Link to the OPSEC video on the story.

What the hell is going on with politics this week? It’s as if they’re trying to ban Safe Sex. Like. Are you trying to have another baby boom and overflow adoption agencies and cause literally everybody in the country to suffer through unwanted childbirth and the sheer lack of money that comes with it? We have enough problems with money without that. Not to mention that I’m personally terrified if all of this actually happens. (Birth control only to married couples, no safe sex options, no abortions, etc.) Bc birth control can be used for things other than preventing babies (ex, endometriosis like I do personally) and ya know, preventing them while knowing you wouldn’t be able to physically survive that feat of giving birth. I’m fucking terrified they’ll get their way with this. And I know I’m not alone here.

Not to mention, this even goes outside of the more liberal side of politics (which should just be gotten rid of. Fuck these parties.) Like, I’ve noticed my very conservative family members actually agree with me: This Is Scary. Like i can say my extremely liberal statement about this and they’ll be like “Yeah, I wholly agree. This is fucked up.” And I know I’m not alone in this fear that being forced to go through this could potentially lead to my death. Especially with how absurdly hard it is to get procedures like getting your tubes tied or a hysterectomy. If you’re under 35, have no kids, unmarried, GOOD LUCK GETTING THAT. Because with the ways things are already, even without the current laws getting overturned, it’s near impossible.

Less than 30% of the country supports this. The only people who support it are the ultra-christian conservatives who seem to think that a ball of cells (further known as a fetus) is a living breathing human. When it’s not. That this parasitic cell mass has more rights to life than the one hosting it in their body. And it’s fucked up. If you support overturning this, you better be ready to take care of many many unwanted children yourself. On your dime. With your home and resources. But that’s already what goes on in those heavily Christian communities. I’ve heard of families with 10+ kids, over half of them adopted, in, usually, Mormon communities and if the kids don’t conform to their lifestyles, they’re cast out or abused. Nobody needs that unnecessary pain in their lives, for the potential mothers and for the children who couldn’t have a safe life in the first place. Even outside of those communities, there are already too many children in poverty, abusive homes, and stuck in foster homes to even consider something like this to happen.

Then one of these people pushing for this to happen had the audacity to say “If they really want an abortion, they can just go to Canada to get one.” Like. Fuck you. You may have the ability to drop everything and go to another country for medical tourism (which is already so painfully common), but most people can’t. They have jobs and families they can’t leave for the amount of time it takes to do that. They may not have a passport and god knows how long it takes to get one of those. Hell, they might not even have the ability to get a passport, whether it be legally or due to the lack of money. It may be an easy feat for those who are right along the country border up north, those who are able to take day trips up to Canada and already have the passports needed bc of just how common it is. But what about those in the other 95% of the country? Most of the places actively banning this are in the SOUTH. Imagine you’re in TX, found out you’re 8 weeks pregnant and have two weeks left to get your hands on one of those pills before it becomes an invasive surgical procedure. Your doctors tell you, “Canada can help you.” Canada is over a 12 hour drive north. That’s a two-three day trip even without considering the other issues it would take to get there. Then there’s money, and if you’re American, you’re definitely feeling awful about having to even go to the doctor bc it’s like three days’ work worth of money just for an appointment. Let alone the price of gas to get to the second place, or the money for a plane ticket, or even the money for a passport to even get through customs. And all within Two Weeks.

This is an attack on the poor. The rich will be able to hop about countries to skip the inhumane laws. All they want are more kids to grow up and be their army fodder and minimum wage workers now that they’ve noticed a slightly lower birth rate. Yes. Millennials and Gen Z aren’t having kids. There’s a reason we aren’t. We can barely afford to take care of ourselves, let alone a child. Which would cost $40k just to go to the hospital to give birth to, then hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars to feed, clothe, entertain these kids who weren’t wanted in the first place. And if they weren’t wanted in the first place, it’s likely the kids will end up in an abusive situation. And trust me, nobody wants that.

