Some state Republicans change abortion tactics
with research by McKenzie Beard
A newsletter briefing on the health-care policy debate in Washington.
Republicans cast 12-week bans as ‘mainstream,’ while Democrats fiercely oppose them
The effort to ban most abortions in Nebraska came to an abrupt halt in late April. State Sen. Merv Riepe, a longtime Republican, tanked the bill — a move that sparked furious conversations among antiabortion lawmakers about what to do next.
Instead, on Friday, Nebraska’s conservative legislature voted to ban abortions at 12 weeks of pregnancy, a threshold that significantly narrows the window for legal abortions but still allows the vast majority to occur.
The effort is part of a new playbook Republicans in several states have deployed to craft abortion bans. It’s a reaction, some in the GOP say, to the sustained political backlash to strict limits that’s been mounting since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
For instance: In North Carolina, Republicans used their legislative supermajority last week to enact a similar 12-week ban that they believe will be more broadly accepted.
And in South Carolina, state Sen. Katrina Shealy (R) told The Health 202 that she and the other female GOP senators who blocked a near-total ban are planning to push for a 12-week ban on most abortions when the state Senate takes up a bill next week restricting abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.
But abortion rights advocates fiercely oppose the measures, adamant that they are potentially just as harmful as the more restrictive limits and that voters will reject them.
More from Caroline:
Within a week, two states passed laws to ban abortion after 12 weeks — a new approach that Republicans are painting as “mainstream,” hoping to stem political backlash. But will voters buy it?
— Caroline Kitchener (@CAKitchener) May 20, 2023
w/ @rachel_roubein @ColbyItkowitz https://t.co/XvEWo4QxkP
HOW WE GOT HERE
Flashback to June: Republican lawmakers were quick to embrace so-called “trigger” bans designed to spring into effect as soon as a decision overturning Roe was released, the majority of which didn’t include exceptions for rape and incest.
Now, almost a year later, some in the GOP have instead started to coalesce around the 12-week bans, which allow more than 90 percent of abortions to continue.
Some prominent national antiabortion groups, such as SBA Pro-Life America, have been supportive, saying they’re in favor of restricting abortions as far as a state can. Most of the bills that have passed this legislative session include exceptions for rape and incest in some form, though abortion rights groups argue that such policies don’t work well in practice.
Yet, the approach has drawn criticism from others within the antiabortion movement who want lawmakers to aim to eradicate most abortions nationwide.
NORTH CAROLINA
Concerns about political backlash shaped the campaigns of a small group of moderate Republicans running for the legislature in North Carolina, where abortions are legal up until 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper had filmed ads casting Republicans as “cruel and extreme” on the issue and claiming they would vote to severely restrict abortion access.
Some moderates realized they could struggle to win their races if they took a hard-line stance, according to a person familiar with internal discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to recall private conversations.
- And so one of the most heavily targeted Republicans, state Sen. Michael Lee, wrote an op-ed in the Wilmington Star-News before the election voicing his support for abortion bans in the second and third trimesters, but not before.
In January, when the legislature convened, working groups assembled to find what the state’s Republicans called a “middle way.” There were many opinions at the beginning: Some in the GOP supported a ban at conception while others preferred no additional restrictions. While everyone disliked the 12-week option “to a certain degree,” state Sen. Amy Galey (R) said eventually a critical mass accepted it.
- Republicans kept the proposal a secret until the last possible minute, which was in part to prevent GOP hard-liners from attempting to amend the bill to make it more restrictive, according to the person familiar with internal discussions.
Meanwhile, Democrats have fiercely rejected the idea that the legislation is a “mainstream” compromise. They’ve called out other restrictions included in the bill, such as an additional mandatory in-person appointment at a clinic 72 hours before the procedure, saying it will limit abortion long before the 12-week mark.
NEBRASKA
In Nebraska — where lawmakers are technically nonpartisan but generally have a party affiliation — Republicans attached the 12-week ban to a bill to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
Democrats and abortion rights groups described a feeling of whiplash.
Just weeks ago, they thought they’d secured a major victory with Riepe’s decision to abstain from voting on a bill banning abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected at roughly six weeks.
But key Republicans in the state saw that measure’s failure as an opportunity to negotiate, seeking to ban abortions earlier than Nebraska’s 22-week limit.
