Reproductive Freedom Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Diana DeGette, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, and Health Policy Experts Set the Record Straight on Latest Republican Attacks on Abortion

WATCH HERE

WASHINGTON, DC ––  Today, Congresswoman Diana DeGette, Co-Chair of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an OB/GYN from Wisconsin, and Jessica Schubel, Founder of Day One Strategies and former Special Assistant to President Biden for Health Care joined Free & Just to discuss how Republicans are hijacking important health care negotiations to impose dangerous new abortion restrictions nationwide. 

Instead of addressing soaring health care costs that threaten millions of American families, Republican lawmakers are catering to anti-abortion extremists and spreading misinformation about abortion coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The reality is that millions of working families are facing higher premiums and could lose health care coverage entirely because Republicans want to keep their extremist allies happy. 

“My Republican colleagues are attempting to hijack health care negotiations in order to advance their anti-abortion agenda. The American people overwhelmingly support reproductive freedom, and they deserve to spend their own hard-earned money on whatever health coverage they and their families need,” said Congresswoman Diana DeGette (CO-01), Co-Chair of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus. “Threatening to insert a backdoor abortion ban into critical health care tax credits is just another page from the same, tired playbook that our constituents do not want. I am focused on fighting alongside partners like Free & Just to ensure that every American has access to affordable health coverage, including abortion coverage.”

“I spent four years at the White House doing everything I could to make sure people could sign up for and enroll in affordable health care.I am so proud of the work that my colleagues and I did – during our time together in the Biden Administration, more Americans had health insurance than at any point in our nation’s history. But, that’s all at risk,” said Jessica Schubel, who served as a Special Assistant to President Biden for health care. What the Republicans are trying to do here is use abortion to justify taking health coverage away from millions of people. Republicans shouldn’t be holding this hostage over an issue they’re making up. No federal money goes to abortion coverage.”

“When politicians pass abortion restrictions, they sell it to us like they're passing a single-issue law. But medicine doesn't work that way. I went to medical school for four years. I completed four years of residency. I maintain board certification with continuing education and skills training — and yet politicians who often couldn't tell you the difference between a placenta and a pancreas, they think they're qualified to override my medical judgment in the exam room. They’re not,” said Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an OB/GYN and advocate from Wisconsin. “Let's be honest about what's happening here. If this were really about protecting life, we'd see investment in maternal health care, not attacks on it. I trust my patients to make their own health care decisions in consultation with their doctors. Politicians need to get out of the exam room and let doctors practice medicine.” 

You can watch the event here. If you are interested in speaking with any of the participants in the press event, please contact malachi@freeandjust.us. 

Free & Just is committed to fighting for reproductive freedom. Join us in sharing stories, raising voices, and securing our future. 

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.

Free & Just Statement on Preventable Death of Tierra Walker, Mother Killed by Texas Abortion Ban

Walker’s death is the fourth attributed to state’s abortion ban.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, ProPublica reported on the preventable death of Texas mother, Tierra La'Nesa Walker, 37, who lost her life as a result of the state’s extreme abortion ban. Walker, who was a wife and mother to a 14-year-old son, died of complications from preeclampsia after being denied care under the abortion ban at medical facilities across the state. Texas has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, and Walker’s death is the fourth attributed to the state’s near total ban. 

In September, Texas Republicans passed sweeping new legislation cracking down on abortion care even further. The new law, which takes effect on December 4, goes far beyond any restrictions before it by allowing private citizens to sue anyone who provides patients in Texas with abortion medication, including health care professionals and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Experts warn that other states could follow Texas’ lead and enact deadly new abortion bans of their own – at the cost of many more lives. 

In response to today’s reporting, Veronica Ingham, Senior Campaigns Director for Free & Just released the following statement: 

“Tierra La'Nesa Walker should be here today, and we extend our deepest condolences to her family, her loved ones, and the entire San Antonio community. In the years since the deadly Dobbs decision, abortion bans have cost women across the country their lives. Instead of taking action to protect families, Republican lawmakers are making pregnancy more dangerous for women in Texas and punishing people in need of care. Tierra Walker’s life will unfortunately not be the last lost to an abortion ban.” 

