1). “Will Texas Report on Maternal Death?”, Mar 12, 2025, Jessica Valenti, Abortion, Every Day, at < https://jessica.substack.com/
2). “Louisiana Mother Pleads Not Guilty to Abortion Charges”, Mar 11, 2025, Jessica Valenti, Abortion, Every Day, at < https://jessica.substack.com/
3). “New York doctor indicted in Louisiana abortion case recognized as a leader in women’s reproductive health”, Feb 23, 2025, Alaa Elassar, CNN, at < https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/
4). “Louisiana’s new law on abortion drugs establishes risky treatment delays, lawsuit claims”, Oct 31, 2024, Sara Cline & Kevin McGill, AP, at < https://apnews.com/article/
5). “Louisiana House votes to define abortion drugs as dangerous controlled substances: Under the legislation, Louisiana would become the first state in the nation to categorize mifepristone and misoprostol as dangerous, signaling a new policy issue for the anti-abortion movement nationwide”, May 22, 2024, Julie O’Donoghue, The 19th, at < https://19thnews.org/2024/05/
6). “The Trump Administration’s First Actions in 2025 Targeting Patients, Providers, and Reproductive Health Care Access”, Feb 25, 2025, National Women's Law Center, at < https://nwlc.org/resource/the-
~~ recommended by dmorista ~~
Introduction by dmorista: In Item 1)., “Will Texas Report ….”, Jessica Valenti at Abortion, Every Day (AED) discusses the most recent developments in one of her many roundups of events on the Abortion Access and Reproductive Healthcare Rights front. The first topic is more information on Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) and the ways they trick women, lie to them, use their information and steal a large amount of state support money. Typically the CPCs neither actually have any healthcare professionals on staff and claime they are limited by HIPPA rules when actually they are not.
Item 2)., “Louisiana Mother Pleads ….”,discusses the indictment of Dr. Maggie Carpenter by the Louisiana Attorney General for a felony for sending Mifepristone and Misoprostol to a woman in Louisiana from her office in New York. Carpenter has also had a Texas Court fine her $100,000 for providing Mifepristone and Misoprostol to a woman in Texas. (the Texas Attorney General is a well-known fraudster who slipped out of his guilt by a vote in the Texas State Legislature). In contrast to the slimy and fanatical machinations of the officials in Texas and Louisiana Carpenter is a well-known leader in her community and has served humanity in a series of projects in the U.S. and overseas, this is discussed in some detail in Item 3)., “New York doctor indicted in Louisiana ….”. The absurdity of declaring Mifepristone and Misoprostol to be dangerous Schedule 4 drugs by the dark ages legislature of Louisiana is taken up by Item 4)., “Louisiana’s new law ….”, and Item 5)., “Louisiana House votes ….”.
Finally Item 6)., “The Trump Administration’s ….”, takes a look at the quiet level actions that Trump has taken to attack women's Abortion Access and Reproductive Healthcare Rights, as of late February. No doubt there have been more attacks since then, and the list of outrages has lengthened.
Perhaps some readers have grown weary with my frequent posts about the endless and complex developments in Abortion Access and Reproductive Healthcare Rights. I know I have been saddened to see our society sliding into a fascistic and authoritarian milieu in this and other issues.
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Will Texas Report on Maternal Death?
Click to skip ahead: Attacks on Privacy has proof that Heartbeat International knew their centers were lying to women about HIPAA. Attacks on Data reports on a new Guttmacher recommendation to do away with mandatory abortion reporting. In the States, news from Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Hawaii, New Jersey, and Montana. All Eyes on ‘Coercion’ looks at the rise of the anti-abortion term and where we might see it next. In the Nation, the latest on the attacks on abortion medication.
Attacks on Privacy
Well this is wild: Heartbeat International, the country’s largest network of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), has all but admitted that their centers have been lying to women about HIPAA protections. Now we just have to see if Republican attorneys general will do anything about it.
First, some context: You probably already know that CPCs are incredibly deceptive. They lie to the women who walk through their doors about abortion, birth control, and even the women’s own pregnancies. They also tell clients any medical data shared with them is protected under HIPAA, even though these religious centers aren’t subject to the federal privacy law.
Abortion, Every Day has flagged this before: Last year, the newsletter found that Heartbeat centers were sharing women’s private medical information with non-medical staff and volunteers—and in some cases even making it available to anyone with an internet connection. At the same time, Heartbeat’s centers were falsely assuring women their information was safe under HIPAA.
Now there’s even more evidence of that calculated—and likely illegal—deception. The watchdog nonprofit Campaign for Accountability (CfA) found a Heartbeat webpage directing CPCs on what to say about HIPAA—confirming that the anti-abortion powerhouse knew their centers have been lying to women. Here’s a snapshot of the page:
But this isn’t just about rogue CPCs lying—these centers have been instructed from the top down. In AED’s 2024 investigation, I reported on a Heartbeat training video that walked affiliates through setting up their website. Part of that training included a privacy disclaimer with default language falsely suggesting HIPAA compliance: “I understand (Center) will hold in strict confidence all the information I provide except as required by law and HIPPA [sic] privacy standards…”
In other words, Heartbeat has actively encouraged its affiliates to use misleading language, giving women the false impression that the centers must legally protect their medical privacy.
CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith made it clear why Heartbeat is suddenly changing course: “Apparently only now, after CfA has pointed out the potential legal ramifications of these lies, is the organization actively recommending CPCs tell the truth.”
Attacks on Data
Let’s stay on privacy and data for a moment. One of the things AED has been banging the drum on is how the anti-abortion movement weaponizes abortion reporting—to shame patients, intimidate providers, and fabricate data that falsely paints abortion as dangerous.
That’s why I’m so glad to see the Guttmacher Institute calling for an end to state abortion reporting. Their latest policy recommendation makes clear that this data isn’t just being collected—it’s being used “to stigmatize, harass, or even prosecute abortion patients and providers—including in situations where abortion care is provided and obtained legally.”
Naturally, Republicans insist they’re only gathering this information to ensure abortion is “safe.” But as Kelly Baden, Guttmacher’s vice president for public policy, told the Associated Press, “It would be a mistake for anyone to assume now that the information a state could collect about abortion would not be used to harm people.”
Consider Indiana, where Attorney General Todd Rokita has made it his personal mission to make abortion reports public records like birth or death certificates. The goal is to ensure anti-abortion groups have access to the records so they can dig for supposed wrongdoing.
Usually that means finding out that a doctor has filed some paperwork late—or some other bureaucratic error that has nothing to do with patient care. But these activists don’t care about safety or accuracy—they just want to make abortion providers’ lives as difficult as possible.
