No Changes to Mife Distro or Regs Until Wednesday

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.

The big takeaway: There will be no changes to the distribution or regulation of mifepristone until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 19th, following SCOTUS’ temporary administrative stay against Trump appointee Matt Kacsmaryk’s ruling in a lower federal court.

The best folks to follow on Twitter (or via their newsletters) to keep up with the latest on mife as these cases proceed through the courts are repro legal scholars David S. Cohen, Greer Donley, Michele Goodwin, and Mary Ziegler, and legal journalists Imani Gandy, Jessica Mason Pieklo, and Chris Geidner.

The Top Headlines

• “Supreme Court temporarily blocks mifepristone restrictions in a rare win for abortion rights” (The 19th)

• “The controversial article Matthew Kacsmaryk did not disclose to the Senate” (WaPo) — Trump appointee Matt Kacsmaryk, who was hired because he is a Federalist Society shitbag who will do literally anything the American right wing commands him to do, knew he’d never secure his appointment if he kept his name on a violently and wildly transphobic law review piece, so he just put some other people’s name on the thing he wrote instead.

• “Over 66,000 people couldn’t get an abortion in their home state after Dobbs” (FiveThirtyEight) — New research from WeCount shows the post-Roe impact of the loss of nearby clinical abortion care across the country. Providers in states where abortion remains legal are struggling to accommodate patients, and of course, tens of thousands of people are being forced to stay pregnant against their will or self-manage their abortions.

• “How an abortion pill ruling could threaten the FDA’s regulatory authority” (NPR) and “Drug company leaders condemn ruling invalidating FDA’s approval of abortion pill” (NYT) — I appreciated Becca Andrews’ aside in Reckon’s repro justice newsletter, re: the sudden Big Pharma panic over this mife stuff: “… it would be really cool if other people in the medical space stood up for abortion care from the get-go instead of waiting for the moment when it could impact their bottom line.”

• “Biden Admin to shore up HIPAA to protect abortion seekers and providers” (Politico)

• “Republican presidential hopefuls are already struggling with the abortion issue” (NBC News)

• “Meet the group fighting abortion misinformation, one Reddit post at a time” (Rewire News)

• “Conservatives are turning to a 150-year-old obscenity law to outlaw abortion” (The New Republic)

• “How to make a state abortion ban go national” (News from the States)

• “In post-Roe America, these Minnesotans are getting people to their abortion appointments” (Star-Tribune)

• “Welcome to the school of self-managed abortion” (Reckon)

• “‘House of Cotton’ uses horror and fairy tales to weave a story of abortion and Black women’s lives in the South” (The 19th) — This book sounds incredible.

• What’s going on with abortion bans, legal challenges, and bills at the state and local levels:

  • 🟢 “Colorado offers safe haven for abortion, transgender care” (ABC News)

  • 🟡 “Governor vetoes Kansas bill on live deliveries during abortion” (AP) — The veto’s a good thing, obviously, since there’s no such thing as a ‘born alive’ abortion and the only thing this bill does is terrorize medical providers, but it’s likely the Kansas lege can override it.

  • 🔴 “Florida has a new abortion ban after six weeks, but it can’t go into effect yet” (NPR) — Cowardly motherfucker Ron DeSantis signed that shit in the middle of the night.

  • 🔴 “Bill that says [Montana] constitutional right to privacy does not cover abortion headed to governor” (Daily Montanan)

The Takes

• Repro legal scholar Mary Ziegler is in The Atlantic unpacking the push to apply the Comstock Act to abortion.

• Reproaction’s Kara Mailman connects the dots between the anti-abortion playbook and the anti-trans game plan: “This one-dimensional view combined with the continued exploitation of detransitioners makes it clear that the anti-trans movement, like the anti-abortion movement, does not care about the lives of those it exploits. Like the anti-abortion movement, the anti-trans movement started by claiming it was “protecting children” before attempting to limit the bodily autonomy of adults and is actively working to criminalize providers in their war against vital health care.”

• It’s my newsletter and I’ll quote myself if I want to: stop getting in the weeds with anti-abortion chucklefucks on whether medication abortion is safe! Talk about your values instead!

The Tweets/Toks/Grams

• Repro legal scholar Greer Donley tweets an incredibly informative thread about medication labels, REMS, and what all the legal-medical finagling actually means when it comes to regulating mifepristone.

• Jezebel’s Susan Rinkunas with the well actually:

• Artist Liberal Jane has the right of it! (Like Caitlin’s work? There’s LOTS MORE.)

Know someone who needs a little pro-abortion activism in their life, as a treat?

The Fuck Are We Supposed to Do About It?

