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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
If you were on the internet last week, you surely saw that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went public with her egg freezing journey, and supposedly pro-family conservatives lost their minds. “For the first time, women over 40 are having babies at higher rates than teenagers. This is exactly what conservatives don’t want, because those women have often put their educational and professional ambitions first,” writes Dana Sussman of Pregnancy Justice in this op-ed. (Share this story on Instagram, Bluesky, or TikTok.)
Dana Sussman
The influential anti-abortion organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America publicly endorsed enforcing the Comstock Act as a total abortion ban. The group joined a coalition letter about the 19th-century law, signaling that a once-fringe reading of the dormant statute has gone mainstream in the movement. These groups are coming for more than just mail-order abortion pills: Their sweeping interpretation of the law can’t be limited to just mifepristone and misoprostol—it would end all in-clinic abortions, too. (Share this story on Instagram, Bluesky, or TikTok.)
Garnet Henderson
Federal news
Regrettably there is more to say about Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. The group’s “research” arm is planning to pressure the Department of Justice to crack down on abortion pills using an annual global campaign that targets counterfeit pharmaceuticals sold online. The International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, established Operation Pangea in 2008 to target illicit health products and the websites that sell them. The SBA-linked Charlotte Lozier Institute recently hosted a webinar where attorney Mary Harned noted that Attorney General Todd Blanche had already pledged to restrict mifepristone. Harned said she would use a forthcoming paper to detail how the DOJ could use Operation Pangea to establish that mifepristone imported from other countries including India is harming consumers and then seize website domains and intercept packages from these sellers. Harned added that Blanche also could revisit the government’s position on the Comstock Act, which he already committed to doing.
The full Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Planned Parenthood Federation of America must stand trial in a shady lawsuit that could bankrupt it. The trial will be held before Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who tried to remove mifepristone from the market in 2023. An anonymous “whistleblower” sued PPFA and several local affiliates in 2021, filing in Kacsmaryk’s district despite the fact that there are no Planned Parenthood clinics there. The suit alleges that PPFA and its affiliates defrauded the Medicaid programs in Texas and Louisiana. These states had kicked Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid, but local affiliates kept seeing patients and billing the program while lawsuits played out. Ultimately, the states won. The plaintiff—later revealed to be anti-abortion extremist David Daleiden—argued that all bills submitted during the litigation were fraudulent. He’s seeking $1.8 billion in fines and penalties under the False Claims Act, a federal anti-fraud statute. PPFA had tried to argue that lawyers working for its national office, who are also named in the lawsuit, have legal immunity. The Fifth Circuit said it’s too early to decide that matter, and PPFA must stand trial first.
Wisconsin Senator and absolute nut Ron Johnson chose to spread dangerous misinformation about the Covid vaccine last week, claiming that it was linked to high rates of miscarriage in the first and second trimester. Johnson cited an analysis of preliminary data, but he completely misrepresented what it found by excluding people who got the vaccine in the third trimester, which drastically shrunk the denominator. There is no data showing a connection between the vaccines and miscarriages—meanwhile, Covid infection in pregnancy is linked to higher rates of hospitalization, maternal death, and pregnancy loss.
State news
A federal judge in Idaho blocked the state from enforcing its criminal abortion ban against providers who end a pregnancy to protect the patient’s health. However, clinicians can still face civil lawsuits that allow family members of an aborted fetus to sue the provider for at least $20,000. Idaho voters will decide in November whether to repeal the ban. Dr. Stacy Seyb, who treats patients with high-risk pregnancies, sued the state medical board in 2024, claiming the ban violates the U.S. Constitution because it criminalizes providing abortions necessary for medical reasons, including to prevent self-harm. He sought to block enforcement of the law for medically indicated abortions, not overturn it entirely. Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the 14th Amendment require expanding the exceptions, writing that “a pregnant woman’s health is not a state resource to be allocated at the legislature’s whim.” Winmill didn’t mince words on the explicit ban on abortions to prevent self-harm: “It is an affront to human dignity to bar pregnant women from receiving life-saving care on the basis that the threat comes from a mental health condition, rather than a physical health condition.”
