We’re very closely watching a federal court case in Texas that could potentially ban mifepristone in all 50 states. 

What is Mifepristone? 

Mifepristone is one of two medications typically prescribed for a medication abortion - most medication abortions involve taking mifepristone to stop the hormones that maintain a pregnancy, and misoprostol to induce contractions. Medication abortion with mifepristone is a safe, effective method of ending a pregnancy, and it accounts for over half of all abortions nationwide and 60% of abortions in Minnesota. 

What is this lawsuit? 

Anti-abortion lawyers filed this lawsuit to repeal all of the FDA’s actions regarding mifepristone, including FDA’s approval of mifepristone and the recent actions that allowed mifepristone to be administered via telehealth and distributed through the mail. It is clear that these lawyers’ goal has always been to ban abortion outright and stop us from making healthy choices for our own bodies and families. They filed this lawsuit with a specific federal judge in Texas who has a long history of attacking birth control access and LGBTQ rights.

We’re prepared for three potential outcomes:

1. The judge throws the case out (very unlikely)

2. The judge keeps the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, but reinstates restrictions that would ban patients from receiving mifepristone via telehealth, which would seriously limit options for patients in rural areas

3. The judge overturns the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, taking mifepristone off the market, possibly by citing an outdated pre-Roe law called the Comstock Act, which bans mailing of drugs and devices used to end a pregnancy

What will happen to medication abortion? Are there other options?

If the courts do ban Mifepristone, it will be a devastating blow. But it will not stop people from getting abortions, it will not change the fact that abortion is legal in Minnesota, and it will not stop Our Justice from funding abortions. Mifepristone is not the only way to safely end a pregnancy - it is also safe and effective to use misoprostol alone, and many providers will start using this method if mifepristone is banned. 

Another safe, affordable option for many people is to purchase mifepristone and misoprostol in advance to keep at home for future use. This is called advance provision, and our partners at Plan C have lots of resources on how to access this service!

How is Our Justice preparing for the decision?

Our Justice will continue directly funding abortion for anyone seeking care in Minnesota and one independent clinic in Iowa, including patients seeking medication abortion care. Medication abortion will still be available if mifepristone is banned, but it will be administered through misoprostol only. This will mean that many patients traveling to Minnesota may have to stay longer to pass their pregnancies because this method takes longer than the mifepristone/misoprostol method. 

Just because we can adapt to a new reality without mifepristone does not mean we should have to. We all deserve the full range of safe, dignified reproductive health care choices, and attempting to limit the number of abortion methods available to patients is a direct violation of our right to full bodily autonomy in reproductive health care.

Peace Our Justice community,

I am honored and excited to announce my transition from Vision Realization Advisor to the role of Executive Director of Our Justice. This is an incredible opportunity that speaks to my passions, skillset, and guiding principle; that we all deserve full bodily autonomy and a world free from reproductive oppression.

Over the last decade, I have dedicated my personal and professional talents toward making reproductive justice a reality. It’s a journey that I began at Whole Woman’s Health, an independent abortion clinic, as a phone counselor. I worked my way up to call center manager leading a team who provided compassionate care and education for folks seeking to access abortions across the nation. In 2017 I co-founded and ran Trust Collective for 3 years, a collective uplifting women and femmes of color to be engaged in reproductive justice storytelling. In 2019 I transitioned to the Vision Realization Advisor for Our Justice, and since then I have had the opportunity to deepen my holistic leadership and skill building, through the National Network of Abortion Funds Movement Makers Fellows Program.

Driven by my love and commitment to serve folks who are systematically excluded, I am eager to build upon the momentum that Our Justice has created over the last few years with the Plan B delivery program, our abortion lodging program and the UnRestrict MN campaign. As the new Executive Director, I pledge to keep you informed of our growth as I work toward achieving our priorities for 2022 — including updates about our litigation, the continued development of our staff and Board of Directors, and the commitment to solidify funding to enhance programmatic viability and expansion.

There is no denying that these last few years have been uniquely challenging for all of us, especially for those who face legal and economic barriers to accessing essential healthcare, including abortion care. For many people, these attacks on bodily autonomy are unprecedented, however for the majority of people who look like me, institutional oppression has been the norm- these barriers to care are not new, they just look different.

Nonetheless, our dedicated staff continues to exceed expectations, finding innovative ways to support our grantees and communities through legal attacks and impacts of the pandemic. Thanks to your generosity, our team has improved our intake systems to better support our grantees and the influx of out-of-state grantees that we may be seeing with the potential fall of Roe. Not only that, our team has been instrumental in the litigation to reaffirm and expand Minnesota’s protections for access to abortion care. Your support has never been more critical to fulfilling our mission. I am confident that with you by our side Our Justice will continue to make Reproductive Justice feel more irresistible, and shift resources so that our communities have the power to make sexual and reproductive health decisions with self-determination.

Thank you again for your support and Happy New Year! 

