Abortion in Arkansas, An Obama alum's controversial candidacy, and foster youth
Hi! I have a few new stories to share this week.
1. In 2016 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a package of abortion restrictions in Texas, concluding they posed an unconstitutional burden on a woman's right to end a pregnancy. Among those restrictions included requiring Texas clinics to obtain "hospital-admitting privileges."
Especially in conservative states, getting admitting privileges to hospitals is an extremely hard thing to do; most institutions just don’t want to partner with clinics and risk the political backlash that so often comes with abortion. In Texas, nearly half of the state’s abortion clinics shut down as a result of the new mandates its legislature passed in 2013. Keep in mind, both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Association have said there is “no medical basis” for requiring abortion clinics to get hospital admitting privileges.
Anyway, the Supreme Court decision in 2016 was a big win for reproductive rights.
But, unfortunately, the fight against these kinds of laws is not over.
In Arkansas there exist just three abortion clinics, and two of those offer only medication abortion (meaning induced through drugs, or non-surgical abortion). In 2015 the GOP-legislature in Arkansas passed a new law requiring clinics that provide medication abortion to obtain hospital admitting privileges. Yes, that thing medical experts say is medically unnecessary. Planned Parenthood has been fighting this law in the courts ever since, arguing that it would effectively ban medication abortion in the state and force two out of three Arkansas abortion clinics to close. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s 2016 ruling re: Texas was not enough to invalidate the similar restriction in Arkansas. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has said Planned Parenthood would need to more clearly prove that women would face harm.
This fight made it all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court last month, but the justices ultimately declined to hear the case. That sent it back into a legal turmoil, and I reported for Rewire News on what’s ahead in this battle.
2. This week for The Intercept I covered a House delegate primary in Baltimore that involves a 32-year-old alumni of Yale, Yale Law School, and the Obama administration seeking to unseat the first African-American female representative of their district. The Obama alum, Nate Loewentheil, has charged his opponents with being too soft on crime. He wants to impose more mandatory minimums, and has raised a staggering amount of money—over $430,000—the majority coming from out of state. Jeff Zients, Obama’s lead economic policy adviser, personally hosted a fundraiser for Nate and wrote him a $6,000 check. To give you an idea:
3. And lastly I wrote a fairly wonky story for The Chronicle of Social Change about the intersections between apprenticeships and foster youth. I was commissioned for this story and had never written about foster youth before, which meant I definitely had a lot of catching up to do to learn about some of the unique challenges they face. One thing I feel truly grateful for is the opportunity learn about important new issues and then share what I’ve learned with others. One point I learned while reporting that I think is worth lifting up:
One of the biggest and most poorly understood barriers for foster youth is obtaining a driver’s license. Driver’s ed used to be offered free in public schools, but few public school systems offer those courses anymore. Most foster families haven’t really been willing to support the hundreds of dollars that private driver’s ed courses can cost, and few nonprofits have really had the bandwidth to take it on either. This is a real burden and challenge. Many employers require workers to have driver’s licenses, even if driving is not part of your job. But, some advocates have been trying to tackle this issue, and there’s a new national campaign called “Going Places” which you might want to check out and support.
That’s all for now! The Janus v. AFSCME decision will be out any day now, and I’ll be covering that when it lands. Thank you again for reading and supporting independent journalism.