They Want You to Think Abortion Pills Are Illegal

5.4.26

Click to skip ahead: Mifepristone Under Fire; Democratic Attorneys General Fight Mife Ruling; Conservatives Want You to Think Abortion Pills Are Illegal; Here’s What You Say: Abortion Pills; A Right-Wing Media Palate Cleanser; Extremism Rising: Anti-Abortion Harassment in Oregon School; Ballot Box: Massachusetts, Idaho, Maine & More; In the States: Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri & More; GOP Invokes Fetal Personhood in Attack on Research

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Mifepristone Under Fire

The last few days in abortion rights have been a whirlwind: on Friday, a federal court tried to end access to mail-order abortion pills—leading to widespread confusion about what kind of care remained accessible.

Some providers switched to a miso-only protocol, while others continued to ship both mifepristone and misoprostol. I’ve also heard that a few providers took a hyper-conservative legal approach by switching to miso-only in clinic—not just by mail. (Every provider needs to assess their own risk, but that seems preemptively and unnecessarily compliant, no?)

After being petitioned by mifepristone manufacturers Danco and GenBioPro, the Supreme Court paused that federal ruling today—but only for the next week. The Trump administration has yet to respond.

We dig into the latest below (along with plenty of non-ruling news). Need a refresher first? Catch up with Abortion, Every Day’s explainer here.

Democratic Attorneys General Fight Mife Ruling

Twenty-two Democratic attorneys general responded to the anti-mifepristone ruling today by filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court. Their argument comes down to three things: mifepristone is safe and effective; the FDA’s removal of the in-person requirement for the medication was scientifically sound and good for women; and the lower court ruling harms the sovereign authority of pro-choice states.

That last one is especially interesting, because the Fifth Circuit’s ruling claimed that telemedicine abortion harms Louisiana’s sovereignty by effectively nullifying its abortion ban. The AGs point out the hypocrisy there—essentially the court decided that anti-abortion state sovereignty was more important than the sovereignty of pro-choice states:

“In finding that nationwide preliminary relief was in the public interest, the Fifth Circuit improperly elevated the policy preferences of States that have banned or restricted abortion over the preferences of other States that have made the different but equally sovereign determinations to promote access to abortion care.”

The filing also gets into the on-the-ground consequences: pro-choice states have already been stretched thin post-Dobbs by an influx of out-of-state patients. Cutting off telehealth abortion pills would make that worse—and not just for abortion patients. These same clinics also provide cancer screenings, STI treatment, and other essential services.

In a press release, New York Attorney General Letitia James says, “every unnecessary restriction on abortion care has a human cost.”

Conservatives Want You to Think Abortion Pills Are Illegal

There was a lot of confusion after Friday’s ruling, but one thing remained clear: anti-abortion activists and legislators would love American women to think it’s illegal to ship abortion pills. Unfortunately, they were helped along by too many mainstream media headlines declaring “the end” of abortion pills by mail.

Even today, headlines stating that the Supreme Court “restored” abortion pills by mail gave readers the impression that their ability to access care relied on a flurry of court orders. That’s just not true.

And while I’m sure most of these were run-of-the-mill media gaffes—which happen often in abortion rights coverage—others seemed less innocent. I couldn’t help but notice, for example, that this headline from the Alabama Political Reporter was weirdly firm: ”Abortion now inaccessible in Alabama after Supreme Court ruling.” The lede was similar:

“Abortion is now effectively inaccessible in Alabama after a federal appeals court in Louisiana issued an injunction against the mailing of mifepristone, the ‘abortion pill.’”

On a hunch, I did a quick Google search on the reporter’s name. It turns out that he believes “personhood does begin at conception,” and has written about being involved in the “pro-life movement.”

How many Alabama women will read that headline and decide against seeking out care? In moments like these, every word—and headline—matters.

Here’s What You Say: Abortion Pills

If you want to help make sure that people know how to get abortion medication, consider spreading the word about I Need An A, PlanCPills.org and YouAlwaysHaveOptions.com. Aya Contigo is also a fantastic resource.

Something else to remind your communities of: informal networks of accessing medication abortion also remain in place regardless of court rulings. Shout Your Abortion’s Amelia Bonow tells AED that “a significant number” of abortion seekers access medication abortion through “alternate routes,” like online pill vendors and international organizations like Aid Access.