There’s another reason to get rid of mandatory abortion reporting: It divorces abortion from all other kinds of healthcare. After all, you don’t see states collecting information about appendectomies or tonsillectomies. From Guttmacher:
“The premise that abortion care specifically and uniquely requires state surveillance both increases abortion stigma and perpetuates the idea that abortion should stand apart from other health care.”
To be clear, Guttmacher isn’t arguing that we should stop tracking abortion data entirely—just that it should be collected voluntarily, the way high-quality research is already being done through their Monthly Abortion Provision Study and the Society of Family Planning’s #WeCount project.
Because again, mandatory state reporting has never been about patient safety. It’s about finding new ways to restrict abortion and punish those who have them.
Read more from Abortion, Every Day on how Republicans use abortion reporting to punish providers and patients:
In the States
While we’re on the topic of data collection, let’s talk about Texas’ maternal mortality committee. You might remember that late last year, the committee announced it wouldn’t analyze maternal deaths from 2022 and 2023—which just so happen to be the first two years after the state passed its total abortion ban.
A few months before that, Republicans installed anti-abortion extremist Ingrid Skop on the committee. This is a woman who claims abortion is never medically necessary and that bans don’t endanger women.
It’s hard to believe those decisions are a coincidence. After all, Texas’ maternal mortality rate increased by 56% after the state’s abortion ban went into effect. I have to imagine Republicans are eager to prevent the release of any more damaging data.
Eleanor Klibanoff at the Texas Tribune dug into the politics behind the committee this week, highlighting the state rules that make real analysis harder—like restrictions on reviewing abortion-related deaths and redacting requirements. She also covers the efforts by Texas Democrats to change these policies.
You should read the full piece, but two things stood out to me:
First, the fact that Texas stopped participating in the federal program that every other state uses to track maternal deaths through the CDC. Instead, legislators approved $6 million for the state to create its own program to track maternal mortality. What could go wrong?!
Second, that Republicans are once again trying to sever abortion from healthcare. A new bill, Senate Bill 1831, would require Texas’ maternal mortality committee to investigate deaths linked to so-called ‘elective’ abortions—but not deaths from ‘medically necessary’ abortions.
This is a tactic we’re seeing everywhere. Just yesterday, for example, I wrote about a bill in Nebraska that wouldn’t require all women who have abortions to bury or cremate their fetal remains—just those who have ‘elective’ abortions.
They are telling on themselves again and again.
“State lawmakers should put on scrubs and answer the questions I face every day: How do I treat a patient with chronic kidney disease whose pregnancy threatens her life? How do I treat a young woman newly diagnosed with metastatic cancer who must choose between continuing a pregnancy or starting chemotherapy that could save her life? Texas state lawmakers don’t have the answers. Instead, they’ve written abortion bans that prevent me as an obstetrician-gynecologist from honoring my most fundamental medical oath: Do no harm.”
- Texas OBGYN Dr. Austin Dennard, Austin American-Statesman
Moving on to Missouri, where there is so much happening it’s hard to know where to start. In the interest of getting assholes out of the way, let’s begin with Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who has been threatening Planned Parenthood over abortion medication—even though providers there aren’t even prescribing it.
If you need a refresher on Bailey, consider reading past AED coverage here and here. The short version is that he pulled out every dirty trick in the book in the lead-up to state’s pro-choice ballot measure vote. His goal? Stopping voters from having a direct say on the issue.
In a continuation of that attack on democracy, Bailey told Missouri clinics this week that he’d be serving them with a cease and desist letter—demanding that they stop prescribing abortion medication without an approved ‘complication plan.’
Leaving aside how absurd the entire concept of a ‘complication plan’ is—decades of research proves that abortion medication is safe and effective—Planned Parenthood calls Bailey’s letter “baseless political posturing.” They told the Missouri Independent that they have no plans to prescribe the pills until that plan is in place and approved.
What’s interesting, though, is that it’s not clear Planned Parenthood really needs to submit a ‘complication plan’ at all. Michele Munz at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported last month that while the organization’s legal team has advised them to comply, other experts point to a judge’s ruling enjoining the requirement. Law professor and former Planned Parenthood policy analyst Jamille Fields Allsbrook told Munz: “Maybe they’re just playing it safe. I don’t know.”
Understandably, lots of folks in the state are eager to get those pills in patients’ hands—and for organizations to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. I’ll have more on Missouri tomorrow, including Republicans’ attempt to get abortion rights back in front of voters again.
Do you have a Netflix or Hulu subscription? Then why not subscribe to Abortion, Every Day? The newsletter relies on reader support to publish—and it’s definitely putting more good into the world than Love is Blind. (Though, let’s be honest, I love that show.)
Nicole Sukenis writes at The Oklahoman that she may not have survived her pregnancy if Oklahoma House Bill 1224 were law. The bill would allow health care providers, insurers, and institutions to deny a patient care based on their ‘conscience.’ As Sukenis points out, “the bill doesn’t define what that means, nor does it list specific procedures or treatments that could be denied.”
“I survived because my medical team did their jobs without hesitation. My daughter is alive because the NICU team treated her immediately. No one should have to worry that a doctor, nurse, receptionist or health insurance company will let them suffer or die because of personal objections.”
We’re going to be hearing a lot in the coming months about so-called conscience protections; they’re a major conservative legal tactic, with multiple suits in the works from Alliance Defending Freedom. ‘Conscience’ laws also feature heavily in Project 2025, so we know they’re not going anywhere.
Meanwhile, Republicans across the country are trying to find ways to codify fetal personhood. The latest move comes out of Kansas, where legislators are advancing a bill to allow child support for pregnant women starting at conception. But we know this has nothing to do with helping women or children—it’s just a move to treat fetuses as people.
In better news…
Hawaii legislators have introduced a resolution calling on the attorney general to investigate whether CPCs in the state are violating privacy laws. (My guess? Of course they are!)
New Jersey is considering a bill that would require CPCs to post signage that discloses whether or not they’re licensed medical facilities or if they employ a physician.
And lots good news in Montana today: A judge has struck down two anti-abortion laws, ruling that they violated women’s constitutional rights. One of the laws mandated that only doctors provide abortions; the other banned Medicaid patients from having abortions unless they were the victim of rape or incest, or were in danger of dying.
Also in Montana, the wackadoo legislation from Students for Life claiming that abortion medication poisons the groundwater has failed. The bill is one of several around the country trying to force women who self-manage abortions with pills to bag up their blood as medical waste. You should read yesterday’s newsletter where I got into this a bit—because I don’t know that I have the mental fortitude to type out the horror of this legislation again tonight.
