Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win

by Jessica Valenti

Abortion is an essential freedom—necessary for the self-determination of women and anyone else with the ability to get pregnant.[*1] It is not tragic, something to be apologized for, or a “necessary evil.” It is proactively, objectively good.

And that leads to the final, most insidious reason the anti-abortion movement opposes abortion medication. The pills robbed them of their favorite pastime: harassing women at clinics.

I know that’s right!

In 2023 Texas Republicans introduced legislation to make pro-choice websites illegal, specifically naming organizations that ship abortion medication. The legislation would also have allowed the state to charge abortion funds using the RICO Act, a federal law meant to target organized crime rings.

The sad truth is that Republicans probably didn’t even need to attach a financial incentive to their legislation, because some people simply enjoy tattling. That’s especially true when it comes to abortion, an issue hypercharged with misogyny, racism, and classism.

how do we stop them? First, by being good community members. (As my dad used to say, snitches get stitches.)

The problem, of course, is that it is. What was once unthinkable is now commonplace—the Overton window shattered in thousands of pieces beneath the feet of Republicans and anti-abortion activists. It took them less than two years to sprint from the end of Roe to publicly planning to trap women in states where they’re not seen as full human beings. Can you imagine the outcry if a law restricted men’s ability to leave their state? What horror, I wonder, will America think is ordinary two years from today?

It was a glimpse into what was to come: suffering shrugged off as rumor or political fodder, and the picking apart of any experience that makes abortion bans look bad. To too many Americans—men especially—there is no story good enough and no woman or girl credible enough. If the country doesn’t believe a ten-year-old rape victim, in what universe would they believe any of us?