Relatedly, the Idaho Family Policy Center is suing Boise State University over a 2025 study which showed that the state lost 35 percent of its OBGYNs after enacting a total abortion ban. The far-right think tank, along with some GOP legislators, are pointing to data from the state medical board that shows the number of licensed OBGYNs in Idaho has increased slightly since 2022. But many doctors maintain medical licenses in states where they don’t currently practice, and some OBGYNs who have left the state say they’ve kept their licenses active because they hope to return one day. Doctors maintain that the number of practicing OBGYNs has declined significantly.
A Michigan county approved $1.5 million in emergency funding to help keep a Planned Parenthood clinic open through 2028. The Oakland County Board of Commissioners voted 11-6 to provide funding to the Ferndale health center, the only physical Planned Parenthood location in the county. The funding request came after Planned Parenthood of Michigan recently closed three clinics, on top of four it shuttered last year.
The local elected official in Virginia who argues that the legislature failed to follow the appropriate process in putting a reproductive freedom constitutional amendment on the ballot is asking the state’s Court of Appeals to reconsider her case after a lower court dismissed it.
In other ballot measure news, one of New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill’s campaign promises was to support a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights. But the legislature missed this year’s deadline to put a measure on the November ballot. In previous years, efforts to get an amendment on the ballot have been undercut by a lack of support from organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, who haven’t wanted to put resources behind a ballot question since state law already protects reproductive rights.
In its upcoming report, the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee will inexplicably exclude pregnancy-related deaths from 2022 and 2023—the first full years after its “bounty hunter” six-week abortion ban and then its total abortion ban went into effect, respectively. The committee's last report included data from 2021, and this one will start with data from 2024.
Extremism
It’s been nearly impossible to avoid the splashy headlines about McKenna West, the gestational surrogate from Alaska who was carrying a pregnancy for a couple in California. West gave birth in Texas last week after claiming she fled there to escape pressure to have an abortion after the fetus she was carrying was diagnosed with a rare and very serious heart defect. Attorney General Ken Paxton further fanned the dramatic flames of this story by securing an emergency court order requiring a Texas hospital to give the child lifesaving medical care once it was born. Here’s what you really need to know: West is represented by Christian nationalist law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, and appears to have been connected with them by extremist anti-abortion organization Live Action, which has also been a major driver of the publicity around the case. Live Action wants to ban surrogacy and in vitro fertilization. ADF also opposes surrogacy, and is particularly opposed to same-sex marriage and parenting, which of course is often made possible by surrogacy and/or IVF.
The child’s intended parents haven’t said much, but according to court filings, they say that West initially agreed with the decision to have an abortion and even made an appointment, only to later reverse course and cut off contact. The parents then arranged for a medical team in Los Angeles to care for their child once he was born. In other words, there was no reason for West to flee to Texas. While surrogacy contracts typically include provisions about abortion, surrogates are adults who have to consent to their own medical treatment—no surrogacy contract can actually force someone to have an abortion.
For anti-abortion conservatives, IVF and surrogacy are the next frontiers. More and more state GOP platforms are including anti-IVF stances, despite the treatment’s broad popularity. And West’s case is just one of several that could work its way up to the Supreme Court in the near future. This spring, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier intervened in a lawsuit to contest a gay couple’s parentage of a child born via surrogacy, comparing the practice to slavery. In July, Uthmeier intervened in a second dispute over the custody of two living triplets born to a U.S. surrogate with an intended parent from China. Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation banning surrogacy contracts with intended parents from any “foreign countries of concern,” a list that currently includes China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria. Expect to hear a lot more about surrogacy in the weeks and months ahead.
Elections
Students for Life Action endorsed South Carolina Representative Ralph Norman for Senate ahead of an August 25 runoff election to replace the late Lindsey Graham. Norman faces Graham’s sister, Darlene Graham, who is seeking election after Trump appointed her to serve the rest of her brother’s term. SFLA said that it contacted Graham but received “no response to requests to explain her views and actions on abortion.”