Quick hits:
According to new estimates from two abortion funds in the region, the number of Iowa abortion patients seeking out-of-state care has more than tripled since 2023;
The backlash against telehealth abortion provider Hey Jane continues on in Ohio;
More on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war against citizen-led initiatives;
And WyoFile writes of Wyoming’s new law, “There is absolutely nothing safe or compassionate about mandating a transvaginal ultrasound before a woman can be prescribed abortion pills.”
All Eyes on ‘Coercion’
I’ve tracked quite a few anti-abortion terms over the last few years, but I don’t know that any have skyrocketed in use the way ‘coercion’ has. Conservatives are repeating the word constantly in an attempt to quell voter backlash and distract from the fact that their laws force women to carry pregnancies against their will.
So far, anti-abortion activists and lawmakers have mostly wielded coercion as a pretext for restricting abortion medication—claiming that telehealth allows abusers to pressure women into taking pills or secretly slip them abortion drugs. We’ve also seen the term surface in the Louisiana case against a New York abortion provider and a mother helping her teen access care.
But coercion is working so well for conservatives that they’re slapping it onto everything these days. Take anti-abortion OB-GYN Ingrid Skop’s response this week to the Trump administration dropping the federal emergency abortion case in Idaho:
“This coercive effort by the prior administration to subvert existing laws to promote abortion was never necessary, as EMTALA has never been confusing for me or my obstetric peers.”
Let’s be clear: The Biden administration filed that lawsuit to ensure that hospitals in anti-abortion states provide life-saving abortions. But under conservative messaging, protecting women from preventable death is “coercion.”
All of which is to say: Watch out for this term wherever you can.
In the Nation
Andrea González-Ramírez at The Cut has a good rundown of the Republican attacks on abortion medication, from the move to make the pills ‘controlled substances’ in multiple states to the targeting of individual abortion providers.
Kirsten Moore, director of the EMAA Project which works on expanding access to abortion medication, told González-Ramírez that the attack she’s most worried about is the revived lawsuit from the attorneys general of Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas:
“The attorney generals are arguing that people in their state are still getting abortions when they shouldn’t be, because while the states banned abortion, they can get mifepristone. That’s obviously a novel argument, and I have no doubt that the Supreme Court would be happy to go along.”
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Louisiana Mother Pleads Not Guilty to Abortion Charges
Click to skip ahead: Criminalizing Care has updates on the charges against a Louisiana mother arrested for getting her teen abortion pills. Stats & Studies has more research showing that OBGYNs are leaving anti-abortion states. What Conservatives Are Saying looks at ‘abortifacient contraceptives.’ Legislation Watch flags what a fetal remains bill in Nebraska could mean more broadly. In the States, some quick hits. Tracking Abortion Pills reports on a company that will be tracking pills in Louisiana. Anti-Abortion Strategy delves into the bills funneling money to crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs). Keep An Eye On warns that CPCs might open residential centers for single women and their children. And You Love to See It highlights a terrific anti-CPC campaign in Arkansas.
Criminalizing Care
The Louisiana mother arrested for giving her teen daughter abortion pills pleaded not guilty today. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison on felony charges.
Louisiana prosecutors have also indicted abortion provider Dr. Maggie Carpenter for mailing the pills—but Carpenter lives in New York, where it’s legal to prescribe and send abortion medication, and where the state’s shield law protects her from prosecution. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has made clear: “There’s no way in hell” she’d extradite Carpenter. The charges mark the first attempt to prosecute a doctor post-Roe.
Louisiana officials—including the prosecutor, governor, and attorney general—all insist this case has “nothing to do with reproductive health care,” but is about ’coercion.’ They claim the mother pressured her teen into ending the pregnancy and that Carpenter enabled it by sending the pills.
But here’s the thing: neither woman is actually facing coercion charges—just criminal abortion charges.
That’s because they know abortion bans are deeply unpopular and that voters don’t want to see mothers and doctors prosecuted for helping teens end their pregnancies. If Republicans can make this very public case about ‘coercion,’ they think they won’t get quite so much backlash.
And as Abortion, Every Day readers know, this is a long-planned strategy: Back in 2023, conservatives identified “coercion” as the GOP’s most effective talking point against abortion rights. Now we’re seeing that strategy play out in real time.
To find out more about the case, read Abortion, Every Day’s past coverage below:
Stats & Studies
In news that will surprise absolutely no one: New research confirms that states with abortion bans are losing OB-GYNs.
Researchers from the Oregon Health & Science University report the 12 most restrictive states saw a more than 4% decline in OBGYNs compared to states where abortion access remained stable. Before Dobbs, the researchers note, OB-GYN supply trends were similar across states—but not anymore.
Over the last three years, this exodus has had major ripple effects: maternity wards shutting down, maternal health deserts expanding, and rising maternal and infant deaths.
One of the study’s authors, Dr. Jane M. Zhu, points out, “Many of the states where reproductive rights are most restricted already experience poorer pregnancy outcomes and disparities in care.” She also notes that while we’ve had “surveys and anecdotal reports” of OBGYNs leaving their states due to abortion bans, this research marks the first empirical evidence of the trend.
And remember: It’s not just that OBGYNs and other reproductive health care providers are fleeing anti-abortion states. These states are having an increasingly difficult time recruiting and replacing those providers. People are understandably not too keen on moving to a place where they could be jailed for doing their jobs. For example, studies have shown a decline in OBGYN residency applications in anti-abortion states.
My hope? That the people who don’t care about women’s rights or basic humanity might at least care about their state losing qualified doctors.
What Conservatives Are Saying
Back in 2023, I flagged a bizarre term that popped up in an Oregon lawsuit: abortifacient ‘contraceptives.’
Oregon Right to Life was trying to gut the state’s Reproductive Health Equity Act, which requires employers to cover abortion and birth control. The law already allowed religious employers to choose plans without abortion coverage, but that wasn’t enough—anti-abortion activists wanted an exemption from covering contraception too. Their argument? That emergency contraception and certain IUDs aren’t birth control at all, but abortifacients. Hence, abortifacient contraceptives. (Yes, they even used scare quotes around contraceptives.)
Thankfully, a federal court shut them down, but the term stuck with me. Fast forward to this month, when a U.S. appeals court rejected a very similar lawsuit challenging a very similar law in Washington. This time, the case was brought by the conservative legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)—the group behind the end of Roe and nearly every attack on abortion rights since.
Once again, abortifacient contraceptives made an appearance. Just like in Oregon, ADF specifically name-checked IUDs and emergency contraception. If you’re a longtime reader, you know I’ve been banging this drum for years, warning about how Republicans are trying to redefine certain kinds of contraception as ‘abortifacients.’ The fact that we’ve seen several of these suits is just more evidence of that tactic:
Here’s what else is telling: When ADF talks about this case publicly, they barely mention contraception at all. Every conservative headline and press release screams about churches being “forced to cover abortion”—but contraception? Not a word. Because they know exactly how unpopular this fight is.
