Plus: An Arizona senator spoke from the state house floor about her plans to get an abortion.

Here’s another edition of Hard to Believe It’s Only Tuesday, a weekly roundup of the top headlines, tweets, toks, takes, and more in abortion news. You can always email me (andrea.grimes@gmail.com, or grimesandrea@proton.me for more sensitive inquiries) or DM me on instagram with action items, takes, and news clips. This post is probably too long for email, so click the headline above or head to the HTBIOT page to get the full read in your browser, because you don’t want to miss this week’s Goodnight and Good Dunk!

The big takeaway: Tomorrow — Tuesday, March 26 — the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in FDA vs. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the case brought (and judge-shopped for) by anti-abortion lobbyists seeking to repeal FDA approval for mifepristone and legitimize the use of the Comstock Act to ban abortion nationwide.

Importantly, SCOTUS is not taking up the AHM’s pursuit of a total-mife repeal or the Comstock angle; instead, it will only consider recent updates to the FDA’s updated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) rules around mifepristone that made the medication somewhat easier to prescribe and access. But the implications are still massive — as the Kaiser Family Foundation put it, “many people are watching whether the Court will block the FDA’s independence in determining the conditions required to assure a drug’s safe use— something the Court has never done before.”

And another thing: Please allow me to once again climb upon my soapbox to preach the gospel of Donald J. Trump will say literally any fucking thing to fill air time! Over the past couple of weeks, the national political press has been afroth over his latest word-vomit around a national abortion ban. My Google Alerts are an absolute travesty:

Here’s what: Trump is not “nearing” a decision on a national abortion ban, and he’s not “thinking” about a “reasonable” compromise. There is no such thing as Trump deciding anything on abortion; he will support whatever the anti-abortion lobby tells him to support. There is also no such thing as a “reasonable” compromise on abortion bans, because abortion bans at any stage are unreasonable, and not compromises.

Importantly, no one seems to be asking Trump — or any anti-abortion politician, really — the most essential follow-up question about abortion bans anywhere, which is: “How would you enforce your preferred abortion ban?” Every single politician who supports abortion bans should have to put in word and in writing their desired means of enforcement — whether they’re looking for civil penalties or criminal charges and at what level, and whether they intend to criminalize pregnant people as well as medical professionals and other people who facilitate and support abortion access in violation of abortion bans. If they won’t answer that question, we deserve to hear about that, too. I am begging reporters to keep this question in their back pocket at all times, and to use it liberally!!

The Top Headlines

• “A Democratic senator needs an abortion. She told her colleagues about Arizona’s ‘cruel’ laws.” (Arizona Mirror)
• “How Hobby Lobby Could Be Trump’s Reproductive Rights Wrecking Ball” (The New Republic)
• “Inside Texas’ ‘manipulative’ adoption marketing campaign that targets young women and teen girls” (Houston Chronicle)
• “U.S. Saw Highest Abortion Rate in Over a Decade After Dobbs” (The Cut)
• “The GOP Is Too Scared to Let South Dakota Vote on Abortion” (Mother Jones)
• “How Crisis Pregnancy Centers Reproduce Sexual Violence, According to a CPC Victim” (Jezebel) — Kylie Cheung dives deep with the Texas Equal Access Fund’s Maleeha Aziz, who talks about her experience with CPCs and her role in the new documentary, Preconceived. (If you’re in Dallas and interested in watching the film, check the action-items section below; TEA Fund is hosting a screening on April 20.)
• “How abortion is reshaping some races to become powerful state judges” (ABC News)
• “Arkansas health care workers support national call to protect IVF” (Arkansas Advocate)
• “Nearly 8 in 10 AAPI adults in the US think abortion should be legal, an AP-NORC poll finds” (AP)
• 🧑‍⚖️ What you should read before tomorrow’s SCOTUS arguments:
  • “The 19th Explains: How the Supreme Court could further limit abortion” (The 19th)
  • “Who Exactly Is Behind the Supreme Court’s Big Mifepristone Case?” (The New Republic)
  • “The next Clarence Thomas? Abortion pill case spotlights rightwing judge and his wife’s shadowy connections” (The Guardian) — The judge in question is Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho.
  • “US Supreme Court abortion pill fight brings claims of distorted science” (Reuters) — It’s not so much ‘claims’ of distorted science but vast, irrefutable evidence of distorted science.
  • “Pharmaceutical companies worry the Supreme Court’s abortion pill ruling could have a wider effect on drugs and research” (The 19th)

• 🇺🇸 What politicians and politicos on the national stage are doing and saying about abortion in advance of the ‘24 election:
  • “Texas woman denied abortion decries ‘cruelty’ of Trump 15-week ban proposal” (The Guardian)
  • “Democrats are counting on abortion rights to win this battleground state” (Politico) — “This battleground state” is Arizona.

