Everything You Missed This Week in Abortion News
8.3.6 - 8.7.26
A few days ago, we told you the devastating story of a teenage girl in North Carolina facing criminal charges for allegedly taking abortion pills. The young woman was arrested and jailed just days after going into labor, and in the midst of extreme medical trauma. She is charged with assault with a “deadly weapon” after allegedly taking abortion pills 31 weeks into her pregnancy, which prompted her to go into labor.
In other words: cops have classified abortion pills—which are safe, common, and recognized as an essential medicine by the World Health Organization—as a “deadly weapon,” and the act of taking the pills as “intent to kill.” Read my full piece below on the arrest and how it connects to the broader rise of PREGNANCY CRIMINALIZATION below.
And keep an eye on your inboxes; we’ll share a fundraising link soon where you can help the teen at the center of this case.
Speaking of criminalization, we’re looking into this horrific tidbit buried in a Washington Post article: a Wisconsin cop “allegedly used Flock to check whether his ex-girlfriend had gone to an abortion clinic.” If that sounds familiar, it might because Texas police used Flock to try to track down an abortion patient last year—accessing more than 83,000 cameras across the country.
We’ll keep you updated if we learn anything more about the Wisconsin story, but it’s clear that we’re going to see more stories like this the further out we get from Roe—and the more of those cameras go up.
IN THE NATION, the Senate is that much closer to confirming Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, Todd Blanche. After getting the support of Sen. Bill Cassidy, Blanche—who is now the Acting AG—has the votes he needs. This past week, leaked audio revealed Blanche promising faith leaders he’d stop the shipping of abortion pills and work to ensure “the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state.”
The audio has, understandably, sparked outrage and panic. But as Jessica explains, here, let’s not make things any easier for the Trump administration by inaccurately claiming Blanche will “pass a national abortion ban.” (Something the White House will readily deny.) Instead, what they’ll do is more of a backdoor ban: moving to stop doctors in pro-choice states from mailing abortion pills across lines.
While the Comstock Act remains a possibility, Jessica noted it seems more likely that the administration will rely on the FDA’s bogus “safety study” to roll back access to the medication.
And let’s not let another terrifying piece of Blanche’s agenda and record slip through the cracks: on the call, he said the DOJ is working so that “prosecutors will no longer be able to use the FACE Act” to go after clinic attackers—even after Trump leaves the White House. For more on all of this:
Not satisfied to have an anti-abortion zealot likely at the helm of the Justice Department, anti-abortion activists are pressing on in their demand for Planned Parenthood to be defunded again. Meanwhile, the GOP is idly standing by as Rep. Max Miller faces horrific allegations of abuse toward his ex-wife and their toddler daughter. So it’s no surprise that two-thirds of MAGA voters self-report that they’d happily vote for a candidate accused of abuse.
On that note, especially relevant: Jessica’s column last week on our nation’s reckoning with motherhood—breaking down the seemingly separate stories of a tradwife influencer trying to pretend she isn’t one, the devastating criminal trial of a woman who suffered from postpartum psychosis, and Miller’s alleged, violent treatment of the mother of his child:
And, if you want to know about the year in FETAL PERSONHOOD-related bills, look no further than Pregnancy Justice’s 2025-2026 legislative report. The organization tracked 730 bills introduced in state legislatures, comprised of a mix of bills to endanger pregnant people, and bills to protect them:
10 bills to proactively protect pregnant people from prosecution—including in red states like Nebraska, Tennessee, and Kentucky;
23 pieces of legislation related to substance use and pregnancy—including 14 bills protecting patients, including by requiring informed consent to drug testing;
Six bills to protect access to fertility technology, and seven with fetal personhood language that could jeopardize IVF. (This, at a time when top anti-abortion groups are pushing the terrifying message that IVF “kills more babies than abortion.”)
Finally, Pregnancy Justice warns that the anti-abortion ‘abolitionist’ movement is gaining momentum: bills to prosecute abortion patients for homicide jumped from just three in the 2023-2024 legislative session to 14 in 2026. That’s a 367% increase.
Read the full report here.
🏆 The Week in Abortion Wins 🏆
Missouri voters defeated a conservative measure that would have required citizen-led ballot initiatives to win every congressional district in order to pass, instead of a simple majority. The measure was rejected 80% to 20%.
In Kansas, voters rejected a sneaky ballot measure meant to give the state legislature more power to stuff the state Supreme Court with anti-abortion extremists. This outcome comes four years after the state decisively beat a different, sneaky anti-abortion ballot measure.
Also in the state, a judge struck down a slate of abortion restrictions—ruling that the laws “infringe upon a woman’s fundamental rights.” In addition to doing away with the state’s waiting period and other onerous hurdles, the judge also blocked a mandate that doctors ask patients invasive questions, like why they’re having an abortion.
Massachusetts is on the verge of legalizing abortion throughout pregnancy. The legislature passed a crucial bill this week allowing abortion after 24 weeks on a doctor’s recommendation, and Gov. Maura Healey pledged to sign it. As a reminder, this is a popular policy: over 80% of voters oppose government interventions in our pregnancies.
And California, which already requires public universities to offer medication abortion in campus health centers, is on track to require community colleges to do so too. As college students across the country return to campus this month, five states—now including Colorado—require public universities to provide the medication.
If only it could all be good news! South Dakota GOP officials recently launched an ATTACK ON PRO-CHOICE SPEECH, passing a ban on abortion advertising so broad it could even criminalize sharing information about abortion. Enforcement of the law is temporarily paused thanks to a recent court ruling, but Gov. Larry Rhoden and Attorney General Marty Jackley appealed that decision this week… by comparing websites that share abortion information to meth dealers. I’m exhausted.
A quick note about this: the ways GOP lawmakers talk about abortion pills and addictive, dangerous recreational drug use have long carried similarities. Anti-abortion leaders characterize abortion patients as ‘popping pills,’ or taking abortion pills ‘like candy,’ or using abortion pills like ‘birth control,’ etc. Louisiana even classified abortion pills as a ‘controlled substance,’ even though one of the requirements for this classification is that the drug is addictive.
Meanwhile, the CARE CRISIS is worsening across the country: While Planned Parenthood had its federal funding restored, the damage is done in some regions: Michigan is set to lose three of its Planned Parenthood clinics in Lansing, Livonia, and Warren.
Have you been keeping up with The Helpers? Read our latest installment below, and other profiles here.
Let’s talk SCIENCE, STATS AND STUDIES. A California case on whether the state can stop crisis pregnancy centers from lying about ‘abortion pill reversal’ to vulnerable women has wrapped up evidentiary hearings. Closing arguments are set for September 17, with a ruling to be rendered within 90 days.
No, ‘abortion pill reversal’ isn’t a scientific regimen, and anti-abortion groups shouldn’t be allowed to pose as health care providers to recommend it. And, no, this isn’t about ‘women’s right to choose abortion pill reversal’. It’s just more from the anti-abortion movement’s nauseating strategy to push dangerous disinformation under the guise of feminism.
Speaking of science: per a new study, there’s no correlation between increased mental health medication use and having an abortion—contrary to anti-abortion lies that the health service is detrimental to one’s mental health. Do you know what is very much detrimental to one’s mental and physical health? Being unable to access abortion care.
That’s it for this week! I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, has had a bit of down time—and that you feel caught up and prepared for the next week in abortion rights news.
It’s so fucking maddening that legislators want to treat us like we don’t know our own minds and bodies. That’s where my mental health takes a dive.
Thanks Kylie. Great summary. Appreciate your advocacy. ❤️💙❤️