Reproductive Rights Updates: Wisconsin, Mississippi, Nebraska, & Ohio

You may have been wondering: have there been any moves lately to curb access to health care, particularly health care involving reproduction? And yes. Yes there have been.

In the latest in Wisconsin's totally not-terrorism case, the suspect made his first court appearance:

GREEN BAY — A Grand Chute man accused of setting fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic told a federal judge he was going to plead guilty, tried to fire his attorney and asked to be transferred to a different jail during his first appearance today in U.S. District Court.

Francis Grady, 50, was arrested early Tuesday and charged with arson of a building used in interstate commerce and intentionally damaging a property used to provide reproductive health services. Grady told investigators he used a hammer to break a window at the clinic Sunday night, poured gasoline inside from a plastic bottle and lit it.

Grady acted erratically at his court hearing, telling U.S. Magistrate Judge James Sickel he planned to enter a guilty plea and interrupting the judge to ask, “Do you even care at all about the 1,000 babies that died screaming?”

Can you hear that? It's the accusations of "crazy" and "lone wolf" getting EVEN LOUDER. Yes, clap louder people. I'm sure that'll make it true. Ahem.

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A couple weeks ago I wrote about Mississippi's House passing legislation that could potentially eliminate its ONLY abortion providing clinic. The Senate just passed the legislation as well:

Governor Phil Bryant is commending the State Senate for approving the bill aimed at controlling abortions in Mississippi. The Senate approved House Bill 1390. The legislation passed by 44 votes. It requires physicians who perform abortions to be Board-certified OBGYNs and have admitting privileges at a local hospital. To become law, all the bill needs is a signature from Governor Bryant.

The state only has one clinic that provides abortion services and of the three doctors that work there (all are board certified), only one has admitting privileges. It is notoriously hard to get privileges in MS hospitals if you're a doctor who provides abortion services. Obviously this will harm people who need to access abortion care. Does Gov. Bryant care? No. In fact, Bryant claims this legislation "saves lives of women" (his words). Yes, it saves women SO MUCH by eliminating medical care they need. Reminds me of the guy who was arguing with me & Jessica Luther that Rick Perry TOTALLY SAVED the women's health program and it was Obama who gutted it first and then killed it. He kept saying over and over how Perry saved it! He did! SAVE! SAVE! SAVE! Obviously that dude and Gov. Bryant use the same dictionary that defines "save" differently from the dictionary used by, oh, everyone else.

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In Nebraska there's big debate happening over prenatal care, especially within the state's republican party. Because, you see, abortion is baaaaaad and evil...unless that means the state helping out undocumented people with prenatal care.

The measure would require the state to pay for prenatal care to low-income women who have entered the U.S. illegally. It would extend coverage to an estimated 1,162 fetuses each year at a cost of $650,000 in state money and $1.9 million in federal tax dollars.

The measure advanced through first of three required votes Tuesday night, 30-16. Fourteen of the "yes" votes came from Republicans, who joined with a contingent of typically out-numbered Democrats.

In an unusually terse news conference Wednesday, Heineman [Dave; Governor & republican] said he was "extraordinarily disappointed" with the Legislature's veto-proof vote to support the measure.

Lawmakers later Wednesday night advanced the bill through the second of three votes, 29-16, one vote short of being veto-proof.

[...]

"Unless you [Mike Flood, republican Speaker of Legislature] and the Legislature reverse course, the legacy of this session will be one in which illegals were given preferential treatment over legal Nebraska citizens," Heineman said, reading from a letter that his staff hand-delivered to the speaker's office. "This will be a session remembered for a tax increase on legal, working Nebraskan men and women while illegal aliens were provided taxpayer-funded benefits."

Pro-Life! Unless you don't come with proper documentation. Heinman also decided to drag out the "scary" trope saying that if this legislation passes, Nebraska will become "a magnet for illegal aliens".

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Earlier this week, Xavier University in Ohio decided that, no, never mind about those comprehensive health care plans! Employees will no longer get contraception covered by insurance plans. Well, unless you need it for medical reasons that don't have to do with the sexy sex.

Xavier University is discontinuing birth-control insurance coverage for its employees, the university announced Monday.

The university did not say how long the coverage had been provided, but it will stop July 1.

[...]

Graham [Michael, President Xavier University] concluded that, “absent a legal mandate, it is inconsistent for a Catholic institution to cover those drugs and procedures which the church opposes.”

Therefore, Graham directed the Office of Human Resources to work with the university’s insurance carrier, Humana, “to no longer cover sterilizations and contraceptives, except for cases of medical necessity for non-contraceptive purposes.”

This move "only" affects employees (about 950), not students at the university.