Thread by @ashtonpittman

NEW: Leading Mississippi abortion rights organizers say they believe the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade.

They've planning a mass education effort to teach people how to safely induce and manage their own abortions in a post-Roe South. •1
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"The Supreme Court is going to uphold the Mississippi challenge to (Roe), and what’s going to happen is the South is going to be void of abortion rights," says sHERO Mississippi founder Michelle Colon. "Abortion will be illegal in the South." •2
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Lynn Fitch, Mississippi's first woman attorney general, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade so women can "redirect their lives" toward both motherhood and pursuing careers.

That would end nearly all abortions in Mississippi. •3
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If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, not only would Mississippi's 2018 law banning abortions after 15-weeks take effect, but so would a 2007 "trigger law" banning nearly all abortions at any stage—with exceptions only for rape and maternal health. •4
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Mississippi's 2007 trigger law, whose authors apparently did not fathom the emergence of a woman attorney general, says that, upon the overturning of Roe v. Wade, "the Attorney General shall publish HIS determination of that fact" in a bulletin. •5
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Under Mississippi's abortion law that would be triggered in the event of Roe v. Wade's overturn, anyone performing or "causing" an abortion except in cases of rape or to prevent maternal harm would face 1-10 years in prison. •6
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Nationwide, internet searches for information on pills for self-inducing and self-managing abortions skyrocketed 5,000% after the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear Mississippi's challenge to Roe v. Wade. •7
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While efforts to educate people on self-managed abortions may be ramping up, they are not new, says Laurie Bertram Roberts @smartstatistic.

The abortion fund she co-founded has been providing information on safely self-managing abortions since 2013. •8
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Abortion rights supporters have often warned that Roe v. Wade's overturn would herald the return of deadly, illegal abortions like in the pre-Roe era.

That does not need to be the case in the event that Roe is overturned, though, Roberts says. •9
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"You still have people walking around with coat hangers. We’re not in coat hanger territory anymore,” says @smartstatistic. “There are safe ways for people to do self-managed abortions if they do it early enough and they get the stuff that they need." •10
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It is not illegal to educate people about self-managed abortions, but assisting or performing an abortion outside a clinic setting is illegal in Mississippi and self-managing ones’ own abortions carries legal risks—whether Roe falls or not. •11
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"We know people are already doing self-managed abortions. They’ve never stopped,” said Roberts.

Some use safe herbal remedies to induce abortions as alternatives to pills. But others resort to dangerous chemicals like bleach or turpentine, she says. •12
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"The thing is, people need to know there is a safe, low-risk option. We want people to understand that having access at clinics is important, but I also don’t want people to be scared to self-manage an abortion," says Laurie Bertram Roberts. •13
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From 2018-2020, “Mississippi was second only to Louisiana as the state with the highest rate of inquiries to an online source of self-managed abortion medication," a study found.

The states with the most abortion restrictions ranked highest. •14
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“My greatest fear with what is happening is that we’re going to see more people criminalized for pregnancy loss either for being suspected of using misoprostol and mifepristone or being caught using it," says @smartstatistic. •15
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In 2006, Rennie Gibbs, a Black 16-year-old in Mississippi, gave birth one month early to a stillborn daughter she named Samiya.

Gibbs was indicted for "depraved heart murder" after the medical examiner blamed cocaine for Samiya's death. •16
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Rennie Gibbs faced life in prison if convicted of the depraved heart murder of her stillborn child.

But multiple experts testified that the medical examiner's conclusions were faulty.

Gibbs was 24 when a judge dismissed the murder charges in 2014. •17
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In Oktibbeha County in 2018, a grand jury indicted 35-year-old Latice Fisher, who is Black, on 2nd degree murder charges after she gave birth to a stillborn.

Prosecutors alleged she had searched for and bought pills to self-manage an abortion online. •18
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Oktibbeha County DA Scott Colom dropped the charges against Latice Fisher, citing “confounding factors” that could have affected “the validity of the results” of the infant's autopsy.

A grand jury refused to re-indict her in 2020. •19
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"The focus on the search history regarding self-managed abortion on Ms. Fisher’s phone belies the true impetus for this prosecution: abortion stigma. ... these prosecutions also violate human rights," says one brief in the Dobbs case. •20
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Since the Roe ruling in 1973, “more than 1,200 people suspected of having caused their own miscarriages or allegedly risking harm to their pregnancies have been arrested for offenses ranging from feticide to child abuse to poisoning," the brief says. •21
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"Although self-managed abortion is generally safe, the state must not deter people from seeking care in the event of a complication. ... Unfortunately...the fears that drive people away from medical care are well-founded," the brief says. •22
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If Roe v. Wade is overturned, the closest clinics Mississippi women seeking an abortion would have access to would be several states away in Kansas, Illinois and Florida—though Florida may soon issue its own Texas-style abortion ban. •23
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"We don’t have friends at the Supreme Court,” Valencia Robinson says. “...We had an upper hand at the Supreme Court when Ruth was there, but she’s gone. We’re saying ‘when’ because we’re moving forward for when it’s overturned.” •24
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