• 👩🏽‍⚕️ What’s happening with clinical abortion care, providers, medication abortion, and such:
  • “Abortions outside medical system increased sharply after Roe fell, study finds” (WaPo)
  • “Telehealth is making abortion way more accessible for disabled people, but it’s not perfect” (Reckon)
  • “Standard pregnancy care is now dangerously disrupted in Louisiana, report reveals” (NPR) — The disruption is due in no small part to doctors’ fears of being targeted and prosecuted under the state’s abortion ban.
  • “New Reporting Shows Mississippi’s Abortion Rape Exception Is Almost Impossible to Access” (Jezebel)
  • “Texas Medical Board proposes emergency abortion guidance for doctors” (KUT)

• ⚖️ What’s going on with abortion bans, legal challenges, and bills at the state and local levels:
  • 🟢 “Montana Supreme Court says abortion ballot proposal can move forward” (Daily Montanan)
  • 🟢 “Nevada judge blocks state from limiting Medicaid coverage for abortions” (AP)
  • 🟢 “[Connecticut] bill would protect those at religious hospitals who offer care info” (CT Mirror)
  • 🟡 “[South Dakota Gov.] Noem signs bills including abortion video mandate, petition signature withdrawal process” (South Dakota Searchlight)
  • 🟡 “[Wyoming] District Court punts abortion ban case to Wyoming Supreme Court with key constitutional questions” (WyoFile)
  • 🔴 “Oklahoma bill targeting distribution of abortion-inducing drugs gains traction” (KTUL)
  • 🔴 “Kansas abortion ‘coercion’ bill touted by out-of-state think tank that produced retracted research” (Kansas Reflector)
  • 🔴 “New ‘better’ ballot initiative seeks to ban Nebraska abortions after first trimester of pregnancy” (Nebraska Examiner) — [narrator voice] The ‘better’ ballot initiative is not, in fact, better.
  • 🔴 “Arkansas governor’s campaign manager leads abortion amendment opposition group” (Arkansas Advocate)
  • 🔴 “Despite string of victories, SC’s anti-abortion movement frustrated, wants more” (The Post and Courier) — They aren’t going to stop until all abortions are prosecuted as homicide! That’s the plan! It’s always been the plan!
  • 🔴 “Anti-abortion advocates oppose CT constitutional amendment” (CT Mirror)

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The Takes

• Legal + medical scholars Holly Fernandez Lynch and Aaron S. Kesselheim are in JAMA looking at the federal case up for oral arguments at the Supreme Court tomorrow: “At this precarious moment for both the administrative state and abortion access, the Supreme Court should avoid inappropriate intrusion into FDA’s public health mission by firmly rejecting efforts to second-guess the agency’s scientifically supported approach to relaxing mifepristone restrictions. The Court should also reinforce the agency’s authority more broadly, although neither result appears likely. Meanwhile, FDA should ensure that its decisions going forward hew as closely as possible to the available evidence in hopes of mitigating further attack while the agency remains in the political crosshairs.”
• ReproJobs has announced they’re sunsetting their work after 10 years, this July: “Organizations do not need to live forever. Leaders need to know when it’s time to step aside and make space for new voices and visions. Not only that, but my role has shifted within the movement and it is critical that this work is led by people who are workers within it. I am confident that new voices with brilliant and imaginative ideas will take our place. Indeed, some already have.“
• Neonatalogist Dr. Fozia Saleem-Rasheed is in Prism with a powerful take on the reproductive injustices Israel is committing against pregnant Palestinians and Palestinian children: “Israel’s war on Gaza has also been a war on health care. Hundreds of health care workers have been killed by Israel since the bombardment of Gaza began in October. Hospitals are barely functional, and mothers and their newborns are at the brink of death and starvation due to lack of humanitarian aid. The emotional agony in which medical staff are working will cause generational trauma.”
• UCSF professor and former evangelical minister Bradley Onishi is in Politico with a deep dive into the Christian theological and dogmatic faults around claims that “life begins at conception.”

