The world is maddening. Though, that shouldn’t be new news to any of us tapped into the atrocities being committed across the globe by the hands of the US empire and its love children. It’s a fact that has persisted for centuries but finds itself demanding more of our attention as we approach the crux of change, the knowledge that our current world has always been unsustainable and thus, is crumbling around us as imperial powers try to ensure their security on the other side of such inevitable collapse.
We pick up our devices daily and witness death and destruction at the hands of settler-colonial proxy states of the US such as Israel against the Palestinian people, with full knowledge that our ability to view these acts comes at the cost of millions in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the extractable minerals required to run our devices are mined via exploitation and slave labor. We donate funds to organizations and people offering aid to Sudanese folk attempting to survive violent displacement and civil war. We combat the inertia such events unfolding tend to cause because we understand that there is no one coming to save us. And the knowledge of all of this has to sit in the same brain and body attempting to survive its own damning circumstances.
Since the last newsletter was released, change has greeted me like an old foe. There was a move, a rapid change in my cost of living, a reentry into sex work in order to afford said changes, chronic illnesses are illnessing and on the Homefront (as in the US of A), shit has been less than sweet. On some days, I firmly believe sorrow is capable of stopping my heart, that at any moment it’ll realize the weariness it feels can only be ceased by death and welcome it. In between those days though, I try to be present, to engage with my community, be a voice for the voiceless, and maybe most importantly, survive, cause I can’t do any of that other stuff from the grave.
This newsletter has always been a labor of love, not because it’s particularly laborious, but rather because it often requires I manage what information to share. As you can imagine, a lot of news about sex and reproductive justice doesn’t find its way into the newsletter cause there’s always so much news, that’s constantly evolving. Sometimes, I fear the information I’m offering is the wrong kind, until I remember how important it is for these stories to reach the masses. I think of how often the tides have changed just because people pushed the waves themselves. I force myself to sit in the potential of our collective power and use it as fuel to truck ahead. There’s no use in knowing so much about the world if I don’t intend on sharing the knowledge.
And that leads us here, scrolling a newsletter that can only ever be updated semi-regularly because Capitalism and the machinations of the Empire require so much out of me to survive that I barely have anything left for this, for you, for me even. Nonetheless, I’m continuing to make it my mission to try, to use all that’s in my reserve tank to give you news, to share information, to humanize those of us performing erotic labor to survive.
I believe that’s what Heaux’s Know: that it’s our duty to love the world and each other even when it seems not to love us back. To show up in front of institutions and individuals who’d rather see us as paper mache dolls rather than full human beings with demands for self-determination, dignity and joy. Heaux’s know we call ourselves Heaux’s to dull the sword the word becomes in the hands of civilians. Heaux’s care about the least of us, because no one got us like we got us. And it’s important that folks understand that, that struggle is always linked and thus liberation from these struggles will be omnipresent.
This newsletter will still feature sex and reproductive justice news, but, it’ll also include reading recommendations, domestic and global liberation struggle updates, and hope, there has to be hope.
Without further ado, let’s talk news.
Sex & Reproductive Justice News:
Mifepristone is still under attack. On December 8th, the Supreme Court will likely make a decision as to whether they’ll hear a case challenging Mifepristone’s availability1. Another attempt to axe already collapsing abortion access by Alliance Defending Freedom, the same far-right Christian Nationalist group that brought forth the case which led to the overturn of Roe. Mifepristone is imperative to comprehensive abortion care, it accounts for more than half of all abortions in the country and its loss would be cataclysmic for abortion seekers nationwide. Here’s the story
Ohioan voters enshrined abortion (among other reproductive rights) in a historic vote! Issue 1, the direct resolution to amend the states constitution was campaigned for aggressively by reproductive justice organizations across Ohio, with Black women leading the charge. Since the US Supreme Court’s ruling, 7 states have voted to codify reproductive rights in their constitutions but none with language as comprehensive as Ohio. Conservative groups and lawmakers workshopped alternate wording of the resolution with hopes of deterring voters from saying yes to Issue 1 and they proved unsuccessful. The ability to safely parent or not parent is a core value of Reproductive Justice, and Ohioans got an opportunity to prove how deeply they hold this value. Here’s the lowdown.
San Antonio, Texas is being sued by a coalition of anti-abortion groups over “Reproductive Justice” funding. In September, the city approved it’s largest budget ever, $3.7 billion dollars with $500,000 being budgeted towards reproductive justice which sparked outrage amongst the anti-abortion groups. The lawsuit is being managed by Jonathan Mitchell, the attorney credited as the architect of Texas’ 6-week abortion ban. These zealots are unrelenting in their fight against bodily autonomy and we must cast them into the shadows. The Tribune’s reporting on the lawsuit is here and I’m including links to some of my favorite Texas abortion funds, because baddies are pro-abortion!
White conservatives hate improving Black maternal outcomes it seems, as they sue the Abundant Birth Project for “discriminatory giveaways”. The program, less than 3 years old, provides a 150 Black & Pacific Islander San Franciscans, a $1,000 monthly stipend seeking to improve Black maternal mortality outcomes and combat “obstetric racism”. The lawsuit is being supported by the recent Supreme Court decision to find race-based affirmative action in college admissions unconstitutional, a decision that’s proving to be detrimental already to students of color. There’s growing evidence of universal basic income’s (UBI for short), ability to greatly improve outcomes for families, and such a drastic loss of income would prove fatal. The 19th reported on it here. This isn’t the only program like this nationally and I’d encourage you to get involved in your local municipalities as they may be piloting one soon!
Indigenous and Filipino women are in a tussle for abortion rights. Guam, an occupied territory of the US, has some of the most hostile abortion laws in the territories and after the fall of Roe, it’s 1990 ban was reintroduced but struck down by Guam’s Supreme Court. Still, anti-abortion legislation is being introduced with attempts to remove the little access available to abortion seekers on the island and after a 12 year old girl was impregnated by rape and forced to carry to term, the fight for reproductive rights on the island soared, leading to the creation of Famalao’an Rights, a reproductive justice initiative fighting for access to reproductive care for everyone on the island. They’re making waves and scoring victories with support amongst indigenous and filipino communities on the island. See what ACLU had to say about them and learn more about the organization on their website
The New Yorker released a documentary reflecting on the history of reproductive rights in New York State with a pressing and relevant message about the precariousness of abortion access in “blue havens”. The link to view is here and the story behind the film, here.
A patriarch is lobbying his daughter’s autonomy for power as he seeks to degrade parts of Title X to remove teen’s access to birth control without parental notification. The argument uses a bit of Texas Family Code which gives parents the right to consent to their children’s medical care. The case will be tried in Texas and is being steered by, you guessed it, Johnathan Mitchell ( of 6 week abortion ban infamy ). The Fifth Circuit is where these hearings will take place increasing our belief in the fuckery being approved as the Fifth Circuit was behind rulings such as United States v. Rahimi (abusers having the right to own guns) and Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA (the one getting rid of Mifepristone) resided. Truthfully, it’s not looking good for birth control under this court’s jurisdiction and we need to be mobilizing against that outcome. Read some amazingly comprehensive reporting about it here
Criminal (In)justice News:
The fight to #stopcopcity is raging on. Atlantans have been tapped in, using all measures disposable to delay and hopefully end the building of Cop City, the urban warfare training facility draining millions of taxpayer dollars, clearing over 300 acres of green space and sitting outside of a predominantly Black neighborhood. The 61 people indicted on RICO charges and named “militant anarchist and domestic terrorist” by the Georgia AG are not the only ones putting their lives on the line for their politic. Protestors attempting to plant trees were met with violence by APD, who armed themselves in riot gear and used tear gas, smoke grenades and their batons against them with impunity. Not easily put off, protestors have deployed a variety of strategies in this fight as they diversify tactics. Ernst Concrete, one of the contractors facilitating the construction saw several of their cement trucks lit on fire, leading to them pulling out of the project, further proof that targeting the coin has the potential for great payoff. Despite the recent success, the project persist and Atlantans need our support now more than ever as they combat this plan to further militarize the police force. For more information and ways to support the cause, visit StopCop.City Also, drop some coin in an Atlanta bail fund if you can, this is the link