BACKGROUND:

Abortion bans are killing women across the country, and at least four women have died in Texas as a result of the state’s abortion ban. These are just the deaths we know of.

• Texas is a testing ground for some of the most nefarious abortion policies in the country and has a long track record of being a dangerous place to be pregnant and give birth. Experts say it has only become more perilous since Trump has taken office and growing medical research supports this reality, with worse health outcomes being reported for Texas mothers and babies since abortion bans were enacted.

• Research has found that after Texas banned abortion care in the aftermath of Dobbs in August 2022, women required more lifesaving care in the forms of blood transfusions, treatment for miscarriages, and hospital visits — signaling how abortion bans are hurting the wellbeing of women and patients at large.

• The rate of sepsis — a life-threatening reaction to infection – has shot up more than 50% for women in their second trimester hospitalized for losing their pregnancies after Texas banned abortion in 2021. 

• Physician storytellers specializing in OB-GYN, maternal-fetal medicine, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, neonatology and emergency medicine have shared tragic stories of how they weren’t able to provide lifesaving care within their expertise and training. Doctors also described medical decision-making being influenced by the threat of criminalization due to abortion bans in the state.
  

If you are interested in speaking with local patient storytellers, health care providers, or families impacted by ongoing attacks on access to abortion care, please contact kelly@freeandjust.us. 

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.

Republican Lawmakers Can’t Stop Themselves from Advancing Anti-Abortion Extremism

Congressional Republicans Push National Abortion Ban Amid Government Shutdown Fight

WASHINGTON, DC –– Senate Republicans are once again using government funding negotiations to push their extreme anti-abortion agenda – this time demanding new restrictions as a condition to reopen the government. They won't stop until abortion is banned nationwide, while people's livelihoods and health care hang in the balance. 

This attack from Republican lawmakers comes just one week after Americans overwhelmingly rejected anti-abortion extremism in key elections across the country. There is more evidence than ever before that protecting abortion is broadly popular with Americans of all backgrounds, but that isn’t stopping extremists from launching new attacks on reproductive freedom and spending millions to roll back our rights. 

“Republican lawmakers are holding millions of people's health care hostage to advance their unpopular anti-abortion agenda,” said Veronica Ingham, Senior Campaigns Director for Free & Just. “Our country is facing a health care crisis, and Republicans' extreme anti-abortion agenda is putting lives at risk and making life hard for American women, patients, and working families across the country.”

Big Picture: While the country is facing a health care crisis, Trump and Republicans are charging ahead with their efforts to ban abortion nationwide.

Trump and his allies are making clear where their priorities lie. The Trump administration is charging ahead with efforts to dismantle access to one of the safest, most widely used medications in the country: the abortion medication, mifepristone. With families across the country holding their breath and waiting to learn the fate of their health care, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary’s so-called “investigation” into mifepristone continues. Anti-abortion extremists and the Trump administration are testing a national abortion ban through attacks on medication abortion, and no amount of human suffering will stop them.

If you are interested in connecting with patients, providers, or advocates about what continued attacks on abortion care mean for reproductive freedom, please contact Kelly Rimar (kelly@freeandjust.us). 

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.

Election Recap - Americans Overwhelmingly Reject Anti-Abortion Extremism in Key Races Nationwide

Statewide elections confirm abortion remains a key issue in the voting booth

WASHINGTON, DC –– Voters in Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania  made clear that America has not “moved on” from abortion rights. In fact, this week’s elections confirm that abortion remains a defining test of politicians' extremism, and Americans continue to reject politicians who threaten reproductive freedom, and abortion access. 

