Hard to Believe It's Only Tuesday: HOW ABOUT SOMETHING NICE FOR A CHANGE?????

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.

MAY I INTEREST YOU IN SOME FEEL-GOOD ABORTION NEWS, AT LONG FLIPPING LAST?

Nineteen year-old Houstonian Olivia Julianna has raised over $1.6 million for abortion funds in just a few days as a delightful, Texas-sized fuck-you to the anti-abortion Congressman who tried to bully her.

I get choked up just typing about it! Here’s what happened: eminent Floridian creep (and the field is deep!) Matt Gaetz — the sitting Congressman who is currently being investigated for sex trafficking and sexual assault — tried bully Julianna after she Tweeted him what-for about his skeevy, body-shaming remarks to an anti-abortion student group last weekend.

Gaetz attempted to sic his followers and constituents on Julianna online. So Julianna raised $1.6 million dollars and counting for abortion funds. (As of Friday afternoon, that’s $1 for every follower Gaetz has on twitter lololololololol.) I am begging you to read the statement she put out Wednesday night, it is flipping priceless.

And yes, you can still donate!

The Top Headlines

• “Dozens of clinics have stopped offering abortions in the states with some form of ban” (NPR) — According to Guttmacher, 43 clinics in 11 states have either closed or stopped providing abortion care. All of the clinics are in the Midwest and the South, with 23 clinics closing or ceasing to offer abortion care in Texas alone.

• “Indiana Senate shoots down abortion ban without exceptions, after divisive debate” (Indianapolis Star) — The proposed ban, one of the first new bills post-Dobbs, is still moving forward, it will just have so-called exceptions for rape and incest. (Note that '“exceptions” usually are not actually exceptions, either in law or in practice.)

• “Girl, 12, challenges West Virginia lawmakers on abortion: ‘What about my life?’” (WaPo) — Republican and anti-abortion lawmakers in West Virginia are also rushing an abortion ban through a special legislative session.

• Notable movement on bans the states:

  • “‘Trigger laws’ on abortion temporarily blocked in Wyoming, North Dakota” (ABC News)

  • “Judge allows new South Carolina abortion law to continue for now” (News19)

  • “Kentucky judge extends block on state abortion ban” (Reuters)

  • “New Texas law increasing penalties for abortion providers goes into effect August 25” (Texas Tribune)

• “Harris plots her next, more aggressive, volley in the abortion fights” (Politico) — The Vice President has taken the lead on abortion policy and messaging for the Biden Administration, taking meetings and making appearances with state-level folks and centering the issue in pre-midterm GOTV efforts.

• “‘A scary time’: Fear of prosecution forces doctors to choose between protecting themselves or their patients” (STAT)

• “California takes swipe at Texas abortion law by allowing private lawsuits in gun cases” (Reuters) — Gov. Gavin Newsom has been threatening to mirror the Texas civil enforcement scheme — sometimes referred to as a “bounty hunter” provision that allows private citizens to sue for damages if another person gets an abortion — for months. Now it’s happening.

• “Georgia prosecutors stand firm against abortion ban after ruling” (Bloomberg Law)

• “More than 400 TV showrunners demand Netflix, Disney and more offer safety protocols in anti-abortion states” (Variety) — Shonda Rhimes, Natasha Lyonne, and Ava DuVernay are some of the big names behind the demands, which include “published policies for how the companies will subsidize employees’ travel to obtain abortions, as well as how employee privacy will be protected,” care protocols for ectopic pregnancy and other complications, “criminal and civil indemnification for anyone helping an employee obtain an abortion,” and for the entertainment companies to halt “all political donations to anti-abortion candidates and political action committees immediately.”

• “The inside story of how John Roberts failed to save abortion rights” (CNN) — tl;dr Roberts changed no one’s mind, including his own, on overturning Roe.

• “States with abortion bans are among least supportive for mothers and children” (New York Times)

The Tweets

• “gonna be president one day lol” — @OliviaJulianna

• We Testify — the nationwide organization of abortion storytellers — shouts out the positive + accurate representation of abortion care on the Starz drama P-Valley.