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The Tweets/Toks/Grams

• Watch We Testify’s Instagram reel featuring Emma Christina Hernández demonstrating how medication abortion works!
• The Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance has an IG post and a whole bunch of stories unpacking the mife case — which, you’ll remember, started in Judge Matt Kacsmaryk’s Texas Panhandle court because anti-abortion lobbyists knew he’d be sympathetic to their demands.

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The Fuck Are We Supposed to Do About It?

• 👕 SWAG OF THE WEEK! 👕
  • 🧩 ATTN: crossword nerds! Get you some puzzles for reproductive justice! 🧩
• 💸 Alabama: The Yellowhammer Fund is looking for more abortion fund-a-thon teams to help ensure they can fully fund their Catalysts for Reproductive Justice Fellowship. You needn’t be based in Alabama to fundraise!
• 🍰 McAllen, TX: The Frontera Fund’s bake-a-thon for abortion is back, and they “knead” (lolololol) you! The bake sale is Saturday, April 20 at The Gremlin.
• 🎥 Dallas: The Texas Equal Access Fund is hosting a screening of Preconceived, a new documentary about crisis pregnancy centers, on Saturday, April 20th.
• 🤠 Dallas: Join Avow Texas for Deep Canvassing Volunteer Days on March 29 and April 20th. Sign up here.
• 👶🏽 North Texas: The Texas Equal Access Fund‘s infant care resource drive is back, this time on Saturday, May 4th, at Rubber Gloves in Denton.
• 🥂 Dallas: The Texas Equal Access Fund‘s First Bloom event is set for Thursday, May 16th.
• 🔬 Anywhere, for abortion fund leaders: Participate in a UCSF study!
• 🦺 St. Louis area: Illinois’ Hope Clinic is looking for clinic escorts. Here’s how to learn more.
• 🐝 Anywhere: The “Pollination Station,” Apiary Practical Support‘s volunteer training series, is now taking applications.
• 🚗 Kentucky: The Kentucky Health Justice Network is looking for volunteer drivers and case managers. Here’s where to sign up.
• 📱 North Texas: The Texas Equal Access Fund is looking for bilingual Spanish-speaking volunteers for their text line. Here’s where to sign up.
• 📥 Anywhere: Looking for a job in repro? ReproJobs can help you spruce up your resume.
• 🤠 Texas: Local teen-friendly businesses in in Bryan, College Station, Lubbock, or San Angelo can become pickup spots for repro kits assembled by Jane’s Due Process. Here’s the application form.
• ⛰️ Southwestern Virginia and Appalachia: The New River Abortion Access Fund is looking for volunteers.
• 🗳️ Anywhere, U.S.: Hey Jane x Vote America helps prep voters to support pro-abortion policies and candidates

• 💸 From your wallet:
  • The IPPF and the Palestinian Family Planning Association are attempting to provide care for tens of thousands of pregnant people in Gaza; learn more here and donate/spread the word.
  • Donate to rebuild Affirmative Care Solutions, the Illinois clinic attacked by an anti-abortion extremist who drove his car through the front of the building.
  • Here’s the verified crowdfunding page for “Ashley,” the 13-year-old mother who was denied abortion care in Mississippi and profiled in TIME magazine.
  • Donate to support the Austin Women’s Health Center and their essential repro health services, including miscarriage management and abortion referrals.
  • Donate $$ and pads to Just the Pill’s mobile clinic.
  • Here’s the verified crowdfunding page for the family of Samara, a 17-year-old in San Antonio and Buckle Bunnies Fund patient who died from repro health complications.
  • The Valley Abortion Group is a new all-trimester abortion facility fundraising to open in New Mexico — donate to the GoFundMe.
  • Donate to the Online Abortion Resource Squad, which supports the R/Abortion subreddit 24/7/365.
  • Donate to Elevated Access, which transports folks for abortion and gender-affirming care.
  • Donate to ensure Desert Star Family Planning in Phoenix can keep providing essential abortion care to folks in the Southwest.
  • Find your local abortion fund and donate.
  • Buy something off the wishlist of an independent clinic, abortion fund, or clinic defense group, or donate to support abortion funds. This link distributes your donation to 90+ funds around the country. Or donate to support independent abortion providers.