“Abortion remains one of the clearest measures of who Americans trust with power — and who they don’t,” said Veronica Ingham, Senior Campaigns Director for Free & Just. “In the weeks leading up to yesterday’s elections, candidates and campaigns zeroed in on abortion messaging and it’s clear why: Attacking reproductive freedom is deeply unpopular, and when the stakes are made real, voters draw the line. Today, we have more evidence than ever before that Americans of all stripes reject anti-abortion extremism, and do not want politicians intervening in their personal, private medical decisions.”

In the weeks after the 2024 election, pundits were quick to dismiss the saliency of abortion as an issue that moves the needle, but the data told a different story. Research conducted among voters in the presidential battleground states immediately after the 2024 election showed that when voters understood Republican candidates wanted to ban abortion, they voted for the Democrats. 

This week’s elections confirm that protecting reproductive freedom remains a priority for people across the country.

If you are interested in connecting with patients, providers, or advocates about what week’s elections mean for reproductive freedom, please contact Kelly Rimar (kelly@freeandjust.us). 

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.

On Veterans Day, Trump and Anti-Abortion Extremists are Making it Harder for Veterans to Access Care

Veterans are being targeted in Trump administration’s national abortion ban push.

WASHINGTON, DC –– Today, the Trump administration intends to honor the men and women who have served our country, while simultaneously working to gut access to essential health care for servicemembers and veterans nationwide. In August, the Trump Administration proposed new rules that would prevent veterans from accessing abortion care or counseling through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system. The new rules would mean that hospitals and doctors affiliated with the VA will no longer offer abortion services to veterans who became pregnant through rape or incest.

Additional context: Before SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade, the VA banned abortion under any circumstances and prohibited its medical providers from counseling patients about abortion. However, after the Dobbs decision, President Biden enacted a rule allowing VA medical facilities to offer abortion counseling and abortion care to veterans and their beneficiaries in certain situations. The Biden Administration also supported facilitating travel for service members and their families to access reproductive health care services.

Bottomline: The Trump administration is attacking veterans and their ability to receive health care by gutting veterans’ access to health care, including lifesaving abortion care. 

“The same people who say abortion should be ‘left up to the states’ are using every tool they can to ban abortion nationwide, and veterans are paying the price,” said Veronica Ingham, Senior Campaigns Director for Free & Just. “Under Trump, millions of veterans in states with abortion bans could lose access to comprehensive reproductive health care and counseling. This administration has proven time and time again that they will use whatever means necessary to ban abortion, no matter who it harms.” 

“There seems to be no end to this administration's attacks on health care, even towards those who bravely protected and served this country," said Carrie Frail, an airforce veteran from Missouri who credits her abortion with helping her escape an abusive relationship, and ultimately, saving her life. “The Trump administration is playing political games to advance a larger agenda fueled by hate and anti-abortion extremism. Abortion care is life-saving care, and should be accessible to anyone who needs it without government interference.”

“Today is meant to be a day to honor the men and women who pledged their lives to defend our country. Instead, we are reminded that this administration does not care about veterans or our families,” said Joanna Sweatt, National Organizing Director for Common Defense and Arizona-based Marine Corps veteran. “Receiving abortion care allowed me to serve my country while raising a healthy family on my own terms. I stand with my fellow women in uniform who deserve access to comprehensive health care, and condemn this administration for their continued efforts to turn back the clock on access to reproductive care.” 

“In this time of uncertainty and chaos, veterans stand up for the rights of all citizens because we took the oath to support the constitution — not a regime who uses us as pawns for their own political interests. That oath does not expire,” said Sylvia Andersh, an Air Force veteran and first-generation Mexican immigrant who had an abortion in 1978 while on active duty. “Today veterans are some of the first ones attacked, losing rights to care, and losing support from this administration. Women veterans are the bellwether of the harm and the disrespect and contempt this administration has for all Americans who are not billionaires.”

If you are interested in speaking to storytellers about the impacts of the administration's attacks on abortion care for veterans, please contact Malachi White, malachi@freeandjust.us. 

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.

