Iowa Republicans Ban Abortion In 14-Hour Special Session

Plus: Federal judges weaponize Dobbs abortion ruling against transgender folks

July 14, 2023

Here’s another edition of Hard to Believe It’s Only Tuesday, a weekly roundup of the top headlines, tweets (for now!), toks, takes, and more in abortion news. You can always email me ([email protected]) or DM me on instagram with action items, takes, and news clips. This post is probably too long for email, so click on the links up there ^ above the headline to open in your browser or the Substack app. You don’t want to miss this week’s Good Night and Good Dunk!

The big takeaway: Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds called an unusual one-day special legislative session to pass a six-week abortion ban in the final hours of the night on Tuesday, because she was pissed that the Iowa Supreme Court refused last month to reinstate a similar 2018 ban. Abortion providers filed a challenge to the new law on Wednesday.

Big takeaway part two: I try to stay laser-focused on abortion news and away from the broader sphere of repro care in general; if I didn’t, I’d just be sending out one long newsletter constantly. But the FDA’s approval of over-the-counter birth control this week is some genuinely historic stuff, and worth celebrating. While there are still outstanding questions about access and cost, here’s hoping that the FDA’s decision means many, many people will be able to take more active, agent ownership over their reproductive lives.

The Top Headlines

The Takes

  • The Yellowhammer Fund’s Jenice Fountain is in Prism talking to Tina Vásquez about Alabama being treated as a “throwaway state,” their new legal fund, and their ongoing commitment to providing care, community, and education for Alabamans: “I think some people’s stories really do need to be told, but reporters don’t seem to have the time or capacity to actually build a relationship with someone sharing something deeply traumatic and, in some way, make sure they actually get something out of that experience. I’ve talked to reporters, and my story was really traumatic, and they were like, “This is really great!” And I just felt like: What part was great, the part when I almost died or the part about homelessness? The lack of intention across the movement really upsets me. We need to slow down and engage people in a way that’s harm reductive.”

  • Artist Ashima Yadava is in Reckon’s repro justice newsletter talking to Becca Andrews about her project, “Huq: I Seek No Favor,” which uses the Dobbs decision as a launching point for a collaborative, collective act of artistic defiance: “‘Huq’ is the Hindustani word for ‘rights’—I think it has origins in Arabic. I always heard this word growing up, like, this is my right, this is my huq. I thought it was important to have a bilingual title because I think it pointed to the fact that this ruling is affecting a very diverse group of people. ‘I seek no favor’ comes from an Audre Lorde poem, ‘A Woman Speaks.’ The whole point is basically talking about not being defined by our circumstances, and fighting for your rights and seeking our tribe. With this project, I wanted to bring a tribe together and get a community of people to react to this. And so Huq: I Seek No Favor became the name. Reproductive autonomy is my right, I'm not seeking a favor.”

  • Erin Reed of Erin in the Morning unpacks the Sixth Circuit ruling that used Dobbs to uphold an anti-trans law: “The aftermath of the Dobbs decision has clearly initiated an erosion of constitutional protections for all Americans. There is a significant intersection between reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming care, with the same organizations and political groups typically opposing both using the same rationale. Just four days following the Dobbs ruling in 2022, Alabama's attorneys filed a lawsuit, using the same reasoning from the Dobbs ruling to support gender-affirming care bans. Similarly, 14 states have enacted protections guaranteeing the right to access gender-affirming care and abortion care, acknowledging the close ties between these issues. This decision marks the first significant use of Dobbs to uphold care bans and to deny constitutional rights to transgender plaintiffs.”

🍹 Summer Abortion Reads Interlude 🍹

The Summer Abortion Reads giveaway is on hiatus this week, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to share with y’all some of my go-to abortion- and repro-related newsletters:

I’m always looking to expand my reading list — tell me of your faves!

The Tweets/Toks/Grams

  • Abortion provider and president/CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health Dr. Jamila Perritt reminds us that self-managed abortion is not inherently unsafe — but conflating SMA with unsafe care is dangerous.

The Fuck Are We Supposed to Do About It?

Goodnight and good dunk — I was crying, legitimately crying, laughing at Twitter user @DanyVause’s dunk on this anti-abortion nonsense from Turning Point USA.

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