Today's guest hosts are Charlotte Hancock and Edwith Theogene, Communications Director and Organizing Director for Generation Progress.

Today's discussion is about an alarming trend that has emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic: at least seven states across the South and the Midwest have used this pandemic to declare abortion services non-essential and attempt to prevent some or all abortions from taking place as long as stay at home or shelter in place orders are in effect. These policies are incredibly harmful and dangerous—but thankfully, many organizations are fighting back. Over the weekend, the debate in Texas reached the Supreme Court, but—after an appellate court restored some abortion access in Texas last night—the battle is now back to the lower courts.

To talk more about this situation and why abortion is very much an essential service, today's guests are Elisabeth Smith, the Chief Counsel for State Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Dr. Kristyn Brandi, the Board Chair of Physicians for Reproductive Health and an Assistant Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

Here are the Twitter handles for today's guests and their respective organizations:  The Center for Reproductive Rights - @ReproRights, Dr. Kristyn Brandi - @DrKBrandi, Physicians for Reproductive Health - @prhdocs

The website for "Generation Progress" is www.GenProgress.org and their Twitter Handle is @GenProgress.  Charlotte Hancock's Twitter handle is @CharlatAnne and Edwith Theogene's handle is @WhoIsEdwith.

(Image Credit: Getty Images)