Today…
at 12pm ET, SCOTUSblog is hosting a video debrief on Little Sisters.
is Coconut Cream Pie Day. Coconut skips generations in my family. Big Nana was a fan, and so am I. My mother and the kids are anti.
is Iris Day. One of my favorites, up there with gerbera daisies.
Next week…
is National Women’s Health Week.
the Supreme Court hears Our Lady of Guadalupe at 11am ET Monday. It’s one of these 1st Am “license to discriminate” cases that could touch on a lot of our work.
this newsletter will have more than 125 subscribers, if…
Oh, and assuming you followed my brain from Netflix’s “very necessary” to this morning’s subject line, enjoy.
Abortion
"Everyone Loves Someone Who Had an Abortion": Video Outlines Need for Abortion Funds
Micaela Brinsley | Ms. Magazine
Recently the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) released a video outlining the necessity of abolishing stigma around abortion, the ways in which politicians have attempted to prohibit our constitutionally-guaranteed right to reproductive healthcare, and the importance of abortion funds.
Arkansas
Judge rejects abortion clinic's bid to block virus test rule
AP
A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request by Arkansas’ only surgical abortion clinic to block a rule requiring a negative coronavirus test before a woman undergoes the procedure. U.S. District Judge Brian Miller rejected the motion to prevent the state from enforcing the requirement on three women nearing Arkansas’ limit on when abortions can be performed. Arkansas bans abortions 20 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.
Maryland
Court hears Maryland challenge to Trump administration’s abortion-referral restrictions
Ann E. Marimow | Washington Post
A federal appeals court on Thursday takes up the Trump administration’s policy barring federally funded family planning clinics from referring women for abortions. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is reviewing a challenge from Baltimore officials to the restrictions that opponents say reduce access to reproductive health care for low-income women. At issue is the federal family planning program known as Title X.
Texas
Abortion Is Available Again in Texas. But You'll Have to Get in Line.
Paige Alexandria | Rewire.News
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's push to ban abortion during the COVID-19 outbreak could mean long waitlists for care will become the norm across the state.
LGBTQ
Michigan Trans Rights Activist Aimee Stephens Enters Hospice Care
Eve Kucharski | Pride Source
Nearly seven years after being fired for coming out as transgender, Aimee Stephens has stayed strong in a legal battle for LGBTQ rights that has made it all the way the Supreme Court of the United States. Stephens undertook this fight despite facing health issues like breathing problems and undergoing dialysis. However, last weekend, Stephens’ wife Donna shared that her wife had entered hospice.
Her friends have launched a GoFundMe to help with end-of-life costs.
Trump administration seeks to end Obama-era protections for LGBT patients
Out in Jersey
The Trump Administration is rewriting regulations to exclude LGBT people on Section 1557 of the ACA. The change would end the current ban on health care discrimination based on sex and gender identity. Many health experts warn that rolling back these Obama-era protections could bring further harm to already-vulnerable patients.
Netflix Shuts Down Homophobic Critic Complaining About “Unnecessary” Gay Characters
Michelle Kim | them.
Pregnancy & Parenting
This Mother’s Day let’s bring attention to the lack of support for the caregiving role mothers play
Wendy Chun-Hoon | Baltimore Sun
As we celebrate mothers on Mother's Day, some are bringing attention to the lack of support for their role as caregivers, including weak paid leave policies.
Social Isolation Is Already a Big Part of New Motherhood
Kaelyn Forde | InStyle
As stay-at-home orders went into effect, and friends prepared to give birth during a pandemic, I wondered how quarantining would change their experience of new motherhood. … As I dove deeper, I found many cultures have post-birth rituals that involve isolating new moms, a sacred way of drawing inward that can feel natural after the transformative experience of birth. It’s something many moms are experiencing by necessity now, and finding rather nice.
I mourn the pregnancy experience I could have had
Pauline Le | Motherly
For new and expecting mothers, it's crucial to be part of a supportive community of other women and mothers. Social distancing has made pregnancy feel much more isolating than my first pregnancy. Even with emails and FaceTime calls readily available, I feel less connected with my support system than I did my first time around.
