Coming up for air
I want to fill you in on my travels...and the reasons for my silence so far in 2023
Hello, friends. I’ve been quiet…well, all year.
2023 has been kind of a lot.
I’ll get to that in a bit. But first…a lot of that “a lot” just comes down to having a day job covering a relentless, complex, and dynamic beat for NPR: abortion and reproductive rights policy….with a little bit of national politics thrown in from time to time. There’s never really a lull.
I’m just back from Austin, Texas, where this week five women sued their state, saying its abortion bans put their health and lives in danger.
Four of the five women suing the state of Texas spoke Tuesday, March 7, at the Texas statehouse in Austin/ Sarah McCammon This lawsuit comes just over a year after I traveled to Austin to interview a woman named Anna. She wanted to tell me her story about being denied an abortion after her water broke prematurely. Doctors told her that her baby could not survive, and her health was in danger, but they could not provide an abortion under the Texas law known as S.B. 8.
At that time - the early days of that law, which allows citizens to sue people accused of “aiding or abetting” an illegal abortion - she asked us to keep her last name confidential. As I wrote in this thread on twitter, Anna and her doctors were afraid of repercussions even though she couldn’t get an abortion in Texas. She told me about the trauma of her experience - losing a wanted pregnancy, fearing she would develop an infection or worse, making the decision to travel to Colorado for an abortion, with the imminent threat of active labor.1
This week, Anna and four other women sued Texas. Four of the five women who filed the lawsuit - one heavily pregnant and due to give birth this month - stood in front of the state capitol in Austin Tuesday and told their stories. Each story is different, but they all were denied abortions - or faced delays - in Texas, despite medical complications involving themselves or their fetuses. (For more on one of those stories, see this excellent piece by my NPR colleague Selena Simmons-Duffin).
What comes next is unclear, but the women and two doctors who joined the suit are asking a state court to clarify the scope of the medical exceptions in Texas’ abortion bans. John Seago of Texas Right to Life told me his group has been working with state lawmakers to propose legislation that would instruct state health officials to issue guidance. So if this is resolved to on extent or another, it could be in the legislature, by state regulators, or in court.
A few other things I’ve been up to:
I reported for NPR on efforts to bring the “Green Wave” - a movement of Latin American reproductive rights activists who use green bananas as a symbol - to the United States, in the form of a meeting between reproductive rights activists in D.C. from across the Americas.
Green bananas are a symbol for Latin American reproductive rights activists/Sarah McCammon I’ve also been busy covering all of the twists and turns in the fight over access to the abortion drug mifepristone. Bottom line: abortion pills are used by a majority of people who get abortions in the U.S., and the vast majority of them use mifepristone as part of that protocol. Access to that drug is threatened by a lawsuit before a federal judge in Texas - a judge appointed by former President Trump with a long conservative history. (For more background on how that judge has ruled in other reproductive rights cases, see this piece by Sarah Varney for PBS NewsHour.) Much, much more to come.
A few weeks ago, I covered former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign announcement in Charleston. And the next day, I went to her hometown of Bamberg, where people told me that while Haley speaks glowingly of her small-town childhood and says “America is not a racist country,” the racial history of her community feels more complicated to many Black residents.
I’ve also continued my side gig guest hosting 1A from time to time. A couple of my favorite recent episodes have focused on food and AI (which for some reason I could not pronounce on air suddenly - the moment we went live - because it looked too much like 1A). Unlike the robots, I am all too human.
In other news…
I feel the need to explain my silence these past couple of months, because I’ve been quiet for much longer than intended. The truth is our year got off to a bit of a rough start - and I’ve spent just about every day feeling stretched to the limit, managing all the things.
First, I should say - WE ARE OK. As a Midwesterner, I feel obliged to say this regardless of the truth, but it is…mostly…true.
But 2023 did begin with a gut punch, in the form of a motorcycle accident on what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation to get AWAY from all the stress (ha!). My husband wound up needing rotator cuff surgery, and I just have some ugly scars. But we’re getting there.
We were on a perfect beach in Cozumel…and less than two hours later, we were bleeding in an ER. We were grateful to get wonderful care both in Mexico and the U.S. And thankful we were wearing helmets, and it wasn’t any worse - it could have been so much worse.
But life comes at you fast.
Not to mention the fact that things are tough at NPR right now, as you may have heard. Keep us all in your thoughts/prayers.
I’m trying to hard just to breath, do my best at the things I have the power to control, and find peace in the moment. Sometimes I do that pretty well, but often, not so well - especially these past couple of months.
Speaking of things I can control - and in happier news - my manuscript for The Exvangelicals (St. Martin’s Press, anticipated early 2024) is done and heading to copy edit! Can’t wait to share more of it with you soon.
For now, please check out this fantastic, data-driven post by Robby Jones of the Public Religion Research Institute, about the precipitous decline of white evangelicalism and its implications for American politics.
Yes, I am repeating parts of my twitter thread. They’re my words, and I only have so much time!
Appreciate your journalism! Glad you and your husband are both safe. And as an #exvangelical myself, I'm really looking forward to reading your book!!
Your beat/reporting is SO important! The ER experience in Mexico was jarring I'm sure... I'm glad that's behind you and wishing you continued healing <3