And now knowing that the actual vote to overturn Roe V Wade isn’t for another couple months is even more horrifying. The wait will be excruciating and filled with outrage. All it will do is increase anger and violence. You’ll yet again be forced to find out just who is supportive of those around them and who isn’t. People will be cast out, hurt, and arrested. 

This isn’t okay. We aren’t okay.

live footage of Me googling “how to get abortion pills in Texas”

"GOP operatives have already crafted an expansive blueprint, 887 pages long, laying out in painstaking detail how they intend to govern, including plans to leverage virtually every arm, tool and agency of the federal government to attack abortion access. The document explicitly names their intention not just to rescind FDA approval for the abortion pill if they regain control of the White House in 2024, but to revive a 150-year-old law that criminalizes sending or receiving through the mail any “article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine or thing” that could be used to facilitate an abortion. That law, the Comstock Act, is viewed as a de facto federal abortion ban by reproductive rights advocates and anti-abortion activists alike."

When somebody tells you in that much detail what they're going to do if you let them... believe them.

Please get registered early, and vote.

stop feeling hopeless, start getting ready

If you are in a red state, your state either has an abortion ban in place or is rated by the Guttmacher Institute as likely to enact a ban. Your focus should be on protecting yourself and others who need abortions.

stop using electronic period tracking apps or software

educate yourself and others about pregnancy prevention and join groups that are making preventative birth control more accessible

learn the nearest and most accessible routes to states where you and your loved ones can access abortion

contribute to mutual aid funds to help transport people over state lines if they are in need of abortion

consider joining The Satanic Temple so you can claim protections under the Religious Abortion Ritual if you are prosecuted for obtaining an abortion

keep a stock of by-mail abortion pills for yourself and/or others who may need them (you may need to travel out of state to obtain them)

form community provider networks and see if you or someone you know can be trained to use manual vacuum aspiration kits or a Del-Em

all of the above should be done in complete secrecy using verbal communication, end-to-end encrypted apps such as Signal, or a VPN

If you are in a yellow state, you currently have constitutional abortion protections but they are in jeopardy. Get active in local political groups NOW to fight back against constitutional amendments to ban abortion. Your focus should be purely on political action.

If you are in Michigan, you currently have a ban in place which is being challenged, and your governor is working to add abortion protections into the Michigan state constitution. Your focus should be on supporting the work that is currently under way.

If you are in a green state, your state has constitutional protections for abortion that are unlikely to be challenged. Your focus should be on helping others to enter your state for abortion care.

connect with abortion access groups such as Aid Access, Abortion on Demand, the National Network of Abortion Funds, or Just The Pill

volunteer to help people enter your state for abortion care, either with transportation help or letting someone crash on your couch

if you live in a green state with no current or predicted primary routes from other states for abortion access, you can focus your efforts on supporting political action in other areas

If you are in a purple state, your state currently has no constitutional protections for abortion but is unlikely to implement a ban. You have two focuses: pushing for constitutional protections AND helping others to enter your state for abortion care (see green state list).

I think my period is starting

Op of this entire post has me blocked for some reason.

It talks about how the FDA made it legal to send abortion pills through the mail. It also has some other helpful links regarding abortion aid.

Please reblog that post if you can.

Hey, if you're ever feeling awful because you're super overwhelmed by the news, too overwhelmed to do anything, but you feel like you can't stop without being a horrible person who's just sticking their head in the sand...

Try thinking of it this way:

Maybe the moral thing to do actually IS to never look at the news...

so that you have the energy and will and lack of huge, petrifying fear needed to help

We've seen over and over again, especially in the climate movement, how often it's small, local efforts at making a difference that really start to change things

There's no moral value to being burned out and depressed.

Yes, knowing what's going on in your state/country/the world is good if it's something you can actually sustain

But if you have to choose between following the news/doomscrolling/etc. and actually having the energy to help?

