Texas, long at the forefront of restrictive abortion policy in the U.S., has passed a new law (which goes into effect in early December) which would take state law and the already in-place abortion ban (SB 8) and apply it beyond its borders. Jessica Waters, Senior Scholar in Residence at the School of Public Affairs at American University, sits down with us to talk about Texas’ new law restricting telehealth medication abortion, an incredibly common and safe method of care.  

Specifically, the law prohibits the manufacturing and distribution of mifepristone in the state, and outlines the inability to mail, transport, deliver, prescribe, or provide abortion-inducing drugs to anyone in the state. Currently, pregnant people in Texas cannot receive legal abortion care, so they have relied upon out-of-state abortion care. This new law, though, allows for anyone to sue an out-of-state company or medical professional which provides a person in Texas with mifepristone, even if that doctor or company is in a state where abortion is legal. This law is in direct tension with the shield laws that protect against this very scenario. This will likely create a chilling effect on doctors and abortion funds out-of-state. 

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November 12, 2025, is #ThxBirthControl Day-- a day to celebrate the multiple methods of contraceptive care that allow people to live their fullest lives and reach their dreams and goals. Monica Edwards, Senior Manager, Public Policy at Power to Decide and Tara Mancini, Public Policy Director at Power to Decide, sit down to talk with us about the magic of #ThxBirthControl Day, as well as the recent attacks that threaten our access to the contraception that helps shape our lives.

Over 90% of adults agree that birth control should be legal. Three out of four voters believe that it should be easier to access. And nine and ten women of reproductive age have used birth control at some point in their life. Yet birth control faces ceaseless attacks including misinformation and disinformation, the creeping reclassification of contraception as ‘abortifacients,’ and the withholding of funds from Title X grantees. Join the #ThxBirthControl online campaign to share your story and fight back against these attacks.

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The U.S. government used to be the largest donor in family planning assistance at $400 million a year. There has been an explicit loss of U.S. leadership and resources in contemporary global health and foreign aid, with significant, negative impacts on supply and health outcomes. Anu Kumar, President and CEO at Ipas, sits down to talk with us about the current status of U.S. foreign assistance and how we can reimagine it for the better.

The U.S. government has not been supporting abortion care for 50 years since the Helms Amendment was passed in 1973, and contraception has been facing increasing attacks. The campaign of incorrectly and harmfully equating contraceptives with abortifacients is coming to a head. In addition, there is $9.7 billion dollars’ worth of contraception impacted by Trump’s foreign aid freeze, which are now sitting in a Belgian warehouse. But we can imagine a more comprehensive, better performing foreign assistance: a reduced transactional quality and the ability for recipient countries to form their own assistance delivery.

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In Brazil in the 1990s, women discovered using misoprostol for safe, self-managed abortion. In 1980 in France, mifepristone was discovered and in 1988, approved. Approval in the U.S. occurred shortly thereafter, in 2000. Rebecca Kelliher, journalist and author of Just Pills: The Extraordinary Story of a Revolution in Abortion Care, sits down to talk with us about her new book exploring the history of misoprostol and mifepristone.

The comprehensive approval, and global dispersion, of misoprostol and mifepristone took decades. Yet now, the most recent numbers show that 63% of U.S. abortions are medication abortions. These medications—specifically mifepristone—are under increasing attacks, with anti-abortion actors targeting telehealth prescription. In addition, lawsuits attempting to prevent the mailing of pills to states with abortion bans are becoming more frequent. While these attacks are devastating, we can look to Latin America for hope: in Argentina, underground feminist organizations formed to disperse misoprostol while the country faced a near-total abortion ban. 

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The term crisis pregnancy center (CPC) refers to anti-abortion facilities that mislead, confuse, delay, misinform, and purposefully re-direct pregnant people looking for education and services, including abortion care. They are often referred to as fake clinics, but they are beginning to offer some medical services. Garnet Henderson and Susan Rinkunas, journalists and co-founders of Autonomy News, sit down to talk with us about the new, harmful deceptions that CPCs are rolling out nationwide.

CPCs claim, without good evidence, an in-progress abortion can be halted through an “abortion pill reversal,” or the placement of progesterone between the ingestion of mifepristone and misoprostol—the two medications needed a medication abortion. This is based off myths of anecdotal regret, not scientific studies. In fact, the medical consensus is clear: the "abortion pill reversal" pseudoscience is ineffective and potentially dangerous. A case this Supreme Court term, First Choice Women's Resource Centers v. Platkin, stemmed from a subpoena from New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin to the First Choice chain of CPCs, seeking evidence on their abortion pill reversal claims. They have fought the subpoena up to the Supreme Court. 

