Why Now?

This is a national crisis – Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade. Abortion is now illegal in 13 states with bans pending in 3 states.

Following the passage of Texas SB 8, several states are poised to pass similar laws to threaten anyone who “aids and abets,” deputizing anti-abortion fanatics as bounty hunters to terrorize people seeking abortions.

We’re building a mass movement to show lawmakers and courts that their intimidation tactics won't work, and we aren't backing down.

What’s Behind the Anti-Abortion Crackdown?

States are not only trying to banning abortion, but they are also attempting to pass Comstock Act style laws to prohibit pregnant people from obtaining the abortion pill by mail. Some lawmakers are starting to target hormonal contraception, and currently 28 states mandate that abstinence be the focus of sex education.

At the same time, U.S. lawmakers are voting to cut health care, education, and social safety nets. It is clear that these politicians do not care about “life,” only birth.

Pro-Birth, Not “Pro-Life”

As the U.S. is facing a birth rate lower than it’s been in decades, our legislators are working to reverse that trend the cheapest way possible: forced births. While other countries encourage and support parents, our government is pushing the the cheapest pro-natalist strategy — criminalizing the tools that allow us to control when, if, and under what circumstances we have children.

Want to learn more about why reproductive freedom is under attack?

Read Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight Over Women’s Work by National Women’s Liberation Organizer Jenny Brown. Available at PM Press.

Get the Book

Timeline of Abortion Laws In The United States

  • 1873

    Since the 1776 establishment of the U.S. - created from stolen labor on stolen land - until 1873 when it was banned at the federal level, abortion was legal. “The abortion laws, or compulsory motherhood laws, were placed on lawbooks of every nation to guarantee a steady flow of increased population, as soldiers, as breeders, as future consumers.” (Lana Clark Phelan and Patricia Therese Maginnis, The Abortion Handbook for Responsible Women, North Hollywood: Contact Books, 1969, 41, 161.) The federal abortion ban is accompanied by Congress’s passage of the Comstock Act, which prohibits “obscene matter,” including contraceptives and information about contraceptives, to be sent through U.S. mail.

  • 1936

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit hears the case United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries, which originated when Dr. Hannah Stone, an associate of Margaret Sanger, ordered a diaphragm from a doctor in Tokyo. The court rules that the Tariff Act of 1930 – a law allowing shipments to be intercepted according to the guidelines of the Comstock Act – does not permit the U.S. to seize shipments of material prescribed by a doctor, clearing the way for contraceptives to be ordered from overseas.

  • 1960 & 1965

    In 1960, the first hormonal birth control pill for women is approved. In 1965, the Supreme Court decides the case Griswold v. Connecticut by confirming that married couples have a constitutional right to use contraception. The Supreme Court does not confirm this same right for unmarried couples until 1972, in Eisenstadt v. Baird. The Supreme Court will cite Griswold and Eisenstadt when deciding Roe v. Wade.

    Following these cases, in 1969 feminists in New York disrupted abortion hearings in to testify about their own illegal abortions. They shouted that they, not clergy and legislators, were the experts on women's lives. Actions like these and the first about speakouts, pushed NY legislators to create the first law allowing abortion in the US in 1970.

  • 1973

    The Supreme Court rules that the Constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion in Roe v. Wade and invalidates individual state laws banning abortion. Roe v. Wade was decided after significant pressure from feminist groups across the U.S. demanding the right to an abortion.

  • 1992

    The Supreme Court hears Planned Parenthood v. Casey and decides in favor of the state of Pennsylvania. Casey weakens Roe by allowing states to place restrictions on abortion – such as mandatory waiting periods, parental consent for minors, required scripts for doctors that share (almost universally false) information about the “consequences” of abortion. While the decision also prohibits these restrictions from placing an “undue burden” on access to abortion, it fails to define what this limit means.

  • 2022

    After record numbers of abortion restrictions are passed at the state level, SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022.

    Feminists, allies, and outraged people everywhere explode in protest following the SCOTUS decision. We have a chance to make history!