Legislation Watch
Anti-abortion lawmakers in Nebraska are pushing a bill that would require abortion clinics to dispose of fetal remains by “cremation or interment by burial.” We’ve seen legislation like this before—in fact, a law in Ohio mandating the same was just repealed last month. But there are a few things about Nebraska’s LB632 that warrant special attention.
First, conservatives are telling on themselves with the legislative language: The bill only requires fetal remains to be buried or cremated if they’re from an “elective abortion.” If this legislation were really about ‘dignity’ for the fetus, as Republicans claim, why wouldn’t it apply to all pregnancy losses? Could they be any clearer that this is about punishing ‘bad’ women who seek out abortions?
This language also points to a broader Republican strategy that we’ve talked about before: divorcing abortion from healthcare. Just last week, I told you about a South Carolina bill that would prevent doctors from calling miscarriage treatment ‘abortion’—even when it is. This bill is just another attempt to reinforce that lie.
But there’s another anti-abortion tactic embedded in Nebraska’s bill: the false claim that fetal remains harm the environment. LB632 states that burial or cremation is necessary to “protect public health,” while bill sponsor, Sen. Ben Hansen, warns that “improper disposal” of fetal remains could put “toxic pollutants” in the groundwater.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because anti-abortion groups like Students for Life have been pushing this bananas myth for years. Their usual target is abortion medication: They’ve argued in suits and complaints against the FDA that allowing women to flush embryonic or fetal tissue contaminates the groundwater with ‘dangerous’ abortion medication.
The truth? They know abortion bans are unpopular—especially with young people—but environmental protections are popular. So they’re trying to reframe abortion as an environmental hazard.
Just like burial and cremation mandates for procedural abortions, this isn’t about science or safety—but shaming and punishing women. Students for Life is even pushing for doctors to force patients to bag up their blood and bring it in to dispose as medical waste.
Bottom line: Watch for these two tactics—groundwater “contamination” myths and abortion laws that try to divorce abortion from healthcare by singling out ‘elective’ procedures.
In the States
Legislation to create a grant fund for under and uninsured abortion patients in Maryland is advancing;
Legislation in Utah would ban any group that provides abortions from offering health education in public schools;
The Guardian on the fate of Wyoming’s last abortion clinics as Republicans continue their attacks;
More on Kansas Republicans’ plan to ban abortion by changing the rules on state Supreme Court elections;
And a short public radio segment on the abortion funding crisis across the Midwest.
Tracking Abortion Pills
If you missed this Business Insider article about the company tracking abortion pill prescriptions, fix that immediately. This is exactly the kind of reporting we need right now.
You probably remember that Louisiana passed a law last year classifying abortion pills as a ‘controlled substance.’ That didn’t just increase penalties—it also meant that prescriptions, along with the patients and providers, are now tracked in a state database.
Starting this month, a company called Bamboo Health will be running that tracking system in Louisiana. BI also reports that Bamboo works with Texas, Indiana, and Idaho—three states considering similar bills to make the pills ‘controlled substances.’
Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans Health Department, says doctors are (rightly) alarmed that digital tracking by this $100 million company could make it even easier for law enforcement to target providers. And they have reason to worry: BI reporters point out that prescription monitoring programs (PMPs) have already made doctors hesitant to prescribe narcotics—advocates fear the same chilling effect will hit reproductive health care.
Health care lawyer Randi Seigel put it bluntly:
“One could imagine somebody coming in who's having a miscarriage—and this is appropriate for miscarriage management—and somebody saying, 'Well, wait, we have to wait a little longer to make sure you are really having a miscarriage.'“
This is about more than just abortion pills—it’s about creating a surveillance state for reproductive health care. Please, go read the full piece. It’s an important one.
Abortion, Every Day is reader supported—that means we rely on subscriptions to keep publishing! If you appreciate all the work that goes into compiling the newsletter every day, consider becoming a paying supporter:
Anti-Abortion Strategy
Let’s talk about a growing Republican trend: Bills to let people donate to crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) instead of paying their taxes. Seriously.
Last week, ProPublica uncovered a Missouri bill that would give donors a 100% tax credit for donations to CPCs, capped at $50,000:
“The result: Nearly all Missouri households—except those with the highest incomes—could fully satisfy their state tax bill by redirecting their payment from the state to pregnancy centers.”
And Missouri isn’t alone. I’ve since learned about a similar bill in South Carolina that would offer a 50% tax credit for CPC donations, and Oklahoma legislation with a 70% tax credit—also capped at $50,000 per taxpayer. (Which makes me think this legislation is coming from a national group.)
As you know, CPCs are at the heart of Republicans’ post-Roe strategy: Conservatives fund these fake clinics to pretend they care about women and children—even as they run real reproductive health care providers out of town.
But this isn’t just PR. CPCs are the enforcement arm of the anti-abortion movement. Too many people think they’re just local zealots trying to talk women out of abortion. In reality, they’re playing a much bigger role:
CPCs are part of Republicans’ plan to ban contraception. Lawmakers are stripping states of real clinics and replacing them with CPCs—groups that don’t prescribe birth control and actively spread misinformation about it. (They don’t need to outlaw contraception if they just make it impossible to get.)
CPCs are fueling the rise of ‘maternity homes.’ These are basically residential CPCs that prey on vulnerable women with nowhere else to turn. Run by the same national networks, they control women’s movements, restrict their phone access, and force them to “earn” necessities like diapers by attending Bible classes. They also have ties to private Christian adoption agencies. (The New York Times published a chilling piece on the groups that’s worth reading.)
CPCs pressure women to carry doomed pregnancies to term. Some states force women with fatal fetal abnormalities to get “prenatal counseling” before having an abortion—but they’re sent to CPCs instead of real medical professionals. There, they’re told their test results could be wrong, and that having an abortion could kill them.
CPCs collect and share women’s private data. Abortion, Every Day even uncovered a data breach at Heartbeat International, the country’s largest CPC network. These groups lie about being bound by HIPAA—they’re not—meaning they can share patient info with law enforcement or anyone else.
And the worst part? These groups rake in over 1 billion a year, but almost none of it goes toward helping women. Investigations show that CPCs spend most of their funds on marketing, staff travel, and even exercise equipment. In fact, a report from Equity Forward found that Heartbeat International provided just one stroller for 1% of clients, one car seat for 1.6%, and fewer than one pack of diapers per person.
Republicans aren’t just funneling taxpayer money into anti-abortion propaganda—they’re making sure women get nothing in return.