Congresswoman Deborah Ross Spotlights GOP Government Shutdown and Attacks on Reproductive Health Care Alongside North Carolina Advocates and Storytellers

Washington, DC –– This week, Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02) joined Free & Just and local health care advocates Dr. Rita Kuwahara, Dr. Kristen Feldman, and patient advocate Gabby Long to spotlight how Republican lawmakers are holding the government hostage to gut health care for millions of Americans and launch new attacks on reproductive freedom. 

Even as the government grinds to a halt leaving millions of Americans’ health care hanging in the balance, the Trump administration is charging ahead with efforts to dismantle access to one of the safest, most widely used medications in the country: the abortion medication mifepristone. Earlier this month, nearly every Senate Republican urged the FDA to require the safe and effective abortion medication to be distributed in person, banning the use of telehealth and to suspend approval of all mifepristone generics. 

At the event, Congresswoman Deborah Ross, Free & Just, and local advocates shed light on what is at stake as Trump and Republican lawmakers gut health care, raise costs, and launch new attacks on reproductive freedom in North Carolina and across the country.

“Ever since January, women — and in particular their health care — have been at risk because of this administration. There has been nothing less than an all-out war on women's health care,” said Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-02). “We've also seen a Congress that has no regard for women's reproductive health care, which includes abortion care. There are some places where you simply cannot get access to reproductive health care or to pregnancy care, and women are having to travel sometimes more than an hour just to get the care that they need. This is an emergency, and we need to look at it through the lens of a government shutdown, but really the broader lens of an assault on women's health care.”  

“As a physician, I think that health is not a partisan issue. When a patient comes in, my role would be to take care of the patient and make sure that they can be as healthy as they can be. It doesn't make sense that we're having these partisan conversations when we’re talking about access to health care because no one chooses to get sick, they just happen to get sick, and so it shouldn't be based on how much you have in the bank that determines whether or not you're able to access the care that you really need,” said Dr. Rita Kuwahara, a local primary care and internal medicine physician. 

“If patients are not able to access the care that they need, because health centers are closing due to rising costs, then they're not able to access family planning products and services so that they can live their healthiest and best lives,” said Dr. Kristen Feldman, OB/GYN and Vice President, Medical Affairs at Afaxys, Inc. “Planned Parenthood providers are no longer able to accept federal Medicaid dollars, and I think that some people think that they're preventing abortions from happening because of the ability to accept federal Medicaid dollars. But the Hyde Amendment already prevents federal Medicaid dollars from being used for abortions. So what this means is that Planned Parenthood providers are not able to be reimbursed for pap tests, breast cancer screening, sexually transmitted infection testing, and so that sort of basic health care is what is being compromised when they are eliminating providers from receiving federal Medicaid dollars.”

“Facilities are going to close, have already started to close, and we've seen it in other states. It's not something that's going to happen, it's something that is already happening and patients are being forced to pay out of pocket for care when that money that they have should also be going towards their bills,” said Gabby Long, Outreach Organizer and Coordinator with A Woman’s Choice. “These are people's lives that are at risk. Women should not have to worry about getting access to care based on their zip code, or the type of care that they're going to receive based on their zip code. It should be out there for everybody and we should already have plans in place to protect these people, including women.”

This week, Congresswoman Ross joined 54 of her colleagues on the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) in sending Speaker Mike Johnson a letter demanding he bring Republicans to the negotiating table to end the government shutdown. The letter highlights how women will predominantly be responsible for navigating the skyrocketing cost of health care for their households and safeguarding their families’ access to health care coverage.

You can watch the event here. If you are interested in speaking with any of the participants in the press event, please contact malachi@freeandjust.us.

Free & Just is committed to fighting for reproductive freedom. Join us in sharing stories, raising voices, and securing our future. 

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Patients React: More Empty Promises from President Trump on IVF Amid Republican Health Care Crisis

Families have no reason to believe President Trump’s promises when it comes to health care

WASHINGTON, DC –– Today, President Trump announced a misleading new proposal related to IVF treatment, which accounts for up to 2.6% of births in the United States. As the Republican health care crisis stretches into its fifteenth day, today’s proposal amounts to little more than lip service for the Americans who have invested time and money into fertility treatments to grow their families.

Today’s announcement follows months of silence from the administration after falsely promising action to expand access to IVF treatment earlier this year. Instead, the administration has embraced fringe activists calling for "restorative reproductive medicine,” an ineffective alternative that experts call a "non-medical approach” to treating infertility.  

The truth is that the self-proclaimed “father of IVF” continues to roll back access to all types of reproductive health care, threatening millions of families across the country. 

Following today’s announcement, IVF patients from across the country expressed doubt about the President’s claims and shared how his administration’s attacks on reproductive freedom are affecting their families.

“Pregnancy has become more dangerous under Trump, and the reality is that many of the women impacted by abortion bans advanced by Trump and extremist lawmakers must now rely on IVF to grow their families because of the permanent physical damage done to their bodies after being denied necessary, sometimes lifesaving medical care,” said Veronica Ingham, Senior Campaigns Director for Free & Just. “Today’s announcement isn’t a ‘win’ for anyone – it’s an insult to the millions of families impacted by Trump’s deadly anti-health care agenda.”

“IVF is a long and grueling process on its own, and it’s hurtful to see so many of the same politicians made things harder on me and my family claim that they’re taking steps to help parents like us,” said Jamie Heard, a mother from Birmingham whose IVF treatment timeline was derailed in early 2024 when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were children and that those who destroy them can be held liable for wrongful death. “People within the IVF community see right through the administration’s rhetoric and know better than to take these extremists at their word.”

“I am a mom today because of IVF and in spite of the efforts of people like President Trump and lawmakers here in Montana,” said Anne Angus, a Montana mother who was forced to travel out of state for abortion care after her baby was diagnosed with Eagle-Barrett syndrome. Seeking to prevent another fatal diagnosis, Angus and her husband chose to pursue IVF. “IVF gave me hope after a devastating loss, but make no mistake  – I spent my entire treatment worrying that extremists would take away the care I relied on for a healthy pregnancy. We are not political pawns and our families deserve better.”

If you are interested in connecting with patients, providers, or advocates about today’s announcement and how the Trump administration’s attacks on reproductive freedom harm growing families, please contact Kelly Rimar (kelly@freeandjust.us).

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.

ICYMI: Senate Republicans Demand Baseless New Restrictions on Medication Abortion Amid Government Shutdown

Extremist lawmakers seek to weaponize federal agencies to ban abortion nationwide

WASHINGTON, DC –– Yesterday, nearly every Senate Republican urged the FDA to require the safe and effective abortion medication to be distributed in person, banning the use of telehealth and to suspend approval of all mifepristone generics. These 51 Republicans in the Senate expressed their opposition to the most common method of abortion by signing onto a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary. The letter came just one week after the FDA approved the use of a generic mifepristone.

As the Republican government shutdown stretches into another day and millions of Americans’ health care hangs in the balance, anti-abortion extremists remain committed to furthering their attacks on reproductive freedom and stripping health care from women and families across the country. 

In response to Senate Republicans' letter, providers, patients, and advocates from across the country released statements spotlighting what is at stake as attacks on reproductive freedom escalate. 

“Let’s be clear – Trump and Republicans’ attacks on mifepristone are a national abortion test. Extremists are so committed to banning medication abortion, that even a national crisis won’t derail their dangerous agenda,” said Veronica Ingham, Senior Campaigns Director for Free & Just. “Medication abortion is safe, effective, and accounts for 60% of abortions in America. It’s time for lawmakers to invest their energy into protecting our health care, not stripping us of our rights to appease an extreme minority.” 

“When I was 20 weeks pregnant, my son was diagnosed with bilateral renal agenesis, meaning my baby would die in utero, or within hours after birth. Ending my pregnancy through induction was the most humane option for me in my situation. To safely induce labor at 23 weeks, I needed abortion medication,” said Megan Kling from Taylor, Wisconsin. “Women across this country experience pregnancy complications everyday. You cannot restrict abortion medication without negatively impacting maternal health care. Women deserve access to the best standard of care that science and medicine has to offer. Making abortion medication more difficult to access is cruel. It increases risks to the mothers health and adds to the trauma of pregnancy loss for grieving parents like me. Anti-abortion politicians in DC need to mind their own business and keep politics out of our doctor’s offices.”

“As an OBGYN who knows just how safe and effective mifepristone is, and as a patient myself, I am outraged at the relentless attacks on our care,” said Dr. Austin Dennard, a board certified OBGYN based in Dallas, Texas. “I am sick of ill-informed politicians trying to make decisions on behalf of patients and the doctors who care for them. These attacks make my job harder, and punish vulnerable women and families seeking care. Enough is enough.”

“I have no regrets about my decision to have an abortion, and every single day, I am grateful that I had access to the medication I needed,” said Marissa “Sunni” Rudd from Brooklyn, New York. “The lies and disinformation that extremists are peddling about medication abortion are dangerous and harmful to families like mine. It is unacceptable that these lawmakers would go after our medications during a government shutdown that could leave millions of Americans without health care.”

“Mifepristone is a medication that has been evaluated by the FDA, and received FDA approval for being safe and effective. Its use in miscarriage care and life threatening pregnancies, such as ectopic pregnancies, results in fewer complications than surgical alternatives,” said Dr. Laurel Barr, an emergency medicine physician in Columbus, Ohio. “In appropriately selected patients who have discussed the risks, benefits, and alternatives with their doctor it is safe, effective, and lifesaving. It should be available and affordable in life threatening situations and its production should not be unduly restricted.”

Free & Just is committed to fighting for reproductive freedom. Join us in sharing stories, raising voices, and securing our future. 

If you are interested in speaking with any of the storytellers quoted above, please contact kelly@freeandjust.us and malachi@freeandjust.us.  

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.

Former CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Patients, and Providers from Rural Georgia Spotlight Republican Health Care Cuts Forcing Local Hospital to Close Labor & Delivery Unit

Atlanta, GA –– Today, former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, joined Georgia physicians and advocates to spotlight how cuts to Medicaid in the Republican tax law are forcing St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in rural northeast Georgia to close their labor and delivery unit. In Georgia, where access to care is already limited by the state’s extreme abortion ban, women and pregnant patients will have to jump through even more hoops to get the care they need. 

During the event, former CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Free & Just, Georgia providers, and advocates set the record straight on what’s at stake as Republican health care cuts force hospitals across the country to close their doors.

“There are over 300 rural hospitals that are estimated to be at risk of closing. It really was devastating to hear that St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital is shutting down its labor and delivery unit as a result of the cuts of the Republican tax law. Nobody wants to worry that they are going to be delivering their baby on the side of the road,” said Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator. “People across this country and in Georgia deserve a health care system that is both affordable and accessible. The Republican tax law harms all of us, but this crisis is not inevitable. It is a choice. Republicans in Washington are choosing to side with a handful of billionaires and big corporations instead of protecting the health care that families rely on.”

“I woke up in the middle of the night covered in amniotic fluid and blood, and I was contracting. And all three of us were terrified. We had to drive 30 minutes to the hospital, and I remember how painful every single one of those 30 minutes were. There were several occasions in which I had to drive myself bleeding, leaking amniotic fluid over an hour to seek care. Because of my delay in care, my daughter was born at 27 weeks. It was a very precipitous delivery, and at this point, we had moved to Savannah, where I am a mile from my current hospital,” said Callie Beale Harper, an artist from Savannah,who was forced to go out-of-state for urgent medical care when she was pregnant with twins. “I know the dangers of not being able to receive care, but especially the dangers of not being close to care. The closure means that many women now face the same impossible choices, the same terrifying dangers that I faced, and that my family faced as well.”

