Abortion bans have some women preparing for the worst. It involves ‘auntie networks.’

By Monica Hesse
Columnist
May 26 at 7:00 AM

The first breadcrumb leading me to an Auntie Network landed in my path last week, in the form of a Facebook post written by a friend of a friend:

“Hey! People with uteri in other states! If you need to visit your friend Cindy in Chicago, you just PM me and ask for my phone number. I will be so excited to TALK and HANG OUT with you. No judgment. No questions.”

Cindy went on to describe this theoretical Illinois vacation which, as became clear when reading between the lines, was not a vacation at all. It was an offer to reach across state borders, into the jurisdictions that are passing severe reproductive legislation, and help desperate pregnant people acquire abortions.

Some of us with dark imaginations have spent lifetimes imagining theoretical apocalypses. How would we react? Would we be the neighbors who would open our homes, share our bottled water and ramen? What would all of this look like?

A particular kind of dystopia has arrived, and we’re beginning to see its fuzzy outlines. It would involve a whisper network on social media. It would entail announcing “Off to go see Navy Pier!” and then going instead to an abortion clinic. Thousands of women would have to learn — or remember — how this all worked before 1973, when desperate women also had occasion to visit their cousins, old friends, and aunties.

The message I saw was one of hundreds that include the label “Auntie Network” — or “Jane Collective,” a reference to the underground web of support in the pre-Roe era. ...

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