Keep An Eye On
While we’re talking about CPCs, I had to flag something that sent a chill down my spine. Staff and volunteers from multiple anti-abortion groups submitted written testimony in support of Missouri’s tax credit bill—with many explaining how much the state’s existing law allowing donations helps to expand their work. Check out what one board member of the Oasis Resource Center wrote:
“We just completed a debt-free 5000 square foot center due in large part to the Missouri tax credit. Our next phase is housing for these women, many of whom are unable to afford, let alone find a place for themselves and their baby. This would be revolutionary in helping guide these women to become productive citizens who can then become role models for their children.”
We already know how bad ‘maternity homes’ for pregnant women are—they take women’s phones, enforce curfews, install tracking apps, and even ban dating. Imagine what that would look like for women and their children. That line about guiding women to be “productive citizens” says it all.
You Love to See It
If you’re looking for a good way to fight back against CPCs, I love what Mayday Health did in Arkansas. They drove a mobile billboard around, parking it in front of the fake clinics to make sure people knew they wouldn’t be able to get an abortion there. Just as important: The billboard alerted folks that their health data wouldn’t be protected by HIPAA. (Remember, these groups lie about being beholden to federal privacy laws.)
“I am finding hope in the community, within the communities who are constantly fighting everything that they throw at us. We believe that hope is an action, and we're not going to stop.” - Brittaney Stockton, Arkansas Abortion Support Network
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New York doctor Margaret Carpenter indicted in Louisiana abortion case recognized as a leader in women’s reproductive health | CNN
Dr. Margaret Carpenter, or “Dr. Maggie” as her friends and patients affectionately call her, has always been the brave one, says Dr. Ingrid Frengle-Burke, her best friend and former colleague. Carpenter rarely hesitates to speak up, questioning protocols that hurt her patients and advocating for anyone who feels unheard.
But now, Dr. Maggie, who has provided healthcare to thousands around the world in countries including Senegal and Ethiopia, is at the heart of a nationwide controversy for providing abortion care to women in states where access is restricted or outlawed.
A Texas judge on February 13 fined Carpenter $100,000 for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas. That same day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s request to extradite Carpenter, who is facing felony charges for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a pregnant minor, whose mother ordered the pills on her behalf.
The cases against Carpenter are the first challenges by Republican-led states to “shield laws” enacted in their Democratic-controlled counterparts where abortion is legal. It also appears to be the first instance of criminal charges against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a patient in another state.
This latest attack on abortion access and healthcare providers like Carpenter, who are fighting to safeguard it, comes as Republican and Democratic states continue pushing efforts to either strengthen or restrict abortion rights.
Last year, Louisiana became the first state to pass a law labeling abortion pills as Schedule IV controlled dangerous substances, making it a felony to possess the drugs without a prescription. Meanwhile, voters in other states are fighting back; abortions resumed in Missouri over the weekend following a ruling blocking regulations that clinics said made it impossible to provide abortions despite a new constitutional amendment for reproductive rights.
Carpenter is one of the cofounders of the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, a nationwide telemedicine-advocacy organization that provides abortion medication and other reproductive health care services to people across the US, including in states that have banned abortions.
Hochul said she will not honor Landry’s request to arrest and extradite Carpenter to Louisiana after the doctor was charged with violating the southern state’s strict anti-abortion law.
“Not now, not ever,” Hochul said in a video where she signed her rejection to Landry’s letter on Thursday.
“This doctor, who now faces a felony charge, was simply doing her job following both her medical oath and New York state law. Prescribing safe abortion medication is legal under the laws of our state and our reproductive health laws,” Hochul said.
Both cases in Louisiana and Texas could bring back the abortion issue to the Supreme Court, unleashing a new wave of legal questions – including how to settle disputes between the states about whether their abortion laws can be applied outside their borders.
CNN reached out to Carpenter for comment but has not heard back.
“It’s hurtful, it feels unfair, it doesn’t acknowledge all the women whose lives are dependent on this kind of care,” Frengle-Burke, a nurse practitioner and associate clinical professor at Mount Sinai’s Phillips School of Nursing, said of the cases against Carpenter. “It’s unconscionable.”
Amid legal battles and online attacks from politicians and anti-abortion activists, Carpenter’s patients and colleagues are speaking out in her defense, lauding her courage as a women’s rights champion and her decades of work advancing healthcare access globally.
‘I feel proud of her’
In November 2024, a 24-year-old woman who had recently moved to Austin, Texas, discovered she was about six weeks pregnant. She immediately knew she did not want to continue the pregnancy – but accessing an abortion in the state was not an option.
When the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights in June 2022, a Texas trigger law took effect, essentially blocking all abortions in the state other than those performed when the mother is “at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.”
In addition to criminalizing abortions, Texas allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who knowingly “aids or abets” an abortion in violation of state law.
“I was terrified. I didn’t know who to go to. I didn’t know who to tell,” the young woman, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of legal repercussions, told CNN. “It’s daunting, having like that over my head and so many other girls’ heads, it just doesn’t feel completely safe.”
She said she wanted to contact the man she was involved with to ask for his help, but because she did not know his political stance, knew she would run the risk of being reported for getting an abortion. When a relative tried to bring her abortion pills from out of state, the doctors said they could not prescribe them without the patient being there in person.
Her only option, she said, besides traveling, was to get the pills online through Aid Access, another group where Carpenter worked as a provider to help facilitate access to abortion drugs in states where it’s illegal. The woman said she does not remember being in contact with a specific doctor and it is unclear if Carpenter was the provider to directly prescribe the medicine.
“At the end of the day, she’s doing the right thing,” the woman said. “I feel proud of her, I’m just very grateful that there are women like her.”
She received the pills about three days after ordering them online, and had 24/7 access to a hotline where she could text Aid Access employees throughout the process to talk through her symptoms and fears.
Organizations like the Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine provide just a small portion of the US Food and Drug Administration-approved medication abortion pills to women in states where abortion is illegal, according to Frengle-Burke.
However, even in states where it remains legal, access to timely and safe abortions can be so challenging that telehealth abortion services like these are essential in ensuring women receive the care they need within the limited timeframe.
Medication abortion is a method by which someone ends their pregnancy by taking two drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol — rather than having a surgical procedure. The FDA approved the drugs for abortion use more than two decades ago, and the regimen is approved for use up to 10 weeks gestation.
The legal consequences that doctors like Carpenter may now face simply for protecting, caring for, and saving their patients’ lives are “shocking and dangerous,” Frengle-Burke said.
“It’s a nightmare,” she added. Frengle-Burke, who has worked in countries with limited access to abortion, said the restrictions in the US, even in cases of rape and incest, is “shocking” and signify “a lack of progress in terms of equitable care for women and equality for women.”
