The Post-Roe Abortion Underground

Plus: missile strikes in Kyiv; an Indigenous ultramarathoner’s run against addiction; and the invasion of the sports cheaters! View in browser | Update your preferences Monday, October 10, 2022 In today’s newsletter, abortion pills across borders, and then: • On the ground after missile strikes in Kyiv • An ultramarathoner’s run against addiction • The invasion of the sports cheaters! The Post-Roe Abortion Underground A multigenerational network of activists is getting abortion pills across the Mexican border to Americans. Illustration by Rachel Levit For years, Verónica Cruz defied Mexico’s stringent anti-abortion laws by helping women abort at home with medication—and, along the way, work by her organization and others like it helped puncture the stigma surrounding abortion and contributed to its decriminalization by the country’s Supreme Court, in September of 2021. “The way Cruz saw it,” Stephania Taladrid writes, in a riveting story in this week’s issue, “women had a moral duty to stand up for one another when the state failed to guarantee their rights.” Today, that government is the one north of the border, in the United States, where Cruz has turned her attention as part of an unlikely and expanding group of people—ranging from young women to a team of boomer expats in Mexico known as the Old Hippies—who are purchasing abortion pills in Mexico, moving them across the border, and surreptitiously delivering them to women in need. In a remarkable feat of reporting, Taladrid follows activists at every stage of the process, producing a must-read account of an emerging new front line in the battle for reproductive rights. —Ian Crouch, newsletter editor Read the story Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » From the News Desk Dispatch Kyiv’s Peace Is Destroyed After repelling Russia’s assault earlier this year, the city awakens to missile strikes. By Luke Mogelson Daily Comment The Long March Toward a National Latino Museum A community whose role in U.S. history has been too often ignored is telling its story at the Smithsonian. By Graciela Mochkofsky Judge Not Invasion of the Sports Cheaters! As Aaron Judge broke Roger Maris’s home-run record, weird vibes sullied professional chess and poker, and an angling tournament looked to be the target of a low-tech con: lead weights in the fish. By Ben McGrath Cover Story The artist Chris Ware discusses “Lockdown,” his cover for this week’s issue, which draws from stories told by his daughter and his wife, who works as a teacher, about their experiences with active-shooter drills at school. “I gave shamefully little thought to what they both regularly faced, how lockdowns worked, or how the protocols might solve the basic math problem of automatic weapons plus classrooms,” he says. “These were unthinkable topics, grayed out in my mind.” Culture Dept. Books Lydia Millet’s Post-Human Prose In “Dinosaurs,” Millet once again rejects the small, familiar world of the individual. Her subject is loss on a planetary scale. By Katy Waldman Culture Desk The Secret Erotic Drawings of Duncan Grant For decades, the Bloomsbury-group artist quietly sketched his male lovers. These works, long kept hidden by the friends who inherited them, are finally going on display. By Anna Russell Letter from California Call Me The longtime entertainment journalist Nikki Finke died yesterday at the age of sixty-eight. From 2009: Why she inspired such fear in Hollywood. By Tad Friend Screening Room The New Yorker Documentary Using Distance to Fight Addiction and Estrangement An Indigenous Canadian’s unlikely journey to becoming an ultramarathoner, in the documentary short “The Runner.” Film by Amar Chebib Text by Alexandra Brady Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play Today’s Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Matt Jackson Daily Shouts Some Superhero Origin Stories “What about you, Batman?” By Eddie Ward Crossword A Challenging Puzzle “Deathtrap” playwright Levin: three letters. By Elizabeth C. Gorski Daily Cartoon Monday, October 10th By Mads Horwath P.S. The Mets have lost and are out—a regular season with a hundred and one wins fizzled after three Wild Card games against the Padres. Fortunately, few Mets fans were surprised. In September, the cartoonist Nathan Gelgud saw heartbreak coming, imagining the lengths that people might go to to avoid getting too optimistic about the team. Likewise the cartoonist Jared Nangle, whose visual dispatch from a Mets game in May—where he imagined the entire crowd shouting “Fuck” in sad unison—is fresh anew. Next year? Today’s newsletter was written by Ian Crouch. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2022. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.