Top Stories This Week

• What’s happening at Woodhull;
• A history of trans misogyny;
• IVF criminalization in Alabama;
• South Carolina’s impending gender-affirming care ban;
• Giving birth while incarcerated;
• Maternal mental health; and
• Woodhull’s take on digital surveillance in the wake of Dobbs.

(Photo by Conny Schneider via Unsplash)

BREAKING: Woodhull Urges the Supreme Court to Find Texas Age Verification Legislation Unconstitutional

On May 15, the Woodhull Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation submitted a brief to the United States Supreme Court urging the Justices to rule on Texas’s unconstitutional age verification law. We filed in support of the constitutional challenge brought by the ACLU, the Free Speech Coalition, and others asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that, if left standing, would impermissively burden free speech online, involving the unconstitutional age-verification mandate in Texas’s H.B. 1181. Woodhull’s participation in this case was made possible by a generous donation from internet hosting provider MojoHost.  As explained in the amicus brief filed in support of the Petitioners’ request that the Court review the decision from the Fifth Circuit upholding the law, imposing mandatory online age and identity verification to access adult content violates the First Amendment under well-established precedent.

Fact Check of the Week!

You can take our word for it! Fact Checked by Woodhull is the newest, hottest, most useful resource for talking points, policy recommendations, and FACTS! Here’s one for you - pornography is NOT a public health crisis! 

“As Kimberly Nelson and Emily Rothman concluded in the American Journal of Public Health, “the movement to declare pornography a public health crisis is rooted in an ideology that is antithetical to many core values of public health promotion and is a political stunt … Consuming pornographic material does not directly lead to health problems, infectious disease morbidity, property destruction, or population displacement. Research suggests that there may be adverse health consequences of pornography use for some, no substantial consequences for the majority, and positive effects for others.”

Eager to learn more? Check out our Fact Checked page! 

Join us in NYC on May 29th!

Are you concerned about the state of our nation's discourse? Do you yearn for a more united world where conversations are constructive rather than confrontational? If so, we invite you to a special screening of the powerful documentary “Undivide Us,” hosted by our friends at Braver Angels and co-sponsored by us! Following the film, Woodhull COO Mandy Salley will join a panel to discuss its meaning for our work for sexual freedom. Join us as we come together to watch "Undivide Us" and engage in meaningful discussions about the future of our democracy. Together, we can work towards a more united and inclusive America.

(Verso)

The Roots of Trans Women’s Unjust Treatment (The Nation) 

Transphobia and misogyny often compound upon each other. McKenzie Wark discusses Jules Gill-Peterson’s new book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, which explores this intersection: “There’s a particular flavor of hatred directed at trans women: You are hated for being trans, and then hated again for your femininity. In her 2007 book Whipping Girl, Julia Serano offered a useful term for this: trans misogyny. Now Jules Gill-Peterson, the author of Histories of the Transgender Child, gives us a much-needed account of the genesis of trans misogyny and its subsequent history.” Read more.

(Austen Risolvato/Rewire News Group illustration)

Will Alabama’s IVF Mess Go National? (Rewire News Group) 

The movement for reproductive justice and the fight for sexual freedom are intertwined. In Alabama, IVF – a critical part of the reproductive justice landscape – is under attack. Madeleine Aitken writes: “Following the unprecedented Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children—meaning those who handle them can be legally liable—IVF patients and providers have faced weeks of tumult. Services were halted, then resumed again after Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill in March protecting IVF patients and providers from potential civil or criminal liabilities imposed by the ruling. This turmoil exacerbated a landscape of general unease in reproductive health care, a large part of which can be attributed to the legal battle over the medication abortion drug mifepristone, which is at the heart of a case currently before the Supreme Court.” Read more.

(Cory Clark/AP Photo)

South Carolina Is Set to Ban Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth (them.) 

Access to healthcare, including gender-affirming care, is a human right. James Factora writes: “South Carolina’s legislature has passed a sweeping ban on gender-affirming care for minors that will also force youth who are currently transitioning to cease that care or seek it elsewhere, a burdensome requirement for many families. The bill now heads to Governor Henry McMaster’s desk to be signed into law. [...] The bill bans medical professionals from providing gender-affirming care to those under 18, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgical procedures such as top surgery.” Read more.

(Photo by Janko Ferlic from Pexels)

‘I Refuse to Celebrate Mother’s Day Until We Are Together Again.’ (The Appeal) 

In the month of Mother’s Day, it’s incumbent upon us to listen to the stories of people who become mothers under unthinkable conditions while incarcerated. Lanae Tipton writes: “I experienced my first childbirth while I was incarcerated in a county jail. When the police officers told me that the hospital would allow me only 72 hours with my child, I felt a wave of determination. I knew in my soul that I had to fight for that smell and touch of my baby, that I had to engrave the next 72 hours into my memory without forgetting the smallest detail. Those three days were the best days of my life. They were filled with pure bliss and love.” Read more.

(DA-KUK)

Maternal Mental Health Is “Urgent Public Health Crisis” in US, Report Shows (Truthout) 

A new report underscores the mental health crisis among birthing people. Zane McNeill writes: “According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), approximately 20 percent of pregnant or postpartum women in the U.S. will experience a mental health condition such as depression, anxiety, or thoughts of suicide. Although hormonal changes during pregnancy and the postpartum period can trigger mood disorders, maternal mental health conditions cannot solely be attributed to neurochemical causes. Research shows that such mental health conditions disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and low-income communities, and that factors such as racism and low socioeconomic status can heighten the risk and severity of these conditions.” Read more.

(Bernard Hermant)

Woodhull’s Take: Digital Surveillance In the Wake of Dobbs (Woodhull’s Sex & Politics Blog) 

Targeting people trying to access their most basic human rights to bodily autonomy and healthcare is unconscionable. We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation share our take on digital surveillance in the wake of Dobbs: “June 24 will mark two years since the Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe and held that the U.S. Constitution doesn’t confer a right to abortion. The effects have been devastating – just take a look at this map of abortion laws by state post-Dobbs. As Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes, ‘the obvious perils of stripping away half the country’s right to reproductive healthcare’ immediately led to a ‘flurry of concerns’ about digital surveillance and mass data collection. Those concerns have been confirmed.” Read more.

The Woodhull Freedom Foundation is a non-profit organization recognized under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. 
Our federal identification number is 11-3681116.
Copyright © 2024 Woodhull Freedom Foundation. All Rights Reserved.