‘I Know You’re Angry With Me Right Now Because You’re Hungry’
Virginia Sole-Smith | New York Times
How parents in food-insecure households are stretching meals and struggling to nourish their kids during the pandemic.
The Pandemic May Change How We Treat Low-Income Parents
Alison Stine | New York Times
The coronavirus outbreak is rapidly altering how we treat illness, how we socialize, how we work and educate, as well as how safe or unsafe we feel. Will the pandemic also change long-held attitudes and stereotypes about people who are poor, especially single mothers: that some mothers somehow deserve poverty, or that it’s easy to receive benefits?
The legacy of the 'crack baby' myth continues to criminalize pregnant people
Tina Vasquez | Prism
Across the U.S., pregnant people alleged to have used controlled substances are being prosecuted. According to advocates who spoke to Prism, when women become pregnant they not only become more policed, but they lose civil rights.
What’s for dinner, Mom? Pandemic reveals glaring inequalities in household labor divisions
Lila Zuckermann | Seattle University Spectator
As schools close, businesses shut their doors and all but a few jobs operate remotely, there is a whole population silently suffering in the midst: women. Sending most people inside indefinitely, this health emergency has the potential to completely restructure traditional labor divisions — but only if we let it.
Reproductive Health & Justice
Barr Vows to Push Overturning of Obamacare, Despite Virus
Chris Strohm & John Harney | Bloomberg News
Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department would continue its efforts to invalidate Obamacare even as millions of Americans have lost their health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic.
Keeping women's health essential despite Covid-19 shortages
Anu Kumar | CNN
As more countries impose necessary lockdowns and restrictions on in-person medical treatment and allocation of resources, contraception and abortion are becoming harder to access, particularly in low-income countries. As a result, there will likely be an increase in unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions, compounded by restricted mobility, disruption in contraceptive supply chains and higher rates of reported interpersonal violence.
There will not be a COVID-19 baby boom, study says
Marisa Dellatto | New York Post
Don’t expect a baby boom after the coronavirus pandemic. A new study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology found that more than 80% of people do not plan to conceive during the COVID-19 crisis.
Why I’m Celebrating Reproductive Justice This Mother’s Day
Regina Mahone | Rewire.News
New motherhood has been a learning experience, for sure, but one where I’m also learning new things about myself—and about parenthood, and what it means to embody the core principles of reproductive justice.
Love that she dropped in this tidbit: “…while also expressing 10 to 14 ounces of breast milk per session.” I see you. Production numbers are like the SAT scores of BFing. Whether you were mad or so pleased about ‘em, I’ll bet half of you can still me what they were decades later.
5 Reproductive Justice Advocates to Know This Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Tiffany Diane Tso | Rewire.News
Collectively, we in the U.S. don’t know enough about the political organizing and feminist movements of Asian and Pacific American (APA) women. This APA History Month, Rewire.News is highlighting five revolutionary activists who have led the fight for reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, and gender equity.
Trump's continuing war on birth control: Always offensive and sexist, and even worse now
Amanda Marcotte | Salon
The world is falling apart, but the Trump administration wants women to clear pointless obstacles for contraception
Supreme Court
SCOTUS’ Decision In These ACA Cases Could Affect Far More Than Birth Control
Jennifer Gerson | Bustle
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump v. Pennsylvania and Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania won’t come down immediately. But as Justice Sotomayor noted during oral arguments, the impact of this case could extend far beyond birth control coverage: “Assume that the government tomorrow passes a law that says every insurance company must reimburse every policyholder they have for a COVID-19 vaccine.”
What you need to know about upcoming Supreme Court decisions
Anna Repp | Medium
They’ve had to adapt their methods of hearing cases, now conducting arguments over the phone, but business continues (almost) as usual for the Supreme Court. Here’s the latest on their highest-profile cases.
