Dear John,

With the Supreme Court poised to decide whether to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case it will hear later this fall, it is rapidly becoming clearer that the fight for abortion access is at a critical juncture. In the face of states like Mississippi and Texas as well as others that have passed laws to ban pre-viability abortions, we were heartened last week to see the House pass the Women’s Health Protection Act — which would codify Roe’s abortion protections into law, for everyone across the country, no matter where they live. But it’s reality that without changes in the Senate rules to eliminate the filibuster, this critical bill will be stopped just like many other measures to protect our constitutional rights, inluding voting rights reforms and final Senate action on the Equal Rights Amendment.

In the meantime, clinics across the nation are overwhelmed in the face of increasingly restrictive bans. Ground zero in the Supreme Court case that will likely determine the fate of Roe v. Wade is Mississippi’s last remaining abortion clinic, the Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The clinic has become known as the Pink House, for its exterior coat of paint meant to defiantly ensure the clinic stands out amongst nearby buildings. In the fall issue of Ms., we take you inside the Pink House and talk with the clinic’s director, ​​Shannon Brewer, about the women the clinic serves and its importance to the women of Mississippi. Brewer points out that attacks on abortion don’t have equal impacts. “This is an attack on Black women,” Brewer told Ms., “on lower income women, on people who cannot afford to travel out of state and, you know, go to these private doctors’ offices and get them to privately give them the pill and privately give them an abortion.” We’ve included the article below. 

This week, we also marked the 21st anniversary of the FDA approval of mifepristone — the abortion pill – that has revolutionized abortion care. Given its proven safety and effectiveness, particularly during the pandemic, advocates are urging the Biden administration and FDA to drop all of the unneccessary restrictions placed on mifepristone when it was first approved, for example requiring multiple doctors visits and requiring the medication be taken in the physical presence of the provider.

Activists and advocates remind us that when the situation is this precarious, we are morally bankrupt if we stay silent — and this applies doubly so for anyone with institutional power. “It is extremely distressing to see the effective silence of corporate America at a time in which there’s no way to be on the sidelines,” former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told Ms. recently. “You’re either going to support people and this fight for safe and legal abortion in this country, or you’re on the other side.”

Later today, women across the nation will take to the streets to demand their rights to autonomy over their own bodies. We’ll be joining them — and we hope you will too.

For equality,

Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor