I Walked 10 Miles and Visited 13 Stores to See How Hard It Is to Get Emergency Contraception
People Images/Getty Images “You need a prescription for this,” the pharmacist at CVS tells me when I appear at her counter with a box of Plan B One-Step. Even though the product is displayed on an open shelf next to pregnancy tests and packages of condoms, it’s packaged in a plastic container requiring store assistance…
The Best and Worst of Abortion TV Since the 1970s
ABC Previously, on TV: the abortion-quandary plotline, featuring an uncertain pregnant woman agonizing over her decision. For years, this was how abortion was portrayed—a right-wing fantasy, essentially, present even in shows with broadly liberal politics. But as the medium flowered in the new century, so did abortion TV. Now abortions could be just another part…
Has TV Ever Gotten Abortion Right?
Melinda Beck In 1981, eight years after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion and just a year before her breakout role as pregnant Stacy in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Jennifer Jason Leigh played another apparently knocked-up high schooler, this time in a CBS after-school special called I Think I’m Having a Baby. Leigh is Laurie,…
An Interview With My Mom About Her Abortion
Mother Jones illustration When my mom first told me over the phone about two years ago that she’d had an abortion in high school, she cried. I cried, too. Not because I was angry with her or because she regretted her decision. Quite the opposite. I was proud of her decision because I knew her choice…
The Crazy Story of How Alabama Accidentally Passed a Bill Upending Parental Rights
Mother Jones illustration; Getty After Alabama lawmakers banned almost all abortions in May, with no exception for rape or incest, Jessica Stallings, a rape survivor from Fort Payne, was frustrated. But not for the reasons you might expect. Stallings, a mother of two, actually supported the strict ban. She had been raped as a teen…
Federal Judge Blocks Missouri’s 8-Week Abortion Ban From Taking Effect
Steve Pellegrino/Zuma In May, Missouri passed a law banning abortion after eight weeks of gestation, with no exceptions for rape or incest. On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked the law a day before it was scheduled to go into effect. Missouri’s law, which includes exceptions for medical emergencies, criminalizes physicians who perform abortions after eight…