The war on abortion has been in full swing during the coronavirus pandemic, with legislators choosing to exploit the virus as a way to essentially ban abortion.
In multiple states, including Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Ohio, lawmakers have attempted to label abortion a “non-essential” medical procedure. That means that no elective abortions could be performed because the states have chosen to save the medical supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for use fighting the coronavirus.
That’s a completely bogus argument for a number of reasons which we’ve discussed previously but the most glaring clue to just how bad-faith and contrived this argument is is that in Texas, the ban on abortion included medicated abortions, which require absolutely no PPE or other supplies that could be even remotely necessary or even useful in fighting the coronavirus and caring for those affected.
Luckily, the state’s 5th Circuit Court of Appeals agrees and has lifted the ban on medication abortion. Last week, a federal judge overturned Governor Greg Abbott’s ban and the state’s Attorney General filed for an immediate appellate review and the 5th Circuit Court chose to uphold the ban without asking any abortion providers to actually explain why medication abortion doesn’t conflict with coronavirus-related needs.
Now that they’ve been able to argue that the administering of two pills isn’t considered a medical “procedure,” that part of the ban at least has been lifted. Unfortunately, the ban on “surgical” abortion (which is a misnomer because it’s not actually a surgical procedure) stands for now.
There has been some big news out of other states today as well. In Oklahoma, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals let a lower court’s decision stand, temporarily blocking that state’s governor’s ban on abortion care.
In Tennessee, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Tennessee filed an emergency lawsuit to block a similar ban from Governor Bill Lee. So we’ll be keeping an eye on that.
“It has become a day by day, week to week fight for people whose health care cannot wait,” Alexis McGill, PPFA’s acting president and CEO said in a statement. “Planned Parenthood and it’s partners have never waivered in the facts: abortion is safe, necessary, and time-sensitive.”
By the way, Planned Parenthood is now offering telehealth appointments but also made it clear in an email to supporters and patients that they are still “providing abortion care and other essential services that require an in-person visit.”
(image: Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
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