I think that in the vast majority of situations, morally, you SHOULD choose to do something to help

Showing up to your city council meetings, or cleaning up trash in your neighborhood, or volunteering at a food pantry, or registering people to vote, or joining the underground abortion pill network, or doing a fundraiser for bipoc-led nonprofits, or mailing books to people in prison, or seedbombing native grasses, or phone-banking for a nonprofit you care about, or building benches and leaving them at bus stops, or knitting hats and giving them to unhoused people to stay warm, or starting a community garden, or sponsoring refugees for immigration, or taking a stand at school board meetings, or, or, or

all do infinitely more to help other people than doomscrolling and sharing depressing news posts ever will

[”Abortion will soon be banned in 13 states. Here’s which could be next.”

Trigger ban to take effect within a month: Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky

Likely to ban: Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina

Uncertain: Arizona, Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida

Likely to remain legal: Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, Illinois, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine]

[”Thirteen states have trigger laws that will ban abortion now that Roe is overturned. BUT only three of them go into effect immediately: Kentucky, Louisiana, and South Dakota. If you have an appointment in those states, CALL YOUR CLINIC NOW. They can help you go somewhere else.

Idaho, Tennessee, and Texas have trigger laws that go into effect after 30 days. If you have an abortion appointment in those states, DO NOT ASSUMED IT'S CANCELED. Call your clinic now. You may have 30 days left in your state. Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming also have trigger laws but they require a government process step to go into effect. If you have an appointment in those states, DO NOT ASSUME IT'S CANCELED. There may be time. Call your clinic NOW."]

--------

It is still legal to travel to states where abortion is legal. The FDA allows abortion pills to be available by mail, and they are approved for the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. Telemedicine abortions will banned in states where abortion is illegal, but international groups like Aid Access will offer online consultations and mail pills to all states.

Your internet activity can be used against you in court. Delete any period tracking apps and do not disclose your pregnancy online. Learn about internet privacy to keep your abortion private and secure.

National resources for info and access to abortion:

Aid Access: https://aidaccess.org/en/ 

Find an abortion provider: https://www.abortionfinder.org/

National Abortion Federation: https://prochoice.org/#

NAF Hotline (Monday - Friday 8 am - 7 pm EST, Saturday & Sunday 8 am - 4 pm EST): 1-800-772-9100

Now is the time to donate to your local abortion fund. If you live in a state where abortion is likely to stay legal, clinics expect an influx of people from other states looking for healthcare. 

National Network of Abortion Funds: http://abortionfunds.org

List of abortion funds in states likely or certain to prohibit abortion: 

https://www.thecut.com/article/donate-abortion-fund-roe-v-wade-how-to-help.html

There’s a “top to bottom overhaul” of the Department of Justice, particularly curbing its independence and ending FBI efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. It calls for stepped-up prosecution of anyone providing or distributing abortion pills by mail. There are proposals to have the Pentagon “abolish” its recent diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, what the project calls the “woke” agenda, and reinstate service members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. Chapter by chapter, the pages offer a how-to manual for the next president, similar to one Heritage produced 50 years ago, ahead of the Ronald Reagan administration. Authored by some of today’s most prominent thinkers in the conservative movement, it’s often sprinkled with apocalyptic language. A chapter written by Trump’s former acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security calls for bolstering the number of political appointees, and redeploying office personnel with law enforcement ability into the field “to maximize law enforcement capacity.” At the White House, the book suggests the new administration should “reexamine” the tradition of providing work space for the press corps and ensure the White House counsel is “deeply committed” to the president’s agenda.

Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and replace it with Trump’s vision

This is horrifying. This will make America into a Theocracy, enforced by Fascists.

🌊🌊🌊VOTE BLUE🌊🌊🌊

TIME TO BOYCOTT WALGREENS

The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain confirmed Thursday that it will not dispense abortion pills in several states where they remain legal — acting out of an abundance of caution amid a shifting policy landscape, threats from state officials and pressure from anti-abortion activists.

Nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general wrote to Walgreens in February, threatening legal action if the company began distributing the drugs, which have become the nation’s most popular method for ending a pregnancy.

