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Following the US Supreme Court’s landmark decision not to guarantee a woman’s right to abortion, 11 abortion-related bills have been introduced this legislative session that would expand abortion protections and prohibit them.
One of the most significant would protect health care providers who perform abortion services, while another is intended to protect Hawaii from actions taken by other states.
Senate Bill 1 would ensure that Hawaii health care providers who perform abortions are protected from legal action for performing abortions on women from other states that restrict abortions.
The bill is designed to protect local health care providers from criminal lawsuits and charges following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson in June that rescinded a woman’s right to abortion.
“I think it’s similar to other protective laws that other states that want to protect reproductive rights are considering and passing,” said state Sen. Gil Keith-Agaran (D, Wailuku-Kahului-Waihee), who helped introduce the bill. law.
SB 890 would also prohibit Hawaii from denying or interfering with a woman’s right to an abortion and clarifies that advanced practice registered nurses and other health care providers can administer abortion medications through telehealth technology.
“I hope you hear the bill move forward for further debate and discussion,” Keith-Agaran said. “…The protection of reproductive rights in Hawaii will be a major issue this year.”
State Sen. Angus McKelvey (D, West Maui-Maalaea-South Maui) said SB 1 strengthens former Gov. David Ige’s executive order following the Supreme Court ruling.
Ige’s executive order ensures that abortions are legal in Hawaii and protects health care providers.
“The protection of reproductive rights is important for us to codify this important executive order,” said McKelvey, who also helped introduce SB 1.
The Health Care Association wrote in an email that it supported Ige’s executive order “on abortion protections for providers and is interested in efforts to codify those protections. The Association is still reviewing bills introduced related to reproductive health services, especially as it relates to provider protection and access to necessary care for women and people giving birth in the state. We are still in the process of reviewing all the measures that will be considered by the Legislature in this next session and we look forward to discussing any proposals with our members to form our full position on the various issues that are being discussed.”
SB 1 makes it clear that abortion restrictions in other states do not apply in Hawaii, McKelvey said.
“It protects for civil actions issued by these other states and basically won’t allow them to use long-standing statutes to use our court system to bring these actions,” McKelvey said.
SB 1 would also allow licensed physician assistants to perform abortions, a proposal that has been considered before.
Keith-Agaran and McKelvey believe that having physician assistants perform abortions will help women in rural areas of Oahu and neighboring islands.
“Often, it’s the prescriptive powers of physician assistants that can be your primary medical care,” Keith-Agaran said.
Hawaii continues to suffer from a statewide health care shortage, especially in rural and smaller communities, McKelvey said.
“In our rural communities, our neighboring island communities, there may not be access to a doctor to be able to perform these much-needed services,” McKelvey said. “There could also be a shortage of advanced practice registered nurses.”
Dr. Lee Buenconsejo-Lum, interim dean of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, wrote in an email that “JABSOM does not have a physician assistant program, if passed this law would not affect the education that our students and residents receive in the educational programs of the John A. Burns School of Medicine within our health systems and support clinics.”
Other invoices
This year’s abortion bills included some introduced by Republican lawmakers designed to ban abortions in specific circumstances, including:
>> House Bill 685 would prohibit abortion of a fetus that has a heartbeat.
>> HB 1275 would prohibit “chemical” abortions, while allowing exemptions such as treatment necessary to protect the mother, treatment for a natural miscarriage, and the sale, use, prescription, or administration of any contraceptive agent administered prior to the conception or pregnancy.
>> SB 254 prohibits abortion of a fetus that is capable of feeling pain.
Savannah Williamson, a UH political science major, said she panicked when she heard about the Supreme Court ruling, especially for her friends who attend colleges in conservative states.
Post-Roe future
Williamson now lives in McCully but grew up in Marin County, just north of San Francisco.
“Living here and being from California… we’re obviously pretty progressive and blue…” Williamson said. “But I have a lot of friends who go to…schools, especially in some of the more red states. So it was definitely concerning in terms of that.”
With the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade guaranteeing abortion rights and allowing individual states to decide abortion laws, Williamson said some of his friends considered switching schools, depending on whether his states tried to restrict abortions.
Williamson said she is also concerned that the availability of birth control measures will become a new target.
“Immediately my mind went to birth control, because I think that was a big topic that was also talked about with Roe v. Wade: You know, what classifies a baby at conception, this kind of thing,” Williamson. saying. “I know that Plan B (the morning after pill) was even talked about as being considered inhumane or whatever. If someone used it, they could have been punished for using that.”
Eliminating birth control would trigger other health problems among women, Williamson said.
“Simply put, I think if someone travels out of state for a service, they’re obviously looking for it for a reason: they don’t feel safe, they don’t feel their rights are fulfilled within their own state. Williamson said. “…It shouldn’t be up to outside states to decide what’s allowed and what’s not (in Hawaii).”
Shelby Mattos, a journalism student at Kaimuki UH, was unconcerned by the Supreme Court’s decision, saying she believes abortion rights are protected in Hawaii.
“When I heard that Roe v. Wade, it was a very sad day,” Mattos said. “Because on the mainland, they’ve basically taken away all those kinds of rights from women and from people who want to make those decisions.”
