With Democrats now in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, it might appear that the fight over abortion rights has become a standoff.<\/p>\n
After all, abortion-rights supporters within the Democratic caucus will be in a position to block the kind of curbs that Republicans advanced over the past two years when they had control of Congress.<\/p>\n
But those on both sides of the debate insist that won\u2019t be the case.<\/p>\n
Despite the Republicans\u2019 loss of the House, anti-abortion forces gained one of their most sought-after victories in decades with the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Now, with a stronger possibility of a 5-4 majority in favor of more restrictions on abortion, anti-abortion groups are eager to get test cases to the high court.<\/p>\n
And that is just the beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur agenda is very focused on the executive branch, the coming election, and the courts,\u201d said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion organization Susan B. Anthony List. She said the new judges nominated to lower federal courts by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate reflect \u201ca legacy win.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Republican majority in the U.S. Senate is expected to continue to fill the lower federal courts with judges who have been vetted by anti-abortion groups.<\/p>\n
Abortion-rights supporters think they, too, can make strides in 2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect 25 states to push policies that will expand or protect abortion access,\u201d said Dr. Leana Wen, who took over as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in November. If the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is eventually overturned, states will decide whether abortion will be legal, and under what circumstances.<\/p>\n
Here are four venues where the debate over reproductive health services for women<\/a> will play out in 2019:<\/p>\n Congress<\/strong><\/p>\n The Republican-controlled Congress proved unable in 2017 or 2018 to realize one of the anti-abortion movement\u2019s biggest goals: evicting Planned Parenthood from Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for people who have low incomes. Abortion opponents don\u2019t want Planned Parenthood to get federal funds because, in many states, it functions as an abortion provider (albeit with non-federal resources).<\/p>\n Though Republicans have a slightly larger majority in the new Senate, that majority will still be well short of the 60 votes needed to block any Democratic filibuster.<\/p>\n Because Democrats generally support Planned Parenthood, the power shift in the House makes the chances for defunding the organization even slimmer, much to the dismay of abortion opponents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re pretty disappointed that, despite having a Republican Congress for two years, Planned Parenthood wasn\u2019t defunded,\u201d said Kristan Hawkins of the anti-abortion group Students for Life of America. \u201cThis was one of President Trump\u2019s promises to the pro-life community, and he should have demanded it,\u201d she added<\/p>\n Another likely area of dispute will be the future of various anti-abortion restrictions that are routinely part of annual spending bills. These include the so-called\u00a0Hyde Amendment<\/a>, which bans most federal abortion funding in Medicaid and other health programs in the Department of Health and Human Services. Also disputed: restrictions on grants to international groups that support abortion rights, and limits on abortion in federal prisons and in the military.<\/p>\n However, now that they have a substantial majority in the House, \u201cDemocrats are on stronger grounds to demand and expect clean appropriations bills,\u201d without many of those riders, said Wen of Planned Parenthood. While Senate Republicans are likely to eventually add those restrictions back, \u201cthey will have to go through the amendment process,\u201d she said. And that could bring added attention to the issues.<\/p>\n With control of House committees, Democrats can also set agendas, hold hearings and call<\/a> witnesses to talk about issues they want to promote.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if the bills don\u2019t come to fruition, putting these bills in the spotlight, forcing lawmakers to go on the record \u2014 that has value,\u201d said Wen.<\/p>\n The Trump Administration<\/strong><\/p>\n While Congress is unlikely to agree on reproductive health legislation in the coming two years, the Trump administration is still pursuing an aggressive anti-abortion agenda \u2014 using its power of regulation.<\/p>\n A final rule is expected any day that would cut off a significant part of Planned Parenthood\u2019s federal funding \u2014 not from Medicaid but from the Title X Family Planning Program. Planned Parenthood annually provides family planning and other health services that don\u2019t involve abortion to about 40 percent of the program\u2019s 4 million patients.<\/p>\n The administration proposal,\u00a0unveiled last May<\/a>, would effectively require Planned Parenthood to physically separate facilities that perform abortions from those that provide federally funded services, and would bar abortion referrals for women<\/a> who have unintended pregnancies. Planned Parenthood has said it is likely to sue over the new rules when they are finalized. The Supreme Court upheld in 1991 a\u00a0similar set of restrictions<\/a>\u00a0that were never implemented.<\/p>\n Abortion opponents are also pressing to end federal funding for any research that uses tissue from aborted fetuses \u2014 a type of research that\u00a0was authorized<\/a>\u00a0by Congress in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very important we get to a point of banning\u201d fetal tissue research \u201cand pursuing aggressively ethical alternatives,\u201d said Dannenfelser.<\/p>\n State Capitols<\/strong><\/p>\n Abortion opponents having pushed through more than 400 separate abortion restrictions on the state level since 2010, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights think tank. In 2018 alone, according to Guttmacher, 15 states adopted 27 new limits on abortion and family planning.<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely some [of these are] an exercise in what they can get to go up to the Supreme Court,\u201d said Destiny Lopez, co-director of the abortion-rights group All* Above All. \u201cSort of \u2018Let\u2019s throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But 2018 also marked a turning point. It was the first time in years that the number of state actions supporting abortion rights outnumbered the restrictions. For example, Massachusetts approved a measure to repeal a pre-Roe\u00a0ban on abortion that would take effect if\u00a0Roe\u00a0were overturned. Washington state passed a law to require abortion coverage in insurance plans that offer maternity coverage.<\/p>\n The Federal Courts<\/strong><\/p>\n The fate of all these policies will be decided eventually by the courts.<\/p>\n In fact, several state-level restrictions are already in the pipeline to the Supreme Court and could serve as a vehicle to curtail or overturn\u00a0Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n Among the state laws closest to triggering such a review is an\u00a0Indiana law<\/a>\u00a0banning abortion for gender selection or genetic flaws, among other things. Also awaiting final legal say is an\u00a0Alabama law<\/a>\u00a0banning the most common second-trimester abortion method \u2014 dilation and evacuation.<\/p>\n The post Where Abortion Fights Will Play Out In 2019<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n