Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly roundup. Every Monday, we’ll send you a summary of the biggest stories about bodily autonomy. We’ll also include links to pieces that Garnet or Susan have published.
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Let’s dive in.
On Autonomy News
Susan wrote about how the abortion pill directory Plan C relaunched its site to make it even easier to learn where to get pills, including at no cost. The redesign comes as state officials have threatened investigations and potential lawsuits against the organization for simply sharing information. (Share this story on Bluesky.)
Susan Rinkunas
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Federal news
Louisiana sued the Food and Drug Administration in a case that could have national implications for access to abortion pills. In its complaint, the state is asking a federal judge to hold unlawful a 2023 FDA decision that permits the abortion drug mifepristone to be prescribed via telemedicine. Louisiana claims that FDA regulations mean Louisiana cannot adequately enforce its abortion ban, which took effect in 2022—“despite the promise of Dobbs,” the decision overturning Roe v. Wade. The state also argues that the FDA decision allowing abortion pills to be mailed violates the federal Comstock Act of 1873, an anti-obscenity statute that conservatives are weaponizing to try to ban shipments of the pills nationwide. Louisiana says that, unlike plaintiffs in a previous case against the FDA, it has legal standing to sue the agency because it’s seeking to prosecute abortion providers in New York and California for allegedly prescribing mifepristone via telemedicine. Representing the state is Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian nationalist law firm that first sued the FDA over mifepristone in November 2022, but whose case the Supreme Court threw out in 2024.
In more abortion pill news, 51 GOP Senators urged Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA commissioner Marty Makary in a letter dated Thursday to end telemedicine prescriptions of mifepristone, and to suspend its distribution as an "imminent hazard" under Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The lawmakers claimed the impetus was the FDA’s approval of a new generic version of the drug the previous week. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the only GOP members not to sign the letter; they both claim to support abortion rights but nevertheless have voted to confirm many anti-abortion judges.
For years now, the anti-abortion organization Students for Life has pushed the wacky conspiracy theory that abortion pills are contaminating the water supply. In June, 25 Republican members of Congress sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin asking him to look into the issue. The New York Times reports that the EPA did just that, assigning a team of scientists to look into whether the agency could develop methods to detect mifepristone in wastewater. It’s unclear if anything came of this review, but former EPA scientists are raising the alarm that such tests could be developed and used to surveil and criminalize people who have abortions and those who help them. The EPA union has also condemned the move.
A group of six anti-abortion demonstrators, including two who were pardoned by President Trump for their violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, will face trial for trespassing charges after they invaded an abortion clinic in Pennsylvania. Trump’s Department of Justice had previously announced it would dramatically scale back use of the FACE Act to prosecute those who harass, blockade, or invade abortion clinics, but has recently filed charges under the law—which also protects “houses of worship”—against pro-Palestine demonstrators for a demonstration outside a synagogue.
The federal food aid initiative Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, more commonly known as WIC, could run out of money starting in November if the government is not reopened. This jeopardizes food access for over 6 million low-income parents and children.
A GOP-written House funding bill for the Department of Health seeks to ban federal funding from going to hospitals that follow abortion training requirements for OBGYN residents and fellows. Residents can already opt out if they have moral or religious objections, but Republicans want to make this training opt-in, which advocates say would leave physicians unprepared for treating miscarriages and other pregnancy complications.
State news
Texas officials arrested eight people connected to a midwife accused of providing abortions in violation of the state’s ban and practicing medicine without a license, according to Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing the midwife, has argued that she only provided care within the scope of her practice, and that the state’s case leans too heavily on the fact that she was in possession of the drug misoprostol. While misoprostol is used for abortion, it’s also a first-line treatment for postpartum hemorrhage and can be used to induce labor—meaning it’s something that a midwife absolutely should have. Lawyers have similarly argued that other people who worked with the midwife only took on duties that were appropriately delegated to them. According to a judge, the case may take years to resolve.
Planned Parenthood’s iconic Manhattan health center will stop seeing patients at the end of this month as the local affiliate, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, prepares to sell the Bleecker Street building. Susan was first to report the facility’s “devastating” planned closure back in March, which PPGNY blamed on budget shortfalls.
NEW: Planned Parenthood's Manhattan clinic will stop seeing patients as of November 1 as affiliate prepares to sell the building amid budget shortfalls. Sale announced in March Patients told to schedule at Bronx, Brooklyn, or Queens (LIC) clinics or virtual www.plannedparenthood.org/health-cente...
— Susan Rinkunas (@susanrinkunas.com) 2025-10-08T21:01:53.263Z
At least five Republican members of the Virginia House of Delegates have removed or toned down anti-abortion language on their campaign websites. Democrats regained a majority in the Virginia House back in 2023, thanks in large part to their emphasis on reproductive rights. Abortion is a major issue in this campaign, because a reproductive rights ballot measure, which has already passed the legislature once, needs to pass a second time in order to make it onto Virginians’ 2026 ballots.