Frengle-Burke said Carpenter has always known that providing abortion care for women in states where it is illegal could result in her getting in trouble. But that wasn’t her concern.
“She knows that she is right, that she’s fighting the good fight and she has a lot of people behind her that are supporting her,” Frengle-Burke said. “She knows that she has the capacity to help and that’s what’s driving her.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called Carpenter a “radical out-of-state doctor” in a press release published February 14, adding that doctors who send illegal abortion pills to the state “to kill unborn babies” will be punished “to the full extent of the law.”
In a video announcing the extradition warrant, Landry, the Louisiana governor, said the mother of a pregnant minor “conspired” with Carpenter “to get a chemical abortion bill in the mail.”
“This pill ended up ending her pregnancy and that baby’s life,” Landry said. “There’s only one right answer in this situation, and it’s that doctor must face extradition to Louisiana, where she can stand trial, and justice will be served. We owe that to the minor, and to the innocent loss of life, and to the people of this state who stand by life overwhelmingly.”
The Texas woman, who received the medication abortion — via telemedicine – through Aid Access, argued that both statements were “propaganda” and misrepresented Carpenter, she told CNN.
“She is providing access and help to girls that have nowhere to turn and to use that verbiage is defeating what she’s trying to do,” she said. “It’s just crazy that men in power and these politicians are allowed to even have a say in this, because they will never experience it. They just want to control women’s bodies.”
‘An inspiration, a hero, a fierce advocate for her patients’
Maya Gottfried remembers Dr. Maggie as the woman who saved her life.
Gottfried told CNN she was 35 years old when she was suffering from severe abdominal pain her nutritionist diagnosed as minor aches that could be cured with a dietary cleanse of lemon water, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup.
Still feeling ill weeks later after going on the cleanse, Gottfried decided to visit Carpenter, who was her primary care doctor when Carpenter lived in Brooklyn. Carpenter “actually listened” to her, Gottfried said, and immediately sent her to a specialist who diagnosed her with colorectal cancer.
Gottfried told CNN that colorectal cancer was considered an “older person’s disease” and it could be a “fatal error” for a doctor to not recognize those symptoms.
“I have always credited Dr. Maggie with saving me,” she said. When Gottfried heard of the legal cases against Carpenter, who she has kept in touch with for over a decade, she cried.
“Dr. Maggie is an example of what I would hope every doctor would aspire to be,” she said. “Abortion is health care and everybody is entitled to health care.”
Frengle-Burke echoed Gottfried’s testaments – describing Carpenter as “an inspiration, a hero, a fierce advocate for her patients.”
Carpenter was working as a primary care provider at the Institute for Family Health in New Paltz, New York, when Frengle-Burke started working there. They shared an office together and immediately became close friends.
“She would spend time with her patients, she would advocate for them to be seen with providers outside of the institute, she would always push and question protocols that were in place that didn’t put the patient first,” Frengle-Burke said.
Carpenter didn’t initially plan on becoming a doctor, according to her friend. She first aspired to become a nurse, but with her parents’ encouragement and a growing passion for addressing public health challenges, she decided to go to medical school and began traveling to work at hospitals in countries throughout Africa.
“She’s always been compelled to reevaluate the way that we’re approaching public health problems and joining causes or initiatives with solutions for underserved populations,” Frengle-Burke said. “Her addressing the problem of lack of access to abortion care is just one of the many things through her career that she’s cared about.”
During her residency, Carpenter was working in Ethiopia when she noticed that hospitals did not offer cervical cancer screenings, according to Frengle-Burke. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women globally with around 660,000 new cases and around 350,000 deaths in 2022, according to the World Health Organization.
Even after returning to New York, her experience in Ethiopia remained with her, Frengle-Burke said. In 2013, Carpenter founded Go Doc Go, a non-governmental organization that trains midwives and physicians in Senegal, Ethiopia, The Gambia, and Haiti to screen women for cervical cancer while providing thousands of human papillomavirus tests and medical supplies annually.
“She’s brave, she’s creative, she’s an advocate, she’s kind, she’s fun, she’s a problem solver, and addresses things in ways that are just innovative and new,” Frengle-Burke said. “That, to me, makes her a hero.”
‘If doing that makes a person a criminal, then I think we should all be criminals’
The Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine, a group Carpenter co-founded, called the Louisiana case “the latest in a series of threats that jeopardizes women’s access to reproductive healthcare throughout this country.”
“Make no mistake, since Roe v Wade was overturned, we’ve witnessed a disturbing pattern of interference with women’s rights,” the group said. “It’s no secret the United States has a history of violence and harassment against abortion providers, and this state-sponsored effort to prosecute a doctor providing safe and effective care should alarm everyone.”
In Louisiana and Texas, doctors must have a license in the state to provide telemedicine services to residents, unless there’s an exception. Prescribing medications, especially controlled substances, have additional restrictions including state laws and federal rules, which may require an in-person visit.
Louisiana could sue New York if its requests to extradite the doctor are rebuffed, according to legal experts. New York’s shield law prohibits law enforcement from cooperating with extraditions and arrests for charges related to providing healthcare that is lawful in New York. It also bars state officials from sharing information, issuing subpoenas or otherwise assisting investigations into such conduct.
Carpenter is at risk of being arrested and extradited to Louisiana, where she faces felony charges, if she travels out of New York State, according to federal law.
Tony Clayton, the Louisiana prosecutor behind the case, told CNN that there is now a warrant out for Carpenter’s arrest but declined to outline the next steps his office is weighing.
John Seago, the president of the anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life, praised Clayton’s decision to bring the case and told CNN, “It is very difficult to get a district attorney to go this route and to take on a big trend like the shield laws or Aid Access.”
Texas, which has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the nation, did not file criminal charges against Carpenter but accused her in a civil lawsuit in December of violating state law by prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.
The Texas Attorney General’s office did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
Although Frengle-Burke said she is disheartened by the recent cases against Carpenter and what they reveal about the state of equality in the US, she believes they have underscored the urgent need to “push the boundaries and challenge the directions that we’re going in.”
Gottfried agrees and hopes that more healthcare providers across the country will summon the courage to take a stance, just as Carpenter did.
“She’s a hero, and I’m so proud of all her work providing people with barriers to health care, with the care they deserve,” Gottfried said. “If doing that makes a person a criminal, then I think we should all be criminals.”
CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.
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Louisiana’s new law on abortion drugs establishes risky treatment delays, lawsuit claims
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana’s new law categorizing two widely used abortion drugs as “controlled dangerous substances” was challenged in a state court lawsuit Thursday by a physician, a pharmacist and others who say the legislation sets up needless, dangerous delays in treatment during medical emergencies.
