (a non-profit that provides legal and social for immigrants with low incomes) called Abbott’s move an “overreach of power” and a “disgusting political stunt to dehumanize immigrants and stoke anti-immigrant fear and hate to score political points.”

LGBTQ+ Health, Rights, and Justice

  • Congress is working to enshrine protections for trans people into federal law with a Trans Bill of Rights.

  • The Supreme Court ruled in Carson v. Makin that taxpayer dollars must go to private religious schools if the state also funds private non-religious schools. Some religious schools (including the two Maine schools at question in Carson) have a history of anti-LGBTQ policies, such as discriminatory hiring practices or refusing to admit gay and transgender children. The Maine attorney general said the ruling wouldn’t impact their state because of a non-discrimination policy that blocks schools that would harm, endanger, or discriminate against LGBTQ students from getting public funds.

  • Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law is wreaking havoc. One school district in the state ended their anti-LGBTQ bullying prevention program for fear they may be sued under the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

  • The Leon County School Board (also in Florida) approved a bogus new policy that requires schools to inform other students and their parents if they share a physical education class, athletic team, or overnight trip with a trans student, essentially forcing teachers to out their transgender students.

  • Another Florida school board almost banned two “Comprehensive Health Skills” books because they include topics like contraceptives and abortion. The Miami Dade County School Board did, in the end, vote to allow the books in local schools.

  • Alabama is arguing that an appeals court should reinstate its felony ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth (which is currently blocked by a federal judge) by borrowing language from the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs.

Economic Justice

  • The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has unveiled a package of resources to address homelessness. The package provides $322 million to expand access to health care, support services, and permanent housing for unhoused people.

  • California’s CARE Court proposal, or SB 1338, passed the state Senate. The bill would establish a special court (CARE court) for people with untreated mental health and substance use disorders. In theory, this system would help folks at risk of homelessness craft care plans, secure stable housing, and prevent arrests. Civil and human rights advocates strongly oppose the bill, warning that it is misleading and would amount to coerced, court-ordered treatment. It would also perpetuate institutional racism, disproportionately putting Black and Brown people under state control without addressing the issue of homelessness. According to Human Rights Watch, the bill “seems aimed at facilitating removing unhoused people from public view without actually providing housing and services that will help to resolve homelessness.”

Voting Rights and Access