Ohioans Gather 700k+ Sigs to Put Abortion Rights to a Statewide Vote

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: Abortion supporters in Ohio dropped off 400+ plus boxes “filled with hope, and love, and freedom of bodily autonomy” to the Ohio Secretary of State this week. The boxes contain over 700,000 signatures in support of solidifying the right to abortion in the state’s constitution.

Republicans, anti-abortion groups, lobbyists, and politicians have been trying to block the petitioners’ attempts to pass the proposal by raising the vote requirement to pass a constitutional amendment to 60%, rather than the current 50% (among other hurdles) in a measure called Issue 1, which will go in front of Ohio voters in August.

The Top Headlines

• “Sacramento Sheriff is sharing license plate reader data with anti-abortion states, records show” (SacBee/YahooNews) — More evidence that so-called “abortion havens” and “abortion-friendly” states have a long, long way to go before they actually earn those descriptors.

• “Study shows sharp increases in maternal deaths over two decades” (News from the States) — Also increasing over the same two decades: abortion restrictions and bans.

• “House Republicans are baking abortion restrictions into spending bills — and avoiding public votes” (The 19th) — See the Tweets section for more on this.

• “Nonreligious Americans Are The New Abortion Voters” (FiveThirtyEight) — I missed this one in last week’s Dobbs frenzy.

• “Revealed: Christian legal non-profit funds US anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion organizations” (The Guardian) — This bunch continues to do real good work following the money behind, and money made from, anti-abortion lobby efforts.

• “For years, Republican states wouldn’t pass diaper laws. The end of abortion protections changed that.” (The 19th) — To be clear, the reason ‘the end of abortion protections’ inspired a few Republicans to get behind diaper support is expressly because they believe it will serve them politically, not because they believe people who are forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will due to ‘the end of abortion protections’ should receive free or subsidized diapers.

• “How Arizona Became Ground Zero for the Abortion Rights Battle” (The Daily Beast)

• “‘How are you supposed to finance that?’ Ohio college students face barriers to abortion access” (Ohio Capital Journal)

• “Ohio man sentenced to life in prison for rape of 10-year-old girl who traveled to Indiana for abortion” (CBS News)

• What’s happening with clinical abortion provision and medication abortion:

  • “Misoprostol Alone Safely Ends Pregnancies After 10 Weeks, Study Suggests” (NYT)

• 🇺🇸 What politicians and politicos on the national stage are doing and saying about abortion in advance of the ‘24 election:

  • “Haley says state laws should not put women in jail for abortions, calls for more access to contraceptives” (The Hill) — The fact that Haley continues singing this particular song wherever she goes is really starting to fascinate/terrify me. Maybe I’ll write about why the next few days.

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

  • 🟢 “Ohio abortion rights supporters submit signatures, gunning for November ballot” (Ohio Capital Journal)

  • 🟢 “Wisconsin Judge Allows Challenge to Abortion Law to Proceed” (NYT)

  • 🟡 “Atlanta Leaders and Local Activists Say More Is Needed to Support Abortion Fund” (Capital B News) — Now that the Atlanta City Council has given the go-ahead for a resolution supporting abortion funding from area counties, it’s time for those counties to step up and make it happen.

  • 🔴 “Iowa's GOP governor calls a special session to push abortion restrictions” (NBC News) — The session begins July 11.

  • 🔴 “Tax credit approved for donors to Louisiana anti-abortion centers” (Louisiana Illuminator)

  • 🔴 “St. Louis program paying for abortion travel to Illinois blocked by court” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

The Takes

• Graci D’Amore of Jane’s Due Process tells Prism’s Tina Vásquez: “I’m not going to abandon Texas because I’m invested in fighting to regain abortion rights. This is my home. Of course, Texas has its problems, but Texas is also a gerrymandered state where a small, loud group has been allowed to have a lot of power over other people’s lives here. I don’t have any animosity or anger toward the people who have left Texas or are still considering leaving. I get it. You have to do what feels safe and right for you. This is a hard state to do this work. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t burned out. It’s been a rough few years. Texas takes a toll.”

• Abortion provider Dr. Christine Henneberg is in the New York Times: “Abortion opponents don’t merely want to ban abortion. They want to silence the doctors who bear witness to the disastrous consequences of such cruel and unjust legislation. Now more than ever, abortion providers must share the ordinary and extraordinary stories we witness — to humanize our work, to advocate for our patients, to move people.”

