What’s up, folks?
Today is 6 days out from the election, and like many, I am a little nervous about what may or may not happen in the days coming.
To deal with it, I’ve recently started re-reading the work of horror writer, Nathan Ballingrud. In particular, North American Lake Monsters, and Wounds. The horrors within his work are easier to deal with than the horrors of reality, at the moment.
But I’ve also been distracting myself another way:
I’ve started a seperate newsletter solely for my journalistic work: Where There’s Smoke.
For you who don’t know, I also write about politics and have done so for places like Buzzfeed News, Politico, and more. My inspiration for wanting to create my own platform is simple: I’m beyond done with mainstream and legacy media and their inability to live up to this moment. Plus, I want to educate the public by doing deep dive reporting the mainstream media absolutely refuses to do, particularly, they do a shit job of naming the organizations and figures behind the scenes of politics that are meddling in our democracy.
It will be an infrequent project for the time being as I’m still juggling being a new father and what not… but who knows, maybe one day that newsletter will be a big deal.
To get an idea of what my reporting is like, here goes my latest story, originally published in Antigravity Magazine this month, but has been uploaded to my Subtask for all to read and share. A short exerpt is below, but if you like what you read, please consider continue to the whole story, and consider signing up for my new newsletter and spreading the word.
The reporting covers the state of abortion in Louisiana and the country, and talks about the history of pseudoscience as a political tool against abortion.
Trigger warning: brief mention of sexual assault
If you went to religious schools like I did for a time, you were likely subjected to vivid imagery of the afterlife. Pastors at pulpits and teachers at whiteboards weaved worlds of a land that awaited those of us who stayed on God’s good side—clouds and angelic harps and a bright light slicing through the slats of a golden gate, behind which lay everything we ever wanted. No pain, poverty, or sadness. Then there was the other imagery. Fire and brimstone crackling underfoot amidst an afterlife of torture, courtesy of God’s hooved, horned, and red fallen son. Screams from the damned would fill the air, none louder than those who murdered babies. People who performed abortions were butchers. Those who sought them were spoken of as though they were morally broken or led astray, and should’ve kept their clothes on rather than spend eternity in damnation.
But what if the abortion seekers were two 8-year-olds?
Audrey Hayworth told the two girls’ stories to the Louisiana House of Representatives Administration of Criminal Justice committee in 2023, hoping to have rape and incest exceptions added to the current abortion law. And while doing so, a man carrying a Bible and a rosary stood to the side of the table spouting Bible verses. Hayworth, a feminist writer and pro-choice advocate for over two decades, told me, “One of the [8-year-old girls] had just turned nine and was in her second trimester.” One of the girls had the baby, while the other got an abortion. For the latter, the doctor and nurse had to go on a day they were closed in order to avoid protests. The little girl didn’t even know what was going on around her.
Hayworth’s story was unable to sway the committee, nor did the committee budge in 2024. Close to four out of five Louisiana citizens believe rape should be an exception to anti-abortion laws. By denying this exception, Louisiana has made it clear that the confused little girl from Hayworth’s story should’ve kept that fetus, and some would likely say it was her God-given duty to do so.
The current state of reproductive health care in Louisiana has been chaotic, which was to be expected. But it isn’t because the legislature isn’t listening to experts. They’re just listening to the wrong ones. Over the course of decades, right wing groups have thrown money at “research” centers that use shoddy science methods to give legitimacy to their personal philosophies, adding fuel to the fire of the anti-abortion movement, all in an effort to “help” and “protect” women.
Due to the near total abortion ban there have been numerous cases of severely ill patients, including pregnant women with cancer, being denied abortions until they got so sick that their lives are “irrefutably at risk,” causing what several organizations in a recent report have called a denial of basic human rights. Women have been subjected to riskier procedures, like C-sections. Or, they are being forced to avoid prenatal care until after 12 weeks, like in the case of Kaitlyn Joshua, who was denied miscarriage care. The hospital she arrived at was scared to even use the medical term for miscarriage, “spontaneous abortion,” on paperwork out of fear it would trigger an investigation. There’s also the case of Nancy Davis, whose baby was born without a skull, due to a condition known as acrania. “I had to carry my baby to bury my baby,” Davis told NBC.
This is all happening because doctors are scared. In the aftermath of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, then-Attorney General Jeff Landry sent a letter to the Louisiana State Medical Society threatening legal action against any doctor who performed an abortion. They risk up to 15 years in prison and $200,000 in fines. Michelle Erenberg with Lift Louisiana said doctors aren’t acting as quickly. “[They think] It looks like a miscarriage, but does it qualify for that narrow window [in the abortion exceptions]?” This pits the doctor’s desire to not go to prison against the best course of action for their patient.
The Louisiana abortion law is vague and attempts to turn a complex medical issue into a binary one, despite the fact that every woman’s medical history and pregnancy is unique. Lawmakers are in essence diagnosing patients they can’t see, using medical knowledge they don’t have. In the aftermath of Davis’ incident, Democratic state Sen. Katrina Jackson, the author of the abortion bill, and 35 other lawmakers (26 men) stated the hospital “grossly misinterpreted” the law, and Davis was a valid exception. The signatories added that their faith would “compel us to carry this child to term,” because the vital organs would form later. Acrania has an almost 100% mortality rate, with a prognosis of death within the first week of life according to The Fetal Medicine Foundation. (I reached out to Senator Jackson to see if she has any concerns about the consequences of her bill, and received no response.)
Lawmakers were warned by medical experts and women that their anti-abortion policies would be disastrous, including noting that Louisiana is one of the most dangerous places in the country to give birth, especially for Black women. But despite pleas to make the law clearer, there has been pushback from groups like Louisiana Right to Life, and lawmakers and anti-abortion activists have been hostile to anyone who doesn’t agree with them—even sexual assault victims.
In 2023, during the hearing to add rape and incest exceptions, some people gave emotional testimonies about considering suicide after their rapes. People from the crowd would yell each time, “Better dead than a murderer.” According to Hayworth, Right to Life employees sat there smirking.
BUY THE PIKE BOYS BELOW!
Danny Cherry Jr. (Follow me on Instagram/Twitter/BlueSky/TikTok @ Deecherrywriter; Newsletter: bigeasypress.substack.com; Website: Bigeasypress.com)