More resources and information for those looking to access or protect abortion.
This is our newsletter-first column, Microtones. It runs on the site on Fridays, but you can get it in your inbox on Thursdays by signing up for our email newsletter.
With a 173-year-old abortion ban on the books in Wisconsin, abortion is now illegal in the state after Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court on June 24.
But that doesn’t mean that pregnant people in Wisconsin will no longer have abortions.
Patients are traveling to neighboring Minnesota or Illinois to receive care. And there have been repeated recent reminders to retire coat-hanger imagery that no longer reflects the safe and effective options for self-managed abortions that weren’t available pre-Roe.
As Christina Lieffring writes in two pieces published since Friday, much of Wisconsin has already been living in a post-Roe world, with limited access to abortion. But the loss of Roe‘s meager protections in Wisconsin means that people will die for lack of access to necessary care. The people who suffer most will be disproportionately poor people and people of color.
The legal situation in Wisconsin may change in the days, weeks and months to come. We’ve published a couple of resource lists in the past month. Here is a roundup of information about accessing and funding abortions to save and share.
Local organizing and resources
- On Wednesday evening, A Room of One’s Own (also on Instagram) hosted an Abortion Access Community Panel with POWERS and the Socialist Feminist Collective, and shared plans to continue these as monthly events in the future. Follow these organizations on social media to stay updated.
- Check out this zine from Fawzy with Room of One’s Own about accessing and funding abortions in Wisconsin. The zine is available at Room of One’s Own, or you can print and distribute copies yourself.
If you need an abortion
Various media outlets have published maps showing abortion laws state-by-state. The maps may be slightly different depending on the source and whether they consider laws like Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban enforceable. Here is one map from the Guardian and one from Politico.
Wisconsin organizations
- Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health: Avoiding fake abortion clinics, aka “crisis pregnancy centers”
- POWERS (this link includes Wisconsin and Illinois information)
- Wisconsin Abortion Support Network
Illinois
- Illinois law does not require a waiting period before accessing an abortion.
- Illinois-side resources, from Chicago Reader
- The Chicago Abortion Fund
- Planned Parenthood Abortion Services in Illinois
Minnesota
- Minnesota law requires a 24-hour waiting period between an initial appointment to include “counseling” and when someone can receive an abortion.
- Our Justice Assistance Fund & Lodging Help (Minnesota or Iowa)
- Abortion clinics in Minnesota
Self-managed Abortion
- Medication abortion by mail: AidAccess.org
- Plancpills.org
- Shareabortionpill.info
- Miscarriage + Abortion Hotline
- Mayday health education nonprofit
Additional resources
- Ineedana.com
- Abortion On Our Own Terms
- International Consortium for Emergency Contraception
- Abortion Finder
Fund abortions
Wisconsin’s legal landscape for abortion
In the story featured at the top of this email, Christina Lieffring lays out what overturning Roe means for the legality of abortion in Wisconsin, answering the questions: “How does a 19th-century law banning a medical procedure affect healthcare in 2022? And is it enforceable?”
Digital safety and security
If you are seeking a self-managed abortion or abortion care out-of-state, or if you’re in communication with someone who is, you may want to consider your safety and security practices, and consider how abortion intersects with debates over the role of police.
The Digital Defense Fund works to support abortion access and published a guide to digital abortion privacy which includes information about how to secure your browsing history, location data, messages, and more.
Legal resources
The Repro Legal Helpline can answer questions and provide legal information about self-managed abortion (here’s their self-managed abortion FAQ), and can support people under the age of 18 seeking an abortion without permission from a parent through judicial bypass. You can also contact the helpline if you are facing arrest or prosecution and need legal support.
The Repro Legal Defense Fund covers bail, attorney fees, court costs, and expert fees for people facing criminal charges for self-managed abortion.
Both the Repro Legal Helpline and Repro Legal Defense Fund are run by/in partnership with the nonprofit If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice.
Oral histories
Tone Madison has been publishing oral histories about abortion, miscarriage, birth control and reproductive health. We are in the process of switching to more secure methods for recording and saving these stories. We are taking time to learn more about digital security when reporting about abortion both so that we can protect ourselves and our sources, and so that we can provide accurate and complete information about any potential legal risks with people who may still choose to share their stories.
In the meantime, you can read past oral histories here.
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