April’s Hot Topic:

Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson will be coming down within the next two months. Let’s talk about what’s at stake!

Pro-abortion advocates are bracing for the decision in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Whole Women’s Health. The Court could unravel or even overturn the constitutional right to abortion guaranteed by Roe v Wade. It is perhaps the most consequential abortion case that the Supreme Court has heard since 1973, and state legislatures are rushing to either undermine or protect reproductive freedom ahead of the Supreme Court’s decision.

In the month of April alone, Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Oklahoma have all enacted abortion restrictions. Kentucky’s law bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, restricts access to medication abortion and makes it harder for young people to access abortion services. In Florida, Governor DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban into law that provides no exception for rape, incest, or human trafficking. Oklahoma passed a number of abortion restrictions this month. For example, the state made it a felony offense to perform an abortion punishable by up to ten years in prison; another set of laws, which passed in the state House & Senate, would prohibit abortion after six weeks – although most pregnant people aren’t even aware they are pregnant at that point – and empower private citizens (essentially bounty hunters) to bring civil lawsuits against anyone who supports someone in getting an abortion. A Tennessee bill is sitting on Governor Lee’s desk that would create strict regulations on medication abortion, including a prohibition on mailing abortion pills and harsh penalties on doctors.

These laws are not harmless political posturing. Some try to claim that they “don’t plan to punish pregnant people,” but that’s completely bogus! Anti-abortion laws are examples of state violence that stigmatize, criminalize, and effectively eliminate access to an essential component of health care: abortion care. Black and non-Black people of color, LBGTQ+ folks, people in rural areas, and low-income folks especially have been punished for self-managed abortions and/or forced to remain pregnant against their will.

Consider this recent example: In Texas, Lizelle Herrera was arrested and charged with murder for “self-inducing” her abortion. It is likely that someone from Herrera’s own medical team reported her to law enforcement, and she was then charged with “intentionally and knowingly causing the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.” The charges were dropped but the harm cannot be ignored. The numerous Texas abortion restrictions (including SB8, SB4, and other pre-existing restrictions) create an “aura of illegality” around pregnancy loss and abortion care that emboldens law enforcement, prosecutors and private bounty hunters to deny pregnant people their human right to bodily autonomy.

Other states are reading the writing on the wall and working to pass legislation that would guarantee and expand abortion access before the Court rules on Dobbs. In Maryland, the legislature overrode Governor Hogan’s veto to pass a law that will provide funding for abortion care training programs and allow advanced practice registered nurses (RNs), midwives and physician’s assistants to perform abortions in the state. In Colorado, Governor Polis signed the Reproductive Health Equity Act (RHEA) into law which states that “every individual has a fundamental right to continue a pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion and to make decisions about how to exercise that right.” Congrats again, PWN-CO – your hard work and advocacy has paid off once again!

To learn more ways to mobilize around this issue, click here: Take Action!

Ending Criminalization

Biden Administration’s Attempt to End Anti-Immigration Policy Blocked by Federal Judge

A Louisiana federal judge has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending Title 42, a policy originally imposed by the Trump administration to block migrants at the border from seeking asylum in the U.S. in the name of “public health.”

Title 42 gives the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the authority to take emergency action to deny entry to migrants seeking asylum – and it did so at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Immigrant rights organizations have argued that Title 42 serves no public health purpose and is a pretext for cruel, anti-immigrant treatment. Since the Trump administration imposed Title 42, more than 1.7 million migrants have been expelled at the US-Mexico border without screening for asylum.

The CDC announced that Title 42 will expire on May 23. However, the Louisiana federal court decision means those plans are on hold for now. Additionally, some folks in Congress have pushed to delay the expiration and continue to deny people at the border their right to claim asylum.

Everyone deserves a life free from fear and wrapped in safety. Title 42 creates unsafe living conditions for many migrants, who often face either deportation to the conditions they fled or extended time in unsafe make-shift encampments.

Take Action! Demand President Biden and Congress stop all Title 42 expulsions and restore the right for people to claim asylum, sign on here!

In other Ending Criminalization news:

  • The U.S. House has voted to federally decriminalize marijuana. Marijuana criminalization laws have disproportionately affected Black people with their likelihood of arrest being 3.73 times higher than for whites. If passed by the Senate, this decriminalization effort would also expunge the records of people who were convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses.
  • U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using private technology companies to get around sanctuary laws that prohibit such data sharing between local law enforcement and immigration authorities. They are working with data brokers that sell personal consumer and criminal legal data, and then using that information to detain and deport immigrants – forcing folks from their lives, homes and families in the U.S..

Be sure to read more on April’s policy updates: