Courts Greenlight Bans in North Carolina, Indiana

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 ([email protected]) 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 or the Substack app. You don’t want to miss this week’s Good Night and Good Dunk!

The big takeaway: Shitty news out of Indiana, where a near-total ban is set to go into effect August 1, and North Carolina, where a 12-week ban will go into effect Saturday, July 1.

The upshot of all of these bans is, ultimately, the state surveillance and criminalization of pregnancy, which makes this Scalawag piece (part of their excellent series on abolition) an absolute don’t-miss this week.

The Top Headlines

• “Abortion Bans and Pregnancy Surveillance: The Body Itself is a Prison” (Scalawag)

• “Why post-Roe abortion restrictions worry domestic violence experts” (PBS)

• “Woman Sues Anti-Abortion 'Pregnancy Center' After Her Ectopic Pregnancy Ruptured” (Jezebel) — ICYMI, I published some hollering about this a couple days ago.

• “Your boss now has to accommodate pregnant workers, from morning sickness to abortion care” (The 19th)

• “In post-Roe era, House Republicans begin quiet push for new restrictions on abortion access” (ABC News/AP)

• “New study estimates Texas abortion restrictions contributed to nearly 9,800 additional births” (Texas Public Radio)

• “In Isolated Guam, Abortion Is Legal. And Nearly Impossible to Get” (NYT)

• “Crisis pregnancy center warning quietly removed from state abortion info website” (Nevada Current)

• “Abortion Funds Are Hanging On By A Thread A Year After Dobbs” (HuffPo)

• What’s happening with clinical abortion provision and medication abortion:

  • “US abortion pill access could hinge on whether doctors had right to sue” (Reuters)

  • “Anti-abortion violence on the rise a year after Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade” (Texas Public Radio)

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

  • “Biden says as Catholic he’s ‘not big on abortion’ but thinks Roe ‘got it right’” (The Hill) — The president of unforced errors, this guy. Here’s more in HuffPo featuring some fire quotes from We Testify’s Renee Bracey Sherman.

  • Shot: “Trump’s evasiveness on abortion ban raises questions with conservatives” (The Hill) and chaser: “In Pitch to Evangelicals, Trump Casts Himself as Christian Crusader Who Helped End Roe v. Wade” (NYT) — Goodness, yeah, it’s a real mystery where Trump stands on any of this! So evasive, the bragging about ending Roe. What could it mean????

  • “‘We can’t rest or relent’: Pence reiterates support of staunch abortion restrictions” (The Guardian)

  • “What Republicans say about their risky balancing act on abortion” (NYT) — But you know what I’m going to say about this, which is FOR FUCK’S SAKE, ASK ANTI-ABORTION POLITICIANS HOW THEY PLAN TO ENFORCE THEIR PREFERRED ABORTION BANS hghghg

  • “Where the GOP presidential candidates stand on national abortion bans, restrictions” (Iowa Capital Dispatch) — Someone, anyone, please start asking these fuckos how they are going to enforce their abortion bans!!!!!!!

  • “Harris speaks about abortion rights in North Carolina on anniversary of Dobbs ruling” (PBS)

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

  • 🟢 “New York Dems put abortion on the ballot in bid to retake the House” (Politico)

  • 🟢 “Maine lawmakers are a single vote from approval of bill to allow later abortions” (ABC News)

  • 🟡 “Missouri Supreme Court sets hearing date for abortion rights petition case” (Missouri Independent)

  • 🟡 “After judge dismisses case, Boise woman sues Idaho State Police for wrongful arrest” (Idaho Capital Sun) — Avalon Hardy was arrested at an abortion rights protest last year.

  • 🟡 “Newly all-male South Carolina Supreme Court scrutinizes abortion ban months after tossing one out” (South Carolina Public Radio)

  • 🔴 “North Carolina governor signs law clearing up several aspects of impending abortion law” (AP) and “Judge's ruling lets nearly all of N.C.'s revised 12-week abortion law take effect” (Spectrum News) — North Carolina’s governor is a Democrat and the federal judge who cleared the law to go into effect on Saturday, July 1st is an Obama appointee. 😑

  • 🔴 “Indiana Supreme Court upholds abortion ban, says state constitution gives only limited protections” (AP) — The near-total ban (likely) goes into effect on August 1. Here’s more from Dr. Caitlin Bernard.

  • 🔴 “Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen says he won’t stop on abortion, seeks total ban” (Nebraska Examiner)

  • 🔴 “Iowa Democrats brace for special session on abortion following Supreme Court ruling” (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

  • 🔴 “[Arizona] Senate GOP halts nominee hearings in response to abortion order” (Arizona Capitol Times)

The Takes

• The Triangle Abortion Access Coalition’s Kelsea McLain shares an as-told-to perspective with Prism’s Tina Vásquez as the state prepares to implement a new 12-week abortion ban. Says McLain: “One of the goals of anti-abortion laws is to create a lot of confusion and chaos in the community that impacts access before the ban is even implemented because people don’t know what their rights are. They don’t know they can still access abortion care in their state. We see how this plays out because we get private messages on social media from people asking whether they can still get birth control and if Plan B is still available. The effects of misinformation are very real. We need people to know abortion is still legal in North Carolina. We also want them to know how they can access abortion care after 12 weeks and how they can access care if clinics shut down.”