Although there already was a near-total abortion ban in Louisiana, including by medication, the reclassification of the drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol, which have other critical reproductive health care uses — went into effect earlier this month. Proponents of the law said more oversight and control over the drugs was needed to prevent coerced abortions. They have used as an example a Texas case in which a pregnant woman was given seven misoprostol pills by her husband without her knowledge. The baby survived.
Doctors critical of the law have said it could harm patients facing emergency complications such as postpartum hemorrhages by requiring medical personnel to go through extra steps and more stringent storage requirements to use the drugs.
“Even short delays in accessing misoprostol can be life-threatening for postpartum hemorrhage patients,” says the lawsuit. It says the law violates the Louisiana Constitution in multiple ways, including a prohibition on discrimination based on a person’s physical condition.
Louisiana Attorney General Elizabeth Murrill said she had not seen the lawsuit as of Thursday afternoon. “I can’t respond to a lawsuit we have not seen, but I’m confident this law is constitutional,” she said in a statement. “We will vigorously defend it.”
In addition to the physician and the pharmacist, who the lawsuit says is pregnant, the plaintiffs in the case include the Birthmark Doula Collective, an organization of people trained to provide pregnancy care before, during and after birth.
Other plaintiffs include Nancy Davis, a woman who was denied an abortion in Louisiana and traveled out of state for one after learning her fetus would not survive. A woman who said she was turned away from two emergency rooms instead of being treated for a miscarriage is also part of the lawsuit.
Prior to the reclassification, a prescription was still needed to obtain mifepristone and misoprostol in Louisiana. The new law reclassified the pills as “Schedule IV drugs,” putting them in the same category as the opioid tramadol and other substances that can be addictive.
The new classification means that if someone knowingly possesses mifepristone or misoprostol without a valid prescription for any purpose, they could be fined up to $5,000 and sent to jail for one to five years.
The law carves out protections for pregnant women who obtain the drug without a prescription to take on their own.
The legislation is a first-of-its-kind law in the U.S. While GOP Gov. Jeff Landry, many Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion groups have touted the new classification, doctors have warned of deadly delays that the law could cause.
Under the new classification, doctors say there are extra steps and more stringent storage requirements, which could slow access to the drugs in emergency situations. Beyond inducing abortions, the pills are also used to treat miscarriages, induce labor and stop hemorrhaging.
Prior to the law, some doctors said that misoprostol would be stored in a box in the hospital room, on the delivery table or in a nurse’s pocket. But under the new requirements of the classification, the drugs may be down the hall in a locked container or potentially in-house pharmacy at smaller hospitals.
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Louisiana House votes to define abortion drugs as dangerous controlled substances
The Louisiana House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reclassify two drugs commonly used to treat miscarriages and induce labor in pregnant people as “controlled substances” because the pills are also used to carry out first-trimester abortions.
Louisiana lawmakers are likely only one vote away from defining mifepristone and misoprostol as dangerous over the objections of hundreds of Louisiana doctors, who signed letters objecting to the drugs’ reclassification over the past few weeks.
“Mischaracterizing misoprostol, a drug routinely and safely used on labor units, throughout the state, as a dangerous drug of abuse, creates confusion and misinformation and harms women seeking high-quality maternal care,” the doctors said in a public letter to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, earlier this month.
Under the legislation, approved in a 63-29 House vote, Louisiana would become the first state in the nation to categorize these two drugs as dangerous, signaling a new policy issue for the anti-abortion movement nationwide.
Opposition to the bill has also become a rallying cry for people who support abortion rights, capturing the attention of national figures such as Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Absolutely unconscionable. The Louisiana House just passed a bill that would criminalize the possession of medication abortion, with penalties of up to several years of jail time. Let’s be clear: Donald Trump did this,” Harris posted Thursday evening on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Doctors have said mifepristone and misoprostol might take longer for patients to obtain if they become classified as Schedule IV drugs. The medications can be used to treat constipation and ulcers, though they are most commonly applied for pregnancy care. Physicians who treat pregnant people have said they use them multiple times per day in their practices.
Louisiana already ranks among the worst states for maternal health and pregnancy outcomes, and critics of Pressly’s proposal said making these drugs harder to access could exacerbate that problem.
“Fiftieth in maternal outcomes is not pro-life,” said Rep Aimee Freeman, D-New Orleans, who opposed the bill. “If you believed in the right to life, you would believe in the maternal outcomes being the best for this state.”
If the drugs become controlled substances, doctors prescribing them will need to have specialty licenses, and health care providers will have to ensure their secure storage.
Supporters of the bill insisted the two drugs could rightfully be called dangerous because they can cause the termination of a pregnancy. It is illegal to use pills to induce an abortion in Louisiana, which has had a strict abortion ban in place since 2022.
“They can be quite harmful,” said Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, who is anti-abortion and supported the bill. “Overuse can cause the death of a child.”
Drugs classified as controlled substances are usually addictive. Mifepristone and misoprostol are not, said the Louisiana Society of Addiction Medicine in a letter to House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice.
“Similar medications in this class are to treat erectile dysfunction and enhance eyelash growth,” Dr. Smita Prasad, the president of the society, wrote in her letter. “Scheduling these [abortion-inducing] medications would not prevent access through ‘black market’ means, which is often how these medications are accessed illegally.”
Rep. Tammy Phelps, D-Shreveport also raised concerns about the legislation being placed in the racketeering section of state law, which is typically used to prosecute organized crime or gang activity.
Pressly’s bill was dramatically changed late in the legislative process. Initially, it only focused on increasing penalties for the crime of inducing an abortion without a pregnant person’s consent.
Pressly brought it on behalf of his sister, Catherine Herring, whose husband placed abortion medication in her drink at her Texas home without her knowledge. Mason Herring, a Houston attorney, was sentenced to 180 days in prison and 10 years of probation in February for that crime, according to the Associated Press.
After the bill initially passed the Senate, the House added the language reclassifying mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances into the legislation. The state’s most prominent anti-abortion group, Louisiana Right to Life, requested the change.
Twelve state representatives initially missed the vote on the legislation Thursday, meaning they didn’t take a stance either way on the proposal. Their presence wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the legislation, but the cohort included several moderate legislators and Republican women.
“I was trying to decide which way to vote and I couldn’t decide,” said state Rep. Barbara Freiberg, R-Baton Rouge, who changed her vote from absent to “yes” on the bill at the end of the day.
The Senate must agree to the changes to Pressly’s bill before it can become law. Gov.Jeff Landry, who is staunchly anti-abortion, is unlikely to veto the measure.
If the bill becomes law, it would take effect Oct. 1.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and Twitter.
