Indies show up.

Last night, in a 5–4 decision, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that allows Texas’s six-week abortion ban, SB8, to remain in effect. This harmful law allows anti-abortion extremists to sue providers, clinics, and anyone who helps another person access abortion, and is specifically designed to intimidate clinic staff and burden people seeking abortions. This is a heartbreaking day for Texas and for everyone who values reproductive freedom.

We are not legal experts; we can’t speak to the future of Roe v Wade or legal abortion in the US. What we do know is that we have always deserved better than the protections Roe provides. The barriers and stigma people have had to navigate to access and provide abortions have always been unjust. Today, those barriers are much higher for people living in Texas, where abortion is currently banned after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion Care Network is a member-based network of independent abortion care providers and their allies. Because of that, we can speak to the relentless compassion, commitment, and creativity of abortion care providers.

Yesterday, we watched as our network of independent abortion clinic staff reached out to their colleagues in Texas to say: We are here; we see you, and we support you. As a network, we will do everything we can to care for those people who are being denied abortion care in their own communities by the state of Texas.

This morning, abortion clinic staff across the country got out of bed and went to work with broken hearts and under a heavy cloud of uncertainty. That’s what abortion providers do: they show up and they provide expert, compassionate care — even during times of uncertainty — because they trust that patients know what is best for them.

We are so thankful that they still do.

We don’t know what’s next, but we do know that every person should be able to get the health care they need without shame, political restrictions, or outside interference. We invite you to join us in supporting independent abortion providers so that they can care for people who need them.

• You can donate to www.keepourclinics.org to help keep clinics open. Abortion bans close clinics and we need every single one to stay open so that they can provide abortion care and continue to fight these unjust laws.
• You can make sure you know (and everyone you care about knows) how to find abortion clinics and abortion funds.

Text 202–883–4620 to find a clinic. It’s free, anonymous, and you don’t need a smartphone or internet access.

To find an abortion clinic in the US, go to: www.ineedanA.com or www.needabortion.org;

Para encontrar servicios de aborto cerca de ti: www.needabortion.org/home-spanish o www.abortionfinder.org/es

To find an abortion fund or get help paying for abortion, go to The National Network of Abortion Funds or call the National Abortion Federation at 1–800–772–9100.

• You can (and should) send all of your love and support to those working on the ground to make sure people can get the abortion care they need. Find an independent clinic and send them a postcard filled with love and appreciation.