Category Archives: abortion

Mobile Mutual Aid with the Auto(nomous) Body Shop

This week, you’ll hear two segments.

First up, we spoke with Crystal and Alecia from the Auto(nomous) body shop. From their website:

TheAuto(nomous) Body Shop is a Pittsburgh based mobile mutual aid resource supporting bodily autonomy & community care. We provide free info + supplies + propaganda to support & empower folks to be the go to friend for reproductive health, abortion care, & harm reduction in their community. We also fundraise for repro health to break down barriers to care, conduct workshops, collaborate with & support other mutual aid orgs.

The discussion touches upon the many facets of their organizing in the Pittsburgh region, the climate for reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming care in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area, and their expansion into other regions of the state. The conversation also includes discussion of their coalition-based strategy to broaden the breadth and depth of their efforts and the need for joyful celebration of their values and goals. To that end, we get into the social events and zine publication coming up later this month.

Anti-LGBTQIA+ Repression in Turkey

[ 00:45:55 ]

Then, we share an interview by FrequenzA out of Germany with a guest about recent repression against queer people and organizations across Turkey from September 12-14th, 2026. This crackdown against activists, organizations and spaces was named “My Family Is Safe”, with the reactionary government of Erdogan’s AK Party using the same rubric of upholding cis-hetero nuclear families as the only healthy model against “gender ideology” as you hear from regimes in the US under Trump, Russia and from right wing movements around the world. This interview will also appear in episode 106 of B(A)D News: Angry Voices From Around The World from the A-Radio Network, of which we’re a member.

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Featured Tracks:

B(A)D News 102 (from the A-Radio Network)

This week, we’re taking a break from new content and sharing with you content from the May 2026 episode of B(A)D News: Angry Voices from Around The World. B(A)D News is a collaboration of members of the A-Radio Network of anarchist and anti-authoritarian radios and podcasts with member projects from Europe, the US and Chile at this moment.

Each month, a project takes responsibility to put together audio segments form other radio and podcast projects in the A-Radio Network. About the time that we’re releasing this, the June 2026 episode should be released, so keep an eye out at A-Radio-Network.org and clicking the link for B(A)D News to see the monthly episodes as they are released.

From the notes of episode 102:

This is episode number 102 of “B(A)D NEWS -angry voices from around the world”, a news program from the international network of anarchist and antiauthoritarian radios, consisting of short news segments from different parts of the world.

Content of this episode

  • Črna Luknja with a contra-report about the situation on borders of greece and migrant struggles. They discuss this with a member of Open Assembly Against Pushbacks in Athens and also active in Notara (migrant) squat.

More info: https://againstpushbacks.wordpress.com

  • Frequenz A with an interview of a comrade from Santarém, Brazil about indigenous struggles. They spoke with Raphael about anarchist organizations in the region, the main threats for indigenous communities, Indigenous struggles and how anarchists can support them.

You can find more infos here:

Radio show Parias of Athens with an interview of a member of the Retraverse Assembly about abortions in Greece and the issues surrounding them.

You can find more info’s here: https://retraverse.espivblogs.net/

  • A-Radio Berlin: Weird politics (a satiric take on news from Germany and around the world)

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Featured Track:

Bodily Autonomy and Health Education In An Easy To Swallow Package (Abortion Pill Zine)

This week, we’re sharing an interview Ian conducted with cartoonists Isabella Rotman, Sage Coffey, and Marnie Galloway on the subject of the Abortion Pill Zine: A Community Guide to Misoprostol and Mifepristone out now from Silver Sprocket (and freely readable on their website). They discuss the process by which this resource was assembled, the benefits of local, focused abortion organizing, the timeliness and timelessness of the fight for safe abortion care, and the power of comics to disseminate valuable and complex information.

Links

Announcements

BAD News for February 2025

The A-Radio Network of anarchist and antiauthoritarian radios and podcasts just released the latest in their monthly series, B(A)D News: Angry Voices From Around The World for February 2025, episode 88. This one features Parias from Athens sharing an interview about resisting wind farms and green developmentalism in the Greek mountains as well as Črna luknja from Ljubljana speaking with antifascists from Budapest and Sofia about resisting Europes largest annual neo-nazi rally, the LukovMarch.