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The Trump Administration’s First Actions in 2025 Targeting Patients, Providers, and Reproductive Health Care Access - National Women's Law Center
In his first week in office, President Trump betrayed his campaign promises on reproductive health care, taking direct aim at access to abortion and birth control. He issued two executive orders and took other actions that roll back efforts to protect and advance access to abortion and birth control, and that threaten health care providers across the country.
Trump repealed two Biden-era executive orders that sought to protect and expand access to reproductive health care in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s wrongful decision overturning people’s constitutional right to abortion.
President Trump issued a new executive order to rescind the executive orders issued by President Biden in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s unjust decision taking away the constitutional right to abortion. President Biden’s orders had sought to protect access to abortion and contraception amid the unfolding reproductive health care crisis.
Those now-repealed orders established new initiatives and directed agencies to take a range of actions aimed at protecting patients and providers in the wake of losing the constitutional right to abortion. Trump’s order ended those efforts.
Specifically, the Trump executive order:
- Dismantles the Interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access, which had been established to ensure a whole-of-government response to the crisis;
- Stops federal agency efforts, specifically by the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and Federal Trade Commission, to protect patient and provider privacy and security;
- Halts agency efforts to enforce anti-discrimination law in response to reports of people being denied emergency abortion care and prescription medication;
- Stops federal agency efforts to ensure individuals receive emergency abortion care as guaranteed by law;
- Ceases efforts to advance abortion access for patients enrolled in Medicaid who must travel for abortion care;
- Stops public education and awareness efforts about access to reproductive health care, including informing people about how to obtain birth control; and
- Blocks data collection, research, and analysis in measuring the effect of access to reproductive health care on maternal health outcomes and other health outcomes.
The Biden orders led to a range of guidance, regulations, and policies that have helped address the crisis facing the country in the wake of the Supreme Court’s unjust decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Those Biden orders led, for example, to guidance reminding hospitals of their obligations to provide emergency abortion care under federal law and to an updated rule to bolster patient privacy with respect to reproductive health care data.
Trump’s action rescinding the Biden executive orders does not directly or immediately reverse these policies and guidance. But Trump’s executive order is a signal that the new administration will not enforce them and will likely soon target them for rescission or reversal. Trump’s order is also a directive to federal agencies that they should be implementing new anti-reproductive health policies.
It is worth noting that Trump titled the executive order “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment.” The Hyde Amendment is one of the most harmful restrictions on abortion care passed over the last few decades. It denies abortion coverage to individuals enrolled in the federal Medicaid program and has been expanded to other programs as well, denying abortion coverage to a range of individuals who rely on federal programs, including military servicemembers, veterans, and federal employees. Not only does this Trump executive order misapply and misuse the Hyde Amendment, but it also exploits biases and unfounded assumptions about public funding for abortion care. This is a cynical ploy that is meant to hide Trump’s action to block a range of initiatives to expand reproductive health care. And it demonstrates that Trump intends to use his power to further entrench the harmful coverage bans that have for decades created often insurmountable barriers to abortion for many women across the country, disproportionately impacting people with low incomes, people of color, young people, immigrants, and people who live in rural communities.
The Trump administration rescinded critical travel and leave benefits for service members and their families seeking abortion care.
Unfortunately, the harmful policies flowing from Trump’s executive order began shortly after it was issued. The Department of Defense, under newly-appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, cited the Trump executive order when rescinding a key policy that provides for travel allowances and leave for service members and dependents who are forced to travel off-base for abortion care they are denied in the military.1 The Department cited the Trump executive order, misapplying the Hyde Amendment and using Trump’s executive order to justify stripping these critical benefits away from service members. Rather than informing military families of this change, the Department did not issue any public notice.
Many military installations exist in – or border – states with abortion bans. For decades, service members had to travel off base for reproductive health care. But now, given that states across the country have banned abortion, many service members now have to travel much farther to access the care they need. The rescission of this key policy further denies service members their reproductive freedom.
Trump undermined global health initiatives by reinstating what’s known as the Global Gag Rule, which prohibits the U.S. from supporting foreign organizations that advocate or provide information, referrals, or services for abortions, even in countries where it’s legal.
Trump issued an executive order reinstating the Global Gag Rule, a harmful policy that prohibits international non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. government funding from using their own money to provide information, referrals, or services for legal abortion or to advocate for access to abortion in their own country.
This policy harms the health of individuals in the poorest countries and leaves them without the information and care they need. It censors organizations who are trying to provide that information and care. And it renders the U.S.’s international family planning program ineffective.
Extensive research has documented how the Global Gag Rule has forced health providers to reduce staff and services and even shut their doors; how thousands of women lose their ability to get care from trusted providers; and how it makes abortion unsafe and more necessary.
Trump doubled down on efforts to protect anti-abortion extremists’ dangerous behavior, threatening the safety of reproductive health care providers and patients.
Trump pardoned 23 anti-abortion extremists who were prosecuted and convicted under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a critical civil rights law that makes it a federal crime to use force, the threat of force, or physical obstruction to injure, intimidate, or interfere with someone who provides or is obtaining reproductive health care services.
The extremists that Trump pardoned were found guilty of entering clinics by force, barricading clinic entrances with chains and bike locks, harassing patients and providers, and even assaulting and injuring clinic staff.
Shortly after the pardons were announced, Trump’s Department of Justice announced that it would no longer enforce the FACE Act at all, except in “extraordinary cases” that present “significant aggravating factors.”
These actions by the new administration will embolden anti-abortion extremists who seek to intimidate, harass, threaten, and engage in violence against abortion providers, patients, and volunteers.
The Trump administration scrubbed agency websites of vital information about reproductive health care.
Within hours of taking office, the Trump administration took the website www.reproductiverights.gov offline entirely. The site was created in 2022 as part of the Biden administration’s response to the Supreme Court’s unjust decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The site contained information on access to abortion and other reproductive health care, including where patients can find care and whether their insurance will cover it.
The administration also appears to have scrubbed other agency websites of references to abortion. Guidelines regarding contraception and 20 years of H.I.V. data that doctors use to determine whether a pregnant person should be tested for the virus were pulled from the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though some of this information has been restored, much of it remains unavailable.
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Trump’s actions are purposeful, and aimed at targeting reproductive health care and those who need and provide it. These actions are exacerbating a climate of confusion, fear, and lack of safety among those who provide or seek abortion or other reproductive health care that will further deepen the public health crisis that has swept this country since Roe v. Wade was overturned. And they are undoubtedly only the first of many more to come from this hostile, authoritarian administration.
1 Federal law prohibits the Department from providing abortion services at military treatment facilities, and from covering an abortion under TRICARE, except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the pregnant person’s life.
Find the official document here.
