#alabama abortion law

[phoenixyfriend]

Big news of the morning, which I first heard on NPR's Up First (2/21/24), but here's a text version from APNews:

The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatment in the state.

Alabama already outlaws abortion at any point in the pregnancy with no exceptions save for life of the mother, but this goes a step further, and introduces the term "extrauterine children."

Ironically, this came from a lawsuit about destroyed embryos at a fertility clinic, but rather than just ensuring the prospective parents can sue for wrongful death that the embryos were killed (someone broke in, the clinic was not at fault), this law may actually result in mass closures of fertility clinics across Alabama.

Current standards for IVF involve harvesting as many eggs at once as possible, and fertilizing them all to raise the chances of implantation with successive rounds of IVF (in case it doesn't take the first time), and then remaining embryos are frozen for if/when the couple wants their next child, and once the couple decides they're done, the embryos are destroyed to free up space for more clients. The new ruling would force them to keep embryos frozen forever, or be sued for wrongful death, which they can't afford, so many are saying they may close their doors instead.

[betweenthings2]

You know what's absolutely fucking wild to me? The fact that Alex Turner/Arctic Monkeys/The Last Shadow Puppets are allegedly banned from Coachella because of the time Alex kissed Miles on stage, but The 1975 isn't. Matty Healy/The 1975 are banned from two whole countries and facing legal charges in one for being pro-LGBT+, but not from one homophobic American festival, and Alex Turner, who I've never seen say two fucking words about politics is.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

One week after the federal government made it easier to get abortion pills, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Tuesday that women in Alabama who use those pills to end pregnancies could be prosecuted.

That’s despite wording in Alabama’s new Human Life Protection Act that criminalizes abortion providers and prevents its use against the people receiving abortions. Instead, the attorney general’s office said Alabama could rely on an older law, one initially designed to protect children from meth lab fumes.

“The Human Life Protection Act targets abortion providers, exempting women ‘upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed’ from liability under the law,” Marshall said in an emailed statement. “It does not provide an across-the-board exemption from all criminal laws, including the chemical-endangerment law—which the Alabama Supreme Court has affirmed and reaffirmed protects unborn children.”

The announcement followed changes last week to regulations of two medications commonly prescribed for abortion. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a change that will allow brick-and-mortar and mail-order pharmacies to dispense mifepristone and misoprostol, two drugs used in more than half of abortions in the United States.

Before the change, people using medication for abortions had to pick it up at specialty clinics. Officials at the U.S. Department of Justice issued an opinion that carriers with the U.S. Postal Service could deliver pills in states that banned abortion. The new rules will expand access through telehealth and mail-order pharmacies but could set up clashes with anti-abortion states such as Alabama.

Marshall has said in the past his office could prosecute doctors with U.S. Veterans Affairs who perform abortions for victims of rape or incest. He has also said people who assist in setting up out-of-state abortions could face criminal penalties. This is the first time he has said police and prosecutors could arrest women who have undergone medication abortion.

“Promoting the remote prescription and administration of abortion pills endangers both women and unborn children,” Marshall said in an email. “Elective abortion—including abortion pills—is illegal in Alabama. Nothing about the Justice Department’s guidance changes that. Anyone who remotely prescribes abortion pills in Alabama does so at their own peril: I will vigorously enforce Alabama law to protect unborn life.”

In 2019, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed the Human Life Protection Act, which banned abortion except in cases where the mother’s health is in danger. That law went into effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last summer.

The law specifically states that women receiving abortions cannot be held criminally liable. However, Marshall said women using pills to induce abortions could be prosecuted under the chemical endangerment law.

Lawmakers passed the chemical endangerment law in 2006 to protect small children from fumes and chemicals from home-based meth labs. District attorneys soon began applying the law to protect the fetuses of women who used various drugs during pregnancy. Justices on the Alabama Supreme Court upheld and affirmed prosecutions of pregnant people in 2013 and 2014.

Since then, the law has been used against more than a thousand Alabama women who used drugs during pregnancy. Its enforcement varies widely. District attorneys in some counties rarely apply the law to pregnant women, while others routinely arrest those who use any illegal substance, including marijuana, while pregnant.

