Feminist writer Jessica Valenti’s Substack newsletter, called “Abortion, Every Day,” began as a personal effort to track the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn long-standing abortion rights in 2022.
But it has now become a daily chronicle of American women's struggle for reproductive freedom.
In an interview with AFP Ahead of the release of her latest book, “Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win,” the 45-year-old New Yorker urged progressives to go on the offensive and underscored what's at stake for Americans as the upcoming election approaches.
“If Harris loses, we will definitely pursue a national abortion ban, even if it's not a formal ban in Congress,” Valenti said from her home in Brooklyn.
One of former President Donald Trump's first moves, Valenti warned, could be to replace the head of the Food and Drug Administration and restrict access to abortion pills, possibly reversing rules that now allow them to be sent by mail.
Conservative legal scholars go further, suggesting that a future administration could interpret a 19th-century obscenity law to block access to all abortion-related supplies, not just the pills.
That would effectively end the procedure nationwide, even in states where it remains legal.
Valenti remembers when feminists who warned that Roe could fall were dismissed as hysterical.
“We are being told once again that this will never happen,” he said. “The same experts refuse to acknowledge that we are probably right again.”
Since the Supreme Court's conservative majority, including three Trump appointees, issued its ruling, 22 states have banned or severely restricted abortion.
Some states allowed exceptions in cases of rape or to save a woman's life, but these have proven widely inadequate, forcing some women to cross state lines to receive life-saving care.
None of this is accidental, Valenti argues: Those exceptions were designed to make the bans seem less harsh, while keeping abortion nearly impossible to obtain.
Her latest book comes as ProPublica reported on the deaths of two black women in Georgia, deaths that might have been prevented if not for the state's criminalization of dilation and curettage (D&C) procedures commonly used in abortions.
“It's impossible for them to credibly claim to be about saving lives and being 'pro-life,'” Valenti said.
She believes the US anti-abortion movement is best understood as a misogynistic, white Christian supremacist project that seeks to turn back the clock decades.
For Valenti, as for many women, reproductive autonomy is not only political but deeply personal.
She had her first pregnancy three months before meeting her husband; they had a daughter two years later.
Although she longed to have another child, complications during a subsequent pregnancy gave her a 50% chance of developing a fatal disease.
“Of course, there was no real decision,” she said. “I made a motherly decision,” opting to terminate the pregnancy to ensure her daughter would not be left motherless.
While the media often focuses on “horror stories” of women losing their fertility – or their lives – due to abortion bans, Valenti stressed that “every denied abortion is a tragedy.”
Sometimes people just “don't want to be pregnant, and that's okay, it's vital to their freedom over their body, their life and their future.”
Strategically, Valenti urges Democrats to move beyond advocating for abortion to be “safe, legal and rare” and instead focus on strengthening legal protections.
“We're at a time when abortion is more popular than ever,” he said, citing polls showing broad bipartisan support for keeping the government out of the issue.
Over the past two years, whether in midterm elections, ballot initiatives or state judicial races, “in any election where abortion has played a role, abortion rights have prevailed,” Valenti added.
With Harris, a pro-choice advocate, leading the Democratic ticket, Valenti feels “more hopeful” than when the more cautious Joe Biden was running.
However, Republican Trump “has acted strategically by pretending to be more moderate on abortion, deliberately muddying his position,” Valenti warned. “I remain concerned.”
