January 24, 2020

Trump Is Coming After California’s Abortion Protections

So much for letting states figure it out on their own.

People rally in support of abortion rights at the California state Capitol.Rich Pedroncelli/AP

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While Trump addressed crowds of people on the National Mall at the annual anti-abortion March for Life Rally on Friday—a major symbolic gesture—his administration announced a far more tangible attack on abortion rights in America. The Department of Health and Human Services announced that California is violating federal law by requiring private health insurers cover abortions. HHS claims the requirement infringes on religious freedom. 

If California does not remove the abortion coverage requirement, the Trump administration says it will withhold federal HHS funding.

“Once again, President Trump’s administration is delivering on his promise to protect human life and all Americans’ freedom of conscience,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar in a statement. “Under President Trump, HHS has been vigorously enforcing the statutes Congress passed to protect Americans’ consciences and institutionalizing these protections within the department’s civil rights work.”

Meanwhile, the state’s attorney general says he “will fight this by any means necessary.”

HHS’ threat also has ramifications that extend beyond California, which started mandating abortion coverage for all private insurance back in 2014. According to the Guttmacher Institute, six states, including Illinois, New York and Oregon, require private insurers to provide abortion coverage. Earlier this month, an Oregon anti-abortion group filed a complaint challenging Oregon’s abortion requirement, and a similar complaint was filed in Illinois last fall. Both complaints mirror HHS’ allegation that such laws violate what’s know as the Weldon Amendment, which states that no HHS funds “may be made available to a Federal agency or program, or to a state or local government, if such agency, program, or government subjects any institutional or individual health care entity to discrimination on the basis that the health care entity does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions.”

Laws like California’s are meant to keep insurance companies from discriminating against women who seek to terminate their pregnancies. They require that insurance providers treat abortion “neutrally,” just as they would any other maternity service.  

In keeping with the administration’s anti-choice media blitz, Trump congratulated himself at the March for Life, saying “the unborn have never had a stronger defender in the White House.” Azar recently referred to HHS as the “Department of Life.”

“This is just another in a long line of dark and dystopian moves from Donald Trump and the anti-choice movement attacking our reproductive freedoms,” said Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro Choice America, in a statement about Azar’s comment. “There is no limit to the depths Trump will sink to in order to attack women and score political points with his fringe, radical base. Once again, it’s abundantly clear that the Trump administration is desperate and eager to deceive in order to deflect attention from the scandals the president is embroiled in. And women and families will pay the price.” 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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