The chemical endangerment law has been used to incarcerate women for years who have had miscarriages or stillbirths after using drugs. Etowah County officials jailed pregnant women for months before trial under bond conditions designed to protect fetuses, despite evidence that incarceration increases the risk of pregnancy loss. After the publication of an investigative series in 2015 by ProPublica and Al.com, lawmakers voted to amend the law so it couldn’t be used against women who had lawful prescriptions from doctors.

Attorneys with Pregnancy Justice, a legal organization that represents pregnant women, have fought efforts to criminalize pregnancy and abortion. Emma Roth, a staff attorney at Pregnancy Justice, said prosecutors have already twisted the chemical endangerment law so it can be used against pregnant women. Using the law to go after those who use medications to induce abortions could be unlawful and would undermine the goals of lawmakers who voted for the Human Life Protection Act, she said.

“The Alabama legislature made clear its opposition to any such prosecution when it explicitly exempted patients from criminal liability under its abortion ban,” Roth said in an email. “Yet Alabama prosecutors and courts have shown a willingness to disregard legislative intent time and again in their crusade to criminalize pregnant women. Pregnancy Justice stands ready to challenge any attempt to expand the chemical endangerment statute to criminalize the use of abortion medication.”

JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, said women have the right to receive prescriptions from out-of-state doctors.

“The ACLU of Alabama is disappointed to learn that Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is continuing to insert himself into a person’s medical exam room,” Gilchrist said. “Medical decisions should remain the private choice between a patient and doctor. The Alabama Attorney General lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute Alabamians from receiving legal and legitimate medical services prescribed outside the state of Alabama.”

[autonom-us-project]

Abortion Rights in Alabama

In June 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned the ruling of the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which had previously provided federal protections of the right to abortion.

With the responsibility of protecting the right to reproductive freedom left to the states, it can be difficult to keep track of all the constantly changing laws and regulations. To help, we’ve gathered the most important information on your state’s current laws, restrictions, and related details. Below is what you need to know about Alabama’ current abortion legislation.

*Please note, information on this website should not be used as legal advice or as a basis for medical decisions. Consult an attorney and/or a physician for your particular case.

Where does the law currently stand on abortion in the state of Alabama?

Abortion is currently banned in the state of Alabama.

When did Alabama's current abortion ban go into effect?

Following the overturning of Roe v Wade (1973) in 2022, Alabama's Human Life Protection Act (2019) trigger ban, one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws, was enacted, leading to the state's current legislation banning abortion almost entirely.

For more information on your state’s abortion legislation, see our breakdowns of various abortion bans, restrictions, and protections in the U.S.

Are there any exceptions to Alabama's abortion ban?

Currently, there are no exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or human trafficking. The only exceptions to the ban are:

Medical Necessity: If the pregnant individual faces a serious or fatal physical health risk, (not including mental illness or suicidality), as determined by a physician. 

Non-Viability: If the pregnancy is non-viable, or the unborn fetus would not survive outside of the womb, as determined by a physician.

In these cases, an abortion does not violate Alabama law, but still must be carried out in strict accordance with Alabama state law.

The specifics can be read in Alabama Legal Codes 26-23B-5 and 26-22-3.

What are the penalties regarding abortion in the state of Alabama?

Currently, there are no criminal or civil penalties for a pregnant individual receiving or attempting to receive an abortion in the state of Alabama.

Those attempting to provide abortion services in violation of Alabama law face a Class C felony charge, punishable by 1 to 10 years in prison. 

Those who successfully provide abortion services in violation of Alabama law face a Class A felony charge, punishable by 10 to 99 years in prison. 

The specifics can be read in Alabama Legal Codes 26-23H-6 and 26-23-3.

I am pregnant in the state of Alabama and wish to terminate my pregnancy. What now?

If you believe your pregnancy meets the requirements for a legal abortion in your state, schedule an appointment with a trusted physician as soon as possible. If not, you will need to arrange an appointment at a clinic providing abortion services out of state. Make sure the state you choose allows abortions at the gestational age your pregnancy will reach by your appointment date.

If you need financial assistance or other support to do this, there are existing funds to help cover both the procedure and travel costs. 

