How Red States Are Using Covid-19 to Restrict Abortion

GUEST: Jessica Mason Pieklo is Vice President of Law and the Courts at Rewire.News and co-host of their podcast Boom! Lawyered. She is a writer and adjunct law professor in Boulder, Colorado.

Five states including Texas, Alabama, and Ohio, have used the coronavirus pandemic to bizarrely limit abortions. Announcing the restrictions as part of their virus mitigation measures, the Republican-dominated states decided that abortions were not considered “essential care” and could, therefore, be postponed – as if pregnancies have a pause button.

Now, a number of reproductive rights groups including Planned Parenthood and the ACLU filed emergency lawsuits against the states and have won a federal order voiding the abortion bans. However, the states could appeal the decisions all the way to the Supreme Court.

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