Autonomy News

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A worker-owned reproductive rights and justice publication cofounded by @garnethenderson.com and @susanrinkunas.com. autonomynews.co

screenshot of a bundle offer for three worker-owned publications: Feminist Bundle 90-day Bundle Pass. Save 50%. Get full access. In this bundle: The Flytrap by @theflytrap $19.98 now $9.99 Mothership by @mothership $21 now $10.50 Autonomy News by @autonomynews $24 now $12 https://trustfnd.com/autonomynews/c/feminist-bundle--1JEkn65NDP3jD6BA5tiS It's from a platform called Trustfnd, which launched earlier this year: https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/04/three-newsletters-for-the-price-of-1-5-independent-journalists-experiment-with-a-bundle/
Screenshot from the STAT morning rounds newsletter sent on 6.8.26: What we’re reading * Scientists edit human embryo genes with startling precision, New York Times * Woman accused of fabricating abortion pill ‘coercion’ story allegedly hid text messages, second phone, Autonomy News https://www.autonomynews.co/woman-accused-of-fabricating-abortion-pill-coercion-story-allegedly-hid-text-messages-second-phone/ * Opinion: American horses are obese, too, STAT * How prediction markets could forecast the future of science, Scientific American * Opinion: $2 million gene therapy cures require a financing model, STAT link: https://www.statnews.com/2026/06/08/health-news-readouts-from-annual-diabetes-conference/
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screenshot from Autonomy News' first anniversary post: Planned Parenthood tried to publicly discredit our reporting, calling the facts in our story an “outright lie.” We stood by our work, which wasn’t easy to do as a brand new outlet. Months later, they admitted we were right. When one Planned Parenthood affiliate did temporarily stop providing abortions, we were the first to report it—though not all the larger outlets that picked up the story credited us. We’ve continued our unflinching journalism. For example, we were the first outlet to report on a worker strike that shut down the country’s largest abortion fund for a day, and that a pro-choice group in Utah considered boosting Republican candidates. We’ve covered stories and angles that other outlets miss, like new restrictions on the birth control implant, how the Trump administration’s attacks on gender-affirming care could spell danger for abortion pills, and why access to mifepristone isn’t safe in the long run. We’ve approached cases of pregnancy criminalization with a level of humanity and accuracy too often missing from news coverage. And we’ve published major investigations that would have been tackled by big teams at any other outlet. We’ve also sent out 52 weekly news roundups that allow people to stay informed with just one email per week. Finally, we’re honored to have become a destination for op-eds and book excerpts as feminist news outlets disappear.
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screenshot from Autonomy News with two sentences highlighted in blue: Autonomy News reported in April that artificial intelligence had emerged as a sticking point in contract negotiations between management and the National Abortion Hotline Union, organized with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. Specifically, workers said they asked that management agree to negotiate with the union prior to implementing any AI technology that could result in members losing their jobs. This proposal already represented a significant compromise on the workers’ side, a union spokesperson told Autonomy News: Initially, the union asked to bargain over any implementation of AI technology that would “substantially affect our workflow and patient care more broadly.” “We have made tremendous concessions despite our concerns,” wrote the spokesperson, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of retaliation. **“We are not asking for a ban on new technology. We are asking for a voice in a decision that has the potential to eliminate our jobs and directly impact the lives of millions who [will] rely on our hotline to help them navigate accessing abortion care.”**
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An image with text that says: Our first birthday is almost here. Help us celebrate: Support our work for just $50 per year! Subscribe today: bit.ly/ANbirthday Everyone with an active paid subscription as of June 4 will be entered into a raffle for free merch!
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screenshot of Strict Scrutiny co-host Leah Litman name-checking Autonomy News' reporting during their episode from May 18, 2026. the closed caption on the screen reads "...chaos and this new independent news source Autonomy News reported that..." It starts at around 5:00 in the YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQerLr6fH2k It starts around 9:00 in the Spotify app https://open.spotify.com/episode/7x4Ibgf0ZZbjvNqRWRg6MS
“Our position as a unit is that we do not think it is right for abortion providers and seekers to have to interface with AI in the place of speaking with a knowledgeable and supportive team member,” the representative continued. “We hear from callers every day that they are grateful to reach a human, that we are the first person or the only person they have felt safe to talk to. All of our team understands the enormity of that.”
“I need to do this as discreetly as possible,” wrote a 26-year-old from Mississippi. “I’m in a relationship that I’m trying to safely get out of and I can’t be pregnant while I do it. I can’t have a baby with him. I can’t have another baby, period.” “My husband raped me when I asked for a divorce and impregnated me in an attempt to get me to stay,” wrote a 25-year-old in Texas. “He doesn’t know and he can’t know or I can’t divorce him. He is financially controlling so I don’t have a lot of money at this time. Thank you.”