Abortion funds can assist with the medical cost of the abortion itself. Practical Support Organizations, (PSOs), can assist with any other needs or costs of seeking an out-of-state abortion such as travel, lodging, childcare, provider referrals, emotional support,judicial bypass for minors, etc. Here are a few resources available to those seeking support in Alabama:

Access Reproductive Care - Southeast [Fund & PSO] – Provides support for those seeking an abortion from the Southeast (including Alabama). Offers financial aid for abortion, transit, and lodging. Provides Spanish language support. See their website for more information. 

Yellowhammer Fund [Fund & PSO] – Provides support for those seeking an abortion from Alabama, but you must be seeking an abortion from specific providers in Georgia or Washington, D.C. Offers financial aid for abortion and emergency contraception (the morning-after pill). See their website for more information. 

Louisiana Abortion Fund [Fund & PSO] – Provides support for those seeking an abortion from Alabama. Offers financial aid for abortion, transit, lodging, provider referrals, and gas money. Provides Spanish language support. See their website for more information. 

Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi [Fund & PSO] – Provides support for those seeking an abortion from Alabama. Offers financial aid for abortion, transit (long or short distance), lodging, provider referrals, gas money, food assistance, rideshare and rental car assistance, emergency contraception (the morning-after pill), language services, and interpretation services. Provides Spanish language support. See their website for more information. 

National Abortion Hotline [Fund & PSO] – Provides support for those seeking an abortion Nationwide. Offers financial aid for abortion, transit, and provider referrals. Provides Spanish language support. See their website for more information. 

Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project [Fund] – Provides funding for those seeking an abortion Nationwide. Offers financial aid for abortion and emergency contraception (the morning-after pill). See their website for more information. 

Abortion Freedom Fund [Fund] – Provides funding for those seeking an abortion Nationwide. Offers financial aid for abortion. See their website for more information. 

Indigenous Women Rising [Fund] – Provides funding for Indigenous individuals Nationwide seeking an abortion. Offers financial aid for abortion. See their website for more information. 

Reprocare [PSO] – Provides support for those seeking an abortion Nationwide. Offers aid in the form of provider referrals, emotional support, language services, and abortion doula services. Provides Spanish language support. See their website for more information. 

The Brigid Alliance [PSO] – Provides support for those seeking an abortion Nationwide. Offers aid in the form of provider referrals, emotional support, language services, and abortion doula services. Provides Spanish language support. See their website for more information. 

Regardless of the legislation your state currently has in place, remember that safe and legal options are always available. The most important tool you can arm yourself with in these difficult times is knowledge, so stay informed about changes in law and policy where you live, and know that there are always resources available to help you through this ♥️

[archaalen]

https://apnews.com/article/alabama-frozen-embryos-conservative-christian-views-ruling-d9b7f720b5ef865ab35205ad36061f2d

Bible-quoting Alabama chief justice sparks church-state debate in embryo ruling

[joe-england]

Alabama’s New Reproductive Law Considers Embryos Children | The Daily Show

[cleolinda]

At a fundraiser in Massachusetts earlier this week, Walz went after Tommy Tuberville, the Republican senator from Alabama, saying, “I feel like one of my roles in this now is to be the anti-Tommy Tuberville, to show that football coaches are not the dumbest people.”

Once again, as an Alabamian I would like to apologize for Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn coach and current U.S. senator who is dumber than a sack of wet mice—

In an Alabama Daily News interview after the election, Tuberville said that the European theater of World War II was fought "to free Europe of socialism" and erroneously that the three branches of the U.S. federal government were "the House, the Senate, and the executive." He also said that he was looking forward to raising money from his Senate office, a violation of federal law.

—but also a fucking bigot. Please review the lengthy “Tenure” section of his Wikipedia page as to why I hate him, for reasons including but not limited to: voting against the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act; claiming that Democrats are “pro-crime” and want reparations for descendants of enslaved people “because they think the people that do the crime are owed that,” what the fuck; being an election denier and voting against a January 6th commission; being a climate change denier; being transphobic as fuck (a whole section); famously holding military promotions hostage over the issue of abortion availability for service members (yeah, he’s THAT guy); denying that white nationalists are “inherently racist” (“I call them Americans”); and calling Zelenskyy a dictator and supporting Putin TWO MONTHS AGO. Tim Walz, I bid you read this fuckstick for filth. Thank you for letting me vent. Roll tide.