• 🗣️💸 Anywhere, but especially Texas: Via the Afiya Center, demand justice for baby Mila Jackson and her family. Baby Mila was wrongfully taken away from her parents following her birth in Dallas in March. Follow the Afiya Center on Instagram for the latest actions.

• 💻 Online: Repro Jobs and the Abortion Defense Network are hosting a webinar for repro care workers on Wednesday, April 19th.

• 💸 United States: Applications for the Third Wave Fund’s Own Our Power Fund are due by Friday, April 21. From Insta: “youth-led reproductive and gender justice organizations with an annual budget of up to $500,000 USD are eligible to apply, with a priority on groups located in regions or focused on issues that are philanthropically under-resourced.”

• 🥂 Austin: Celebrate Jane’s Due Process at LoLo Wine Bar on Wednesday, May 17th.

• 🥂 Dallas: The Texas Equal Access Fund’s First Bloom community awards gala is Thursday, May 18.

• 🍻 Albuquerque: The first 30 folks to buy a ticket to celebrate abortion access in New Mexico on Saturday, May 20th at Bow & Arrow Brewing Co will get a free pint glass.

• 💸 Everywhere: It’s Abortion Access Fund-A-Thon season! Find a team, a fund, and/or a fundraiser near you, or start your own! Fund some abortions!

• 📥 Anywhere: Looking for a job in repro? ReproJobs can help you spruce up your resume!

• 🧑🏾‍⚕️ Anywhere, for medical residents training in abortion care: Obstetricians for Reproductive Justice and others will fund residents who need to travel out of state for abortion care training through December 2023 (or retroactively since July 1, 2022). Here’s how to apply.

• 🧑🏾‍⚕️ Anywhere, for health care providers: UCSF’s Dobbs Impact Study is looking at instances of “poor-quality medical care since the Dobbs decision,” and they’re encouraging providers to submit de-identified stories.

• 👕 Anywhere: get swag!

  • “Don’t Talk To Cops” tees from If/When/How say all you need to say: nothing.

• 🤠 Texas:

  • Join the Texas Abortion Hype Squad.

  • Local teen-friendly businesses in in Bryan, College Station, Lubbock, or San Angelo can become pickup spots for repro kits assembled by Jane’s Due Process. Here’s the application form.

• 📖 Anywhere, resources edition:

  • Read this solidarity + organizing brief from Interrupting Criminalization and a coalition of repro and anti-criminalization orgs.

  • I Need An A’s new “stories” section provides resources, support, and information for folks seeking abortion care.

  • Plan C Pills has published a self-managed abortion field guide in super fun, accessible zine form.

  • Physicians for Reproductive Health has updated guidance on discussing and reporting on later abortion care.

  • The Repro Legal Defense Fund and the Community Justice Exchange have an extensive, attractive, and fact-filled guide to abortion criminalization in both English and Spanish.

  • Check out the “Pro Choice, But” campaign to better understand how to talk with folks who are, well, pro-choice … but.

  • Read the National Immigration Law Center’s know-your-rights-guide to abortion access for immigrants and share widely.

  • Familiarize yourself with this Digital Defense Fund guide to keeping your abortion private and secure, or 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.

  • Here’s a big list of action items and info created by @RHAVote, and another big list of action items and info created by Alison Turkos.

• ✍️ Sign and share:

  • Anywhere: Tell Planned Parenthood North Central States to stop union-busting.

  • Anywhere: Sign the RJ Response to Stop Cop City.

  • Anywhere: All Above All*’s petition to lift outdated restrictions on medication abortion.

  • Anywhere: UltraViolet’s petition calling on pharmacies to provide medication abortion access where it’s legal to do so.

  • Texas: Avow Texas’ petition demands county district attorneys pledge not to prosecute people for providing abortions, or because of a pregnancy outcome.

  • Anywhere: All Above All*’s petition asks President Biden take immediate steps to ensure abortion justice for immigrants.

  • Georgia: Sign the Amplify Georgia Collaborative’s petition to support the Georgia Reproductive Freedom Act.

  • Anywhere: Use All Above All*’s online form to express your support for the EACH act in Congress.

• 💸 From your wallet:

  • Donate to the Online Abortion Resource Squad, which supports the R/Abortion subreddit 24/7/365.

  • Donate to Elevated Access, which transports folks for abortion and gender-affirming care.

  • Use one link to split your donation between a number of Florida abortion funds.

  • Via the Repro Legal Defense Fund: donate to the defense fund for pro-abortion organizers targeted under a law originally meant to protect abortion clinics and providers.

  • The Valley Abortion Group is a new all-trimester abortion facility fundraising to open in New Mexico — donate to the GoFundMe.

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