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Content Warning: many of these updates include information about harmful attacks on Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) and LGBTQ+ folx.

BREAKING: Terrible Decision Reached in Braidwood v. Becerra

Remember that terrible ruling out of Texas in September, which allowed employers to refuse to cover costs for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in employee insurance plans if they say they object to it on religious grounds?

Well, the judge has just released his final decision in the case and it is bad.

In his nationwide ruling, Judge O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee to a federal court in Texas, also struck down the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) preventive services requirement which mandates that health plans cover services like PrEP, screenings for HIV and STIs, cancer screenings, and breast and chest feeding services and support without any out-of-pocket costs to the individual patient.

Judge O’Connor was clear in singling out PrEP, and no other preventive services, when deciding the required coverage of PrEP violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This is a clear attack on PrEP and this decision to allow religious objections to an essential HIV prevention medication is rooted in deeply homophobic, dangerous, and harmful beliefs surrounding PrEP and those who use it.

According to the judge: “compulsory coverage for those services violates [the employer’s] religious beliefs by making them complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman.”

This decision will have a monumental impact on affordable access to crucial services and could affect up to 168 million people on employer health insurance and in the Obamacare individual marketplace. The return of cost-sharing will disproportionately deter many, especially those struggling to make ends meet, from seeking needed care. The case will likely be appealed, meaning a higher court will review the judge’s decision.

PWN-USA will follow up with more information on this decision and will follow the case as it moves through the courts.

🔥March’s Hot Topic🔥:

SCOTUS Overview/Preview

The Supreme Court of the United States will be deciding their biggest cases of the 2022-2023 term over the next couple of months. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States and has the power to decide cases that have a lasting impact on our rights and lives. Last term, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to abortion. This term, the Supreme Court has more monumental cases in front of them.

Here are some cases to watch that will have a concrete impact on our communities and the lives of people living with HIV:

LGBTQ+ Rights: In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, a Colorado graphic designer refused to create a website for same-sex couples. A decision for the designer would make Colorado’s law prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ+ customers, as well as any other state laws that provide similar protections, invalid. A bad ruling case would have extremely harmful effects including giving business owners broad rights to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.

Voting Rights: There are two vital Supreme Court voting rights cases this term. In Moore v. Harper, the Supreme Court could effectively allow state legislatures to set their own rules for presidential and congressional elections. The proponents of this case are seeking to control federal elections without constitutional oversight, and many are worried that a bad decision in this case could give states broad authority to change election rules in ways that benefit one political party. In Merrill v. Milligan, the Supreme Court could decide whether to make its temporary order allowing discriminatory redistricting plans in Alabama permanent. The case stems from the claim that the power of Black voters in Alabama was diluted through a congressional redistricting map that includes only one majority Black district out of seven. This is even though African-Americans make up more than a quarter of the state’s population.

Education: In Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina, the Supreme Court will decide cases that will have serious impacts for affirmative action and racial justice. These cases were brought by anti-civil rights radical activists as part of a larger effort to end race-conscious admissions policies, which were created to level the playing field by neutralizing the effect of years of systemic racial discrimination and oppression. The cases, brought by Asian Americans recruited by the anti-civil rights activists, attempts to drive a wedge in interracial solidarity and attack race-conscious policies and programs that facilitate opportunities for all people of color and benefit all students.

Economic Justice: In a case before the Supreme Court are lawsuits opposing the Biden administration’s plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for borrowers with annual incomes under $125,000. The legal argument supporting the loan forgiveness plan is that federal law allows for the government to forgive debt in cases of emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. People opposing student debt forgiveness argue that it is unfair to people without student debt. But most borrowers aren’t affluent—and many never complete their higher education. Meanwhile, loan debt prevents these same folx from buying homes, starting families or simply making ends meet. Additionally, this plan will primarily reach people who live in lower-income communities which means working parents and people of color will benefit.

Many of these decisions may come toward the court’s unofficial end in late June. We will continue to provide updates as the Supreme Court releases its decisions in these cases. To learn more, check out C-SPAN’s series of videos previewing the Supreme Court’s 2022-2023 term.

Access to Healthcare:

• On March 9, the White House released President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget for the federal government. Notably, the budget includes $850 million (a 48% increase from 2023 funding levels) to continue the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the U.S. initiative (EHE). However, the budget fails to increase non-EHE Ryan White funds, which are necessary and essential funds that increase the quality of life of people living with HIV outside of EHE jurisdictions.
• This year, Congress will consider the fourth reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which contributes to the global health effort to fight against HIV.
• North Carolina passed a Medicaid expansion law which will potentially provide coverage to 600,000 adults who earn too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid but too little to receive subsidized private insurance.

Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice:

• Anti-abortion restrictions and bans continue to be passed and enacted. The governor of Utah, for example, signed a ban on abortion clinics into law. The law requires abortions be provided in hospital settings, which will ultimately stop clinics like Planned Parenthood from being able to provide abortions.