“These sources won’t be eliminated by this or any court ruling. The current court drama is infuriating and does have the potential to cause chaos for abortion seekers, but abortion pills are here to stay. The specific routes to access will shift, but we will always adapt; we will never stop having abortions or helping others to do so.”

And while SCOTUS’ order means that there’s no question mifepristone can be mailed, it’s worth reminding folks that this legal fight is only about mifepristone—and that you can have an abortion with misoprostol only. (Medication abortion is typically comprised of two different kinds of medication, mifepristone and misoprostol.)

Miso-only abortions are safe, effective, and have been used across the globe for years. That said, they can be more painful and take longer to complete. As Massachusetts provider Dr. Jodi Abbott told The New York Times, “We have no concerns about its safety or efficacy, but we also know it’s not optimal.”

Planned Parenthood has a guide for miso-only abortions, and the National Abortion Federation has a comparison chart for mife & miso vs. miso-only abortions in English and Spanish. NPR also did some excellent service journalism with an article about miso-only abortions.

Finally, quite a few of you reached out to say you appreciated the suggested social media language I passed along this weekend. I’m glad! I’ll share more in the future; in the meantime, keep an eye on AED’s social media accounts for other easily-shareable content.

A Right-Wing Media Palate Cleanser

I think after the last few days, we could all use a laugh. Luckily, conservative media has got you covered.

The right-wing rag Campus Reform—best known for targeted harassment of left-leaning and pro-choice professors—has been in a full-blown panic over states requiring college health centers to carry abortion medication.

Today’s meltdown was over a California bill that would expand an existing law to include community colleges, not just public universities. The image that accompanied the article had me absolutely dying laughing—college students, running from an onslaught of raining abortion pills.

Something tells me the students wouldn’t be this upset over abortion access, so I decided to fix the picture to better represent the reception abortion pills would get on a California campus. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

I think my version is a lot better!

Ballot Box: Massachusetts, Idaho, Maine & More

Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue reaffirmed his opposition to abortion in an interview this weekend, but promised he wouldn’t try to change the state’s pro-choice law. “There’s people in Massachusetts that clearly decided, and I know what the law is,” he said.

This has become the GOP’s go-to message when running in pro-choice states: insist that you’d never ever overturn the “will of the people.” That, of course, is what they all say.

If I were a Massachusetts voter, I’d also pay special attention to what else Minogue said—because he’s dropping hints left and right about funding crisis pregnancy centers:

“If someone is going through a very difficult decision, I think we should also give them counseling, support, give them empathy. And there’s many options out there, right? We shouldn’t just do, the only option is abortion. Some people want a different decision. Some people want financial aid, and I think that’s something that’s important.”

Counseling and options are code for funneling taxpayer dollars to fake clinics.

Idaho abortion rights advocates say they’ve collected enough signatures to get on November’s ballot—with the hopes that voters’ support can repeal the state’s abortion ban. Melanie Folwell, executive director for Idahoans United for Women and Families, says, “We believe that there is broad support in Idaho for the right to keep your family’s private medical decisions between you and your doctor, not the government.”

Idaho clerks now have a little under 60 days to verify the over 100k signatures collected by the pro-choice activists. We’ll keep you updated as the measure moves forward.

Finally—last week, Maine Governor Janet Mills announced the end of her campaign for U.S. Senate. Reproductive Freedom for All president Mini Timmaraju called Mills an “extraordinary champion for reproductive freedom,” and thanked her for “her unwavering commitment to ensuring that people can make their own decisions about their bodies and their futures.”

Quick hits:

• Bloomberg Law on the lawsuit challenging the abortion rights ballot measure in Virginia;

• And over at Slate, law professor Mary Ziegler looks at how Republicans plan to block state courts from blocking abortion bans.

Extremism Rising: Anti-Abortion Harassment in Oregon School

At a time of rising anti-abortion violence, a Wyoming official is pouring gasoline over the fire: last week, Powell city council member Troy Bray openly called for judges who ruled in support of abortion rights to be executed in a comment on state Rep. Mike Yin’s post about a recent ruling. “In order for Wyoming to find justice, we will have to hang bad judges,” Bray wrote. He went on to insist that this was “a statement of my beliefs, NOT a threat.”

Keep in mind, this comment comes at a time when abortion providers and patients are facing a surge in threats, harassment, and violence. In March, someone was arrested for planning to assassinate a Montana abortion provider. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is no longer enforcing federal clinic protections (unless it’s to go after protesters and journalists), and has actively shielded violent anti-abortion protesters by framing their criminal behaviors as protected, religious expression.

