The Year in Abortion, Every Day

We did *a lot* together in 2023

In the first few days of 2023, I came across a small conservative blog in Alabama that contained a huge piece of information. This blogger was assuring his readers that even though the state’s ban prohibited arresting abortion patients, Attorney General Steve Marshall had a workaround: instead of charging women with ‘abortion’, his office would charge anyone who took abortion medication with ‘chemical endangerment’—a law meant to punish those who exposed a child to drugs.

I was shocked that the admission hadn’t made it to the mainstream press. After all, Republicans often insist they would never ever prosecute women for abortion—yet here was a state AG so intent on arresting abortion patients that he had devised a proactive plan using a completely unrelated law.

It was only after Abortion, Every Day’s report that local and national outlets picked up the story—sparking public outrage that forced Marshall to reverse his decision just two days later.

How this played out, from beginning to end, is exactly why I started Abortion, Every Day: The newsletter doesn’t just track abortion rights news, it catches stories that other outlets miss, and pushes them into the national spotlight with the context they need to make a difference. So it was fitting that the Alabama story was AED’s first exposé of 2023—it set the stage for the rest of the year.

I’m so proud of all that AED accomplished this year—from exclusives and investigations that made a tangible impact, to analysis that framed the national conversation on abortion rights. What’s more, AED did it all with just two people, one of whom—my incredible researcher, Grace Haley—works part time. (Imagine what we could do with even more staffers, time and support!)

Really though, it was the community here who made this all possible. Not just with your paid subscriptions, but by reading, sharing and spreading the word. The difference AED made was very much because of you.

As a thank you, I wanted to share some of the amazing things you helped make happen in 2023. I realize your inbox is likely full of year-end messages, but please consider reading this one all the way through. What we did together really is special.

---

Abortion, Every Day’s Impact & Wins

Just last month, AED’s reporting helped to successfully pressure an anti-choice Arizona Supreme Court Justice to recuse himself from the case that will determine abortion rights in the state.

Justice Bill Montgomery had protested outside of Planned Parenthood and accused the group of “the greatest genocide known to man,” yet initially refused to remove himself from a Planned Parenthood Arizona lawsuit challenging the state’s 1864 abortion ban. Even after public outcry, Montgomery doubled down on his decision in a signed order.

But I noticed something in that document—a strange admission from Montgomery that reporters hadn’t caught onto yet. While he was the Maricopa County Attorney, building cleaners had found and turned over what they believed were Planned Parenthood Arizona patient records. Instead of returning the files, Montgomery directed that they be scoured for evidence of criminal activity, despite having no reason to do so.

Thanks to your outrage and reach, AED’s reporting was viewed by nearly 700,000 people at the newsletter and on social media. A few days later—after months of refusing to do so, and just a week after signing an order reiterating that refusal—Montgomery finally recused himself from the case. Again, this is a ruling that will determine abortion rights for all of Arizona.

In Kentucky this year, AED’s work directly impacted the gubernatorial race. When Republican candidate Daniel Cameron signed a pledge to ban abortion, I highlighted a vital piece of buried reporting: that the pledge defined birth control pills and other kinds of contraception as ‘abortifacients’. That meant Cameron had vowed to outlaw birth control. Thanks to the newsletter’s reporting, contextualizing, and social media power, that pledge became a national story that forced Cameron to talk about his actual stance on birth control. (Once again, your efforts sharing AED’s work made the story go viral.)

AED’s expert eye made the difference in Arizona and Kentucky. These stories came from documents and reports that were already out in the world—but thanks to twenty years of writing about abortion, I was able to see something that others had missed or overlooked.

The same thing happened with anti-choice legislation this year. Mainstream outlets, or political reporters without reproductive rights experience, will often dismiss an extremist bill as unworthy of coverage if they think it’s unlikely to pass. For example, AED was the first publication to report a South Carolina bill would make having an abortion punishable by the death penalty. It took major publicans a full month to catch on, even though two dozen Republicans had co-sponsored the bill.