- State Sen. Ben Hansen, the state’s health chair, began assessing whether any abortion restrictions could be brought back this year.
- Local antiabortion groups described “difficult” and “emotional” conversations about how early in pregnancy the state could realistically ban abortion.
- And Riepe, the holdout on the ban earlier in pregnancy, spoke at least three times — and exchanged numerous texts — with Gov. Jim Pillen (R), who he said was insistent on getting stricter abortion laws passed.
Riepe had briefly become an unlikely hero for those fighting to protect abortion access in Nebraska and around the country. The state senator understands he’s disappointed a lot of people, especially on the left. But he believes he’s been clear from the start about where he stood.
“There’s one thing I’m stuck on,” Riepe recalled telling the governor. “I think 12 weeks is a reasonable number.”
The Post’s Molly Hennessy-Fiske:
Nebraska passes 12-week abortion, gender-affirming care for minors ban https://t.co/poEFagk23z
— Molly Hennessy-Fiske (@mollyhf) May 19, 2023
Reproductive wars
As another S.C. abortion vote looms, GOP women rebuke the men
Two Republican senators with differing viewpoints on abortion share the same roughly 800-square-foot office suite in the South Carolina State House, The Post’s Danielle Paquette reports.
On one side: There’s state Sen. Rex Rice, 66, who said every pregnancy represented “God’s child” and pushed for a near-total ban on abortion in South Carolina.
On the other: Sen. Sandy Senn, 59, who slams that approach as “all about controlling women.”
The tensions reflect the unusually stark gender divide that has emerged in the South Carolina State House as the GOP-dominated legislature keeps trying — and failing — to pass tighter abortion restrictions.
And as soon as Tuesday, the state Senate could be faced with its fourth abortion showdown since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The two Senate Republican women who had previously voted for a bill to ban abortion after fetal cardiac activity is detected said they don’t expect to vote for it again. They cited new amendments the House tacked onto the bill that made the measure, in their view, more extreme. Senn opposed the bill the first time around.
On the Hill
Biden and McCarthy set to resume talks on debt limit
President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) agreed to meet this afternoon to restart negotiations over the federal debt ceiling after a breakdown in talks for part of Friday intensified fears of an unprecedented default, per our colleagues Paul Kane, Tyler Pager, Rachel Siegel and Jeff Stein.
McCarthy said he and the president had a “productive” call yesterday while Biden was returning home from the Group of Seven summit in Japan, after he cut short other planned visits to hammer out a bipartisan deal. Following the call, House Republican and White House negotiators met to lay the groundwork for today’s meeting.
More from McCarthy:
Just got off the phone with the president while he’s out of the country.
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 21, 2023
My position has not changed. Washington cannot continue to spend money we do not have at the expense of children and grandchildren.
Tomorrow, he and I will meet in person to continue negotiations.
President Biden:
So much of what Congressional Republicans have proposed during budget negotiations is simply unacceptable.
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 21, 2023
It’s time for them to move off their extreme position and act to avoid default. pic.twitter.com/cg7sV9k7Es
The exchange sets the stage for an intense, high-stakes week as the clock ticks toward a June 1 deadline, at which point the U.S. government risks running short of cash to cover all its expenses. The likelihood of the government being able to sustain operations and pay all bills until mid-June “is quite low,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said yesterday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Payments to Medicare providers, veterans’ and Social Security benefits, and Medicaid reimbursements to states are among the biggest expenses that the country may not be able to pay in the first week and a half following a default, our colleagues Alyssa Fowers and Derek Hawkins report.
Want more on this weekend’s debt limit drama and what’s ahead? Read our pals at The Early 202.
Daybook
📅 Welcome back! The Senate is technically out this week, while the House is in session.
Happening this afternoon: The House Rules Committee will consider several pieces of legislation, including a bill that would permanently classify fentanyl-related substances as a Schedule I narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act.
Tuesday: The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability will examine the role of pharmacy benefit managers in prescription drug markets; the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee will analyze the impact of supplemental coronavirus funding on veteran health care.
Wednesday: A House Appropriations subcommittee will mark up the fiscal 2024 appropriations bill for the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies.
Health reads
How Maine’s growing residential care system fails ailing seniors (By Rose Lundy | The Maine Monitor)
Sugar rush
Thanks for reading! See y'all tomorrow.
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