• 🎙️ Podcasts!
  • Rewire’s Boom! Lawyered
  • Access, a podcast about abortion
  • Repro Legal Defense Fund’s No Body Criminalized
  • The Population Institute‘s rePROS Fight Back
  • Abortion Access Front‘s Feminist Buzzkills Podcast
  • The Meteor’s The A Files: The Secret History of Abortion
  • Ibis Reproductive Health and All-Options‘ Support Unseen

• ✍🏿 Sign and share:
  • Anywhere: Sign this multi-org-backed petition demanding Google stop “collecting and retaining location data and aiding abortion prosecutors.”
  • Anywhere: sign the Fight for the Future petition to demand better digital safety and security on Slack!
  • Anywhere: Sign the RJ Response to Stop Cop City.
  • Anywhere: UltraViolet’s petition calling on pharmacies to provide medication abortion access where it’s legal to do so.

• 🔎 Abortion Resources
  • ⚕️ Abortion providers, rights, and support:
    • Looking for a clinical abortion provider? AbortionFinder and INeedAnA are trustworthy and updated regularly.
    • Here’s the National Immigration Law Center’s know-your-rights-guide to abortion access for immigrants.
    • Abortions Welcome is a “pro-choice spiritual companion for use before, during, and after abortion.”
    • Want to become a practical support volunteer helping folks access abortion? Read this essential FAQ from Apiary first.
    • The Center for Reproductive Rights has an interactive online resource looking at “the current status of abortion rights through state court constitutional decisions.”
    • Check out the This Is Normal infogame about self-managed abortion.
  • 📚 Research:
    • Here’s If/When/How‘s new report on the criminalization of self-managed abortion between 2000-2020.
    • New research from Pregnancy Justice looks at the data behind rising criminalization of pregnancy.
    • Here’s new research from Gynuity on the safety and effectiveness of misoprostol-only medication abortion.
    • Read Dr. Autumn Asher BlackDeer’s report, “Towards an Indigenous Reproductive Justice: Examining Attitudes on Abortion among American Indian and Alaska Native Communities.”
    • Here’s new research on abortion access for incarcerated folks.
  • 🗣️ Communicating about abortion:
    • Check out the ANSIRH On Screen program’s latest resource sheet and recommendations on abortion portrayals in film and television.
    • Who Not When’s guide to reporting on later abortion is just great.
    • Check out the “Pro Choice, But” campaign to better understand how to talk with folks who are, well, pro-choice … but.
    • Read this guide on using trans-inclusive language from ARC-Southeast and the Transgender Law Center.
    • REPRO Rising Virginia has a thorough guide-via-Twitter-thread to keeping your protest signs fresh.
    • Physicians for Reproductive Health’s wide-ranging messaging guide covers all kinds of topics in repro and abortion care.
  • 🚓 Abortion and pregnancy criminalization:
    • Read this solidarity + organizing brief from Interrupting Criminalization and a coalition of repro and anti-criminalization orgs.
    • The Repro Legal Defense Fund and the Community Justice Exchange have an extensive, attractive, and fact-filled guide to abortion criminalization in both English and Spanish.
  • 🏠 Self-managed abortion:
    • If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline guide to internet safety.
    • Plan C Pills has published a self-managed abortion field guide in super fun, accessible zine form.
    • The Digital Defense Fund has a useful guide to keeping your abortion private and secure.
    • This gorgeous slideshow from South Texans for Reproductive Justice!
    • Check out the SMAZine from Urge and LiberalJane.

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Goodnight and good dunk — Repro researcher Ushma Upadhyay called for better mife-related illustrations on articles about medication abortion, and ReproMemes had a few ideas. I like this one, depicting a raccoon doing a big chomp on Judge Matt Kacsmaryk’s beady little head.

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That’s all for this week. I’m sure I’ve missed something you’d like to see featured in this roundup, for I am but one woman with a computer and an abortion-news-induced drinking problem. Holler at me — andrea.grimes@gmail.com or grimesandrea@proton.me for more sensitive inquiries, or DM me on Instagram, and I’ll try to add follow-ups as I’m able.

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