Autonomy News screenshot 1/2: Abortion rights are straightforwardly popular, while transgender healthcare remains less so. The GOP appears eager to take advantage of that fact. Anti-abortion activists have tried to get people to vote against protective reproductive rights ballot measures by claiming they would legalize gender-affirming care without parental consent. Activists trotted this tactic out in Ohio in 2023, and Missouri and New York in 2024. Thankfully, it failed each time. But now conservatives are attempting the inverse: using opposition to this care to force through a ban on abortion. Missouri Republicans know voters wouldn’t approve an abortion ban worded as such, so they’re asking them to ban something else that’s already illegal. Steven Rogers, an assistant professor of political science at St. Louis University and director of the SLU/YouGov poll, told the Missouri Independent that, based on the results, he expects proponents to emphasize the gender-affirming care ban. “I think the fight that we’re going to see in the airwaves and in the rhetoric from the people supporting the amendment is really going to be about gender-affirming care, even though, by statute, it’s not going to make an effective change,” Rogers said.
Autonomy News screenshot 1/2: Dougherty County district attorney Greg Edwards dropped the murder charge before ever presenting the case to a grand jury for indictment. Edwards said in a statement that his office concluded after “thorough legal research” that Georgia law doesn’t permit prosecution of women “for any alleged acts relating to the end of her pregnancy.” He added that state lawmakers would have to pass a law definitively allowing such charges. Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel and legal director at the reproductive justice organization If/When/How, said the 2015 murder charge was correctly dropped, and that Georgia law on this matter remains the same—even after the abortion ban took effect.
It was Election Day 2024 and I was trafficking an unborn child across North Texas. That is, I was driving from Dallas to Amarillo while five weeks pregnant, an act that the chinstrap-bearded anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson would deem “abortion trafficking of an unborn child”—if I was on my way to an abortion clinic. Instead, I was on my way to a polling place in the Texas panhandle to meet Dickson, the Johnny Appleseed of the anti-abortion movement, a 40-year-old virgin who had spent the past five years traveling through Texas and beyond in a button-down shirt, black backward baseball cap, and sneakers, sowing the poison fruits of anti-abortion innovation. His “Sanctuary City for the Unborn” ordinances proved the legal framework that was used to ban abortion at about six weeks across Texas in 2021. The Supreme Court allowed the ban to take effect in what turned out to be a preview of the murder of Roe v. Wade.
Screenshot from the STAT morning rounds newsletter: STAT NEWS What we're reading • Newly revealed emails undermine RFK Jr testimony about 2019 Samoa trip ahead of measles outbreak, The Guardian • The FDA quietly slapped more restrictions on the birth control implant, Autonomy News LINK https://www.autonomynews.co/fda-restrictions-birth-control-implant-nexplanon/ • First Opinion: As a scientist and NFL widow, I am furious about a recent NFL Players Association-funded CTE study, STAT • Epstein files reveal deeper ties to scientists than previously known, Nature • White House looks for more drug pricing deals to add to TrumpRx, STAT https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/09/health-news-nih-grant-reviewers-political-influence/
screenshot of our Bluesky profile showing we have 10,000 followers: Autonomy News [verified check mark] @autonomynews.co 10K followers 5 following 289 posts A worker-owned reproductive rights and justice publication cofounded by @garnethenderson.com and @susanrinkunas.com. autonomynews.co
screenshot from anti-abortion site LifeNews referring to us as pro-abortion, which they view as an insult and we take as a compliment: "One pro-abortion [news outlet] specified some of the allegations from staff, which included that Akposé wanted Planned Parenthood to talk about abortion less, that she didn’t use staff’s “correct” pronouns, and that she wanted to make a statement when Charlie Kirk was assassinated." in the bracketed text, they link to this story about the Planned Parenthood Southeast affiliate: https://www.autonomynews.co/embattled-planned-parenthood-affiliate-ceo-wanted-to-halt-abortions/ technically this LifeNews post was written by a staffer of American Life League: https://www.lifenews.com/2026/02/05/planned-parenthood-affiliate-gets-new-leader-to-push-its-abortion-agenda/
Given the FDA’s history, and a lack of clarity around its purported safety concerns with Nexplanon, some question why an additional layer of regulation is necessary. “The most important thing is transparency,” Jeanlus said. “Regulatory safeguards should match real-world risk and should never create unnecessary barriers to highly effective, evidence-based contraception. As a doctor, my priority is to protect patient safety and patient access. Those two goals must always move together—not in opposition.” This could be an area for advocacy, Paradise suggested. “Maybe there needs to be a new requirement that the FDA has to release that new safety data” to justify a decision like the one it’s made with Nexplanon, she said.
screenshot from Autonomy News: The fact that, for now, the FDA is asking to preserve the status quo is important. The White House seems to believe it’s a bigger risk to alienate moderate voters than it is to upset abortion opponents who will likely vote Republican no matter what. Anonymous aides have said as much in response to anti-abortion groups threatening to withhold get-out-the-vote-efforts. The administration doesn't want any changes to abortion pill access before the midterms, when Republicans are expected to lose control of the House, and possibly lose seats in the Senate. Loss of the House would ensure that Democrats impeach Trump again. The president knows it, and he has even tied his fate to abortion. When speaking to Republican House members earlier this month, Trump explicitly invoked this threat. “If we don't win the midterms, it's just going to be—I mean, they'll find a reason to impeach me. I'll get impeached," Trump said. It was during that meeting that he told lawmakers they needed to be "flexible" on the anti-abortion Hyde Amendment when it came to Affordable Care Act insurance plans, drawing the ire of anti-abortion groups.
graphic showing Autonomy News offer extended: text: "Sign up for a new, paid annual subscription by 1/31, and you’ll receive a free, signed book!" There is a photo of copy of Gretchen Sisson’s book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. (Sisson is a researcher, and an Autonomy News subscriber.) Longer description of the book is available here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/relinquished-the-politics-of-adoption-and-the-privilege-of-american-motherhood-gretchen-sisson/f746d423d7e7a5bb
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graphic showing Autonomy News offer extended: "Sign up for a new, paid annual subscription by 1/31, and you’ll receive a free, signed book!" There is a photo of copy of researcher (and Autonomy News subscriber) Gretchen Sisson’s book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. Longer description of the book available here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/relinquished-the-politics-of-adoption-and-the-privilege-of-american-motherhood-gretchen-sisson/f746d423d7e7a5bb
screenshot from The Guardian: In June, the reproductive rights journalists Garnet Henderson and Susan Rinkunas launched Autonomy News, a worker-owned independent publication covering abortion, birth control and gender-affirming care. In June, they published a scoop about Planned Parenthood, the US’s largest abortion provider, considering letting its affiliates abandon abortion care to keep Medicaid funding (the organization called the report “false” before confirming it three months later). In October, they published a collaboration with Mother Jones on the legal fight over abortion pill “reversal” claims, which was cited at the annual conference of the Society of Family Planning. links in order: https://www.autonomynews.co/ https://www.autonomynews.co/planned-parenthood-affiliates-drop-abortion-defunding-medicaid/ https://www.autonomynews.co/planned-parenthood-confirms-it-considered-allowing-some-affiliates-to-drop-abortion-care/ https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/how-abortion-pill-reversal-became-a-powerful-right-wing-legal-weapon/
Autonomy News screenshot: On Wednesday morning, the state’s attorney filed to dismiss the fetal homicide charge, but only after presenting it to a grand jury which indicted the woman on charges of fetal homicide, tampering with physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, and a new charge of concealing the birth of an infant, according to jail records. The prosecutor, Miranda King—who campaigned as a Democrat—openly admitted she opposes abortion. "I sought this job with the intention of being a pro-life prosecutor but must do so within the boundaries allowed by the Kentucky State law I'm sworn to defend," King said in a statement to press. "I will prosecute the remaining lawful charges fully and fairly." A Kentucky State Police spokesperson told Autonomy News it had discussed the investigation with King’s office before charges were filed.
graphic showing Autonomy News offer extended: "Sign up for a new, paid annual subscription by 1/31, and you’ll receive a free, signed book!" There is a photo of copy of researcher (and Autonomy News subscriber) Gretchen Sisson’s book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood.
