What A Day - No Chill For Abortion Pills

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

Abortion rights advocates are bracing for a ruling in a case that could revoke the FDA’s decades-old approval of mifepristone — the most common and effective drug used for medication abortions. Dr. Kristyn Brandi, chair of the advocacy group Physicians for Reproductive Health, tells us how the decision could impact access to reproductive care nationwide.And in headlines: at least 59 migrants have died after their boat sank off southern Italy, Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Jordan over flare-ups of violence in the West Bank, and the long-running ‘Dilbert’ comic strip was pulled from hundreds of newspapers after a racist rant from its creator.Show Notes:Physicians for Reproductive Health – https://prh.org/Planned Parenthood: Mifepristone Fact Sheet – https://tinyurl.com/43dchus4Vote Save America: Fuck Bans Action Plan – https://votesaveamerica.com/roe/What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Monday, February 27th. I'm Traevelle Anderson. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And this is What A Day, where we are proud to be the very first news outlet to report that Angela Bassett did, in fact, do the thing. I guarantee you that nothing, absolutely nothing at the Oscars will be able to top Ariana DeBose's BAFTA rap. Yeah, I condemn whoever first sent that to me because it has haunted me ever since. I haven't slept in days. I can't get out of my head. Send help. I need it. On today's show, the massive winter storm that buried parts of California in snow is moving east.

Plus, hundreds of newspapers dropped the Dilbert comic strip after a racist tirade from its creator. But first, abortion advocates nationwide are bracing themselves for a ruling from a federal judge in Texas over a case that could revoke access to a key abortion medication nationwide. A decision is expected as early as this week. Okay, so let's start with the basics here. Who is behind this particular case? And what exactly are they trying to accomplish beyond getting on all of our nerves? Yeah, well, that's their main goal, I assume. But this case was brought by the conservative advocacy group, the Alliance Defending Freedom. Incredible name, given

that that's the exact opposite thing they're doing. Members of this group were involved in a now infamous Mississippi case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, that resulted in the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer. And now this alliance has since shifted its focus to challenging the FDA's decision from over 20 years ago to approve the drugs Mifepristone and Misopristol, the two most common and effective drugs used for medication abortions. By the way, Mifepristone is also used to treat patients experiencing miscarriages and can help people with Cushing syndrome. That's a disorder caused by the overproduction of stress hormones. So it's not just used for medication abortion. So the group is arguing that the FDA should have never approved this drug in the first place

and these pills should be taken off the market in all states, regardless of their policies on abortion. And if the court sides with those anti-abortion advocates, it'll make it much harder for people seeking abortions across the country to access this essential medication. It would even make it illegal for online providers to send the medication in the mail as well. Very much so hate that. And you're the legal expert here, but I'm assuming this would establish and set like a very dangerous legal precedent if it comes to fruition in this way. Yeah, calling me a legal expert is a stretch, but you are correct about that. A lot of advocates are concerned that abortion opponents won't stop with these two drugs, right?

Like what's to stop them from coming up for things like birth control, like the morning after pill, if a judge deems those to be abortive drugs, right? And we've already seen lawmakers target access to these and other forms of contraception on the state level and GOP-led legislatures. Like, this is what we were always afraid of with the end of Roe. When conservatives said it should be up to the states, let states decide, the fear was always that it was never going to be up to the states, that this was a cover for banning any sort of abortion or birth control, period. And a coalition of Democratic-led states have already spoken out, saying that such a ruling would be, quote, nothing short of catastrophic. Abortion rights groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America have called the possibility a, quote, backdoor abortion ban. And again, this is what we were scared of. Yeah, you know, we had so many activists, advocates talking about, you know, even though this might look a particular way or might look like they want to put this responsibility in the hands of the states, that it was, you know, a long game toward, as the activist in Texas, a state with a lengthy track record of criminalizing reproductive choice, I assume it's not looking very good. Yeah, that's exactly right.

Naturally, a lot of people are preparing for the worst because U.S. District Judge Matthew Kazmierk, the conservative federal judge overseeing this case, was appointed by, you guessed it, former President Donald Trump. And he's considered to be an activist judge, right? He's one of the most conservative judges in the nation. And you got the chance to speak with someone about the case, right, Josie? Right. I spoke to Dr. Kristen Brandy, chair of the advocacy group Physicians for Reproductive Health and a practicing OBGYN in New Jersey. I started by asking her about the repercussions the decision could have on access to reproductive care nationwide. It's newly concerning for people that are in places

that have protections around abortion, places like California, my practice in New Jersey, and medication abortion is 53% or about over half of abortion care right now. The other thing of note is that medication abortion is a really great tool for people that can't go in person to get medications. We've seen in jobs that people that have difficulty accessing care are often people that come from marginalized communities, BIPOC people, young people, people that are undocumented that can't go through checkpoints to get to a clinic, people that are incarcerated. And so if we are limiting that in any way, that's really going to be disproportionately impacting people that are already marginalized in healthcare. Yeah, absolutely. So tell us a little bit more about the logic that the court may use to outlaw these drugs, right? Like, is there any evidence that these drugs are actually dangerous,

as these anti-abortion groups are arguing? How do you see them getting to this point where they would say, okay, this drug is no longer available, or this medication is no longer available? I think that's probably one of the most disheartening parts about this. There is overwhelming evidence that this medication is safe and effective. And if the FDA did nothing wrong in actually approving this medication, just like they approve all other kinds of medicines. We've had many studies to look at the outcomes of what happened to people using this medicine. And overwhelmingly, it is, I like to say, ridiculously safe. There's a rate of less than 0.1% of all people that take this medicine need some type of serious intervention, like being hospitalized or getting a blood transfusion. If you compare it to other medications, things like Tylenol and Advil that are over the counter,

it actually has less side effects and less complications. The evidence is very clear about this. And essentially this lawsuit, while it's arguing about safety, the hope is that it's going to ignore all of those actual safety claims and just go at the politics of this issue. If it's just going to ignore all of that data, I hate to use the slippery slope argument, but like, what does that mean for literally any other medication and how it gets approved and released to the public? No, I also hate slippery slope arguments, but this is the classic example of a valid slippery slope argument, right? So you were recently at the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris to talk about the potential repercussions of the Texas case. What came out of that discussion? And do

you feel like the Biden administration has a plan for how to respond to this potential action by the court? It was really a great conversation. I will say the vice president really expressed a good understanding of what's going on, why this is important, and talked about some of the things that the administration can do. Although it's challenging because the separations of powers that they can only do so many things, but I think they are very interested in trying to challenge us in any way that they can. Technically, the FDA is a separate thing than the legal system. And so working with the FDA, working with the Department of Justice, it seems like they had anything they possibly could on the table to try to protect this care. So I'm really glad that the vice president and her team really know how important this is

and how devastating it could be if we lose this medication. So separate from this case, also on Friday, a dozen blue states sued the FDA over the special restrictions the agency has placed on these two drugs. Since we are expecting a worst case scenario from the judge in Texas, would this other federal suit have any effect on the outcome of this decision? Or how does that play into the kind of legal process here or the legal outcome? I was really excited to see this lawsuit because I think it actually got to like a legitimate concern around the FDA's control of this medication. Mifepristone is regulated by something called the REMS criteria, which essentially is a special category of drugs that have a lot of harmful side effects that need to be really carefully regulated, things like chemotherapy drugs. So M lymphoblastomas were put under this category, even though it may not have warranted it based on the safety record

that we know that this medicine has. And so, there's special ways that the medication has to be released. Until recently, you couldn't actually prescribe the medicine. You had to have it like stocked in your clinic or hospital. And so, these attorney generals in their lawsuit actually challenge a legitimate concern around how this medicine is regulated and how it doesn't need all this red tape to be able to be given. I thought that was such a great idea if we worked in this setting right now where we may lose this medication altogether. And so it seems kind of like a moot point right now. And a lot of us are just kind of waiting for this Texas ruling to figure out what's going to happen. Regardless of the outcome, it's already adding to the confusion and chaos that exists right now in the U.S. around abortion care. Even having a lawsuit that is trying to take Mr. Princeton