[intheholler]

Appalachia & Southeastern USA LGBTQ+ Resource Masterpost

Under the cut, you'll find queer-focused resources sorted by state.

I have a sister post with donation links for those outside of the region who'd like to help us grow.

If you aren't from the region, I encourage you to find the organization that speaks to you the most, put your money where your mouth is and help us be better.

If you are from the region, I sincerely hope this can help you or someone you know in some way.

This list is inexhaustive as Tumblr is only permitting 100 links (which is also what necessitates the sister post and is why you may not see your contribution unfortunately).

Disclaimer: I do not (necessarily) personally endorse these organizations, nor have I vetted them thoroughly. If I have included anything you know to be detrimental or harmful in any way, please DM immediately me so I can rectify it.

General Regional Resources

Appalachian Outreach organizes events and provides access to resources for the queer community all across Appalachia.

STAY (Central Appalachia) is a youth-led activist organization in central Appalachia.

Trans in the South is a directory for gender-affirming healthcare in the south.

Southerners on New Ground (SONG) is a queer liberation group funding projects, protests, and campaigns to build a queer-friendly south.

Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project (STYEP) connects trans youth affected by anti-trans legislation with gender-affirming healthcare providers in the southeast; they offer grants up to $500 to individuals for emergency support.

Trans Health Project helps trans folks understand, access and utilize their medical insurance. They provide grants for gender-affirming surgeries.

Campaign for Southern Equality provides funding, training and resources for/to queer individuals and activists.

Not region specific, but important all the same: Help suspected transgender John and Jane Does regain their identities.

Resources by State

Alabama

AIDS Alabama helps provide housing to vulnerable individual and families, including helping queer youth find housing.

ALTGO’s list of local resources for gender-affirming care, legal services and generally queer-friendly physical/mental healthcare.

The Knights & Orchids Society provides housing, healthcare, and general support to the Black queer community.

Based in Birmingham, Magic City Acceptance Center offers supportive safe spaces and direct support to 52 counties in Alabama.

Medical Advocacy and Outreach in southern Alabama provides HIV+ care, as well as HIV & hepatitis C testing.

Prism United funds free therapy and hosts gatherings for queer individuals along the Gulf Coast.

Shoals Diversity Center is a Florence-based group that offers mental health services, support groups and other resources for the queer community in the Shoals area.

T.A.K.E. Resource Center provides direct support, grants, housing advocacy and other services for trans women of color in Alabama.

Thrive Alabama facilitates access to queer-focused healthcare services in North Alabama.

Georgia

Carollton Rainbow organizes queer-focused social events in West Georgia and provides tools for advocacy in the community.

Emmaus House is a soup kitchen in Savannah also providing laundry and shower facilities.

Emory is an Atlanta-based, queer-focused law firm.

Feminist Women’s Health Center (I know the name isn’t necessarily ideal, sorry) in Atlanta offers trans-inclusive, affordable medical care. They also provide access to abortions.

First City Network in Savannah provides referral services for healthcare, advocacy, education and mutual aid for queer Georgians.

List of housing assistance in the Savannah area

Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia serves the queer community’s legal needs in Georgia.

Kentucky

AIDS Volunteers of Lexington (AVOL) provides housing and assistance to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS.

Arbor Youth Services provides emergency shelter to queer youth in Louisville, up to age 24.

Berea Human Rights Commission offers free investigations into claims of housing or employment discrimination with a focus on queer folks.

Kentucky Health Justice Network provides referrals to gender-affirming providers, as well as financial assistance for trans healthcare and abortions.

Kentucky Youth Law Project provides free representation to queer youth.

Massive Kentuckian LGBTQ resource list provided by Lexington Pride Center, broken down into easy-to-browse categories.

Louisville Youth Group strives to give queer youth the tools and skills they need to grow personally and facilitate positive change in their communities.

Sweet Evening Breeze helps queer young adults in Kentucky between the ages of 18-24 obtain emergency housing.

Trans Kentucky’s list of gender-affirming healthcare providers across the state

Guide on changing your name following gender-affirming surgeries in Kentucky, and a tool to help you do so.

