Donald Trump signed a law on Thursday that will make it easier for states to direct federal family-planning funding away from Planned Parenthood centers and other health clinics that provide abortion care. The legislation was a reversal of a last-ditch effort Barack Obama made to protect these health-care providers from a wave of state legislators trying to prove their commitment to fetal development over women’s health.
Ah, well! They say nothing good can last, all is impermanent, and presidents who love “beautiful babies” will lose all respect for those babies when they grow up to be adult women. At least one state has stepped up to protect its residents from potentially losing access to health care if federal funding for Planned Parenthood goes away. Last week, Maryland became the first state to promise to fill in up to $2.7 million in funds the state’s nine Planned Parenthood centers would lose if Trump and Republicans in Congress ever decide to do what they’ve been promising to do for years.
Maryland lawmakers also decided this week to allow judges to put GPS trackers on perpetrators of domestic violence who are awaiting trial or out on probation. The bill, passed by the state legislature on Monday, must still be signed by the governor; if he signs it, survivors will be able to get alerts on their phones if their alleged abusers are nearby. The legislation is known as Amber’s Law, named for a woman who was killed by an ex-boyfriend after she got a restraining order against him.
Two state legislatures moved to make it more difficult for minors to get abortion care this week. Indiana law already forces adolescent girls under 18 to get a parent’s consent or a judicial bypass in order to terminate a pregnancy. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who’s said he “supports measures that protect the unborn,” will likely sign a bill, sent to him on Wednesday, that would also allow a judge to tell the girl’s parents that she sought a judicial bypass, whether or not the judge signs off on the procedure. On Saturday in West Virginia, lawmakers passed a bill that will, if signed by tepidly pro-choice Gov. Jim Justice, require minors to notify a parent or guardian at least 24 hours before getting an abortion. An adolescent wouldn’t have to get permission, and a physician would have the discretion to waive the notification rule if she decides it would be in the girl’s best interest to keep the abortion private.
Lots of abortion stuff came through the Montana legislature this week, too. The worst is a bill that would criminalize all abortions performed after viability, defined in the bill as the point at which a fetus stands a greater than 50 percent chance of surviving unaided outside the womb, even in cases of severe fetal abnormality. If the governor signs the bill, a doctor could be charged with a felony if she performs an abortion after around 24 weeks’ gestation. (Gov. Steve Bullock is pro-choice and has vetoed abortion restrictions before, so he very well may axe this one.) A proposal that would have changed the Montana constitution to give fetuses “personhood” rights died with too narrow a majority this week in the state Senate—small victories!
Good things also happened in Connecticut and Washington state this week. In the Nutmeg State, a bill supporting pay equity passed the state House on Wednesday. The legislation would prohibit gender discrimination in pay and protect workers from being penalized for filing discrimination complaints or taking proffered parental leave. At one point, the bill was going to include a provision that would have prevented employers from paying women less based on their salary histories, echoing many recent state and municipal actions on equal pay, but that language didn’t make it to the final bill, which now goes to the state Senate. In Washington, women may be able to get a year’s worth of oral contraception at a time instead of going month-by-month. The bill, which would compel health insurers to cover a 12-month supply of birth control in one go, passed the state Senate this week 48-1 and passed the House by a similarly wide margin. If Gov. Jay Inslee signs it, it will go into effect in 2018.