Meanwhile, the "One Big Beautiful Bill" has cut Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid. Abortion providers are forced to make a choice: continue providing abortions and remain ineligible to participate in Medicaid, or halt abortion services. There is no early gestation ban on abortion in Wisconsin, but Planned Parenthood has chosen not to provide abortions in response to this law. 

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Anti-abortion extremists are hard at work attacking access through the courts, policy, clinic harassment, and more. Simultaneously, the Trump administration’s chaos—including RFK Jr.’s harmful actions as head of HHS—are continuing to disassemble comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights, brick-by-brick. Mini Timmaraju, President and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, sits down to talk with us about how anti-abortion extremists are endlessly and strategically beelining for abortion and contraception.

One focus of attack centers on mifepristone, the first of two medications taken during a medication abortion. It is extremely safe and has been available on the market for 25 years. Yet, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA out of Texas saw anti-abortion advocates arguing against mifepristone (despite FDA approval of hundreds of studies proving its safety). It was headed by anti-reproductive health and rights judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has now sent the case to Missouri. Judge Kacsmaryk has referenced the Comstock Act, which would ban the mailing of abortion pills. 

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The beginning of the new Supreme Court term has officially begun, and a storm of possible bad outcomes is brewing. Jessica Mason Pieklo, Co-Chief Content Officer of Rewire News Group and co-host of Boom! Lawyered, sits down with us to give us a holistic view of cases, tells us what to expect in the new court term, and highlights which cases we should be keeping an eye on in the lower courts.

A collection of cases over the summer gave us a peek into the health of the Supreme Court—especially the conservative majority’s willingness to facilitate the Trump administration’s agenda. Coming up this term includes a challenge to Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy (Chiles v. Salazar), a West Virginia ban on transgender girl’s participation in sports (B.P.J. v. West Virgina Board of Education), a case on no-knock searches by law enforcement, and a redistricting case in Louisiana (Louisiana v. Callais). Cases in the lower courts that are not yet on the Supreme Court docket (but could head there soon) include challenges to state shield laws and administration attacks to mifepristone and the FDA.

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Whether it’s communicated in polls or at the ballot box, access to abortion is extremely popular in the United States. Yet, our rights are being blatantly stripped away—and abortion care won’t be the only sexual and reproductive right to face attacks. Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, sits down to talk with us about the status of abortion access in the U.S., what to anticipate, and what brings her hope. 

We're experiencing a coordinated strategy by anti-abortion extremists to dismantle reproductive freedom nationwide. And they won’t stop just at abortion—contraception and gender-affirming care will face the exact same attacks, likely using the same strategies. The fight for emergency abortion care continues, too. Post-Dobbs and Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” hospitals, especially in rural areas, will continue to close their obstetrics wards. Abortion care will be continuously  pushed farther out of reach. 

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Abortion later in pregnancy is often misunderstood and heavily targeted through both policy and stigma. Erika Christensen, co-founder of Patient Forward and later abortion patient and advocate, Jenn Chalifoux-Gene, later abortion patient and advocate, and Dr. Diana Greene Foster, demographer and Professor at the University of California San Francisco and lead of the Turnaway Study, sits down to share their personal stories and talk with us about why access to later abortion will always be needed.

Some people—including young people, people with chronic health conditions, and people who have been recently pregnant—are late to discover they are pregnant. That means those who make this discovery later in pregnancy in states with six-week abortion bans do not have access to abortion. Further into pregnancy, costs rise, available providers decrease, and barriers to care mount. Since Dobbs, ten states have enshrined viability measures into their constitutions, and 41 states still ban abortion at some point in pregnancy. The good news? Culture is shifting—more Americans agree that legislators should not be involved in pregnancy decisions, including in the third trimester. There are also more clinics and providers for abortion later in pregnancy than there were previously, and states are continuing to repeal viability limits. 

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This week, we’re bringing you a special feed drop from Aborsh, a podcast that examines why talking about abortion is still such a big deal, what “choice” really means and looks like, and why that answer is different for different people.

In this episode, host Rachel Cairns takes a critical look at how abortion is represented in media and entertainment with the research initiative Abortion Onscreen and journalists Nora Loreto and Liz Renzetti—and what those portrayals reveal about the broader forces threatening bodily autonomy and gender equality, as well as how we can confront them. If you enjoy this conversation, check out the Aborsh wherever you get your podcasts!

https://www.aborsh.com

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