The Women of the Supreme Court Are Sick of These Nonsense Objections to Birth Control
Jessica Mason Pieklo | Rewire.News
Conservatives have been trying to unwind the birth control benefit in the ACA for nearly a decade now, and the women justices on the U.S Supreme Court are over it.
Supreme Court Notebook: Chatty Thomas breaks with precedent
Mark Sherman & Jessica Gresko | AP
A Supreme Court justice gets it in his mind to ask a question, and pretty soon, he’s got questions for everyone. And so the next question: Will Clarence Thomas ever stop talking? Before this week, the intervals between Thomas’ questions during high court arguments were measured in years. He once went 10 years, from 2006 to 2016, without asking even one. Now he’s been an active questioner for three straight days.
The Supreme Court toilet flush during livestreamed oral arguments is a nightmare for John Roberts.
Mark Joseph Stern | Slate
The livestream mishap is no joke to a Supreme Court that draws its legitimacy from mystique and prestige.
Work & Money
COVID-19 Has Highlighted Worker-Protection Issues
Ronald Brownstein | The Atlantic
The greatest irony of the coronavirus pandemic may be that many of the American workers now considered the most essential were among those treated as the most disposable before the outbreak began.
For working moms, long-term school and childcare closures may force an 'impossible' balancing act
Ashton Lattimore | Prism
For those who’ve been able to shift into working from home, trying to stay on task professionally while supervising homeschooling and caring for little ones is increasingly taking a toll. Meanwhile, parents with essential jobs—and those who work for non-essential businesses that have elected to remain open—are still commuting to work daily, then coming home to the evening’s “second shift” ensuring that kids are staying on track with schoolwork.
Scientist-Mothers Face Extra Challenges in the Face of COVID-19
Scientific American
It is clear to us that workplace policies and culture can undermine women’s success in STEM fields. The “mom penalty,” for example, is all too familiar to many of us. Now, the global COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing necessary to address it have compounded our concerns about women’s success in scientific disciplines, worsening nearly every disadvantage that women already face.
Frontline mothers: They take juggling to a new level
Ben Crandell, Lois K. Solomon & Andrew Boryga | South Florida Sun Sentinel
Working moms are master jugglers, but this new coronavirus quarantine puts extraordinary pressures on families. This Mother’s Day, a salute to those who are on the front lines at work and at home.
Being a working mom is hard enough. It’s even tougher in the South, report shows
Tanasia Kenney | The Telegraph (Macon)
Southern states rank among the worst in the nation for working moms, according to a new analysis. The latest findings from personal finance website WalletHub put Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and others on the bottom rung when it comes to favorable conditions for working mothers — especially those working long hours for low wages.
'They Shun Us in the Newsroom': NY1 Women Say They're Facing Retaliation
Diana Falzone | VICE
Last June, five female anchors and reporters at the New York cable news channel NY1 sued their employer, alleging systemic gender and age discrimination. The women, who collectively had more than a century of experience at the network, claimed in the lawsuit that the network had “blatantly marginalized them” and “cast them aside” in favor of younger and less experienced women and men. Since then, the situation has only gotten more tense.
More, More, More
Republicans Have Politically Weaponized Judicial Appointments. Democrats Need To Do Likewise.
Ed Kilgore | New York Magazine
Do Democrats care as much about the judiciary? Some do, particularly women*, LGBTQ folks, and members of groups in danger of losing their voting rights. But Democrats did not “weaponize” judicial appointments in 2016 anywhere near the extent Republicans have.
*You say that, but ask someone you know working in judicial noms in a repro/womany org. (I can’t speak to the LGBTQ groups, maybe they’re crushing it.) Until we’re talking about the Supreme Court, getting folks really engaged and activated is a beast.
Yet Again, The Trump Administration Is Putting Black Sexual Assault Survivors at Risk
Clarissa Brooks | Teen Vogue
In this op-ed, Clarissa Brooks, Know Your IX organizer and journalist, explains how Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos's proposed Title IX changes stand to hurt black and other marginalized survivors.