“For many of our rural communities, there is no longer any hospital-based obstetric services available, there's no physicians available, there is no labor and delivery unit. For many of these women, they have to travel 30, 60, 90-plus miles to access one of these. And for a woman having an obstetric crisis, an obstetric emergency, 30 minutes can be life or death — 60 minutes absolutely is horrendous. And so it really speaks to how we are not serving the women of Georgia,” said Dr. Lara Hart, a Georgia based Obstetrician-Gynecologist. “Overall, we're not supporting our patients, we're not supporting our communities. I really find it so frustratingly hypocritical for a political party to say that they support families, and they want women to have children, but then they do nothing that actually supports those women in having healthy pregnancies and having good outcomes.”

“If women can't afford to get basic health care, there will be more sickness, more death,” said Dr. Karen Kinsell, the only rural primary care provider in Clay County, Georgia. “I practice in Clay County. There's a thousand people in my town, 3,000 in the county. I know women who've died of prenatal, perinatal deaths. In such a small population. If we, the government, the community, truly care that life is important, then we need to ensure that access to reproductive health care, all health care, is not only legally available, but also financially available, and we need to act on that. And we need to act before this bad-bullshit- bill comes to full fruition.”

Cuts to Medicaid affect all patients’ access to care – not just Medicaid beneficiaries. Republicans in Congress passed drastic health care cuts in the federal budget reconciliation package. These cuts are now forcing hospitals across the country to close their doors, leaving patients without access to the care they need. Republican lawmakers are fueling a nationwide health care crisis, and communities across the country will suffer. 

You can watch the event here. If you are interested in speaking with any of the participants in the press event, or learning more about Free & Just’s work, please contact malachi@freeandjust.us. 

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MEMO: 25 Years of Mifepristone: Project 2025 & Trump’s National Abortion Test

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Interested Parties Memo

From: Veronica Ingham, Free & Just Senior Campaigns Director
Re: 25 Years of Mifepristone: Project 2025 & Trump’s National Abortion Test
Date: September 24, 2025 

Background

September 28 marks 25 years since the FDA approved mifepristone, a safe, effective medication that has reshaped abortion care in the U.S. Despite its proven track record, Project 2025 — the right’s governing blueprint for a second Trump term — lays out a roadmap to eliminate access. Today, the Trump administration is testing a national abortion ban through attacks on mifepristone.

Current Threats

• Project 2025 Playbook: A covert national abortion ban test – Project 2025 calls for rolling back medication abortion by pressuring federal agencies to reverse FDA approval and by weaponizing the Comstock Act as a backdoor national ban.

• Political Pressure: Republican attorneys general and members of Congress continue to demand new investigations into mifepristone, ignoring decades of data on its safety.

• Misuse of Comstock Act: Conservative lawmakers want to revive the 1873 Comstock law to block mailing abortion pills and even medical equipment — an approach echoed in Project 2025.

• Legal Challenges: Anti-abortion organizations are advancing lawsuits aimed at curtailing or eliminating access to mifepristone nationwide.

• State-Level Bans: States like Texas are passing laws banning mailed pills and deputizing private citizens to sue anyone who helps Texans obtain them. States that protect abortion rights are now relying on “shield laws” to protect patients and providers.

• Federal Review: At the urging of anti-abortion politicians and junk science, the FDA has agreed to revisit its approval of mifepristone — a drug it has deemed safe for nearly 25 years.

The Reality

• Safe and Effective: Medication abortion accounted for nearly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions in 2023.

• Public Opinion: More than six in ten Americans support keeping medication abortion available. Even many Trump voters oppose new restrictions.

• Political Risk: Imposing Project 2025’s abortion agenda risks significant political backlash, particularly in battleground states.

Bottom Line

The 25th anniversary of mifepristone is a milestone in reproductive health and also a searing reminder of what’s at stake: Project 2025 would dismantle access to one of the safest, most widely used medications in the country. Trump’s attacks on mifepristone are a national abortion test. Will women and families retain the ability to make private medical decisions — or see those decisions dictated by politics?