• Cosmopolitan features the “10 Most Urgent Lessons Reproductive Justice Activists Have Learned for You This Year” in a quote-heavy piece featuring grassroots activists, organizers, and experts from around the country. I missed linking to this last week, so don’t let’s both miss it this week!

• 80-year-old former Montana Republican politician Dave Lewis is in the Daily Montanan with a reflection on finally minding his own business: “A few years back, I had a few deep conversations with my five adult granddaughters and two granddaughters in law.  My pro-life beliefs were changed through listening and absorbing what their generation had to say.  I am still opposed to abortion but have been made to understand that since the odds of me getting pregnant are zero, I really have no right to tell them what to do.” 

• Here’s why the Baltimore Abortion Fund uses gender-inclusive language.

The Tweets/Toks/Grams

• Guhhhhh. Via illustrator Aubrey Hirsch:

• Lots of pro-choice and pro-abortion folks don’t know how to talk about later abortion, especially when countering anti-abortion propaganda. Thanks to @RHAVote for this thoughtful, actionable thread:

Baking By Feel: Recipes to Sort Out Your Emotions (Whatever They Are Today) by Becca Rea-Tucker

The “Sweet Feminist” is Austinite Becca Rea-Tucker, a baker and writer known for saying it with cake. (And by “it” I mean: righteous, pro-abortion affirmations!) Listen to the Feminist Book Club interview with Becca, who shares her abortion story in Baking By Feel. If there is another cookbook that includes an abortion story … well, I don’t know what it is! Becca’s offering a signed copy and some fun pro-abortion merch to this week’s winner.

On Thursday 7/6, I’ll choose a name from my subscriber list at random, so keep your eyes on your inboxes!

The Fuck Are We Supposed to Do About It?

• 👕 SWAG OF THE WEEK! 👕

  • Buckle Bunnies Fund’s new Talking Heads-inspired merch is very rock and roll. Literally.

• ✊🏽 Colorado: Applications for COLOR Latina’s fellowship program — a “ten-month-long program designed to support Latinx, transgender, and gender non-conforming young people gain skills in political advocacy, public speaking, and programmatic organization” — are due Wednesday, July 5th.

• 💫 Denver: ABORTION RAVE! REPEAT, ABORTION RAVE! AT A “SALSA WAREHOUSE”! I love all these words. It’s Friday, July 7th, benefitting Buckle Bunnies Fund.

• 🪩 Chicago: DISCO FOR ABORTION! REPEAT, DISCO FOR ABORTION! Get down at the Chicago Athletic Association on Saturday, July 8th, benefitting the Big Bend Reproductive Coalition.

• 🚌 Alabama: The Yellowhammer Fund’s "F*** Your Abortion Ban” bus tour is hitting the road through Saturday, July 29. Check out the stop schedule here.

• 🥂 St. Louis: Abortion Access Missouri’s annual gala is Friday, September 29.

• 🧑🏽‍🤝‍🧑🏽 Anywhere: The Take Root: Red State Reproductive Justice 2023 conference in Louisville, KY is now open for proposals! This is an incredible organizing, collaborating, and community space for folks who are passionate about reproductive justice.

• 📱 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: Apply to be an All-Options talkline volunteer!

• 📥 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.

• 💸 From your wallet:

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

  • Contribute to the Repro Worker Aid Fund (or apply to be a recipient!)

  • 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: Use All Above All*’s form to tell your congressperson to support the Abortion Justice Act.

  • Texas: Join the Frontera Fund in telling your Texas lawmakers that you’re not having it with the “border fence” and “migrant” surveillance.

  • Anywhere, but especially for Alabamans: Sign the Yellowhammer Fund’s petition against a bill that would allow the prosecution abortion and even some forms of pregnancy loss as homicide.

  • 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: All Above All*’s petition to lift outdated restrictions on medication abortion.

  • Anywhere: UltraViolet’s petition calling on pharmacies to provide medication abortion access where it’s legal to do so.

• 📖 Anywhere, resources edition:

  • Who Not When’s guide to reporting on later abortion is just great.

  • Subscribe to the No Body Criminalized podcast from the Repro Legal Defense Fund’s Rafa Kidvai.

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

  • I Need An A’s new “stories” section provides resources, support, and information for folks seeking abortion care.

  • Plan C Pills has published a self-managed abortion field guide in super fun, accessible zine form.

  • Physicians for Reproductive Health has a wide-ranging messaging guide to talking about a variety of issues, from later abortion to self-managed care to insurance coverage for abortion.

  • 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.

  • Check out the “Pro Choice, But” campaign to better understand how to talk with folks who are, well, pro-choice … but.

  • Read the National Immigration Law Center’s know-your-rights-guide to abortion access for immigrants and share widely.

  • Familiarize yourself with this Digital Defense Fund guide to keeping your abortion private and secure, or check out the If/When/How Repro Legal Helpline guide to internet safety.

  • Read this guide on using trans-inclusive language from ARC-Southeast and the Transgender Law Center.

  • REPRO Rising Virginia has a thorough guide to updating your protest signs to make sure you’re using the most forward-thinking, respectful, and impactful language around abortion.

  • Here’s a big list of action items and info created by @RHAVote, and another big list of action items and info created by Alison Turkos.

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 — [email protected], or DM me on Instagram, and I’ll try to add follow-ups as I’m able.