Louisiana

AcadianaCares supports folks living with HIV/AIDS while providing support to houseless and impoverished individuals.

ACLU Louisiana website.

Community resources in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette (much of it only provides addresses and emails, so it’s hard to link individually here).

Directory of trans-focused healthcare providers

List of in-person and online queer support groups. In-person groups are based in Monroe, Lafayette and Baton Rouge.

Mutual aid in Shreveport

Out of the Closet provides clothing for the queer community with multiple locations throughout the state.

OUTnorthla is a queer film-festival hosted by PACE Louisiana.

Queer-forward healthcare in Louisiana.

QUEERPORT is a grassroots org offering a platform for queer creatives.

Tulane Drop-In Clinic provides free medical and social services to runaway and otherwise houseless youth.

Guides for legal name changes in Louisiana.

Mississippi

Capital City Pride hosts pride events, meet-ups and book clubs for the queer community around Jackson.

Gulf Coast Equality hosts drag shows, food drives and other events for the Gulf Coast area.

The Spectrum Center in Hattiesburg offers a community closet, short-term emergency housing, free HIV testing and scheduled support groups/events for the queer community in Hattiesburg.

Violet Valley Bookstore is a queer feminist bookshop owned by a published lesbian author in Water Valley.

Guide for name changes in Mississippi.

North Carolina

Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group (CTHCG) connects trans folks with gender-affirming care.

Down Home NC helps rural working class communities organize to advocate for their rights.

Guilford Green Foundation & LGBTQ Center provides financial support to queer nonprofits and activist groups in NC to fight anti-queer legislation.

Ladies of the T is provides resources and support to trans and gender non-conforming women of color in the Tri-City area. .

North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Attorneys (NCPMB) provides attorney referrals, visibility, and support for the queer community.

Pitt County Aids Service Organization (PICASO) provides HIV prevention and testing services in Eastern NC, as well as support for individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

Asheville-based Tranzmission’s compilation of trans-focused medical, social and legal resources in WNC.

Triad Health Project provides free HIV testing, contraceptives, prevention outreach, daycare and access to their food pantry in Guilford County.

Durham-based Triangle Empowerment Center provides the queer community with emergency housing, access to PrEP, as well as support groups and other events.

South Carolina

Harriet Hancock Center is a community center offering social support for queer individuals in the Midlands area.

Free gender-affirming gear to South Carolinians!!!

Alliance for Full Acceptance (AFFA), a queer-focused social justice group

List of queer-friendly medical providers across the state

Uplift Outreach provides safe spaces for queer youth in Spartanburg.

Charleston Black Pride serves the queer POC community in the low country area.

We are Family Charleston’s community center hosts support groups and provides direct support to the queer community around Charleston. They offer microgrants to trans individuals in the state as well as in-person support groups and aforementioned free stuff for trans folks.

Closet Case is a thrift store by and for queer individuals, operated by We Are family, offering safe and affordable clothes shopping.

T-Time holds support groups for trans individuals, based in Myrtle Beach.

Palmetto Community Care provides confidential HIV testing and support as well as free contraceptives.

South Carolina based community support network for the trans community

Legal assistance in Columbia, SC/Midlands area

Guide on changing your name in South Carolina

List of queer-safe, gender-affirming care providers in Columbia, SC

Tennessee

CHOICES provides low-cost LGBTQ healthcare, among other services, such as abortions.

Emergency housing in Tennessee for those living with AIDS

Launch Pad helps queer youth among others obtain emergency shelter in the Nashville area.

Metamorphosis provides transitional housing and other emergency support for queer youth between 18 - 24.

Mountain Access Brigade provides abortion funding across the state.

My Sistah’s House in Memphis provides emergency housing and support for queer people of color, as well as access to health services for sex workers.

The Seed Theatre in Chattanooga provides free resources such as binders for the trans community and hosts safe, social spaces.

Tennessee HIV Prevention & Care

Trans Empowerment Project provides support to trans and gender-nonconforming folks around Knoxville.

Youth Villages provides emergency housing for youth under 18.

List of trans-focused healthcare providers across the state.

Virginia

Counseling, free hygiene products, temporary housing and more provided by Side by Side VA

Virginia Home for Boys and Girls partners with Pride Place to provide temporary housing for queer young adults (18-25).

