Hard to Believe It's Only Tuesday: Young Folks' Abortions On the Line

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: A case out of Missouri could end abortion access without parental involvement for young people in 36 states by outlawing the judicial bypass, a legal process that obligates a young person to go to court and ask a judge to grant them permission to have an abortion if they cannot, or can’t safely, involve a parent in their abortion decision. Note: young people’s abortion access is often used as a bargaining chip and a bellwether — it’s one of the first areas to which anti-abortion politicians usually go when they begin to chip away at abortion, because they know the mainstream pro-choice movement wrongly believes young people’s bodily autonomy is a losing issue. If/When/How’s Judicial Bypass Wiki has more information about how the process works across the country. Forced parental involvement is bullshit.

The Top Headlines

• “Supreme Court Asked to Consider Missouri Minor’s Abortion Rights” (Bloomberg) — I missed this last week, but it’s huge: a case out of Missouri could end judicial bypass, the legal process by which young people under the age of 18 can access abortion care in 36 states without involving a parent. (Judicial bypass is onerous fuckery, but currently the only legal option.) If SCOTUS takes up the case, I think it’s fair to assume Trump’s judges will do what they were appointed to do and fuck young people over.

• “The post-Roe abortion underground” (The New Yorker) — Stephania Taladrid follows a network of self-managed abortion supporters who work to ensure safe and effective abortion medication from Mexico gets to people who need it here in the United States.

• What’s happening with abortion in the states:

  • “Jewish women sue over Kentucky abortion laws, citing religious freedom” (WaPo)

  • “Indiana Supreme Court allows abortions to continue pending January hearing” (Politico)

  • “A little-watched Montana race has become a contentious abortion fight” (WaPo)

  • “Wisconsin gov won’t back abortion exceptions if ban remains” (AP)

  • “Judges in Ohio and Arizona temporarily block states’ abortion bans” (NYT) — These rulings came late last week after I’d already sent the newsletter around, so here’s making sure you know!

• What’s happening with clinics and providers:

  • “What happens when doctors don’t learn how to do abortions?” (Vice) — Carter Sherman’s deep dive into just how expensive, time-consuming, and barrier-ridden the process of learning to become a clinical abortion provider is in the United States today was eye-opening, and I already thought I knew a thing or two about how difficult this process was. Key quote from a provider: “It's likely only going to get worse, especially as all this stuff gets more siloed geographically …. There's going to be huge portions of the country where there's no one there who's ever done an abortion or known anyone to do an abortion.”

  • “‘Heartbreaking’ stories go untold, doctors say, as employers ‘muzzle’ them in wake of abortion ruling” (CNN) — Medical professionals say risk-averse hospital systems and their PR machines are preventing them from talking about the reality of post-Roe America.

The Tweets

• We’re once again gazing into the crystal ball on abortion messaging and midterm strategy. Someone told the senator from Vermont that the world couldn’t live without an awfully bad-faith op-ed complaining about abortion taking up too much airtime ahead of the midterms, and wondering why can’t we focus on real issues like the economy, etc. Repro health, rights, and justice experts have suggested in response that abortion is an economic issue with a number of intersectional implications, but what do they know? Well, plenty.

  • Couldn’t pass up an opportunity to appreciate “maple syrup grandpa,” courtesy of Rewire News’ Imani Gandy: “Can someone tell maple syrup grandpa that working class people need abortions too. Much obliged.”

  • And here’s We Testify executive director Renee Bracey Sherman, while we’re at it:

The Takes

• Jezebel’s Kylie Cheung goes in on Sen. Sanders’ op-ed: “Between poverty, expanding the police state, retraumatizing rape survivors, and blowing up the health system, abortion is about infinitely more than Sanders’ reductive language suggests. Reproductive justice—the framework created by Black women that asserts each of us should be able to parent or not parent in safe, healthy communities—comprises a foundation for economic justice and the dismantling of racial capitalism. For Sanders to misunderstand abortion in such shallow terms frankly says a lot about who he is and isn’t listening to.”

• Repro reporter Becca Andrews’ new book is called No Choice: The Destruction of Roe v. Wade and the Fight to Protect a Fundamental American Right (order it here!), and Rolling Stone runs an excerpt following a young woman in Alabama: “When she was walking into West Alabama Women’s Center for her first appointment, Tamika was subjected to the opinions of ‘two gentlemen,’ as she generously calls them. They shouted at her about her baby’s heartbeat, and she suppressed her rage, but let an eye roll through her composure. ‘That’s fine and dandy, I know that my baby has a heartbeat,’ she says, sarcasm coating her words. ‘I have a heartbeat. The Black men that are being slaughtered in the streets have heartbeats, too. And nobody seems to care about that.’ These issues are related, whether the (most often white) people who stand outside of clinics want to acknowledge it or not.”

The Fuck Are We Supposed To Do About It?

• North Texas: Get you a tattoo for abortion access at Vato Loco Tattoos in Arlington on Saturday, October 15th. Proceeds benefit the Texas Equal Access Fund.

• Online, but especially for ‘red’ state activists: the virtual Take Root conference on repro justice is October 14-16, and Dorothy Roberts is this year’s keynote speaker.

• Online: Nashville’s Beyond Roe Collective is hosting a virtual training on safe self-managed abortion on Saturday, October 15th.

• Duluth: How delightfully midwestern is this hotdish bake-off for abortion care on Saturday, October 15th at the Peace United Church of Christ??? Proceeds go to the WE Health Clinic.

• Online: The Feminist Front, a “youth of color-led gender & racial justice organization mobilizing 15-35 year-olds committed to fighting white supremacist cisheteropatriarchy and all systems of domination,” is hosting a volunteer meeting on Monday, October 17th. Register here.

• Dallas: Avow Texas is hosting a “How to Talk About Abortion” training with Planned Parenthood on Monday, October 17th.

• Online: If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice is hosting a webinar, Risk Assessment for Abortion Support: Navigating Legal Issues, on Thursday, October 20th. Register here by October 19th.

• Online: Urge: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity is taking applications for its 2022 Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute, a (mostly) virtual series of trainings from Thursday, October 27th to Saturday, October 29th. Apply by Saturday, October 22nd.

• Online: Dallas’ Afiya Center is reading Dorothy Roberts’ Killing the Black Body, and it’s not too late to join the virtual book club for the next session on Thursday, October 27th.

• 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.

• Austin: Eat delicious meals from L’Oca d’Oro’s Pasta Paisanos!: Collaborative Dinners for Abortion Rights series benefitting the Lilith Fund on November 1st.

• 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.