Quick hit: the New York Times editorial board on anti-abortion legislation

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Today, the NYT’s editorial board is applauding the striking down of anti-abortion policies of the kind we’ve seen in Kansas and Indiana. In Indiana, the GOP has tried to de-fund Planned Parenthood, and in Kansas, the governor signed a law that would place on abortion clinics requirements so strict that it would be almost impossible for clinics to adhere to them. In both states, the courts have struck these measures down. But, there’s still a real threat to women’s health, in the form of budget cuts:

While these rulings are preliminary, each is a determination that enforcing the law would cause irreparable harm and that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail at trial. They do not, however, address other threats to women’s health. Those include the slashing of state support for family-planning services by governors like Chris Christie of New Jersey, and attacks from Congress like the bill Republicans pushed through the House in May that would use the nation’s tax system as a weapon to end abortion insurance coverage in the private market.

We in the feminist blogosphere write a lot about the various strategies that anti-choicers come up with to make abortion inaccessible without actually overturning Roe: parental consent laws, waiting periods, keeping crisis pregnancy centers legal, and so on – not to mention the harassment and assault of abortion providers and clinic staff. It sure is nice to see those strategies recognized, and criticized, in the mainstream.

You can read the whole thing here.

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