Support for Anarchists in Sudan

You can read a short publication by the Sudan Anarchist Gathering called Al-Amal in English thanks to the translation work of CNT-AIT France (or the original Arabic as well) at this blog. From the blog:

If you want to receive the next
issues, please contact us : contact@cnt-ait.info
If you want to support financially the Sudan Anarchist Gathering, you can use our paypal
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/cntait1
(please validate “Sending ‘money to an individual’ to pay less bank charges) Send an email to contact@cnt-ait.info to inform us of the donation and also so that we can keep you informed of its use.

Continue reading Bodily Autonomy and Health Education In An Easy To Swallow Package (Abortion Pill Zine) →

Abortion Beyond The State (with Jex Blackmore, ACAB24)

This week, we’re sharing a presentation entitled “Abortion Beyond The State” by Jex Blackmore and Hydra Mutual Aid Fund, recorded at the 2024 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC. You can find more audios, past schedules and more at ACABookfair.NoBlogs.Org.

From the description:

“Government control of reproductive capacity has long persisted as a tool to subordinate birthing people, women, people of color, people living on lower incomes, and other marginalized groups. The Supreme Court’s harmful ruling in Dobbs made clear that both the State, its actors, and the non-profit industrial complex have failed the people, giving rise to the urgent necessity for the movement to defend itself through direct provisions to community. This workshop will provide context to the current crisis surrounding bodily autonomy and reproduction and share a roadmap for subverting state control by building networks of support to provide safe and effective abortion regardless of legality.

The Hydra Fund is an independent mutual aid fund supporting access to reproductive care in Michigan. Their mission is to eliminate financial barriers to abortion access in Michigan by providing direct financial aid for purchasing abortion pills and obtaining in-clinic abortion procedures. Additionally, Hydra Fund is engaged in a community outreach education program to support access to evidence-based abortion information.”

For other abortion chats you can listen to from TFSR, check out this link

Other resources mentioned include:

Announcement

Phone Zap for Malik Muhammad

Malik Muhammad, a prisoner from the George Floyd Uprising has been on hunger strike against extended use of solitary confinement with no property and after a beating and tasering by staff. You can learn how to participate in a phone zap at MalikSpeaks.NoBlogs.Org

Continue reading Abortion Beyond The State (with Jex Blackmore, ACAB24) →

Direct action abortion services in Latin America (ACAB2023)

This week, we’re sharing audio from the presentation “Direct action abortion services in Latin America” 2023 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC.

Thanks to the volunteers who re-recorded the presenter and audience questions where permission to share their voices was not granted and a transcription. Keep an eye out in August for our youtube video to include the slides from the actual presentation this recording was made from. Audios from the 2024 ACABookfair will be online in the near future on the bookfairs website, https://acabookfair.noblogs.org/

Continue reading Direct action abortion services in Latin America (ACAB2023) →

Diane Stevens of Jane Collective (ACABookfair 2023)

This week on TFSR, we’ll be airing a presentation by Diane Stevens, a member of the Jane Collective in Chicago in the 1960’s. This presentation was recorded at the 2023 Another Carolina Anarchist Bookfair in so-called Asheville, NC.

From the presentation description:

The Abortion Counseling Service, now better known as Jane, started out as a referral service in Chicago in the late 1960s, providing counseling and support to women before and after their procedures. Members of the group learned to do the abortions and then were able to do the procedures for whatever the women could afford to pay. Seven women were arrested and charged with the felonies of abortion and conspiracy to commit abortion. These charges were ultimately dismissed. It is estimated that about 11 thousand abortions were preformed before the group disbanded in 1973.
Diane Stevens was born in Chicago. She went to school in the suburbs before moving back into the city where she joined the Abortion Counseling Service.
Following the Roe v Wade decision and dismissal of all the criminal charges, Diane went on to have a career in health care and worked as a nurse practitioner in a variety of settings. Her work for reproductive justice has resumed with joining the Reproductive Rights Coalition in Charlotte and being a clinic escort.

You can hear another presentation we recorded from the ACABookfair 2023 in this week’s IGD Podcast, which is sharing Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin and JoNina Abron-Ervin in conversation with William C. Anderson.

