Plus: Abortion care resumes in Wisconsin

Here’s another edition of Hard to Believe It’s Only Tuesday, a weekly roundup of the top headlines, tweets (for now!), toks, takes, and more in abortion news. You can always email me (andrea.grimes@gmail.com) or DM me on instagram with action items, takes, and news clips. This post is probably too long for email, so click on the links up there ^ above the headline to open in your browser. You don’t want to miss this week’s Good Night and Good Dunk!

PROGRAMMING NOTE: I’m looking for new photos to illustrate this newsletter, as the font of Creative Commons options on Flickr is not endlessly self-renewing. Have you taken photos at a public pro-abortion protest or other fun feminist event that you’d be willing to let me publish? I’ll credit folks, of course, and am happy to make a small donation to a cause of the photographer’s choosing if I end up using a pic. So! Send photos my way — andrea dot grimes at gmail com — or tag me wherever your images already exist online, assuming it’s clear you have ownership/permission to share.

The big takeaway: The ultimate goal of the anti-abortion movement is to ban all abortion and criminalize people who have abortions, people who provide abortions, and people who support abortions. No matter what Nikki Haley or some other dippy Republican trying to be president says at a brain-numbing debate about 15-week bans or so-called “compromise,” the upshot is and will be to ban and criminalize abortion because the that is what the people driving anti-abortion policy and legal efforts — and funding political campaigns — want!

The Top Headlines

• “Anti-Abortion Lawyer Wants Names of People Who Donated to 9 Texas Abortion Funds” (Jezebel)
• “With no opposition in the room, a rural Texas county makes traveling for an abortion on its roads illegal” and “A Texas county that borders New Mexico is the latest to consider an abortion travel ban” (Texas Tribune)
• “With start of early voting, Virginia begins high-stakes election season” (Virginia Mercury) and “Virginia Democrats warn Republicans will ban abortion; GOP says their rhetoric is fearmongering” (Yahoo/AP) — < looks directly into camera > Their rhetoric is not, in fact, fearmongering. How do I know it’s not fearmongering? See next slide:
• “Anti-abortion groups call on district attorneys to enforce 1849 law” (Wisconsin Examiner) — I cannot stress this enough: the farthest-right anti-abortion lobbyists and politicians are driving their movement (and the movement’s money) and they want the same things in Wisconsin and Virginia that they do in Texas and Georgia and Florida and those things are ban and criminalize abortion. If that’s not enough proof for you, see next slide:
• “Pregnant, poor and punished: Southern states take the lead in arresting expectant mothers” (Reckon) — Still skeptical? See next slide:
• “Mother who helped teen daughter abort fetus is sentenced to two years in prison” (Nebraska Examiner)
• “Feels horrible to say no’: abortion funds run out of money as US demand surges” (The Guardian)
• “What you need to know about the HEAL Act and how it could change the game for immigrant abortion access“ (Reckon)
• “The Language of Abortion Is Going Through a Seismic Overhaul” (The New Republic)
• “Woman who burned Wyoming abortion clinic is sentenced to 5 years in prison” (NBC News)
• “As abortions increase in California, Planned Parenthood clinics near border vote to unionize” (CalMatters)
• “Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita facing multiple disciplinary charges” (Indiana Capital Chronicle) — Bit of turnabout here: the charges are related to allegations that Rokita breached confidentiality when disclosing that his office was investigating abortion provider Dr. Caitlin Bernard.
• “New study links tear gas exposure to adverse reproductive health outcomes” (CBS News)
• “Total abortion bans are not at all popular, poll finds” (The 19th)
• “U.S. Senate confirms a military nominee, the first since Tuberville blockade began” (States Newsroom)
• “Abortion-rights group rebrands to Reproductive Freedom for All in post-Roe world” (ABC News)

• 👩🏽‍⚕️ What’s happening with abortion clinics, providers, medication, and care writ large:

  • “Pregnant with no OB-GYNs around: In Idaho, maternity care became a casualty of its abortion ban” (NBC News)
  • “A New Border Crossing: Americans Turn to Mexico for Abortions” (NYT) — I am 👀 on many of these wow can you believe you can get an abortion in Mexico stories, which are coming out with more and more frequency. On the one hand, any good information people can get about where they can access the clinical abortion care they seek is great. On the other hand, it feels like the subtext is often a rather squicky man-bites-dog deal, like “this is mostly newsworthy to U.S. audiences because brown people aren’t supposed to be ones providing resources and support to white people.”
  • “New Jersey’s abortion coverage mandate takes effect for large employer plans” (New Jersey Monitor)

• 🇺🇸 What politicians and politicos on the national stage are doing and saying about abortion in advance of the ‘24 election:

  • “DeSantis backs national 15-week abortion ban” (The Hill)
  • “Donald Trump Is Not of Two Minds About Abortion” (NYT) — This is a smart read from Jamelle Bouie on Trump’s beliefs (such as they are) around abortion and the national media’s astounding ongoing willingness to take the man at his word.
  • “Trump Plays Up Anti-Abortion Credentials Following Recent Criticism“ (Newsweek)

• ⚖️ What’s going on with abortion bans, legal challenges, and bills at the state and local levels:

  • 🟢 “Abortions resume in Wisconsin after 15 months of legal uncertainty” (NPR)
  • 🟢 “Federal judge blocks two provisions in NC’s new abortion law” (NC Newsline)
  • 🟢 “Judge delays enforcement of [Montana] abortion clinic license requirement” (KTVH)
  • 🟢 “California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs law to protect doctors who mail abortion pills to other states“
  • 🟢 “Tennessee’s abortion ban cost it $7M in federal funding. Now those dollars will be routed to Planned Parenthood.” (WPLN)
  • 🟢 “Missouri judge rewrites abortion ballot summary language” (Journal Record) — The AG’s set to appeal, but the original language was some real anti-abortion propagandic fuckery.
  • 🟢 “New Jersey advances plan to allow midwives to perform early abortions” (New Jersey Monitor)
  • “Arizona abortion access initiative to start signature gathering” (AZ Mirror)
  • 🟢 “Abortion reversal ban survives test of Colorado regulatory board rules” (Colorado Newsline)
  • 🟡 “Pro-choice plaintiffs ask judge to skip trial, bar Wyoming abortion bans” (WyoFile)
  • 🟡 “Michigan’s Reproductive Health Act has a questionable future as Democrat objects” (Michigan Advance)
  • 🔴 “Ohio urges top court to revive abortion ban ahead of statewide vote” (Reuters)
  • 🔴 “Appeals court lifts partial block on Idaho abortion ban” (Politico)

The Takes

• Actor Kerry Washington is in TIME sharing her abortion story.
• Rewire’s essential repro legal podcast Boom! Lawyered is back! I listen to/watch a lot of abortion-related content and Imani and Jessica are simply not going to steer you wrong. The show is funny when it needs to be and serious when it needs to be, but what it does better than any other is strike the right tone in terms of threat urgency around repro rights and abortion care.
• Barnard professor Jennifer Finney Boylan is in the New York Times connecting attacks on trans rights and abortion rights.
• Pittsburgh-based abortion care worker Crystal Grabowski is in Rewire with a powerful call to connect labor rights for movement workers and repro rights.
• Law Dork Chris Geidner has a good breakdown of the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision to “more or less [allow] Ohio Republican leaders to put an anti-abortion thumb on the scale in an attempt to hurt the chances a proposed reproductive rights constitutional amendment will have for passage on the November ballot.”

---

The Tweets/Toks/Grams

• YUP:

Abortion bans are rooted in white supremacy, perpetuate cycles of poverty & puts lives at risk.

We must continue to leverage every tool available to affirm abortion care as the human right that it is.

— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) September 17, 2023

• Last week was the anniversary of the Hyde Amendment. Here’s Sister Song:

Tomorrow marks the unhappy anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, which denies health coverage for abortion to low-income people who use Medicaid and other public insurance programs to get their care. It is way past time to #BeBoldEndHyde! pic.twitter.com/RgpSUIU3Yp

— SisterSong: National Women of Color RJ Collective (@SisterSong_WOC) September 29, 2023

---

The Fuck Are We Supposed to Do About It?

• 👕 SWAG OF THE WEEK! 👕

  • Two shirts from Abortion Access Front gave me a chuckle this week: “sparkling l’abortion” and the “abortion yacht club.”

• 📝 Anywhere: New research from Pregnancy Justice looks at the data behind rising criminalization of pregnancy.
• 💻 Texas, for young people aged 15-24: Apply to join Jane’s Due Process’s 2023 Youth Content Squad. Applications are due Wednesday, October 25th.
• 🤠 Houston: Celebrate the work of Jane’s Due Process supporting young folks’ abortion access on Wednesday, October 25th at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, with a special guest: youth activist Olivia Julianna.

• 🤠 Dallas: The Afiya Center’s 15th anniversary gala — formal rodeo-inspired wear is “encouraged” — is Thursday, October 26th.

• 🦺 St. Louis area: Illinois’ Hope Clinic is looking for clinic escorts. Here’s how to learn more.

• 🚗 Kentucky: The Kentucky Health Justice Network is looking for volunteer drivers and case managers.

• ⛰️ Southwestern Virginia and Appalachia: The New River Abortion Access Fund is looking for volunteers!

• 📱 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!

• 🧑🏾‍⚕️ Anywhere, for medical residents training in abortion care: Obstetricians for Reproductive Justice and others will fund residents who need to travel out of state for abortion care training through December 2023 (or retroactively since July 1, 2022). Here’s how to apply.

• 🤠 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.

• 🗳️ Anywhere, U.S.: Hey Jane x Vote America is a neat new collaboration that helps prep voters to support pro-abortion policies and candidates.
  

• 💸 From your wallet:

  • 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.

  • Here’s the verified crowdfunding page for “Ashley,” the 13-year-old mother who was denied abortion care in Mississippi and profiled earlier this week TIME magazine.

  • Donate to support the Austin Women’s Health Center and their essential repro health services, including miscarriage management and abortion referrals!

  • Donate to ensure Desert Star Family Planning in Phoenix can keep providing essential abortion care to folks in the Southwest!

  • Donate $$ and pads to Just the Pill’s mobile clinic.

  • 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.

  • Find your local abortion fund and donate!

  • The Valley Abortion Group is a new all-trimester abortion facility fundraising to open in New Mexico — donate to the GoFundMe.

  • 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!

• ✍️ 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.

• 📖 Anywhere, resources edition:

  • Abortion rights, access, 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.

  • Research:

    • Here’s new research on abortion access for incarcerated folks.

    • 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.”

  • Communicating about abortion:

    • Physicians for Reproductive Health’s wide-ranging messaging guide covers all kinds of topics in repro and abortion care.

    • 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.

  • Abortion and pregnancy criminalization:

    • 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.

    • Listen to the No Body Criminalized podcast

    • Read this solidarity + organizing brief from Interrupting Criminalization and a coalition of repro and anti-criminalization orgs.

  • Self-managed abortion:

    • This gorgeous slideshow from South Texans for Reproductive Justice!

    • 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.

    • If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline guide to internet safety.

    • Check out the SMAZine from Urge and LiberalJane.

---

Goodnight and good dunk — The Sweet Feminist Becca Rea-Tucker is all “but nothing” on the “I’m pro-choice, but …” rhetoric and I for one am all about it. She writes: “We do not need to know what you think you would/wouldn’t do in a particular situation, or your opinion about what someone else has done. It is irrelevant. Our job is to show up for people who have abortions with love and unconditional support. We can lead by example through unwavering respect and compassion for people who have abortions.”

---

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 DM me on Instagram, and I’ll try to add follow-ups as I’m able.