The city of Philadelphia is attempting to ban ski masks and we should hate that! Not only are clothing bans and mandates known for being explicitly racist, they’re trojan horses for further surveillance of civilian populations by the police state. I discussed it in my most recent (as of 12/5) TikTok. Mind you, this is the same country that hasn’t banned ANY white supremacist, Neo-nazi groups known dress or hoods… but balaclavas and ski masks are the attire of criminal enterprise and terror? okay
Nathan Woodyard, the police officer who murdered Elijah McClain has been reinstated to the Aurora Colorado police department and will be receiving back pay of $200,000! According to Aurora PD, he’s currently on Restricted Duty as they consider what his “reintegration process” will entail. This decision is the kind of immoral ghoulishness one can expect of the police state and is one of many reasons to believe in abolishing it. The Guardian reported on it here
Fridelene Daniel of Boynton Beach, FL filed a police report against her ex boyfriend, and was killed by him less than an hour later. Robens Cesar has been charged with first degree murder with a firearm as the prime suspect of her murder. She’d complained of his stalking and harassment in the past, prompting the police report. Femicide is a pandemic, one that Black women suffer at 4x the rate of White women, the highest of any racial group. To understand and combat Black femicide it must be understood that misogyny is not the singular enemy or cause, but rather the entire institutions upheld by White Supremacy, Capitalism and cisheteropatriarchy. Until the social scripts surrounding race, class and gender are abolished, we’ll bear the brunt of these system’s violence.
Palestinians News:
Since October 7th, both our institutions and elected officials have gone gloves off in display of their lack of care (and open hostility) towards Palestinians as they seek the right to self determination and freedom. Below, I’ve included sources where I receive my news and pieces that I found particularly moving in contemplating what those of us outside of Gaza and occupied Palestine should consider.
https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2023/12/02/why-palestinian-liberation-is-disability-justice/
Thinking of Us
When the press reported on the arrest of Rex Heuermann, the main suspect in a string of sex worker murders unfortunately immortalized as LISK (Long Island Serial Killer), I cried; I had made a fortress of my bed and under covers, read every article I could find. Flocked to social media where I could work through these big feelings with other people in mourning, those who get it. Cases like this always hold gravity, having to sit in the truth that sex workers had sounded alarms about him, but were treated unreliable due to their work by police who’d incarcerated them. The fact that he was the type of guy those of us sugaring, escorting, or Domming would find suitable, one who passes some of the most stringent vetting.
Being a member of a class readily deemed disposable by greater society (leftist and feminist included), always feels heavier when mortality is questioned. To fear your death is pending considering how little folks care about your life now. So naturally when thinking of security, I reread one of my favorite articles in recent history, about bad ass sex worker coalitions, designed to help people come home every night, cause we keep us safe.
I’ve also included another that I think more civilians should read and ponder on, as there’s a well documented phenomenon among critics that those of us who do the work, have little understanding of what role it plays within our socioeconomic structures. Narratives like this paint a much more realistic picture.
And that was the newsletter. This one was on the lengthier side so I appreciate you powering through.
I don’t have all of the answers, which is something I’m growing more confident in asserting but I do believe that we’re living in a time of change, one that is both requested and inevitable. There will be growing pains as is the way in a species as imperfect as us humans but during that growth, our goal should always be supporting those fighting for dignity, for self determination, for the right to live freely without conditions. Oftentimes, the people best equipped with keeping folks safe are those in community with them, and so my challenge to you falls in two parts: be better to your community, show up for them even when it’s messy, inconvenient or jarring and two, seek community with those you’ve been taught to abandon, whether it’s your unhoused neighbors, friend battling substance abuse, or you guessed it, the hooker you love to hate, they may surprise you. Be safe, and we’ll chat soon.
Always,
Nia Óla 💛
If you’ve been wanting to support That Deep financially but are balling on a budget… I’ve made it a little more doable going into the new year! 😊
Since the drafting of this newsletter, the Supreme Court has decided to go forth with hearing arguments in U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the case that will determine the fate of the most commonly used abortion drug on the market, Mifepristone.
thank you so much for gathering this information!! it all really pushes me to be engaged and your words always push my thoughts further than i thought they could go!!