Plus: The organizers and advocates supporting abortion access and pro-abortion conversations in U.S. prisons

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: Nikki Haley is once again staking out the bold position of considering not executing people who have abortions, meanwhile Democrats are calling on Biden to address the growing and ongoing criminalization of pregnant people.

Nobody asked me, but if Biden’s going to remain squeamish about enthusiastically supporting abortion rights everywhere all the time (surely no one will be surprised to learn that I am on team “‘Restore Roe’ is not enough, you cowards”) it seems like he could really lean into “nobody goes to jail for being pregnant on my watch.” It’s the obvious foil to the anti-abortion plan to surveil, investigate, and prosecute every pregnancy loss, it plays well with the public, and it reminds the public that the GOP isn’t stopping with the end of Roe.

The Top Headlines

• “Oregon high court says 10 GOP state senators who staged long walkout can’t run for reelection” (AP) — The senators opposed protections for transgender folks and abortion rights.
• “Abortion in U.S. prisons: How to whisper behind bars“ (Lux) — This piece is of Lux’s look at abortion around the world, a package rooted in the truth that “the abortion fight in the U.S. is too narrow.”
• “Abortion rights groups don’t want to “restore Roe” — but they won’t fight Biden on it” (Vox)
• “Bill would require schools to show fetal development videos to students” (Iowa Capital Dispatch) — The videos in question are produced by the anti-abortion group Live Action, which you’ll remember from the kerfuffle years ago involving faked footage of Planned Parenthood employees.
• “‘I wasn’t allowed to get the healthcare I needed’: the women suing Tennessee for being denied abortions” (The Guardian)
• “A safe haven for late abortions” (The New Yorker) — I am not 10000% in love with every inch of the framing of this but it’s really something, and very important, that the folks at Maryland’s Partners In Abortion Care clinic, one of the few later abortion providers in the U.S., opened their doors to a photographer.

• 🇺🇸 What politicians and politicos on the national stage are doing and saying about abortion in advance of the ‘24 election:
  • “Nikki Haley generously offers not to execute women who have abortions” (Raw Story)
  • “More Than 150 Democrats Urge Biden to Help Stop the Criminalization of Pregnant People” (Mother Jones)

• 👩🏽‍⚕️ What’s happening with clinical abortion care, providers, medication abortion, and such:
  • “California Universities Are Required To Offer Students Abortion Pills. A Lot Just Don’t Mention It” (LAist)
  • “Democratic attorneys general ask Supreme Court to allow current access to abortion pill” (Oregon Capital Chronicle)
  • “Democrats caution Supreme Court against allowing ‘meddling’ in abortion pill case” (The Hill)
  • “Dozens of ‘friend of the court’ briefs backing abortion pill access arrive at Supreme Court” (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
  • “6 Anti-Abortion Activists Convicted Of Illegally Blocking Tennessee Abortion Clinic” (HuffPo/AP)
  • “Texas Medical Board under pressure to define emergency exception to abortion ban” (StatNews)

• ⚖️ What’s going on with abortion bans, legal challenges, and bills at the state and local levels:
  • 🟢 “Saying pregnancy is ‘very complicated,’ Kentucky Democrat seeks to restore abortion access” (Kentucky Lantern)
  • 🟢 “[AG] Nessel asks for dismissal of Right to Life lawsuit to repeal Michigan abortion rights amendment” (Michigan Advance)
  • 🟢 “Wyoming Supreme Court: Anti-abortion lawmakers, group can’t intervene in lawsuit over bans” (WyoFile)
  • 🟡 “[New Hampshire] House defeats 15-day abortion ban, constitutional right to abortion” (New Hampshire Bulletin) — While voting on new abortion restrictions, New Hampshire Republicans say no abortion protections are necessary because abortion access is not under threat.
  • 🟡 “Party-line committee vote spells trouble for proposed [Maine] constitutional right to abortion” (Portland Press Herald)
  • 🔴 “State legislators aim to restrict abortion pills, ‘trafficking’ next in states with bans” (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
  • 🔴 “‘Abortion Trafficking’ Would Be A Crime in Mississippi Under Republican Bill” (Mississippi Free Press)
  • 🔴 “AG Yost: Some parts of Ohio abortion ban may be constitutional despite November election” (Cincinnati Enquirer)

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The Takes

• American University Professor Jessica Waters is in The Hill with a warning about telling only ‘perfect’ abortion stories: “We must reject the moral binary that intimates that there are women whose reasons for abortion make them deserving of compassionate abortion care and those who do not.”

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The Tweets/Toks/Grams

• TikTokker JustSunni posted this video blog of her medication abortion experience back in December, but it’s finally making its way across the abortion internet, and it’s just so joyful and real and great.

@justsunni

#singlemom #abortionrights #reproductivehealth #blackmomsoftiktok #nycmom #brooklynmom #plannedparenthood #reproductivecare #familyplanning

♬ Bright, gentle, spring jazz piano for a long time(978527) – Single Origin Music

• We Testify‘s Renee Bracey Sherman reminds us that the Biden Administration is much more comfortable with funding cops than saying “abortion.” And it’s well past time he get over it!

I hope Biden will listen to his own party. This is exactly how abortion and policing are connected. This is why I couldn't praise his 2022 State of the Union speech in which he refused to say the word abortion once but said "fund the police" three times. They are connected. https://t.co/DLgHyGi6gx

— Renee Bracey Sherman (@RBraceySherman) February 2, 2024

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The Fuck Are We Supposed to Do About It?

• 👕 SWAG OF THE WEEK! 👕
  • It’s Monday and the vibes are this aggressively pro-abortion mug from ReproMemes.
• 💊 Anywhere: Check out the This Is Normal infogame about self-managed abortion.
• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom: Join Doctors for Choice UK in calling on your MPs to support abortion decriminalization.
• 💻 Online: Join the Ad’iyah Collective‘s Muslim doulas for a chai and chill community meet-up with on Friday, February 16th.
• 🥂 Dallas: Join Jane’s Due Process for a celebration in Dallas on Tuesday, February 20 featuring Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi and drag performances by Cynthia Lee Fontaine and Barbie Davenport Dupree!
• 💻 Online: The Midwest Access Project‘s “Self-Managed Abortion Support & Advocacy” workshop is Thursday, February 22. Register here.
• 🙋🏽 Anywhere in the U.S., for birth justice folks: The Sister Song Birth Justice Care Fund is reopening for 2024!
• 🙋🏽 Folks in Alabama, Mississippi, the Florida panhandle, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas: Applications for the Yellowhammer Fund‘s 2024 Catalysts for Reproductive Justice Fellowship are due Friday, February 23rd.
• 🥂 Dallas: The Texas Equal Access Fund‘s First Bloom event is set for Thursday, May 16th.
• 💌 Anywhere: It’s abortion valentine time! (Valen-time?) Join the Frontera Fund in writing a note of “tenderness and support” to people having abortions.
• 🔬 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.
  • 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.”
  • 📚 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 — Folks who know me know I have a side interest in ancient languages and history, so I’ve been following the elk horn memecourse with interest. Thanks to RHAVote for this intersection: No! Abortion! Laws!

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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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