Side by Side VA provides temporary housing for queer youth for up to 6 months.

Nationz, based in Henrico, provides free STI/HIV testing, food pantry, PrEP, and notary services for the queer community.

Justice 4 All provides legal aid for low-income Virginians.

Virginia Rural health Association’s list of gender-affirming healthcare providers

General rural healthcare resources in Virginia

West Virginia

Dr. Rainbow connects folks with queer-friendly care in the state.

Fairness West Virginia’s list of gender-affirming care providers.

Harmony House West Virginia provides queer-friendly shelter for houseless people.

Holler Health Justice is a queer- and POC-led mutual aid organization based in WV, though they seem open to serving all Appalachians.

Holler Health Justice also provides financial/logistic support to West Virginians seeking abortions.

WVFREE connects West Virginians with birth control providers.

Nearby gender-affirming care for trans youth at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Transgender Health Center.

[rapeculturerealities]

(7) There is a reason politicians don't want pregnant women getting divorced

In Texas, Alabama, Missouri, and Arizona, pregnant women cannot divorce.

There are no exceptions for domestic violence.

These laws are not new, but they’re back in the news because a lawmaker in Missouri introduced a bill to change the law in that state. It’s unlikely the GOP-led legislature will pass the bill. These laws also have abortion bans — a sort of catch-22 for people who can become pregnant.

These laws initially came about, as so many bad laws do, as a paternalistic measure to make sure a child was provided for after birth. But when you add in the context that these states have banned abortions, what these laws essentially do is force women into positions of financial or emotional vulnerability and into marriage and into lives of unpaid labor.

[whatbigotspost]

I hate August. I love September. But just as with September 1st 2 years ago when SCOTUS previewed the overturning of Roe by allowing abortion to be outlawed here, there’s no celebrating for me today.

It’s a shitty day in Texas. Realllllllll shitty.

From Instagram, linking to this post from OutYouth for the resources they share.

Sadly, Texas is joining 21 other states with other such heinous laws.

“Additional bans on gender-affirming care have been passed in North Carolina, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arizona, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Iowa, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia, Indiana, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida.”

This hate fueled targeting and incessant attacking of trans people ESPECIALLY CHILDREN is disgusting beyond words.

[shinobicyrus]

Obviously, the Alabama Supreme Court actually putting fetal personhood into law is another victory for creeping Christian Authoritarianism and yet another attack on health care, womens' rights, and bodily autonomy....but watching the Republicans flip their shit now that IVF clinics are in danger of closing is hilarious in a "the clown car is on fire" kind of way.

Because of course this was going to happen. Fetal personhood and anti-surrogacy (especially in the context of same-sex parents) has been bouncing around in conservative religious and legal circles (but what's the difference?) for decades, with those pesky liberals warning about it for just as long. Anyone with an inkling of awareness of the issue could have seen it coming.

So the fact that they were caught so off guard is myopic enough. And they're panicking for a very good reason, because yanno who generally goes to IVF clinics?

The people who can afford it.

Certainly the abortion bans in various states were bad, but if you had a lot of disposable income you could just...go to another state. Extremely inconvenient, yes, but not insurmountable. But this?

Oh my god, now the far-right pro-life politics that you've been cultivating for going on fifty years is now in a position to affect people with money? People that matter? Now you have to try and contend with the very extremist judges you installed that don't have to worry about getting elected and whose decisions are now putting you on the political chopping block?

Join us the in misery you're created for everyone else, assholes.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a law on Monday that adds crucial protections for LGBTQ+ couples using fertility treatments to build a family.

The Michigan Family Protection Act includes a series of provisions to protect families of all kinds. Most notably for the LGBTQ+ community, it changes “outdated state law to treat LGBTQ+ families equally and eliminate the need for them to go through a costly and invasive process to get documentation confirming their parental status,” as a press release from the governor’s office explains, adding that “Even if they move to a state that does not respect these basic rights, these bills help ensure they cannot be denied their relationship to their child.”

The law also repeals a law that made Michigan the only state in the country to criminalize surrogacy contracts; increases protections for surrogates, parents, and children; ensures equal legal treatment of children born through surrogacy and assisted reproduction; and streamlines the process for families to establish legal connections to their children.

