One year ago today, after a very late night preceded by months of intense work, we officially launched Autonomy News. The immediate enthusiasm we saw from readers surpassed even our most optimistic expectations.
That day, we said:
We write about bodily autonomy and the attacks levied by politicians and activists who want to undermine it. Our work spans abortion, birth control, pregnancy, childbirth, adoption, gender-affirming care, and more. We also cover strategic missteps made by groups that support reproductive rights and justice, and when these groups interrupt people’s access to care, or harm their own workers despite their stated values.
We’re proud to say that, in our first year, we’ve stayed true to that mission—especially the idea that accountability reporting is necessary, even when it means being critical of organizations that do important work. Within weeks of our launch, we scooped the New York Times on one of the biggest reproductive health stories of the year: We learned that Planned Parenthood had decided to allow some of its affiliates to drop abortion care in an attempt to withstand Trump administration attacks.
Planned Parenthood tried to publicly discredit our reporting, calling the facts in our story an “outright lie.” We stood by our work, which wasn’t easy to do as a brand new outlet. Months later, they admitted we were right. When one Planned Parenthood affiliate did temporarily stop providing abortions, we were the first to report it—though not all the larger outlets that picked up the story credited us.
We’ve continued our unflinching journalism. For example, we were the first outlet to report on a worker strike that shut down the country’s largest abortion fund for a day, and that a pro-choice group in Utah considered boosting Republican candidates. We’ve covered stories and angles that other outlets miss, like new restrictions on the birth control implant, how the Trump administration’s attacks on gender-affirming care could spell danger for abortion pills, and why access to mifepristone isn’t safe in the long run. We’ve approached cases of pregnancy criminalization with a level of humanity and accuracy too often missing from news coverage. And we’ve published major investigations that would have been tackled by big teams at any other outlet.
We’ve also sent out 52 weekly news roundups that allow people to stay informed with just one email per week. Finally, we’re honored to have become a destination for op-eds and book excerpts as feminist news outlets disappear.
We did all this with just two people, while taking on other freelance work to help pay the bills.
We are the only outlet on this beat without a history of union busting, or of taking money from corporate interests. We’re also the only worker-owned outlet covering reproductive rights and justice. And we’re doing it without ads or a paywall.
We’re incredibly proud of our coverage, which has been made possible by our paid subscribers and donors. We have many more stories to report—and we need your support to do it.
Help us celebrate our birthday and keep Autonomy News paywall-free by giving just $50 a year. Subscribe today, June 4, by 11:59pm ET to be entered into a raffle for a free merch item. Already a paid subscriber? You’ll be entered into the raffle, but if you tip $100 or more, or upgrade to a higher tier, you’ll automatically get a code for a free piece of merch.
As we said in our welcome letter, “we are not afraid to challenge people in power, and we hope you’ll support our fearless journalism with a membership.”
We raised nearly $65,000 in our first-ever fundraiser via our fiscal sponsor, Tiny News Collective. This helped fund one of our most daunting expenses: our own health insurance. If you’re interested in providing a matching gift for our 2026 campaign, please contact us at autonomynewsco@gmail.com.
We continue to believe that people want to support good journalism, especially when workers are in control. Here’s to year two.
In gratitude,
Garnet and Susan
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