• I hate that asinine Mothers Against Greg Abbott ad, and so does s.e. smith.

The Takes

• Harvard Law instructor Alejandra Carabello in Slate: “There will inevitably be instances of women and pregnant people who accessed abortions (or doctors who performed them) and fled to another state to avoid prosecution. More commonly, we will likely see anti-abortion states like Texas attempt to extradite the residents of other states who assisted someone in accessing an abortion. For example, someone who mailed abortion medication from New York to Texas could find themselves charged criminally in Texas and sought for extradition.”

• Indiana abortion provider Dr. Caitlin Bernard in WaPo: “I don’t feel brave. I feel anguished, desperate and angry. I don’t want to be the one who sends a patient away, who sends a scared mother away. I don’t want to be the one who loses a patient because her pregnancy killed her before I could save her. I don’t want to live in a place where my government tells me that child sex abuse victims must become mothers. I don’t want to have to accept that a particular religious ideology eclipses my duty as a physician. My life’s work has been to go where I’m needed, to serve my fellow human beings, and to relieve pain and suffering in any way I can. That is what I will continue to do.”

• EIC Laura Basset in Jezebel on Justice Alito’s most recent anti-abortion chucklefuckery, whining about foreign leaders who said they the Dobbs decision is bad: “America’s current situation, of course, has nothing to do with hostility to religion; it’s quite the opposite. A religious minority in America is imposing its beliefs on a population that overwhelmingly supports abortion rights—and pregnant people here are now being forced to give agonizing births to dead fetuses. Women are being forced to bring their own discharge to the hospital to prove they are dying from pregnancy-related infections. Child rape victims are being forced to travel out of state for life-saving abortion care. But Alito’s Italian stand-up routine came at the expense of millions of people’s lived realities in this country right now—many of whom will die because of his unpopular opinion. I personally don’t find it funny at all.”

• I wrote about the Biden Administration’s slow uptake on the post-Dobbs abortion response for The Nation, and I talked with We Testify’s Renee Bracey Sherman and the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund’s Laurie Bertram-Roberts for a DAME magazine piece about post-Roe leadership, risk assessment, and civil disobedience.

The Fuck Are We Supposed To Do About It?

• Austin: the Organized Labor for Reproductive Justice Rally and Resource Fair will be held at the federal courthouse downtown on July 31st.

• Los Angeles: July 31st is Bans Off Bike Night at Knucklehead Hollywood, with proceeds going to the Repro Legal Defense Fund.

• Anywhere: Desert Star Family Planning is hosting a webinar, “Abortion Bans and the Criminalization of Pregnant People,” on Tuesday, August 2nd, featuring RJ organizer Alejandra Pablos, provider Dr. DeShawn Taylor, and Garin Marschall and Erika Christensen of Patient Forward/@RHAVote. Register here.

• Anywhere: the American Public Health Association is hosting a webinar/Q&A entitled “Reproductive Rights and Justice: Where do we go from here?” on Wednesday, August 3rd, moderated by The Nation’s Regina Mahone, with Emory University’s Hayley McMahon, DC Abortion Fund’s Benny Del Castillo, and If/When/How’s Jeryl Hayes. Register here.

• Anywhere: Dallas’ Afiya Center is hosting an eight-week “virtual book reading” of Killing the Black Body, the foundational reproductive justice text by Dorothy Roberts. It starts Thursday, August 4th. If you don’t already have one, buy a copy from your local Black-owned book store and register here.

• Anywhere: If you’ve had an abortion and you’re ready to tell your story, We Testify is hosting an Abortion Storytelling 101 training online on Thursday, August 4. Register here.

• 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: get a kickass skeleton-tat-inspired "abortion is healthcare” shirt designed by Nat Power (who FUN FACT did this colorful kitty tat on my forearm!). Proceeds benefit Just The Pill.

• 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.

• 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.