“The Michigan Family Protection Act takes commonsense, long-overdue action to repeal Michigan’s ban on surrogacy, protect families formed by IVF, and ensure LGBTQ+ parents are treated equally,” Gov. Whitmer said in a statement. “Your family’s decisions should be up to you, and my legislative partners and I will keep fighting like hell to protect reproductive freedom in Michigan and make our state the best place to start, raise, and grow your family.”

Stephanie Jones, founder of the Michigan Fertility Alliance, called the legislation “an incredible victory for all Michigan families formed through assisted reproduction, including IVF and surrogacy, and for LGBTQ+ families.”

The press release also acknowledged the attacks on reproductive rights taking place across the country, most notably the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade and the 2024 Alabama Supreme Court’s declaration that embryos created through IVF have the same legal rights as children.

“As other states seek to restrict IVF, ban abortion, and make it harder to start a family, Michigan is supporting women and protecting reproductive freedoms for everyone,” the release stated.

One fierce advocate, Tammy Myers, has been fighting for the decriminalization of surrogacy in the state for the past four years. She told 7 Action News, “The tipping point, I think, is seeing that rights are being taken across the nation and we all need to fight for reproductive freedom.”

Polly Crozier, director of family advocacy at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), added in a statement, “Michigan has shown us what strengthening families should look like in 2024: making it more possible for people to fulfill their dreams of building a family and more accessible for all families, including LGBTQ+ families, to obtain the safety and stability that comes with legal parentage.”

“Amid efforts to restrict Americans’ reproductive freedom and roll back protections for LGBTQ+ people and their families, the Michigan Family Protection Act is an inspiring example for other states where gaps in parentage laws leave families vulnerable.”

[self-loving-vampire]

The decision was issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. Justices, citing anti-abortion language in the Alabama Constitution, ruled that an 1872 state law allowing parents to sue over the death of a minor child “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.” “Unborn children are ‘children’ ... without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in Friday’s majority ruling by the all-Republican court.

I actually think frozen embryos are an interesting thing to think about on the subject of abortion rights precisely because it is so absurd to treat them as equivalent to actual living children.

Let's take a trolley problem situation. 100 frozen embryos on one track, 10 children around 2 years old on another. It seems really unlikely to me that even the average conservative would choose to save the embryos over the children. They are clearly not the same.

Also.

"Alabama's Chief Justice, Tom Parker, wrote in the decision that destroying life would "incur the wrath of a holy God." Of nine state Supreme Court Justices, only one disagreed."

Theocracy moment.

[gatheringbones]

[“The fact remains that the most effective long-term solutions to protecting and empowering victims of abuse are policy changes that would grant victims reliable access to health care, housing, livable income, paid sick leave, child care, and safety from criminalization. Yet bureaucratic impediments on the federal level, lack of leadership from Democrats as a serious “opposition party” against Republicans, and general inaction have stalled meaningful, nationwide, progressive economic legislation for decades. As a result, too many victims are forced to stay in dangerous, traumatizing relationships solely for economic reasons, in a country where poverty can be a death sentence, and those who experience poverty are disproportionately policed for “survival crimes”—what we call being punished by the state for its own failure to invest in community resources, and its reliance on commodifying and profiting off incarcerating the most vulnerable.

Despite how frequently cases of rape and domestic abuse are invoked to justify policing and prisons, women who are victims of abuse face more severe punishment for “enabling” child abuse, pregnancy loss, or even surviving abuse, broadly, than their abusers do. The many documented cases of this include Marshae Jones, a Black woman in Alabama who was jailed for fetal homicide in 2019 after miscarrying from being shot in the stomach. Sex workers who report being victimized are disbelieved and often criminalized by police officers themselves (a 2007 study found 44 percent of police officers said they were unlikely to believe a report of rape from a sex worker), while the rapes and sexual violence cases of Black and Indigenous women and girls are chronically ignored by police departments and media.

