In all 50 states (abortion)
also: some white suffragists
Hello and a brief introduction: this is a newsletter written by me, Melissa Gira Grant, journalist and author. Currently I'm at work on a book called A Woman Is Against the Law, which will be published by Little, Brown and Company. I'm also a staff writer at The New Republic, where I've spent the past seven years reporting on sex, gender, race, and the law. You can find me most often on Bluesky.
A short one this week. I spent most of the week bouncing between picking apart an appeals court hearing on the abortion medication mifepristone (and what it portends for abortion bans) and tracing white woman suffragists' opposition to the 15th Amendment.
The suffragists, you'll have to wait a bit longer to read, but on the mifepristone hearing:
The Accelerating Project to Extend Abortion Bans to All 50 States
// September 11, 2026
As advocates watch this fight and attempt to forecast what’s next, the Justice Department’s inaction can read as both an admission and a promise. The DOJ is admitting that this courtroom battle over mifepristone is not about whether it is safe, as has been the anti-abortion movement’s argument since Dobbs. It’s not even really about the FDA. And it’s implicitly promising that the fight over guidelines for mifepristone is merely a step toward a national abortion ban. On the surface, DOJ and Louisiana were at odds, but they appear to be in agreement when it comes to the ultimate goal of extending existing state abortion bans to all 50 states. The Justice Department used its time before the Fifth Circuit this week to demonstrate that agreement.... [read on]
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