Vulnerable New York GOP Representative Mike Lawler (NY-17) is refusing to return $10,000 given to his campaign by the political action committee of Ohio Representative Max Miller. Miller is facing calls to resign after being accused of spousal and child abuse. The PAC also gave that amount to Ohio Senator John Husted, who’s facing former Senator Sherrod Brown in November.
Personhood watch
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did a segment on fetal personhood, including how it impacts abortion access, pregnancy loss, drug use, and in vitro fertilization. In a nutshell: “The obvious consequence of these laws is they treat the individual carrying the fetus as something less than a full human, and the very moment you’re pregnant you become merely a means to an end.”
Assaults on queer people
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Trump administration, reversing a lower court order that blocked a Justice Department subpoena demanding patient records, personnel files, and more from QueerDoc, a telehealth gender-affirming care practice. All of the other known recipients of these invasive subpoenas are major children’s hospitals, whereas QueerDoc is a small, independent practice. Garnet has been covering this story from the beginning, and pointed out that the DOJ’s arguments before the Ninth Circuit posed danger not just for transgender people and their healthcare providers, but also for abortion access. She has also covered the extraordinary lengths gender-affirming care providers are going to in order to protect themselves, their families, and their patients.
Garnet Henderson
The Ninth Circuit’s decision sends the case back to the district court for further consideration. “QueerDoc remains committed to its mission of providing expert, evidence-informed medical care to transgender and gender diverse patients,” founder Crystal Beal said in a statement. “We'll continue caring for our patients while defending the privacy, trust, and ethical principles that make healthcare possible.”
Medicaid will no longer pay for puberty blockers, hormone therapy, or gender-affirming surgeries for transgender enrollees under 18, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program will no longer cover these services for people under 19. This rule was first proposed by the Trump administration in December, and is now finalized. While roughly half of states restrict youth gender-affirming care, KFF estimates that about 130,000 young trans people with Medicaid or CHIP coverage in states without restrictions will be affected.
Harm from the Supreme Court’s decision in the conversion therapy case Chiles v. Salazar continues: Brian Tingley, a marriage and family marriage therapist in Washington, will be shielded from the state’s conversion therapy ban while his challenge to the law continues. Tingley’s case had previously been thrown out, but has been partially resurrected following the Chiles ruling. He is represented by… ding ding ding, Alliance Defending Freedom.
Worker news
Unionized workers at Planned Parenthood Greater New York picketed outside multiple clinics across the city and Long Island last week amid what they say are stalled contract negotiations. PPGNY workers are bargaining their third contract with 1199-SEIU, and the unit of more than 160 healthcare workers says it’s been working without a contract since June. The union says management has proposed just a 1 percent cost-of-living increase over three years and wants to reduce the grace period for late clock-ins from 15 minutes down to two minutes. Doctors at PPGNY formed a separate bargaining unit in 2025 and are negotiating their first contract.
First Amendment watch
Last month, Amplify Legal sent cease-and-desist letters to Live Action, demanding that the anti-abortion “news” site stop publishing false information about 13 of its clients, who had abortions for medical reasons. Through its lawyers at the far-right Thomas More Society, Live Action has refused.
Quick hits
- The research-backed, interactive Crisis Pregnancy Center Map has been updated with new national data from 2025 and 2026.
- More fathers are taking parental leave in the 14 states plus Washington D.C. that have paid leave programs.
- “The WNBA ‘felt like a lifeline’ for LGBTQ+ fans. Anti-trans attacks are testing that refuge.”
- A new telehealth abortion provider launched: At Home Abortion serves all 50 U.S. states and territories and is incorporated in Europe.
- A Planned Parenthood clinic in Springfield, Missouri, is now offering procedural abortions. The clinic began prescribing medication abortions in July, the first time it provided abortion care since opening more than 50 years ago. This expanded access is thanks to a 2024 constitutional amendment, which Republicans are asking voters to overturn in November.
Palate cleanser
We didn’t know chickens had these moves.
@silkiechickies The baddest flock 🐓#petchickens #silkiechicken #funnychicken #fluffy #chickens ♬ Teach me how to dougie - Mr Grouchy
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