That expertise also means catching policy details that others don’t: This year I pointed out that a Missouri bill, for example, could make IUDs & emergency contraception 'murder’. I also reported on Alabama legislation that would charge women with murder for “reckless” miscarriages, and an Arkansas bill that criminalized women who ‘cause’ their miscarriages. When Texas Republicans introduced legislation that would make pro-choice websites illegal in the state, it was AED that flagged the bill would also allow the state to charge abortion funds using the RICO Act.

Our Community Reach (aka: you!)

Another reason the newsletter’s work turns into big national stories is because of its incredible community. The readership here ranges from local activists and state lawmakers to journalists and producers at major outlets. That means AED is able to feed stories—providing a pro-choice frame—to those with serious influence.

When Democratic Attorneys General challenged Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling on abortion medication, for example, they cited Abortion, Every Day’s work in their amicus brief. And after the newsletter was first to report that Republican Attorneys General from 19 states wanted the ability to access medical records of women who get out-of-state abortions, the story was picked up by multiple cable news shows and went viral.

When I talk about the community’s incredible influence, though, I don’t just mean that our readers are reporters or policy-makers. You’re all leaders in your own communities and lives: You’re the person that friends go to when they have a question about politics; you’re the trusted source in your local Facebook group. I’ve watched that influence in action over and over again this year.

When local news outlets reported that Florida schools required female student athletes to turn over detailed information about their periods, for example, the AED community sparked national outrage by raising the alarm. Thanks in part to the newsletter’s continued drum-banging, its wide reach, and your outrage and passion, the Florida High School Athletic Association ended up rescinding the rule. You all make change happen.

---

The only reason AED is able to comb the internet every day to find and surface vital stories is because of readers like you. So if you’ve been holding off on upgrading your subscription, consider doing it now.

---

Context Matters

Getting these stories out into the world isn’t just about reaching the biggest possible audience—but ensuring that the coverage is accurate, pro-abortion, and dispels Republican misinformation and stigma. It’s not enough to get a lot of eyes on a story; more people repeating the wrong thing doesn’t help anyone.

One recent example I’m proud of is the way AED brought Brittany Watts’ story to a national audience. Watts, charged with ‘abuse of a corpse’ because she flushed her miscarriage, was first painted as a villain by local media outlets, who reported inaccurate salacious details about her experience. After I covered her story in the newsletter and on TikTok—with a video that got over 1.5 million views and nearly 250,000 likes—Watts’ case became a viral example of Republican cruelty.

Again, it wasn’t just AED’s reach that mattered here: The newsletter and video provided vital context about how criminalization works, and the way women like Watts are targeted. That background and framing ensured that by the time the case hit national media, the antagonism of the original local coverage had largely been replaced with facts and sympathy.

This might be the most important thing the newsletter does, and it’s what makes AED different than other publications. I hold the newsletter to high editorial standards of accuracy and fairness, but this work has a goal: to restore and protect abortion rights. There is no ‘both sides’ to our rights and freedom, and the coverage here reflects that.

That dedication to the mission is also why people trust us with their stories. When AED published an investigation into how Texas Republicans fabricate abortion ‘complication’ data, for example, it was because a whistle-blower doctor felt comfortable reaching out to us. When I profiled a young woman who had been denied an abortion despite her fetus’ fatal condition, she knew that my priority wasn’t the story—but her.

Every day, I hear from people who know whatever information they give us will be treated with respect and care. That matters to me, and I know it matters to you.

Our Message is Spreading

One of the most exciting things about the last year in AED is watching our work make a real difference—sometimes tangibly and explicitly, like the examples I’ve outlined. But the newsletter also makes an impact that’s harder to quantify. And the work that isn’t always visible is just as important as the work that is.

