The election of Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress is expected to bring new challenges for people to access abortions, reproductive health care and gender-affirming care nationwide, but advocates in Alaska see hope in state’s election.
That’s because when the Legislature convenes next January, it will be the first time that both chambers have been organized into coalitions of moderate and progressive legislators, many of whom have opposed abortion restrictions and supported expanded access to health care. That, along with recent votes in the Legislature and on the ballot, has advocates optimistic that the state will resist federal attempts to restrict access.
“Although we had federal outcomes that we know the elected leaders at the highest levels do not support abortion, reproductive health care or gender-affirming care, we do know that in Alaska, we have a state legislature that will protect those rights in the ways that they can,” said Rose O’Hara Jolley, the Alaska state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates.
In Alaska, the state constitution’s privacy clause has long been interpreted to protect the right to an abortion and other health care.
O’Hara Jolley noted, however, that a national ban aside — something Trump claimed he wouldn’t sign — there are ways Trump and the Republican Congress could restrict access to health care, particularly when it comes to funding programs like Medicaid, sex education and family planning services. The Trump administration could also wield agencies like the FDA to limit access to certain drugs related to abortion and gender-affirming care.
Rep. Ashley Carrick, the Fairbanks Democrat whose bill to extend insurance coverage of birth control passed this last session (but was ultimately vetoed by Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy), said there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to what Trump and Congress can and will accomplish but it’s important for the Legislature to be proactive.
“I want our state to be as proactive as we can be about ensuring access to basic rights and upholding our right to privacy, which are some of the foundational components of our state constitution and things that Alaskans really care about,” she said. “So, if we can offer a different response than we’ll see from the Trump administration, it might have a counterbalancing impact for folks in my community and across the state.”
She also stressed that much of reproductive health revolves around broader issues related to improving health care, such as attracting and retaining health care professionals.
Both Carrick and O’Hara Jolley also pointed to voters’ broad support for abortion rights after seven out of ten states that had abortion on the ballot this year passed them. In 2022, Alaska voters resoundingly defeated a push by abortion opponents to call a constitutional convention where the state’s privacy clause would have been a top target.
Carrick’s House Bill 17, which would have required insurance providers to cover 12-month supplies for birth control, also passed through a Republican-controlled House. O’Hara Jolley said it’s a perfect reminder that issues like birth control and reproductive health aren’t as partisan and controversial as some would make it out to be. The measure, largely inspired by the struggles that women living and working in rural and remote parts of the state have with accessing pharmacies, garnered bipartisan support, including from some conservatives.
“These issues like birth control and access to care and education to care for your own body and have the life you want actually aren’t controversial,” they said. “It is a few very loud people and not actually the lived reality of most of us here in Alaska. Birth control isn’t controversial.”
O’Hara Jolley said moving forward it’s important for people to take care of themselves for the fights ahead and to stay engaged with state politics.
“Right now, where people can be most effective is by being engaged, especially with the state legislature,” she said. “They are the ones who are going to be able to provide stop gaps and resources when the federal government inevitably starts to take those resources away. … When the legislative session starts, we are absolutely ready and intending to fight back against federal restrictions in any and every way we can. We are not going anywhere. We are not closing our doors. We will provide care until the very last moment that we no longer can because of federal restrictions.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.