Blue graphic 1 of 4 with Autonomy News logo that says: Final days $13,000 left to raise! What we shared on Instagram: Not quite seven months ago, we launched Autonomy News with a powerful vision: Well-sourced, critical reporting that doesn’t exploit workers behind the scenes. A publication built on the awareness that bodily autonomy isn’t a niche issue, but a defining one in all our lives. Worker-owned journalism that holds all power to account, even when it’s inconvenient. Your support so far—which lifted us past our initial $50,000 fundraising goal—confirms that you believe in this vision, too. Now in these final days of the year, we have just $13,000 left to raise to hit our stretch goal of $75,000. Your gift will help us pay ourselves a living wage, and keep our work sustainable in 2026. Make a tax-deductible donation at bit.ly/autonomynews today! For information about how to give from a donor-advised fund or by check, visit autonomynews.co/support
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Help us make our work sustainable by making a tax-deductible gift to Tiny News Collective—our fiscal sponsor—on behalf of Autonomy News. $61,585 raised [blue thermometer] 82% of $75,000 goal · 25 supporters Campaign ends Dec 31, 2025 at 11:59pm
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graphic showing five holiday ornaments on a blue background with the Autonomy News logo at bottom center. Ornaments from left to right: Just "abortion" ornament https://www.bonfire.com/just-abortion-ornament/ Bad stork ornament (Victorian woman swinging a parasol at a stork trying to bring her a baby) https://www.bonfire.com/bad-stork-ornament/ All Comstocks Are Bastards ornament (Anthony Comstock) https://www.bonfire.com/all-comstocks-are-bastards-ornament/ Cursive abortion ornament https://www.bonfire.com/cursive-abortion-ornament/ Say the word abortion ornament https://www.bonfire.com/say-the-word-abortion-ornament/
screenshot: In fact, we’ve been first on a long list of stories: the controversy embroiling a new abortion care OBGYN subspecialty, a mysterious survey sent to OBGYNs by an anti-abortion group, an apparently fake abortion practical support service, and the wild $100 million counterclaim in a highly publicized wrongful death lawsuit over abortion pills. Most recently, in a collaboration with Mother Jones, we reported on exclusive audio recordings from a crisis pregnancy center conference, breaking down what behind-closed-doors conversations reveal about the anti-abortion movement’s strategy. We’ve scooped the New York Times, and our reporting has been cited by The Guardian, Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine, Crooked Media’s Hysteria podcast, and even in a federal court case.
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screenshot from Plan C pills Illinois state page: Visitors will now see provider data presented in rows and columns, rather than separate boxes, so they can easily compare services. [rows for four pill providers and data shown include service name, price, delivery time, and pregnancy gestation and ages served] Users have more filtering options, too: They can sort by interaction type (i.e., whether or not a video visit is required), weeks of pregnancy, ages served, and languages spoken. An existing filter allows visitors to select providers that offer pills for future use, known as “advance provision.”
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Personhood watch A very scary total abortion ban, which would classify abortion as homicide, will be heard by a South Carolina Senate committee on Wednesday. If the bill is enacted, people who have abortions could be charged with murder. Alarmingly, the bill contains an explicit exception for contraception—but defines contraception as “the prevention of fertilization of an ovum by a sperm.” A “contraceptive” is specifically defined as “a drug, device, or chemical that prevents conception.” Currently, drugs and devices that prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg are also considered contraceptives under state law, but this bill would remove that part of the definition, seemingly elevating the status of fertilized eggs under law. As we recently explained, contraceptives like IUDs and the morning-after pill don’t generally work by preventing implantation—but conservatives often claim they do. This redefinition suggests that South Carolina Republicans may be itching to target these forms of birth control by claiming they cause abortion, echoing recent rhetoric from the Trump administration.
White crewneck sweatshirt that has the words “say the word abortion” printed on it plus our logo very tiny
A Republican House member has introduced a federal informed consent bill that would require providers of medication abortions to tell their patients that it may be possible to reverse the effects of mifepristone if they change their mind. This crackpot theory is known as abortion pill “reversal” (APR)—and there is no good scientific evidence to support it. Rep. August Pfluger (TX-11) calls his proposal the “The Second Chance at Life Act” and it’s supported by groups including SBA, National Right to Life Committee, and Students for Life Action. The legislation is unlikely to become law as it would need 60 votes in the Senate in order to pass, but it is nonetheless alarming to see the GOP rally behind this experimental protocol. Autonomy News has been working on a big story about APR, so look out for that in the coming weeks.
Mother Jones Cooprider is seeking $100 million in damages, but pledges in his counterclaim to donate any proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project. Watts and two other attorneys said they are working on the case pro bono. This article was republished from Autonomy News, a worker-owned publication covering reproductive rights and justice. Sign up for a free or paid subscription, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky.
Screen recording video showing the Autonomy News website in light mode with a white background and a blue logo, then shifting to dark mode with a black background and a green logo. It is set to a remix of “electric love,” and when the beat drops is when it ships from light to dark.