Victims of abuse with the least resources and social capital are more likely to face punishment than anything else when they seek help from authorities, rendering it more likely they would seek criminalized means to protect or provide for themselves. In too many documented cases that disproportionately implicate people of color, pregnant people are criminally charged for ostensibly endangering fetuses—for example, due to substance use struggles—and even prior to the overturning of Roe, for self-managed abortions. Many pregnant people have faced charges or incarceration for miscarriage or stillbirth, and even for harms inflicted on them while they were pregnant, like Marshae Jones.

This is in part because about forty states have feticide laws that were written with the intention of protecting pregnant people from domestic violence. It’s an important crisis to address, given how high homicide rates targeting pregnant people are. Yet all too often, feticide laws are co-opted and misused by anti-abortion activists and prosecutors to criminally charge pregnant people who lose their pregnancies. Misuse of fetal homicide laws has contributed to the nearly 1,300 criminal charges for pregnancy loss doled out between 2006 and 2020 alone—a number that’s tripled from 1973 to 2005, according to research from Pregnancy Justice. Let’s not forget that it’s police officers who are the primary enforcers of abortion bans, a role they’ve enthusiastically stepped into: In February 2022 the city of Louisville paid a police officer $75,000 in settlement fees almost a year after the officer was suspended for protesting outside a local abortion clinic while armed and in uniform. After being suspended with pay for almost half a year in 2021, the officer sued the city for supposedly violating his constitutional rights while off-duty and discriminating against him for his “pro-life” views. The incident is part of a long history of police officers either ignoring or enabling violent anti-abortion protesters at clinics, and apparently even joining protesters themselves.

Fetal homicide laws are just one example of legislation that accords unborn fetuses with legal personhood rights, resulting in extensive legal risks for pregnant people, and particularly those who experience abuse. Dana Sussman, deputy executive director of Pregnancy Justice, told me in 2022 that there’s “simply no way to grant fetuses ‘personhood rights’ without subjugating the rights of pregnant people by creating a false tension between the rights of the fetus and the rights of a pregnant person.” When a pregnant person’s “rights are secondary to the fetus, or at odds with the fetus, that lends to an environment in which violence—whether it’s state violence like imprisonment, or interpersonal violence—can be committed against pregnant people with far less accountability.”]

kylie cheung, from survivor injustice: state-sanctioned abuse, domestic violence, and the fight for bodily autonomy, 2023

[fairuzfan]

The problem with the Schengen discussion is that everyone (Europeans) are taught the benefits and only the benefits of it and don't really realise the downsides of it until something like a genocide witness gets blocked and barred in a single airport with no way to go anywhere. And even then the extent of such a ban isn't realised. What isn't realised is that the great freedom of movement they have also has the ability to become the greatest blockade for those who can't apply themselves to the privilege of being a European citizen BECAUSE the European countries have decided that they have shared autonomy on the topic and no more national sovereignty.

Something Americans understand very well if you view the EU (and the Schengen, which isn't the EU but covers it and more) as the federal government and the member states (countries) as the states of America. States/countries need to give up their authority/sovereignty. So that argument someone made is invalid as well.

It is in the same way that 'Brits being baffled' at how many 'privileges' they lost was because the same Brits voted for more autonomy on the entry of refugees. Supporting my earlier point that people are simply not understanding the two sides of a coin that their rights and privileges come with.

Not an EU-hater and I am happy for the Schengen Agreement (treaty) to exist, but it does stand for some criticism.

I hope Ghassan Abu Sitta manages to leave the airport and the country and isn't forced to be stuck like Mehran Karimi Nasseri for eleven years (at the same airport even!!! For shame!)

Yeah, I was thinking that this sounds like a federal system vs a state system in which the state can decide the federal system laws. Like in the case of for example, Alabama, just because Alabama made abortion illegal does not mean it imposes their laws onto other states.

But in this case, the country does not give up authority to the larger Schengen agreement, which is why that's so odd to me. Maybe this is because I grew up in the US but the idea that one country can enforce onto other countries different rules by enacting a rule within that country, seems so odd to me. Maybe that's an oversimplification, relating it to US states? I don't especially care either way, its not an area of interest beyond the enforcement of colonialism that has occurred within the last few decades (remember, the Mediterranean is a mass grave because so many European countries refused to accept refugees), but it's a viewpoint of someone from outside Schengen looking in, considering the political histories of these individual countries and how none of them, including Germany, really reckoned with their hateful pasts.