• Notable abortion criminalization bills are also moving through state legislatures. The Florida legislature has advanced a 6-week abortion ban and South Carolina politicians have proposed a bill that could subject people who have abortions to the death penalty or a minimum of 30 years in prison.

• The impact of anti-abortion policies on peoples’ reproductive health and rights is clear and devastating. For example:

  • The near-total abortion ban in Idaho is driving doctors away due to reasons like the increased criminalization of physicians, leading to a lack of care for thousands.

  • Walgreens is refusing to distribute extremely safe and effective abortion pills in states where Republican officials have threatened legal action — including some places where abortion is still legal and available.

  • In Texas, a man filed a civil lawsuit for over $1 million in damages against his ex-wife’s closest friends for supporting his ex-wife in obtaining abortion medication. Although the case will likely not move forward, it shows that the anti-abortion movement is focusing its efforts on criminalizing medication abortion.

• Some states, on the other hand, are working to expand abortion access. This month Hawaii (which is the first state to decriminalize abortion access in the US) passed a bill into law to protect abortion services and the doctors who provide those services. Minnesota also advanced a bill that would protect out-of-state patients coming to the state seeking abortion care.

• The courts – from SCOTUS all the way down – have been a key player in the fight for abortion access. Here are some of the highlights in the courts from this month:

  • In Wyoming, abortion will be legal for now after a judge temporarily blocked a ban that took effect a few days earlier.

  • The North Dakota Supreme Court kept in place the block on the state’s abortion ban which means that North Dakotans will have access to abortion in the state for now.

  • The Ohio Supreme Court agreed to review a block on the state’s near-ban on abortion. Currently the state’s near-total abortion ban is blocked. If that is reversed by the Court, the state’s abortion ban will go into effect.

Ending Violence:

• Arizona’s governor vetoed a bill banning critical race theory. The push to ban critical race theory is an example of anti-Black violence and censorship by attempting to erase history and attack anti-racism efforts.  

• Texas state officials took over Houston’s majority Black and Latinx public school district, worrying families that diversity and equity within the district’s staff, educators, and programs will suffer because of the lack of a representative body that is responsive to the community.

• In Georgia, people detained in the Clayton County jail spoke out about its horrific conditions ahead of the special election for Clayton County sheriff. Last year, the County’s sheriff was convicted of violating the constitutional rights of detainees. The people detained are speaking out showing the importance of local elections and the power County sheriffs have in the lives of people who are detained.

• The Minnesota legislature has advanced a measure to create the United States’ first Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women. The demand for the Office stems from findings that Black women and girls are disproportionately likely to be harmed and when they are, their cases are largely met with silence from law enforcement and media.

Economic Justice:

• In a huge victory for the labor movement in Michigan, the state is set to become the first state in 58 years to overturn the anti-worker “right-to-work” law. “Right to work” laws undermine labor unions and instead benefit corporations that seek to take advantage of workers with lower pay and worsening working conditions.  
• Illinois enacted a law that requires employers to offer paid time off for any reason. The law will take effect next year, ensuring that workers, especially low-income workers, are able to take time off when needed without fear of retaliation from an employer.

Ending Criminalization:

• The U.S. Senate voted to block an effort by the District of Columbia to overhaul the city’s criminal code. The overhaul included important efforts to reduce criminalization and harsh sentencing.
• An HIV activist is appealing his case and asking the New York Court of Appeals to invalidate a law that unfairly criminalizes people living with HIV.
• The movement to end HIV criminalization is moving in several states! There are bills that would address the problem of HIV criminalization in Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas this legislative session.

LGBTQ+ Health, Rights, and Justice:

March 25th to 31st is the Trans Week of Visibility and Action. The continued wave of political attacks on the rights, dignity and humanity of trans and non-binary people is a crisis. Lawmakers in many states are effectively attempting to legislate transgender and non-binary people out of existence.

The graphic above shows multiple forms of anti-trans political violence, all of which are being pushed by lawmakers in states across the U.S.. For example, Tennessee signed a law targeting drag shows and is advancing a bill discriminating against LGBTQ+ people by attempting to use an outdated and harmful definition of “sex” throughout the state’s laws. Both Florida and Tennessee have banned essential gender-affirming health care for trans youth.

In positive news:

• The Maryland legislature passed the Trans Health Equity Act, which will require Medicaid to cover gender affirming care.

• The Minnesota governor signed an executive order protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ people from Minnesota and other states to receive gender affirming health care.  

• Michigan’s governor signed a landmark expansion of the state’s civil rights act which protects LGBTQ+ people against discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

• The New Mexico legislature passed a bill that would modernize the state’s anti-discrimination law by adding explicit protections for LGBTQ+ people.

PWN is committed to elevating trans leadership, celebrating trans joy, brilliance and power, and demanding lawmaker accountability—not just during a week or on a day, but year-around and always.