Sincerely,

Shayla Walker, Executive Director

What we do is more important than what we say or what we say we believe. - bell hooks 

As an organization providing direct financial and logistical support for abortion care, we see the impacts of state-level abortion restrictions firsthand. Restrictions like a 24-hour waiting period, physician-only requirements, and two-parent notifications for minors create barriers to abortion care that disproportionately affect people of color, people with low incomes, and youth.

Our Justice’s Vision Realization Advisor, Shayla, joined local abortion providers and advocates to put together a report with If/When/How on the impact that Minnesota’s forced parental involvement laws have on youth. The two-parent notification law forces young people under age 18 seeking abortion care in Minnesota to choose between several bleak scenarios: notifying both parents of their decision regardless of their relationship, having an abortion provider notify their parents about their private medical decision 48 hours prior to accessing the care they need, or going to court to request an order from a judge to bypass the two-parent notification.

Imagine being a young person finding out that you are pregnant, trying to schedule an abortion in a state with multiple week scheduling delays at every clinic, figuring out how to pay for your procedure, and then finding out you have to go to court for a stranger behind a bench to decide if it is in your best interest to access the health care you need. As one advocate quoted in the report says,

“Most people haven’t been to court. They’ve only seen it on TV. And if you’re a person of color, interacting with the court can be extremely stressful and traumatizing for young people. Even though I’m constantly telling people their information is confidential inside the courtroom, that doesn’t mean their experience feels that way from beginning to end. There’s an armed deputy and cameras when you first enter the courthouse building. It’s scary. It’s a big deal.”

Read the full report here.

The two-parent notification law is just one of over a dozen abortion restrictions we’re challenging in a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota. Donate today to help us dismantle legal barriers to abortion access and ensure bodily autonomy for everyone!

Brittany Delaney is a spoken word artist, a friend, community member, and Black mama of two surviving the autoimmune disease, lupus. While undergoing treatment this past February at M Health Fairview Ridges, Brittany was subjected to the racist, negligent care that is all too common for Black people in our hospital system.

Doctors and nurses repeatedly failed to inform her about changes to her care, mismanaged her medications, and refused to listen to Brittany when she experienced pain and negative reactions to the doctors’ treatments. Hospital staff tried to coerce Brittany into signing inaccurate discharge forms to relieve themselves of responsibility for her care. The medical providers entrusted with Brittany’s care refused wheelchair rides, made thinly-veiled threats to her primary care physician, and botched a basic surgical procedure for Brittany that prompted severe migraines and yet another trip to the hospital to correct the error.

All of this during a pandemic where Brittany cannot have visitors, forcing her to navigate these injustices and figure out how to pay the hospital bills - all while she is trying to parent her children.

This is just a brief snapshot of a document detailing the medical racism Brittany is facing while trying to navigate a system that is supposed to take care of her. On Black Maternal Health Week, we want to acknowledge that although conversations around Black maternal health typically focus on birthing, the health of Black mamas goes beyond birthing to include all of the care and resources needed to keep Black mamas and families healthy for their whole lives.

Black maternal health means caring for the whole person, building a vision of Reproductive Justice where Black mamas have the power, autonomy, and resources they need to have safe pregnancy outcomes and raise healthy families. In this world, Black mamas raise their kids in communities with abundant care, love, and room to grow - free from fear of police violence and white supremacy. In this world, Brittany’s needs are taken seriously, and she can go to a hospital knowing that doctors are there to prioritize her comfort so she can go home safely to her family.

But we just aren’t there yet. Black mamas still lack access to systems that truly care for us. If we have a medical emergency, we can’t trust hospitals to treat us with compassion and care. If we are in crisis, we can’t call the police without fear of violence against us and our families. If we want our story told, we can’t depend on the media to accurately tell our stories without exploiting them. We turn to our community to get our needs met, to fellow Black mamas who face the same racism of a system that constantly exploits, devalues, and extinguishes Black life. Our community is what holds us, gives us rides, keeps us company on the phone, brings us meals, and advocates for the value of our lives when systems of power fail us.

But the reality is that those systems of community care are not well-resourced, and to achieve Reproductive Justice we have to dismantle white supremacy by uplifting and prioritizing the networks of community care that truly sustain us. We need doctors and nurses who look like us, who know our lives and know that the health of Black mamas is bound up with the health of Black families and communities. We need care that is affordable and accessible, and we need to know that if something goes wrong in our treatment, our voices will be heard. How can we expect Brittany to be there for her kids if she can’t get what she needs to care for herself?

It is a privilege to believe systems of power - hospitals, police, government - exist to care for you. It’s a privilege that Black women have never had. This Black Maternal Health week, we remain committed to holding Black life sacred, to nourishing the health of Black mamas and realizing a full vision of Reproductive Justice.

To support Brittany, please consider providing direct aid to her via Paypal or CashApp.

Black Maternal Health week was an initiative created by Black Mamas Matter - we at Our Justice recognize and respect that many people with the ability to birth may not resonate with the term mama. Your health, your family, and your bodily autonomy are essential parts of the vision for Reproductive Justice.