Here's
how quickly the prospect of expanding abortion rights can kill a piece
of legislation.
By Molly Redden
In February, a group of state lawmakers introduced a
bill that would require insurers to cover the full spectrum of women's
reproductive services at an affordable price. Just two months later, the
same lawmakers have killed the bill.
The section calling for abortion
coverage proved just too controversial.
This didn't happen in the Rust Belt, or in a purple state where Democrats hold the statehouse by just a vote or two.
It happened in Oregon, where the Democrats control
both chambers of the legislature by a
supermajority and where the party has a lengthy history of going to the
mat for abortion rights.
The tale is an illuminating one as progressives contemplate how to
respond to the historic number of anti-abortion laws that have passed in
the last five years.
It's also an important dose of reality.
Conservatives have enacted more abortion restrictions in the past few years than they have in the entire previous decade.
In January, though, several news reports circulated that made it seem
as though a full-fledged progressive counter strike was already under
way.
The stories were based on reports by the Guttmacher Institute and the National Institute for Reproductive
Health, pro abortion-rights think tanks.
They found that in 2014,
dozens of lawmakers introduced dozens of bills—95, by Guttmacher's
count—supporting women's reproductive rights, surpassing a record set in
1990.
"A Record Number Of Lawmakers Are Starting To Fight For
Reproductive Rights," one headline announced.
Another read, "Inside the quiet, state-level push to expand abortion rights."
It's certainly true that the tidal wave of new abortion restrictions
has inspired a progressive backlash.
But the suggestion that the two
sides are evenly matched, or even approaching that point, is out of line
with reality.
Just four of those 95 measures were eventually passed
into law.
One of them was a Vermont bill to repeal the state's long-defunct abortion ban, in case the makeup of the Supreme Court allowed the justices to overturn
Roe v. Wade—a looming danger, but not the most pressing issue facing abortion rights.
By contrast, last year alone conservative lawmakers introduced 335 bills targeting abortion access; 26 passed.
And in two states that
are overtly hostile to abortion rights—Texas and North Dakota—the
legislature wasn't even in session.
That's part of why you can expect this year's abortion battles to be even uglier.
But it's not just about sheer numbers.
At the same time that
progressive lawmakers were pushing forward-thinking laws, the 2014
midterms undermined their efforts.
In states where there were serious
efforts to expand reproductive rights—Colorado, Nevada, New York, and
Washington—Democratic losses on Election Day have placed those plans on indefinite hold.
Here's how things fell apart in Oregon, according to the
Lund Report, an Oregon-based health news website.
[Democratic health committee chair Sen. Laurie] Monnes Anderson said
the abortion language was so toxic that "leadership"—her caucus
leaders—would not even allow her to have a public hearing on SB 894, let
alone move it to the Senate floor. She said House Democratic leaders
were also involved in the discussion over whether the bill could see the
light of day.
Meanwhile, in the time it took for Oregon to abandon this bill, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, and West Virginia passed 10 new abortion and reproductive rights
restrictions.
What happened in Oregon shows just how much reproductive rights
advocates are playing catch-up, even in states that appear friendly to
their agenda.
