Hard to Believe It's Only Tuesday: the SCOTUS Leak Week

Here's what happened in abortion news + takes this week.

May 06, 2022

Last Friday, I went out for after-work drinks with my husband — who’s also a journalist — and the conversation turned, as it inevitably does or perhaps always already is, to the sheer amount of shit to keep up with these days. Simultaneous terrifying and crushing realities, overlapping and oppressive, never enough time to cover and consume and come to terms with it all.

So why not assign myself some more work, lololol? A few beers in, I joked: Okay, twist my arm, I’ll start writing a weekly newsletter post rounding up abortion news.

Then the leaked Supreme Court draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization dropped in Politico on Monday night and what hell had not already broken loose … broke loose. It’s been the biggest week for abortion news since the Whole Woman’s Health decision came down in 2016. Twenty-six states are certain or likely to ban abortion when/if (when!) Roe is overturned.

And thus I give you “Hard to Believe It’s Only Tuesday,” my little sub-substack about what’s happening in abortion news right now. Starting today, I’ll compile a weekly digest of what I think are the most essential reads on abortion, including some good tweets and takes, and try to keep my personal hollering to a minimum. Let’s do the thing.

The Top Headlines

The Takes

  • Tina Vasquez in Prism: “There is nothing more holy in the world than choosing if, when, or how you create a family, which is why abortion is one of our most sacred rights. I am certain that I have a life I could have only dreamed of as a young person—one devoted to family, community, and storytelling—because at 19 I was able to access abortion care that changed the course of my life.”

  • Roxane Gay in the New York Times — “I do not know where this retraction of civil rights will end, but I do know it will go down as a milestone in a decades-long conservative campaign to force a country of 330 million people to abide by a bigoted set of ideologies. This movement seeks to rule by hollow theocracy, despite our constitutional separation of church and state. The people behind this campaign do not represent the majority of this country, and they know it, so they consistently try to undermine the democratic process.”

  • Rebecca Traister in The Cut — “So no, where America finds itself is not in a world transformed by Donald Trump. Rather it’s one in which generations of Republicans have been open about their brutal aim, while Democratic leaders have repeatedly asked voters to trust them in a fight that, up to the very night Roe was struck down in draft form, they refused to accurately describe or perhaps even discern.”

  • Christine Grimaldi in Self — If you’re looking for hope, here it is. Christine Grimaldi talks to repro justice advocates who have been thinking about the end of Roe for decades, and who have some innovative ideas and solutions for a post-Roe future wherein both the law and abortion access are reimagined.

The Tweets

  • Soraya McDonald tweets an essential thread connecting capitalism, enslavement, white supremacy, and abortion — including white women’s historic role in deriving wealth and legitimacy from enslavement and forced birth.

  • Laurie Bertram Roberts tweets reminding us again, for the eleventy millionth time, that nobody needs to reinvent the wheel when it comes to abortion funds and practical support, the wheel is rolling and has been for a long, long time, thanks to women and trans folks of color.

  • Imani Gandy tweets about those “Black genocide” claims: “The maternal mortality rate for Black women nationally is 3 times that for white women and in Mississippi, it’s 75 times worse. So in reality, abortion bans are actually Black genocide.”

  • Sarah Hudson tweets on the decades-long shit stream of awful takes from (mostly, not all!!!) men telling abortion supporters to calm down about the end of Roe.

  • There were many good dunks on one of the New York Times’ resident dip-ass anti-abortion talking heads, Ross Douthat, who tweeted that he thinks it’s “Worth noting that in the 50 yrs since Roe, men have become less likely to find a spouse, less likely father kids or live with the kids they father, and less likely to participate in the workforce.”

    • Chanda Prescod-Weinstein: “They’re also more likely to tweet stupid shit because Twitter exists now. I guess that’s also because of Roe.”

    • Mike Drucker: “‘Roe v. Wade made men like me unfuckable’ isn’t the argument you think it is.”

    • Mike Boylan-Kochin: “In the 4 years prior to the Roe vs. Wade decision, there were 6 crewed landings on the Moon. Since the decision: none. I think the conclusions we can draw are straightforward and inescapable.”

The Fuck Are We Supposed To Do About It?

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.