This is the first of several items about Missouri, and none of them are good. A judge approved a misleading ballot summary for a 2026 constitutional amendment that would ban abortion and gender-affirming care in the state. Republicans are trying to repeal Amendment 3, which passed in November, and ban most abortions—without telling voters any of that, so the ACLU of Missouri sued. But Judge Daniel Green approved Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’s revision to the ballot text that merely says the measure would “Repeal Article I, section 36, approved in 2024; allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest.” Voters will not be informed that that really means banning abortions in the state once again.
A different Missouri judge, Sarah Castle, threw out a lawsuit filed by youth reproductive justice advocates challenging restrictions that remain on the books even after Amendment 3 passed last year. The nonprofit group Right By You sued over a requirement that minors get parental consent before an abortion, and a separate ban on aiding or assisting minors seeking an abortion. Right By You sought to begin fundraising and coordinating care for young abortion-seekers. Castle dismissed the case on technical grounds: She ruled that Right By You didn’t have the standing to sue the state, in part because it’s fiscally sponsored by a group incorporated in California. Castle dismissed the suit “without prejudice,” meaning it could be filed again.
And, finally, Missouri’s new Attorney General Catherine Hanaway subpoenaed health records of abortion patients in order to argue in favor of upholding several restrictions on the care. Two Planned Parenthood affiliates that serve Missouri sued the state in November, one day after voters passed a constitutional amendment protecting abortion until fetal viability. The affiliates, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, have been able to resume limited procedural abortions, but say state rules mean they cannot restart medication abortions. Hanaway is now seeking records from those two affiliates ahead of a trial that begins in January, and the local Planned Parenthoods are asking a judge to quash the subpoenas.
Personhood watch
A Texas sheriff’s office initially said it had used license-plate readers to surveil a woman who took abortion pills for her own safety—they said family members were worried about her bleeding. But court records show that her abusive partner called the police to report that she’d had an abortion two weeks earlier and that officials had opened a “death investigation case” regarding the fetus. The woman later went to officials to say that her partner choked her and threatened her at gunpoint the day she took the pills, and he was arrested and charged with assault. Officials wrote in an affidavit that they discussed with the district attorney’s office whether the state could charge the woman for “taking the pill to cause the abortion or miscarriage of the non-viable fetus,” and learned they could not do that. This is yet another example of how local law enforcement use the concept of fetal personhood to try to criminalize people who have abortions.
Assaults on queer people
The Senate passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with provisions that ban the Department of Defense from covering gender-affirming surgeries for military service members and their families. The bill passed 77 to 20, with 26 Senate Democrats voting for it. Journalist Erin Reed has the full list here.
A fringe organization called Genspect—deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center—is pushing for the field of psychiatry to re-label trans and nonbinary gender identities as mental illnesses. The international group’s primary goal is to end access to medical transition.
Extremism
The international arm of the aforementioned Alliance Defending Freedom is working to promote its far-right agenda in the United Kingdom by aligning itself with the once-fringe Reform U.K. party led by Nigel Farage. The group is currently focusing on free speech rights of religious conservatives, but it told the New York Times it hopes to roll back abortion access in the country. ADF is planning to mirror tactics used in the U.S., but to focus on Parliament since the country’s abortion laws come from legislation, not a court ruling like Roe v. Wade.
Quick hits
- We have no idea how many pregnant detainees are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, but immigration advocates believe they’re being detained at alarming rates. ICE guidance says the agency shouldn’t detain pregnant, postpartum, or lactating women unless their release is “prohibited by law” or in “exceptional circumstances.” However, Congress no longer requires the Department of Homeland Security to compile the data.
- Next month’s election for New Jersey governor could impact abortion access in the state. New Jersey is one of nine states plus Washington D.C. with no gestational limit on care and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) backs current policy, while Jack Ciattarelli (R) has said he would sign a 20-week ban. Such a policy would harm residents, as well as people traveling to New Jersey from other states.
- An update in the lawsuit that Brittany Watts filed against an Ohio city and hospital for arresting her after a stillbirth: The city of Warren will depose Watts on October 23. (A deposition is a pre-trial interview conducted under oath.)
- Democrats for Life of America is fundraising off New York Times columnist Ezra Klein’s boneheaded suggestion that Democrats should run anti-abortion candidates in swing states—despite the fact that abortion rights are far more popular than just about any politician.
Actual good news
A Planned Parenthood clinic in rural Durango, Colorado, will reopen later this month after being closed for in-person care for more than a year. The health center will see patients two days per week once it opens on October 20, and is accepting appointments now.
Palate cleanser(s)
This is indeed important for society to prosper.
@suredeanna put in the work. #wine #girls #girlsnight ♬ original sound - deanna
Spooky season got too real for this little gal.
@a.dach.of.ginger spooky season is upon us 👀🎃
♬ Halloween · Cute horror song (loop) - PeriTune
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