I wonder if “hang bad judges” is also protected Christian speech?

Over in Oregon, anti-abortion extremism is bleeding into elementary schools. One Portland school reports that anti-abortion flyers were mysteriously posted on campus premises, and that the school received a series of related, hoax threat calls. “It seems like an odd message to send to an elementary school full of little kids,” the school’s principal said, adding, “I’m not sure what they were trying to achieve.”

One final entry in anti-abortion activists pushing their agenda in highly inappropriate ways: a Southwest flight attendant who was fired for emailing “graphic images and videos of aborted fetuses” to her union president was just awarded a $500,000 payout, after she sued over her termination. NPR affiliate KERA News reports she could still receive another $500,000 in additional damages.

This marks just the latest case of anti-abortion activists raking in money off of harassment—from a Kentucky cop who received a $75,000 payout after being put on paid leave for protesting at a clinic in uniform, to a South Carolina activist who’s currently fundraising off shooting someone outside a Planned Parenthood.

In the States: Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri & More

Abortion rights had a partial win in Kentucky last week: a judge struck down the state abortion ban’s definition of human life as beginning at conception. Jefferson Circuit Judge Brian Edwards called the definition “unconstitutionally void for vagueness.”

Unfortunately, that’s as far as Edwards went—he rejected a broader religious freedom challenge to the ban. (He said the law “is religiously neutral.”)

Plaintiff Lisa Sobel—one of three Jewish women who brought the suit three years ago—said she was disappointed: “Jewish law has a clear, millennia-old answer to the question of fetal personhood—and it is not the answer Kentucky wrote into its statutes.”

Still, as someone who sought out IVF, the language change was welcome. “The Court recognized that Kentucky’s laws created real fear and real confusion—that matters,” she said.

In other Kentucky news, every abortion-related bill (good and bad) died this legislative session.

We don’t talk nearly enough about what an incredible job Illinois activists are doing right now: providers there are seeing more out-of-state patients than anywhere else in the country, and abortion funds have had to scale up rapidly since the end of Roe. The Chicago Sun-Times reports, for example, that the Chicago Abortion Fund just saw its busiest quarter in the organization’s entire 40-year history.

Executive director Megan Jeyifo:

“On the one hand, I’m incredibly grateful that we are still here, meeting all that this moment requires of us, and haven’t had to turn anyone who is relying on Illinois for care away. I’m also really sad, because I know what people are experiencing to access this kind of health care, how hard it is.”

Iowa Republicans are very proud of themselves for passing yet another unnecessary abortion ban—this time, additional restrictions on abortion pills. Iowa Starting Line points out that Speaker Pat Grassley called it “mission accomplished”—yet left out that the GOP’s anti-abortion policies are completely at odds with what voters want. (Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa found that 80% of Iowans want legislators to stop attacking abortion rights.)

Finally, Missouri citizens seem fed the fuck up with U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley. (Something we all have in common!) The Missouri Independent looks at how U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley has put Missouri at the center of the national fight on abortion rights, and an opinion piece about the same at the Kansas City Star points out “political grandstanding doesn’t fill prescriptions or schedule cancer screenings.”

Quick hits:

• The only clinic offering procedural abortions in Greensboro, North Carolina is shuttering;

• And more on the anti-birth control ruling in Oregon. (Read AED’s coverage for context—we’re paying close attention to this one.)

GOP Invokes Fetal Personhood in Attack on Research

Last week, a coalition of anti-abortion Congress members demanded an end to research that uses human fetal tissue (HFT) from “elective abortion.” The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has already put a pause on funding for such research, but the agency is still in the public comment period.

Led by Rep. Chris Smith and Sen. Roger Wicker, Republicans sent a letter to NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, writing that research using human fetal tissue “has not yielded good results,” and that “the U.S. government should not be facilitating or funding research that depends on killing and harvesting cells from human beings in their youngest form.”

First, the lie that research “has not yielded good results” is utterly bonkers: we have HFT research to thank for vaccines and treatments for Zika virus, HIV, covid, measles, chickenpox, diabetes, infertility, shingles, and more. Second, this language—casting embryos as “human beings in their youngest form”—is insane, and the sort of rhetoric that endangers abortion providers and, in this case, researchers.

It’s also worth remembering that it was just this past September when anti-abortion groups bragged about successfully lobbying the Trump administration to pull $20 million in grants from research that allegedly used HFTs—including research into children’s brain cancer.