Donald Trump may be aggressively fighting women’s reproductive care, but 18 states yesterday announced that they plan to fight his new executive orders in a coordinated effort. And all we can say is — hell, yes. Well, that and also — what about the other 32 states? We’re looking at you, New York.
Lawmakers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin went on the record yesterday for women’s rights, proposing laws that would make it easier to receive emergency contraception for sexual assault survivors, prevent employers from taking action against employees based on reproductive health care choices, and recognize abortion as a health care service, which should be covered under both private and public health care.
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Trump’s exec orders thus far have been absolutely insane, calling for cutting off U.S. foreign aid to organizations that provide abortion care via the Global Gag Rule, dissolving Obamacare and the list goes on. (And on. And on. Honestly, we can’t.)
As Teen Voguereports, the Public Leadership Institute (a nonpartisan think tank) worked with reps in all 18 states to get the legislative ball rolling on these issues. A solid half of the states that proposed the new legislation yesterday were red states — won by Trump — and many of the bills were modeled after laws in PLI’s publication A Playbook for Abortion Rights, which helps policymakers and civilians learn about policies for making abortion easier to access (and changing the national debate about whether abortion should be considered under the umbrella of health care).
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“Today presents a major strategy by the reproductive rights movement — many, many state advocacy organizations and many, many pro-choice politicians who are saying, ‘We’re not going to stay on the defense and we’re not going to let the federal government drive abortion strategy in our state and we’re going to get in front of it by putting forward policies that are proactive and expand access to care in this downright dangerous administration,” Gloria Totten, founder and president of PLI, tells Teen Vogue. Once again for the cheap seats: A resounding hell, yes.
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