Hard to Believe It's Only Tuesday: Abortion Bans Are Wildly Unpopular

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. Remember: you can always email me ([email protected]) or @/DM me on twitter or instagram with action items — rallies, trainings, fundraisers, block-walks, petitions, etc. — to include in the The Fuck Are We Supposed To Do About It? section!

The big takeaway: It’s just gonna be all abortion-and-what-does-it-mean-for-the-midterms until November 8th I guess. Another woman has come forward to say that Georgia GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker paid for her abortion — in fact, that he coerced her into going through with the procedure when she didn’t want to. And the 19th News has a look at the deep unpopularity of abortion bans among voting constituencies: “The analysis shows that when lawmakers are passing these bans, some of which lack any exceptions, including for rape, incest or fetal complications, they are reflecting the opinion of only a small minority of their residents.”

The Top Headlines

• “States passing abortion bans reflect what only a small minority of their constituents actually want” (The 19th News) — Abortion bans are incredibly unpopular, verse 19328340985.

• “Second woman says Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker paid for abortion” (NPR) — This guy again!

• “Justice Alito says leak of abortion opinion made majority ‘targets for assassination’” (WaPo) — Actually, it’s abortion providers who are targets for assassination, and it’s conservative SCOTUS judges who get extra security at their houses because they are afraid of free speech.

• What’s happening with abortion laws and restrictions in the states:

  • “New frontline of U.S. abortion battles emerges in New Mexico” (Reuters) — At issue are attempts to ban abortion care at the city level, a legal maneuver that was first tried in Texas in 2019. Lubbock is the biggest city to have pulled this off; now, municipalities in New Mexico are trying to prevent providers from opening near the Texas border. Related: Texas abortion funds have sued Mark Lee Dickson, the dude behind these municipal bans, for defamation after he called them “criminal organizations.” The Texas Supreme Court heard arguments this week in that case.

  • “Trial begins over Georgia’s six-week abortion ban” (ABC News)

• What’s happening with clinics and providers:

  • “Two moms harnessed the ‘productive rage’ of Roe to open an all-trimester abortion clinic” (Romper) — It feels like everything is awful and the worst these days, but I took heart from this in-depth profile of the founders of Maryland’s Partners in Abortion Care Morgan Nuzzo and Dr. Diane Horvath.

  • “Inside the secret fleet of abortion vans meeting patients near ban states” (Cosmopolitan) — I am not in love with the framing of this otherwise important piece, which ramps up the abortion stigma by describing perfectly legal, perfectly professional, fully licensed providers offering care from mobile clinics as providing “abortions on the DL,” while also noting that “there’s nothing sketchy about it, despite how it might sound.” I mean, if you don’t make it sound sketchy … it won’t sound sketchy? Anyway, nobody asked me.

  • “The doctors leaving anti-abortion states: ‘I couldn’t do my job at all’” (The Guardian)

• “Law firm calls out ex-EEOC counsel’s note on abortion travel” (Bloomberg Law) — This is a kind of niche but interesting-in-a-scary-way piece about a former Trump official “using her prior position to scare employers that are considering providing abortion travel benefits.”

The Tweets

• The National Network of Abortion Funds tweets a thread on how folks seeking abortion care can protect their personal information, online and off.

• We Testify executive director Renee Bracey Sherman tweets some really neat Black abortion storytelling history:

The Takes

• This five-minute New York Times video, “I’m a pro-life pastor but I support a woman’s right to choose,” includes a sermon from St. Louis’ Wayman A.M.E. Church Rev. Clinton L. Stancil, who says: “You cannot care about children before they’re born, but you don’t even care what happens to the child after it is born.”

• Illustrator Aubrey Hirsch is in The Audacity with a timely (and terrifying) Halloween comic connecting modern attacks on abortion access with the misogynist origins of witch panics: “The links between witches and abortion have become apparent again since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion.” 

The Fuck Are We Supposed To Do About It?

• Anywhere: The National Immigration Law Center just released a know-your-rights-guide to abortion access for immigrants. Read and share widely.

• Edinburg, TX: Join South Texans for Reproductive Justice for a free screening of Jennifer’s Body, an “abortion-positive pumpkin decorating contest,” and more on Saturday, October 29th at Grind Coffee Co.

• Houston: Head over to Lil Danny Speedo’s Go Fly A Kite Lounge on Sunday, November 13th for an Ovary Action fundraiser benefitting Frontera Fund.

• New York City: Celebrate Halloween on Monday, October 31st at Keats Bar with karaoke, costumes, and a fundraiser for the New York Abortion Access Fund.

• Washington, DC: The Doctors for Abortion Access National Day of Action is Thursday, November 3rd. There’s a registration page for doctors and health care providers who want to join the event in Washington, or who can’t join but want to support from afar.

• Fort Worth: TCU’s Women & Gender Studies department is hosting a Reproductive Justice Advocacy Day on Friday, November 18th with the Texas Equal Access Fund.

• West Texas or East Texas: Jane’s Due Process, which supports young folks’ access to reproductive care, is looking for volunteers in Bryan, College Station, San Angelo, and Lubbock to distribute repro kits containing emergency contraception and other essentials. Sign up here — and they’re looking for local businesses to volunteer as pick-up sites, too.

• Anywhere, for playwrights: A Is For’s one-act play contest for reproductive justice is on! Submit by December 31, 2022.

• California, Texas, or Georgia: SisterLove, Inc. is looking for English- or Spanish-speakers between the ages of 15 and 49 who “recently found out [they] were pregnant’” as part of a paid study through the University of Pittsburgh. Here’s the intake survey to find out if you qualify.

• Anywhere: Become a Plan C ambassador for medication abortion care.

• Anywhere, swag edition:

  • Get you a shirt celebrating young people’s abortion access, benefitting Jane’s Due Process!

  • Get you some gear from Two Little Pills, which works to scrub out dated, harmful coat hanger imagery in favor of celebrating safe medication abortion. Proceeds go to Elevated Access, a group of volunteer pilots working to make sure folks can get to the abortion and gender-affirming care they need.

  • Buy one of @PrisonCulture’s shirts supporting the National Network of Abortion Funds.

• Anywhere, best practices edition:

  • 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.

  • Familiarize yourself with this Digital Defense Fund guide to keeping your abortion private and secure, and share it widely.

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

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

• Anywhere: Folks in Austin, TX have created model language for city-based protections for abortion. Check out this TikTok, or flip through this Instagram FAQ slide show from Jane’s Due Process.

• Texas: sign and share Avow Texas’ petition demanding county district attorneys pledge not to prosecute people for providing abortions, or because of a pregnancy outcome. Or join the Texas Abortion Hype Squad!

• From your wallet: 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!

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 Twitter, and I’ll try to add follow-ups as I’m able.