Hard to Believe It's Only Tuesday: Indiana Bans Abortion, Nebraskans Prosecuted for Alleged SMA

Here’s another edition of Hard to Believe It’s Only Tuesday, a weekly roundup of the top headlines, tweets, takes, and more in abortion news. Remember: you can always email me ([email protected]) or @/DM me on twitter with action items — rallies, trainings, fundraisers, block-walks, petitions, etc. — to include in the The Fuck Are We Supposed To Do About It? section!

Two big news items this week, both out of the Midwest: Anti-abortion lawmakers in Indiana made theirs the first state to pass an abortion ban post-Dobbs; the ban goes into effect September 15. And in Nebraska, a mother and her teenage daughter are facing charges stemming from what prosecutors allege was a self-managed abortion, which is — notably — not illegal in Nebraska. (Only Nevada, Oklahoma, and South Carolina criminalize self-managed care. More about that in the Takes section below.)

The Top Headlines

• “A Nebraska woman is charged with helping her daughter have an abortion” (NPR) — The mother and 17-year-old daughter in question have both been charged with “removing, concealing, or abandoning a body,” and “concealing the death of another person” and “false reporting.” The mother has been charged for “illegally performing an abortion after 20 weeks.” Much has been made of the fact that Facebook turned over messages between the pair to law enforcement; Facebook’s defense is that they didn’t know the cops were looking into a self-managed abortion, but charges around self-managed care frequently look like exactly what we see here — concealment of a body or birth, etc. While there’s been a lot of talk about digital security and surveillance following the case, Jezebel reports that the pair were reported to law enforcement by someone who claimed to be present during the alleged abortion, which tracks with new findings from If/When/How that show “it’s other people who are the biggest privacy risk for abortion seekers, not big data.” More on this in the Takes section.

• “Abortion law in Indiana leads to fallout for state, politics” (WaPo) — from the piece: “Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical giant and one of the state’s largest employers, warned that such laws would hurt its employee recruiting efforts and said the company would look elsewhere for its expansion plans.” Another large employer in the state, Cummins, spoke out against the ban.

• “Louisiana Supreme Court rejects appeal in abortion ban case” (AP) — Louisiana’s ban has gone into and out of effect since Dobbs, putting access to care in limbo; this ruling will allow the ban to stay in place for now.

• “Montana Supreme Court upholds ruling blocking abortion restrictions” (The Hill)

• “Judge blocks Wyoming abortion ban from taking effect amid legal challenge” (Reuters)

• “Mailing abortion pills punishable by five years in prison, Mississippi AG argues” (Mississippi Free Press) — GenBioPro, the manufacturer of generic mifepristone, which is part of a two-pill medication abortion regimen, is suing Mississippi over the state’s trigger ban.

• “Most Americans want chance to support abortion rights on state ballot” (USA Today)

• “Twitter donates $25,000 to anti-abortion political organization” (Popular Information/Platformer) — Notable because: “Twitter making a significant donation to any political committee in 2022 is unusual. Twitter shut down its PAC in 2020 and has subsequently avoided making any political donations.”

• “Facebook has earned tens of thousands of dollars running ads with misinformation about abortion pills” (Media Matters)

• “Abortion was already inaccessible on Reservation land. Dobbs made things worse.” (Mother Jones)

• “Warren launches investigation into state abortion bans” (The Hill) — Elizabeth Warren, of course.

• “34 percent of young workers are thinking of switching employers due to company’s stance on abortion post-Roe” (CNBC)

• “Latinas are the targets of abortion misinformation. Providers and advocates are pushing back.” (NBCNews)

• “Kansas abortion vote shows limit of GOP’s strength” (AP)

• “Stacey Abrams explains why she was ‘anti-abortion’ until she went to college” (CNN)

• “Florida rabbi challenging state’s abortion law files new suit with added plaintiffs, including physician” (NBC News)

The Tweets

• Rewire News’ legal expert Jessica Mason Pieklo reminds us that abortion criminalization requires pregnancy surveillance:

• Alright, Dallas! From the Afiya Center:

The Takes

• Abortion researcher Laura Huss at If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice introduces the organization’s important new research (I’m not just calling it important because I used to work there — this org is legit at the vanguard) on the criminalization of self-managed abortion: “Though there has been a lot of focus on period tracker apps in recent months, we didn’t find a single instance of an app like that being used in a case. This doesn’t imply that state surveillance of data isn’t a cause for concern, but what we’ve seen is that even less sophisticated forms of data and technology – text messages and Google histories – were wielded as evidence in some of these cases. Instead, the biggest privacy threat is other people. Law enforcement were most often contacted by healthcare professionals – people that individuals reached out to when they were in need of care during or after their abortions. This breakdown of trust and ethics in these patient-doctor relationships is alarming. When healthcare workers police their patients, it can instill fear and push them away from care.”

• Chloé Toscano in Them on what losing abortion access means for people with disabilities: “Bodily autonomy has always been a presiding issue in the disability rights movement. And it always will be, because a lack of authority over our bodies is innate to our experience. That’s why it’s vital that what we can control does not fall under the jurisdiction of a second party — especially a second party that will never know what it’s like to live in a body like mine. At the end of the day, I can’t control the fact that I have one arm. And so I can’t control any outsider who may want to cause harm to me as a result of that. But I can control the ways in which I want to protect myself. So my right to choose is as much a part of that protection as any other self-defense I may employ. Having the fullest possible agency over my body includes whether or not I’d like to bring new life into this world. Our world will never be fully accessible without the option of abortion.”

• Mother Jones’ Pema Levy on the post-abortion (and other fuckery) surveillance state: “… The rise of vigilante enforcement to reverse progress and entrench physical and psychological control over women, LGBTQ people, and people of color. It’s not just pregnant people whose bodily autonomy has succumbed to the mob in Texas. Laws like SB8 now reach into school bathrooms, classrooms, and sports, targeting both the rights of transgender and LGBTQ people and what is taught. Following Texas’ lead, two states passed SB-8 style abortion bans; around a dozen more have considered doing so. Several more states have brought SB8’s vigilante enforcement mechanism into schools: 192 bills across 40 states have sought to limit classroom instruction on gender, sexual orientation, race, and American history since January 2021, according to running data gathered by PEN America. Forty-six of those would be enforced by private citizens if passed. There is also no telling how this playbook might be expanded. Under the same legal logic, laws could be passed to empower citizens to harass voters at the polls, or to incentivize neighbors to report undocumented immigrants.”Subscribe now

The Fuck Are We Supposed To Do About It?

• Bay Area: Check out this cool music-drinks-fashion event in Oakland on Thursday, August 25th, proceeds benefit Access Reproductive Justice.

• North Texas: Get you a tattoo for reproductive justice at Vato Loco Tattoos in Arlington on Saturday, August 27th. Proceeds benefit the Texas Equal Access Fund.

• New York City: A Is For’s annual gala, Broadway Acts for Abortion is coming up on October 2nd, and it sounds like a wild time. Folks with deeper pockets can sponsor a table.

• Anywhere: take a Zoom pilates class (!) to fund abortion.

• Anywhere: 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.

• Anywhere: Order your own INeedAnA promo stickers to share with folks in your community.

• Anywhere: Buy something off the wishlist of an independent clinic, abortion fund, or clinic defense group.

• Anywhere: read this guide (for journalists, but useful for everybody) on using trans-inclusive language when talking about reproductive health care, from ARC-Southeast and the Transgender Law Center.

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

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

• Anywhere: Folks in Austin, TX have created model language for city-based protections for abortion that could be replicated just about anywhere. Check out this TikTok for more, 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.

• From your wallet: Donate to support abortion funds; this link distributes your donation to 90+ funds around the country.

• From your wallet: Donate to support independent abortion providers.

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

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

• Anywhere: Request a copy of Rosie’s Zine to learn more about Rosie Jimenez, the Texan, college student, and single mom who died in 1977 after having an unsafe abortion when she wasn’t able to afford clinical care thanks to bans on abortion coverage. The zine supports efforts to expand insurance coverage for abortion care.

• Texas: Join the Texas Abortion Hype Squad

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.