The Tweets/Toks/Grams

• I am 1,000 years old, which means that I missed that Demi Lovato did an abortion song!

• Re: the U.S. House GOP’s appropriations finagling around abortion restrictions and attacks on trans health care. ACLU’s Gillian Branstetter tweets it plain: Democrats can absolutely be manipulated into capitulating on core values by Republicans’ usual hostage-taking M.O.

“Revival! Weekly” by me

This week I launched an experimental serialized speculative fiction project called Revival! Weekly. The story is set in an alternate universe where Donald Trump is dead (COVID, of course) and the winner of the 2020 presidential election was a Republican Texas senator named Rudolfo “Rudy” Ruiz. The project is anchored by “Minne Moves Home,” an imagined newsletter written by Jasmine Rebuke, a recently laid-off political reporter who relocated from New York City to her hometown of Turner Falls, TX in the summer of 2023.

I hope fans of science fiction, horror, and political satire will get a kick out of the tale, which will unfold weekly (ish) over the next 18 months or so. As you might imagine, there’s going to be an abortion angle, so I’m giving away a complimentary “Revivalist”-level subscription (meaning you get your name/likeness/some reasonable equivalent in a future installment of the story) to Home with the Armadillo readers who also subscribe to Minne Moves Home before Thursday, July 13.

I’ll choose a winning HWTA+MMH subscriber’s name at random this Thursday, so keep your eyes on your inboxes!

The Fuck Are We Supposed to Do About It?

• 👕 SWAG OF THE WEEK! 👕

  • For the pro-abortion rainbow-unicorn-party-animals out there: these “Say Abortion and make it inclusive” shirts from the Missouri Abortion Fund are so colorful and fun!

• 🪩 Chicago: DISCO FOR ABORTION! REPEAT, DISCO FOR ABORTION! Get down at the Chicago Athletic Association on Saturday, July 8th, benefitting the Big Bend Reproductive Coalition.

• 🚌 Alabama: The Yellowhammer Fund’s "F*** Your Abortion Ban” bus tour is hitting the road through Saturday, July 29. Check out the stop schedule here.

• 🥂 St. Louis: Abortion Access Missouri’s annual gala is Friday, September 29.

• 🧑🏽‍🤝‍🧑🏽 Anywhere: The Take Root: Red State Reproductive Justice 2023 conference in Louisville, KY is now open for proposals! This is an incredible organizing, collaborating, and community space for folks who are passionate about reproductive justice.

• 📱 North Texas: The Texas Equal Access Fund is looking for bilingual Spanish-speaking volunteers for their text line. Here’s where to sign up.

• 📞 Anywhere: Apply to be an All-Options talkline volunteer!

• 📥 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.

• 🤠 Texas: 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.

• 💸 From your wallet:

  • Donate to ensure Desert Star Family Planning in Phoenix can keep providing essential abortion care to folks in the Southwest!

  • Contribute to the Repro Worker Aid Fund (or apply to be a recipient!)

  • Donate $$ and pads to Just the Pill’s mobile clinic.

  • 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.

  • Find your local abortion fund and donate!

  • 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!

• ✍️ Sign and share:

  • Anywhere: Use All Above All*’s form to tell your congressperson to support the Abortion Justice Act.

  • Texas: Join the Frontera Fund in telling your Texas lawmakers that you’re not having it with the “border fence” and “migrant” surveillance.

  • Anywhere, but especially for Alabamans: Sign the Yellowhammer Fund’s petition against a bill that would allow the prosecution abortion and even some forms of pregnancy loss as homicide.

  • Anywhere: Sign this multi-org-backed petition demanding Google stop “collecting and retaining location data and aiding abortion prosecutors.”

  • Anywhere: sign the Fight for the Future petition to demand better digital safety and security on Slack!

  • 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.

• 📖 Anywhere, resources edition:

  • Who Not When’s guide to reporting on later abortion is just great.

  • Subscribe to the No Body Criminalized podcast from the Repro Legal Defense Fund’s Rafa Kidvai.

  • 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 a wide-ranging messaging guide to talking about a variety of issues, from later abortion to self-managed care to insurance coverage for abortion.

  • 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.

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.