Welcome to Autonomy News
A new publication created and owned by reproductive rights and justice journalists. We write about bodily autonomy and attacks by politicians and activists who want to undermine it.
Welcome to Autonomy News, a new publication created and owned by two reproductive rights and justice journalists.
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.
There is not enough coverage of the forces shaping people’s ability to control their reproduction and gender expression—and we know those forces include nominally progressive organizations. We will tell the stories of abortion workers fighting their own bosses and insidious right-wing actors alike, because we understand that threats to bodily autonomy go beyond simple political narratives.
As reporters with many years of experience on this beat, we have cultivated strong relationships with sources who work in the reproductive health and justice space. We are in constant communication with workers, physicians, researchers, and advocates. We hope to deliver coverage that they feel improves public understanding of their work and prioritizes accuracy, while making clear how each individual story is part of a larger one.
Our work provides context for why things are happening and why they’re important, connecting what may seem to be disparate threads. We take pride in our ability to explain thorny issues, such as how certain proposals will or won’t make things better for people seeking reproductive care.
We are also proud to share that Lawyers for Reporters will provide Autonomy News with pre-publication legal review for investigations and accountability reporting. We are not afraid to challenge people in power, and we hope you’ll support our fearless journalism with a membership.
Our reporting will never be paywalled, and you can support our work with a subscription to keep it free for everyone.
Today, you’ll find a story from Garnet on how a professional association forced OBGYNs to submit lists of all the abortions they’d done recently before traveling to Texas to take an in-person board certification exam. Susan has a piece about the intersection of the dangerous eugenic rhetoric coming out of the White House and our country’s history—and present—of forced sterilizations.
And on Monday, we will have a roundup of news you may have missed, which will be a weekly feature.
Why are we doing this?
Garnet and Susan spent years in the digital media trenches and have watched respected outlets get destroyed by a collapsing advertising model, and frankly, criminal executive mismanagement. We know how to make impactful journalism. Now we are making it for ourselves, at the helm of the company behind it.
We are inspired by worker-owned publications such as 404 Media, Hell Gate, and The 51st, which are pioneering a more equitable and sustainable media model. Just like the beat reporters who founded these outlets, we know what audiences want to read, but our ideas aren’t always embraced in corporate media because editors either don’t understand how the news will impact real people’s lives, or don’t have the time or budget to commission the stories.
To our knowledge, Autonomy News is the first worker-owned publication covering reproductive justice. It’s a necessary addition to a media environment in which legacy outlets don’t prioritize having subject-matter experts cover this beat, or frame the topic as merely a political issue or a “debate.” Our financial independence also sets us apart from existing non-profit publications, which are limited in the extent to which they can engage in meaningful accountability reporting because of financial conflicts of interest.
Our launch stories were edited and fact-checked with assistance from a freelance editor, as will be the case with everything we publish. We hope that, as we grow, we can commission outside reporting and eventually invite other worker-owners to join the venture.
We believe that people want to support good journalism, especially when workers are in control.