The company told POLITICO that it has since responded to all the officials, assuring them that they will not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at their brick-and-mortar locations in those states.

The list includes several states where abortion in general, and the medications specifically, remain legal — including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas and Montana.

(continue reading)

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear oral arguments in a challenge to abortion pill access across the country, including in states where abortion is legal. The stakes for abortion rights are sky-high, and the case is the most consequential battle over reproductive health care access since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

At the center of this fight is mifepristone, a pill that blocks a hormone needed for pregnancy. The drug has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for more than two decades, and it’s used to treat some patients with Cushing’s syndrome, as well as endometriosis and uterine fibroids. But its primary use is the one contested now—mifepristone is the first of two pills taken in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy for a standard medication abortion, along with the drug misoprostol.

If the justices side with the antiabortion activists seeking to limit access to mifepristone, it could upend nationwide access to the most common form of abortion care. A ruling that invalidates mifepristone’s approval would open the door for any judge to reverse the FDA approval of any drug, especially ones sometimes seen as controversial, such as HIV drugs and hormonal birth control. It could also have a chilling effect on the development of new drugs, making companies wary of investing research into medicines that could later be pulled from the market.

Pills are now the leading abortion method in the US, and their popularity has spiked in recent years. More than six in 10 abortions in 2023 were carried out via medication, according to new data from the Guttmacher Institute. Since rules around telehealth were relaxed during the Covid-19 pandemic, many patients seeking medication abortions have relied on virtual clinics, which send abortion pills by mail. And it keeps getting more popular: Hey Jane, a prominent telemedicine provider, saw demand increase 73 percent from 2022 to 2023. It recorded another 28 percent spike comparing data from January 2023 to January 2024.

“Telemedicine abortion is too effective to not be in the targets of antiabortion folks,” says Julie F. Kay, a longtime reproductive rights lawyer and director of the advocacy group Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine.

Tomorrow’s argument comes after a long, tangled series of legal disputes in lower courts. The Supreme Court will be hearing two cases consolidated together, including FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, in which a coalition of antiabortion activists filed a suit challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, asking for it to be removed from the market. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a right-wing Christian law firm that often takes politically charged cases.

Despite decades of scientific consensus on the drug’s safety record, the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine has alleged that mifepristone is dangerous to women and leads to emergency room visits. A 2021 study cited by the plaintiffs to back up their claims was retracted in February after an independent review found that its authors came to inaccurate conclusions.

In April 2023, the Trump-appointed judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas issued a preliminary ruling on the FDA case invalidating the agency’s approval of mifepristone. The ruling sent shock waves far beyond the reproductive-rights world, as it had major implications for the entire pharmaceutical industry, as well as the FDA itself; the ruling suggested that the courts could revoke a drug’s approval even after decades on the market.

The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed Kacsmaryk’s decision a week later, allowing the drug to remain on the market, but undid FDA decisions in recent years that made mifepristone easier to prescribe and obtain. That decision limited the time frame in which it can be taken to the first seven weeks of pregnancy and put telemedicine access, as well as access to the generic version of the drug in jeopardy.

Following the 5th Circuit ruling, the FDA and Danco Laboratories sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court, asking the justices to preserve access until it could hear the case. In its legal filing, Danco aptly described the situation as “regulatory chaos.”

SCOTUS issued a temporary stay, maintaining the status quo; the court ultimately decided to take up the case in December 2023.

As all this was unfolding, pro-abortion-rights states across the country were passing what are known as shield laws, which protect medical practitioners who offer abortion care to pregnant patients in states where abortion is banned. This has allowed some providers, including the longtime medication-abortion-advocacy group Aid Access, to mail abortion pills to people who requested them in states like Louisiana and Arkansas.

Though the oral arguments before the Supreme Court begin on Tuesday, it will likely be months before a ruling. Court watchers suspect a decision may be handed down in June. With the US presidential election in the fall, the ruling may become a major campaign issue, especially as abortion access helped galvanize voters in the 2022 midterms.

If the Supreme Court agrees with the plaintiffs that mifepristone should be taken off the market, some in the pharmaceutical industry worry that it will undermine the authority of the FDA, the agency tasked with reviewing and approving drugs based on their safety and efficacy.

“This case isn't about mifepristone,” says Elizabeth Jeffords, CEO of Iolyx Therapeutics, a company developing drugs for immune and eye diseases. Jeffords is a signatory on an amicus brief filed in April 2023 that brought together 350 pharmaceutical companies, executives, and investors to challenge the Texas district court’s ruling.

“This case could have easily been about minoxidil for hair loss. It could have been about Mylotarg for cancer. It could have been about measles vaccines,” Jeffords says. “This is about whether or not the FDA is allowed to be the scientific arbiter of what is good and safe for patients.”

Greer Donley, an associate professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert on abortion on the law, doesn’t think it’s likely that the court will revoke mifepristone’s approval entirely. Instead, she sees two possible outcomes. The Supreme Court could dismiss the case or could undo the FDA’s decision in 2023 to permanently remove the in-person dispensing requirement and allow abortion by telehealth. “This would be an even more narrow decision than what the 5th Circuit did, but it would still be pretty devastating to abortion access,” she says.

The Supreme Court could also decide that the plaintiffs lack a right to bring the case to court, says David Cohen, a professor of law at Drexel University whose expertise is in constitutional law and gender issues. “This case could get kicked out on standing, meaning that the plaintiffs aren't the right people to bring this case,” he says. “If most of the questions are about standing, that will give you a sense that that's what the justices are concerned about.”

As the current Supreme Court is considered virulently antiabortion, reproductive-health-care workers are already preparing for the worst. Some telehealth providers have already floated a backup plan: offering misoprostol-only medication abortions. This is less than ideal, as the combination of pills is the current standard of care and offers the best results; misoprostol on its own can cause additional cramping and nausea. For some providers who may have to choose between misoprostol-only or nothing, it’s better than nothing.

Abortion-rights activists have no plans to give up on telehealth abortions, regardless of the outcome of this particular case. “Let us be clear, Hey Jane will not stop delivering telemedicine abortion care, regardless of the outcome of this case,” says Hey Jane’s CEO and cofounder, Kiki Freedman.

“They’re not going to stuff the genie back in the bottle,” Kay says.

In light of fuckery ongoing on the highest levels of the law in the USA: if you find yourself in need of an abortion or contraception no matter where you live, connect to Women on Web.

Women on Web is an international online abortion service, providing access to safe abortion services. Contact them: [email protected]

Founded in 2005 by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, Women on Web is a team of medical doctors, researchers, activists, and help desk members. Women on Web advocates for and facilitates access to contraception and safe abortion services to protect women's health and lives.

The mission of Women on Web is to provide safe, accessible and affordable online abortion care to women and people around the world. We work to catalyze procedural and legal change in abortion access through telemedicine, research, community outreach, and advocacy. We strive for a world where safe abortion care is accessible for all women and pregnant people, with respect and dignity. 

People who need safe abortion or contraception can make an online consultation at Women on Web website. After being reviewed by medical doctors, medical abortion pills or contraceptives are provided via mail. Our help desk team accompanies women and pregnant people during all stages of the process and responds to any questions that may arise within 24 hours. Supervised by medical doctors, our help desk operates in 16 languages, including Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, and Turkish. 

Women on Web is available to all people who need help with preventing and ending unwanted pregnancies. We are committed to ensuring that everyone, including trans, non-binary, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming people can safely access abortion and contraception without discrimination or alienation.

The WHO classifies safe abortion as  accessing "the pills through a telemedicine service such as Women on Web which gives them information and support." (Guardian, 2017)

The Women on Web website is a source of reliable information and collects personal abortion experiences to allow and encourage women and pregnant people to openly explore and discuss their reproductive choices. Our online consultation is translated in 22 languages and we work to ensure that all women and pregnant people have access to scientific and evidence-based information on safe abortion and contraception.