Salutations, Meteor readers,

I have returned from my sojourn to the Hudson River Valley region, where my life was changed by a cow named Rosie. Anything interesting happen while I was gone? Rhetorical question; I read this newsletter just like you do, so I know.

Today we’ve got a lot to cover—including a discrimination lawsuit, Olympic withdrawal, and three questions for an insider who helped get abortion on the ballot in Arizona.

Walking back into the office like this,

Shannon Melero

WHAT’S GOING ON

Continued fallout: In the 26 months since the Dobbs decision, hundreds of women have shared their horror stories of trying to seek reproductive care from doctors and hospitals operating in mass confusion and fear. Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz and Kyleigh Thurman are two more names to add to the list.

Last week, both Norris-De La Cruz and Thurman filed federal complaints against two different hospitals in Texas that they claim refused to perform  abortions in order to treat their ectopic pregnancies. (If you’re just joining us, ectopic pregnancies occur when a fetus develops outside of a uterus, and are almost never viable.)

In both women’s cases, their fetuses implanted in their fallopian tubes. The hospitals they went to, Texas Health Arlington Memorial Hospital and Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital respectively, sent both of them home. Norris-De La Cruz sought a second opinion and was scheduled for surgery elsewhere. Thurman returned to Ascension several days later. But as Shefali Luthra of The 19th reported yesterday, it was too late: “By the time both could receive abortions, their pregnancies had ruptured. Both women had to have their affected fallopian tube removed.”

A DEMONSTRATOR AT A REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS RALLY. (PHOTO BY MONTINIQUE MONROE/GETTY IMAGES)

Abortion is banned in Texas but, at least on paper, there is a carve out for extreme cases where the life of the mother is at risk. Ectopic pregnancies fall under the category. And yet this isn’t the first time the state has been sued for how the language in the abortion ban has hamstrung doctors in cases where they would normally be quick to act. That’s because if a doctor in Texas were to perform an abortion, they would have to prove in court that their decision was protected by law, and should a court disagree, they could face jail time. It is an impossible decision, and yet it’s still one that states like Texas, Idaho, and Tennessee are forcing doctors to make. It’s also worth noting that a big part of this lawsuit is the hospitals’ failure to comply with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) which states that a hospital receiving federal Medicare dollars must provide emergency abortions when necessary even if its against state law. Perhaps if SCOTUS hadn’t dismissed the Idaho EMTALA case in June, and actually made a full-throated ruling  doctors would have a clearer understanding of what they’re allowed to do without having to consult a bevy of lawyers.

To learn how you can help those seeking reproductive care in Texas, visit Fund Texas Choice.

AND:

• The copper IUD as we know it was invented in 1967 and for the 57 years since, women have been complaining about the pain involved in inserting and removing the device. Now—at long last—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new guidance on pain management. Part of the guidance suggests using Lidocaine and without getting all TMI on you, I can assure you that Lidocaine is not strong enough.

• WNBA star and Olympic bronze medalist, Dearica Hamby is suing the WNBA and her former team the Las Vegas Aces, alleging discrimination and retaliation after she told the Aces that she was pregnant in August of 2022. According to Hamby’s suit, after sharing her pregnancy the team rescinded several enticements that were part of her two-year contract, including school tuition for her daughter and housing.
• Are you already having Olympic withdrawal? Fear not! The Paralympics are right around the corner (starting August 28) and I will be cheering for track-and-field wife guy, Hunter Woodhall like it’s my full-time job.

• Last year was the hottest in recorded history and researchers have discovered that in Europe alone, more than 47,000 people died of heat related issues. The authors of the research paper warn that extreme temperatures are becoming a health issue and without “adaptation measures” the death toll for 2023 would have been about eighty percent higher.

• This article on the forthcoming dawn of a sports bra that is not absolutely horrible may give you the hope you need to believe in humanity.

WINNING IS NICE

Three Questions About Arizona’s Abortion Ballot Initiative

With an insider who helped make it happen

BY SAMHITA MUKHOPADHYAY

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO WEATHERED THE ARIZONA SUN TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. (PHOTO BY REBECCA NOBLE/GETTY IMAGES)

Yesterday, the Arizona secretary of state’s office confirmed that over half a million people had signed to certify a ballot initiative that would enshrine access to abortion into the state constitution. According to NPR, that number represents the most signatures for a ballot measure in the history of the state.

And getting abortion into the constitution is crucial. Arizona’s abortion laws have been in the spotlight because of its 160-year-old “zombie” law, which briefly banned abortion throughout the state this spring. Thanks to (mostly female) legislator pressure, the law goes off the books next month, but “without a constitutional amendment another group of politicians can come right back in January and pass another extreme ban or continue to put onerous restrictions on access,” says Arizona for Abortion Access’ communications director Dawn Penich, whose coalition mobilized 7,000 volunteers to collect signatures.

We asked Penich three questions about this huge win, and what comes next.

WE LOVE A WIN! (PHOTO BY REBECCA NOBLE/GETTY IMAGES)

Samhita Mukhopadhyay: First of all, congratulations and thank you. You surpassed the numbers needed for certification by a lot. What was the process for getting there? And what was the hardest part? 

Dawn Penich: We’ve been working toward this for over a year at this point. It was last summer that we formed a coalition, started writing the language for this measure and forming a campaign and then spent more than nine months collecting signatures all over the state. And if you know anything about Arizona, that means that we were collecting in snowstorms, but also collecting in 115-degree weather.

So I would say that was the hardest part, just asking our 7,000 volunteers to be out there day after day. But I have to tell you, it wasn’t hard because people are so driven and passionate about this issue that they said, yeah, it’s hot, but I don’t care. I need to be part of a solution. I need to be part of righting this wrong. And so getting the news yesterday that our signatures were certified and we are on the ballot just felt amazing and was a huge validation for the amount of work that we’ve been putting in and we’ll continue to put in for the next 90 days.

It just really proves the point that even in Arizona, which is considered a more conservative state on some issues, most voters support access to abortion.

That’s right. We totally saw that when we would be in…the red parts of town. More conservative people do come to this issue from a different perspective: They look at it as small government and keeping the government out of their private lives, whereas other people come to it through a women’s rights or a reproductive freedom lens. So people have different ways of coming to support access to abortion, and that’s why we were able to collect so many signatures. We also think we’re going to be the latest in the long line of reproductive freedom wins this November.

Were there any major efforts to push back on the initiative? 

There were some feeble attempts throughout the course of collecting our signatures. Folks would show up holding stop signs or try to lie about what our measure does and pass off misinformation. But I got to hand it to ’em: Arizona voters are smarter than that. It did nothing but backfire. They would kind of get the attention of people walking by, and then those people would say, Oh, is that the abortion access petition? Let me hurry up and sign that. We don’t take it lightly, but we do know that we are the majority, and that majority will turn out in November as well.

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