AED is helping to frame the national conversation on abortion rights, and to shape activism on the ground. After I published “Calculated Cruelty,” for example—an investigation into the quiet but well-funded campaign to force women to carry doomed pregnancies to term and do away with prenatal testing—I heard from multiple national organizations that started using the piece to inform their work.

It was also the newsletter’s relentless coverage of anti-abortion language that ensured Republicans’ attempts to frame restrictions as a ‘consensus’, or to do away with the word ‘ban’, were exposed early on. Without AED’s work, it’s likely that we would have seen much more media and voter buy-in on their bullshit rhetoric.

I’ve also done behind-the-scenes work advising pro-choice groups on anti-abortion strategy, and spread the word in traditional media outlets: I was a frequent cable news and public radio guest this year, and was interviewed on podcasts like Strict Scrutiny and The Defenders. In October, I wrote a column for The New York Times about Republicans’ attempts to redefine abortion that was on the publication’s most read list for two days.

All of which is to say, sometimes AED gets credit for the work it does, sometimes it doesn’t—but it’s all part of the mission. When I’m doing my job right, I’m propping up vital local work and influencing powerful national activism.

And, of course, AED isn’t doing any of this alone. The newsletter is part of a massive feminist ecosystem of abortion rights activists, clinic workers, doctors, reproductive rights reporters, pollsters, and people across industries who care about this issue. A big part of what AED does is look to the already-vibrant work being done by local journalists and activists and ensure it’s getting the attention it needs and deserves.

Why Subscriptions Matter

Every single thing AED accomplished this year was possible because readers like you back the work with paid subscriptions. The daily reports, investigations, interviews, breaking news, and analysis are all thanks to a community of people who decided that the newsletter is important and deserves support. Without you all, there is no Abortion, Every Day.

Because of paid subscriptions, AED researcher Grace Haley was able to spend hours listening to anti-abortion podcasts and uncover audio of Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins saying that rape “actually helps prevent a lot of pregnancies itself because of your body’s natural response.” Hawkins, called a leader of “the new pro-life movement’ by The Atlantic, is one of the anti-abortion movement’s top voices. So this was a really big deal—and again, something that was only possible because of reader support.

Thanks to this community, I’m able to obsessively read abortion news and research every day to make sure that Republicans don’t get anything over on us. As a result of your trust in this work, I’ve uncovered plans by anti-abortion activists to launch a national network of ‘maternity homes’, published an ongoing series on attacks against contraception, and revealed Republicans’ goal of setting up a government website that collects data on pregnant women. Every day, literally, it’s something new.

And in a time when we’re being inundated with attacks and overwhelmed with news, paid subscriptions have helped AED to provide order to the chaos. It’s why we’ve been able to put out comprehensive explainers on everything from the Comstock Act and to the mifepristone lawsuit. Paid supporters are the reason I’ve been able to outline the nationwide attacks on democracy and ballot measures, and to provide the narrative through-lines you rely on to understand news that is constantly changing.

It’s your subscriptions that allowed me to write the columns you loved this year, including a call to stop catering to “the middle” on abortion, a reminder of what anti-abortion activists are celebrating, and a rant against “The Men Who Ruin Us.”

That said, I’m pretty sure your favorite was this one:

Fuck You, We Win

For all we’ve accomplished together this year, there’s more work we need to do. In the next year, I want Abortion, Every Day to bring on a managing editor and community manager so that we can continue doing our work and make it even better. If just 10% of you upgraded your subscription, I could make those hires tomorrow.

(Remember, if you can’t afford a subscription, I’ll gladly give you one for free. Just email me.)

I also have a couple of exciting announcements coming up that I can’t quite tell you about yet, but that I know you’re going to love. So keep an eye on your inbox: We have a lot happening in 2024!

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Thank you for being a part of this work, for your support—no matter how you provide it—and for caring about this issue. I say it often, but if we have to be in this hellscape, I’m glad at least that we’re in it together.

-Jessica