off the market, many people are hearing both that medication abortion is going away or that this medicine is unsafe because that's why would they challenge that to make the FDA take it away if it wasn't safe? And I'm really concerned about people just not knowing what's available to them and being really concerned that they just won't get care and then they just won't seek it out because they don't think it's an option. It also seems like it might make it more likely that there are these two lawsuits make it more likely that it goes to the Supreme Court, right? Yeah, definitely. And I think that was initially the design of the Texas lawsuit. Because if you look at the process of where it would go, it's this judge, and then it's the Supreme Court. That's the pathway, which is concerning because

it seems like the Supreme Court is probably not going to rule in favor of keeping the medication available. Yeah, they're not exactly on our side on this. So as an OBGYN, you're probably getting a lot of questions from your own patients about what's going on, especially whether this could limit their options. How are you counseling them right now? Yeah, which is wild considering that New Jersey is one of those places that has a lot of great protections for abortion care. But I'm still getting calls to my office from patients asking if medication abortion is still available. There's already confusion about what's available, what people can access. Having a conversation without all the stuff in the media that people are hearing,

it's really challenging to kind of have to restart people's understanding about what's going on because they hear so much on TV. Because let's say you take the medicine today and tomorrow they outlaw it. I don't want people to think, especially my patients, I don't want them to think that they took something that was unsafe when they absolutely didn't. So it's really important for people to know out there that nothing changes by this lawsuit about safety record.

And also that there are medication regimens we can give that don't include this particular pill that still work really well. That was my conversation with Dr. Kristen Brandy, chair of the advocacy group Physicians for Reproductive Health. We will, of course, continue following this story and keep you updated. But that is the latest for now. We will be back after some ads. now let's wrap up with some headlines headlines

a wooden boat carrying more than 130 migrants ran aground off the southern coast of Italy yesterday, leaving at least 59 people dead, and officials fear that number could rise. At least a dozen children were among those who drowned. Italian authorities said the migrants were originally from Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, and were traveling from Turkey. Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Maloney, blamed the tragedy on human traffickers, though her far-right government has pushed tougher rules to stop asylum seekers from entering the country, as well as harsher punishments for organizations trying to rescue migrants at sea. Another wave of violence has swept through the West Bank this weekend as Israeli and Palestinian officials met with diplomats in Jordan in an effort to de-escalate tensions. Hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked a West Bank town yesterday after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis in the wake of a raid last week that left 11 Palestinians dead. Jordan had invited delegates from Israel and the Palestinian Authority for Talk Sunday to focus on security ahead of Ramadan and Passover, which begin next

month. In a statement, both sides said they'd work to prevent any future violence, and Israel agreed to freeze new settlement activity for at least the next four months. A follow-up meeting will take place next month in Egypt. And as proof that weather does in fact happen in California, many across the Golden State are emerging from snow to start their week off. Yes, snow in California. A rare combination of a powerful Alaskan storm and an atmospheric river system dropped more than six feet of powder on SoCal's highest mountains over the weekend and a record amount of rain

for the month of February in some areas. This past Friday and Saturday, downtown LA was drenched by a total of nearly four and a half inches of rain. And another round is expected to arrive later today. But before you start poking fun of Californians for, let's say, our inexperience with winter weather, keep in mind that this same storm system is still on the move. The National Storm Prediction Center says it's heading east,

where fierce winds are threatening millions of people from Arizona to Ohio. Tornadoes and damaging hail are also expected to rip through Oklahoma, Kansas, and the Texas Panhandle in the coming days. I have not enjoyed the rain. I'll just note that. I know we need it and, you know, it's hot and dry and drought and all that other stuff. But baby, it has not been cute. There is a well-deserved void in the comic section of your local newspaper today. That's because hundreds of them killed Dilbert, the long-running office comic strip created by Scott Adams

after Adams went on a racist rant last week on his YouTube channel. He called black people a, quote, hate group. And said that, quote, the best advice I could give to white people is to get the hell away from black people. Now. It's like you're trying to get fired. Maybe we should be saying that the other way around, but you know, whatever. Right.

