This piece first appeared in our weekly newsletter, The Fallout. Consider donating today to help us tell the story of reproductive freedom in 2024. We need you now!
To put it bluntly, it was a hell of a year. As you know, it’s the first full year since then Roe v. Wade overturned in June 2022, and we’ve seen conservatives across the country use the opportunity to attack transgender rights, threaten birth control, and target the right to travel — in addition to imposing abortion bans on the left and right; of course. Now, we’re gearing up for an election year where, for the first time in many voters’ lives, abortion will be the central issue both statewide and nationally.
Part of what I love about my job is editing and/or reviewing all the incredible content we publish. We’ve published so many articles, podcast episodes, and special topics that I’m proud of this year (and counting). released on TikTok!), and I wanted to highlight some of our hits to close out 2023. For our final edition of The Fallout this year, I hope you’ll revisit them with me as we wrap up and get ready for the circus a year ahead.
(P.S. My colleagues and I are So grateful for us RNG readers, as our work is only possible with your support! If you’d like to help us continue to do more of this, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d consider donating to our year-end fundraising campaign to keep us fueled until 2024.)
Rewire News Group (Barbie Version)
Hello Barbie! I’m always excited about our quarterly special issues when we put a unique focus on a topic, but “They the People” really takes the cake. My favorite part, though, was the wonderful Visual Barbies created by our art team, Austen Risolvato and Cage Rivera.
Collaboration of the Century: Elie Mystal x Boom! Lawyer
For Boom! 200th (!!!) episode of Lawyered, we had a special treat for our nerds: The NationJustice correspondent Elie Mystal graced the pod with his presence. Mystal and Boom! Attorney co-host Imani Gandy talked all things legal, from Supreme Court expansion to the possible fate of medication abortion to originality. It’s enough to make my head spin, but Gandy and Mystal kept us laughing throughout the episode – and gave us a small dose of hope towards the end.
Investigating “crisis pregnancy center” finances.
Garnet Henderson joins Rewire News Group as our top multi-platform reporter was the highlight of 2023. Every day is prime for a Henderson murder, but her investigation into the economics of “crisis pregnancy centers” is outstanding. He reviewed more than 1,600 financial records over several months to find that these anti-abortion centers may actually be spending more than 1 billion dollars per year—and, worse, part of their funding is funded by the state.
Idaho’s Reproductive Health Crisis and the Rise of Extremism
Like I said…another day, another Henderson murder. He spent ten days in Idaho in October to report on the effects of the state’s blanket abortion ban and the rise of extremism. In this week’s second installment of a three-part series, Henderson covers how Christian nationalists—who are often transplants—have infiltrated local governments (and wreaked havoc on infrastructure afterward), how “abortionists” have reached state office and what the locals do to prevent them. Many thanks to the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Reproductive Rights Referral Fund for its support of this project.
Live from Washington DC, it’s Boom! Lawyer!
My legal moms headed to the East Coast this past spring! Pieklo and Gandhi brought their mindset to the people at the Religious Freedom Summit, where they spoke about the slew of legal challenges threatening the fate of mifepristone, one of two pills used for medical abortion. This is special because it was the first time the podcast was taped in front of a live audience.
We (Ohio medical students) gave back so much
When states began enacting abortion bans after the Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, medical students like Meghana Kudrimoti felt forced to leave their home states to get the education they needed. But when Ohio voters approved an abortion rights measure in November, Kudrimoti could finally return home to provide care.
“Although Ohio still has dozens of abortion restrictions that won’t go away overnight, passing Issue 1 is a step toward ensuring Ohioans’ right to take control of their reproductive decisions, regardless from the occasion. Ohioans deserve the same choices my patients have. I can’t wait to go back and give these options a go,” he writes.
Making abortion fundraising fun
Look, the abortion news this year was not all depressing: Organizations like the Marigold Project and This Puzzl3s Fund Abortion have made abortion fundraising fun by hosting cookouts and selling puzzles. At a time when abortion funds are seeing a slowdown in momentum following the shock and fury of the SCOTUS abortion rights reversal, reproductive rights advocates are getting creative to continue the fight.
Paying a high price under Texas abortion bans
Personally, I was really proud—and devastated—to post this piece by my friend Lauren Lee, who experienced an ectopic pregnancy while living in Austin, Texas. At just 23, she discovered her IUD hadn’t worked, and after days of panicking about how to seek care, she booked a flight to Seattle. The process to end her pregnancy was painful, expensive, and didn’t need to be as difficult or horrible as it was. As he writes, “Health care should not depend on luck. No one should die in Texas because they don’t have a free place to stay in a better state.”