[Screenshot of the website Autonomy News where the background color is black and the logo is lime green. Most Text is white with lime green and bright blue accents.] [Blue banner at top of webpage] Welcome to Autonomy News! Learn more about us. Autonomy News ABOUT / SUPPORT US / TIP JAR [photo of a person holding a box of mifepristone in their left hand] ABORTION Texas Woman Files Wrongful Death Suit, Alleges Man Slipped Abortion Pills in Her Drink Jonathan Mitchell is representing a woman suing both her male partner and Aid Access…
screenshot from Hysteria show page: In This Episode This week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul stood with the Texas Democrats in their fight against corrupt Republican gerrymandering. Today, she joins Hysteria to talk about fighting fire with fire, her own redistricting plans for New York, and how her state is handling Trump 2.0. Erin and Alyssa also discuss Trump’s atrocious plans to build a White House ballroom, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Nancy Mace’s latest pick-me BS, and a roundup of new reproductive rights threats around the country. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast. Experts Raise Concerns Over Trump’s White House Ballroom Renovation Plans (NY Times 8/3) Nancy Mace Announces Run for Governor of South Carolina (NY Time 8/4) Miss United States Files Restraining Order Against GOP Rep. Cory Mills (Drop Site 8/5) Marjorie Taylor Greene says Republican party has lost touch with its base (The Guardian 8/4) **Arkansas AG Threatens to Sue Sites for Providing Info About Abortion Pills (Autonomy News 11/2)** Idaho’s OBGYNs Are Jumping Ship (Jezebel 8/1) Trump moves to bar nearly all abortions at Veterans Affairs hospitals (WaPo 8/4) OB-GYN group won’t take federal funds over Trump policies (Axios 8/1) Trump’s cynical bait-and-switch on IVF (CNN 8/4)
Screen recording of an episode of the hysteria podcast. There is close captioning on the video.
screenshot: Republican Attorneys General Take Aim at Interstate Sale of Abortion Pills The Republican attorney general of Arkansas, Tim Griffin, is threatening to sue websites that provide information about medication abortion, part of a broader GOP effort to threaten the accessibility of abortion pills across state lines, Susan Rinkunas reports at Autonomy News.
Screenshot The Trump administration reversed Biden-era legal guidance that allowed federal funding to be used to pay for abortion-related travel, but not the abortion itself. After the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Joe Biden's Health Department took the view that paying for travel associated with abortion didn't violate the Hyde Amendment ban on funding abortion. That interpretation was backed up by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the Justice Department, but Trump's C.C now says its predecessors were wrong. This is bad on its own, and it's another reminder that OLC could rescind guidance on the Comstock Act, which conservatives want Trump to weaponize to ban abortion pills if not all abortions nationwide.
Screenshot from the New York Times with part of a sentence highlighted: Planned Parenthood Federation of America has vowed to continue providing abortions, even in states where funding would be jeopardized by doing so. That said, it is up to the affiliates, which operate independently from the national organization and are responsible for their own budgets, to evaluate how the bill could affect them and decide how to respond if Congress blocks federal funding. Medicaid funding accounts for large portions of the operating budgets of many affiliates, and discussions for some of them will be based on how to keep operating without it. Angela Vasquez-Giroux, a national spokeswoman for Planned Parer thood Federation of America, said that **the national office would never recommend that affiliates stop performing abortions. But the national organization "does not direct the actions of an affiliate,"** she added. "Our governance structure does not allow for that, by design." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/us/politics/planned-parenthood-abortions-senate-medicaid-funding.html
screenshot from Autonomy News about a case currently before the Fifth Circuit court of appeals: In United States ex rel. Doe v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Alex Doe accuses Planned Parenthood of violating the federal False Claims Act by improperly billing Texas Medicaid for $17 million in non-abortion services provided during yearslong litigation over whether it could remain in the program. The suit, later joined by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seeks $1.8 billion in penalties. In February, a three-judge panel said PPFA was immune from the suit, but then the anonymous plaintiff asked for a hearing before the full court and that request was approved. Doe filed the suit in 2021 in Amarillo, Texas, where Planned Parenthood doesn’t have a single clinic, but where he was guaranteed to draw anti-abortion Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. Who is this savvy litigant? Both KFF Health News and The Guardian revealed Alex Doe to be David Daleiden, the anti-abortion activist who in 2015 falsely accused Planned Parenthood of profiting from the sale of fetal tissue for scientific research. Daleiden’s organization, the Center for Medical Progress, released deceptively edited sting videos that resulted in several fruitless investigations of Planned Parenthood, though they did lead states, including Texas and South Carolina, to kick the healthcare provider out of Medicaid. Now, he’s weaponizing the Texas Medicaid policy change to try to shut down multiple Planned Parenthood affiliates, and perhaps the entire organization.
Photo of Instagram post of this story by autonomy news. the headline is: Planned Parenthood may allow affiliates to drop abortion care to avoid “defunding”