If that's the American project you want to engage in. Right. Though the strip ran in as many as 2,000 newspapers at its peak and was once beloved by the kind of people who reply all to company-wide emails, Adams is no stranger to controversy. He's been an open supporter of Donald Trump since 2015. By the way, that's a very early time to be open supporter of Donald Trump. That is out the gate supporting Donald Trump, okay? He questioned the death toll of the Holocaust and even used a mass shooting in California to promote an app he helped create. Timing. He also blocked me on Twitter. Dozens of newspapers dropped Dilbert last year

after Adams ran strips with jokes about reparations for slavery and workplace diversity initiatives. At the time, the editor-in-chief of the San Francisco Chronicle said, quote, Honestly, at this point, being dropped by local media, The strip went from being hilarious to being hurtful and mean. Very few readers noticed when we killed it. Honestly, at this point, being dropped by local media, it's hard to do. The only person having a harder time than local newspapers is Scott Adams, and I live for it. And in more important news, the NAACP on Saturday hosted an evening to celebrate Black excellence for its annual Image Awards.

The ceremony featured a special appearance by WNBA star Brittany Griner and her wife, Sherelle. The couple was greeted with a standing ovation as they took the stage just over a year after Brittany was first detained by Russian authorities on drug charges. She was released in December in a high-profile prisoner exchange. I'm sure we all remember that. Take a listen to what Sherelle, then Britney, had to say. We are just truly so thankful to all the people, many of whom are Black women and Black-led organizations who fought so hard to bring BG home tonight.

It feels so good to be here, especially with my beautiful, amazing wife and with all of y'all here today. BG went on to call for the return of Americans still detained abroad. Also at the Image Awards, Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade took home honors for their work

supporting organizations that provide health care to trans and queer people. They both honored their 15-year-old daughter, Zaya, who came out as trans in 2020. And in an emotional acceptance speech, Union called on the racial justice movement to, as she put it, make room for everyone. The intersection of Black rights and the rights of the LGBTQIA, trans, and gender nonconforming people continues to be rough. It's a huge understatement.

Even as we demand equality at the top of our lungs, we consistently fail to extend our advocacy to protect some of our most vulnerable among us. I love this family. 10 out of 10, no notes. A lot of parents could take a page out of their book when it comes to supporting and affirming your children coming into themselves. I love this family. Mm-hmm.

Yup. We're not going to say more, but we are saying more. Y'all know what it is. I love them too. This is how a family should be. This is how a parent should be this is how a parent should be this should be the floor not the ceiling i do also want to say they look great their skin looks amazing yes i just want to say look at gabrielle union look at scott adams ask

yourself who do you want to be skin wise face wise looks wise listen what side of the beauty counter you want to be on, okay? Exactly. Maybe take a hint. And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go. The important work of political and civic engagement doesn't just happen every two years. There's a lot happening in 2023. And Vote Save America's No Off Years program is here to help you stay engaged. Starting with a must-win state Supreme Court seat in 2023. And Vote Save America's No Off Years program is here to help you stay engaged, starting with a must-win state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin. Visit votesaveamerica.com now for

ways to help get out the vote before the April election and to stay in the loop for other critical elections around the country. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, make a snow angel in Palm Springs, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Scott Adams, Twitter replies like me. Just kidding, I can't. He blocked me. What a Day is also a nightly newsletter.

Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Traeval Anderson. And good riddance, Dilbert. I wasn't reading it, no way. I try not tobell Anderson. And good riddance, Dilbert. I wasn't reading it in no way. I try not to live with vengeance in my heart. However, love to see Scott Adams fail. One of my

favorite hobbies. Excellent. Top to bottom. Quote me on that. Period. Period. Beautiful. What Today is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Jazzy Marine and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is Jossie Kaufman,

and our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gillillyard and Kashaka. And now, Lexus presents a short holiday tale. Little Jack stood on his doorstep staring in disbelief. The toy car he planted in the snow the night before had somehow turned into a full-size Lexus RX, topped with a giant red bow. As he approached the vehicle, Jack wondered, was this the work of a crafty adult or someone else? Enjoy the magic of the season at the Lexus December to Remember sales event. Now through January 2nd, click the banner to discover more. Experience amazing at your Lexus dealer.