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Featured Track:

  • I Can See Clearly Now (Instrumental) by Trem One from Amateurs EP
Continue reading Diane Stevens of Jane Collective (ACABookfair 2023) →

Facing 12 Years in Florida Abortion Graffiti + Anti-Fascist March in Bulgaria

This week, we’re sharing two portions.

South Florida Anti-Repression Committee

First up, a chat with two members of the South Florida Anti-Repression Committee doing solidarity for the 4 queer activists facing up to 12 years in Federal prison on charges related to graffiti at a Pregnancy Crisis Center, aka a building funded by church and state to dissuade people from getting abortions. The Department of Justice is charging them under the FACE Act, a criminal law passed in the 1990’s to stop threats, violence and blockades against health clinics that offered like abortions, screenings, contraception and other services under attack by religious extremists in the USA. There are also Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, known also as a SLAPP suits being brought by a Miami-based Christian anti-abortion Crisis Pregnancy Center called Heartbeat of Miami as well as the state of Florida against the accused apparently intended to have a chilling effect and minimize their ability to defend themselves against the Federal indictments.

Oso and Hunter of SFLARC talk about the arrests, about the defendants and the rising tide of gender fascism and war on bodily autonomy in DeSantis’ Florida and around the country.

Anti-Fascist March in Bulgaria

Following this, we’re sharing audio from the February 2023 episode of Bad News, a monthly English-language podcast from the A-Radio Network. In this segment, you’ll hear comrades from Črna luknja show on Radio Študent speakin with an activist in Sofia, Bulgaria about the antifascist mobilization known as Anti-lukovmarsh, which will take place on 25th February under the slogan “No Nazis On Our Streets” – This is a manifestation against one of the biggest international neo-nazi gatherings (Lukov March). You can find more info at: http://antifa-bulgaria.org.

Announcements

Support Parole for Sundiata Jawanza

Political prisoner and activist Sundiata Jawanza in South Carolina has an upcoming parole and is looking for support. You can learn more about his case at https://www.sundiatajawanza.com/

Alfredo Cospito Ends Hunger Strike

As you’ll hear in Sean Swain’s segment, Alfredo Cospito continues to languish in 41bis close custody. After Sean recorded this segment, Alfredo ended his hunger strike of roughly 5 months. You can learn more at AbolitionMediaWorldwide. You can hear our interview last year on the conditions of 41bis with anarchists in Italy here: https://thefinalstrawradio.mayfirst.info/post/2022/10/30/solidarity-with-prisoner-resistance-from-alabama-to-italy/

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Featured Tracks:

  • Gentleman by Fela Kuti from Gentleman
  • Yes All Cops by Worriers from Imaginary Life
Continue reading Facing 12 Years in Florida Abortion Graffiti + Anti-Fascist March in Bulgaria →

Open Source, DIY Medicine with Four Thieves Vinegar

This week on the show, we’re sharing an interview with Mixael Laufer of the 4 Thieves Vinegar Collective about the the group, building scientific competency, biohacking, authority, intellectual property… oh boy there’s a lot there. Mixael also speaks about some of the projects that 4 Thieves has on offer, including a do it yourself AED setup for defribulation, misoprostol-soaked business cards for self-inducing abortions, instructions for laboratory tools, finding other applications for existing drugs, Long COVID and more.

We’ll be stating this a few times during this episode, but Mixael Laufer is not licensed to offer medical advice and his opinions are his own. Also, be aware (if you want to be) that laws in different jurisdictions may differ. For instance, pressing your own pills has recently been criminalized in WA state in the so-called USA.

We hope you enjoy this interview and you can check out the project at FourThievesVinegar.org, where you can find a growing collection of introductory videos about their work starting Monday, March 13th, 2023 around noon.

Four Thieves Vinegar socials: Twitter, Facebook, Youtube & Instagram

Mixael on socials: Twitter & Mastodon

A few projects mentioned include:

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Featured Tracks:

Continue reading Open Source, DIY Medicine with Four Thieves Vinegar →

Abortion, Family, Queerness and Private Property with Sophie Lewis

This week, Scott and William talk to Sophie Lewis, author of Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family and the soon-to-be-released Abolish The Family A Manifest for Care and Liberation (out in October, 2022) about the current political moment that is characterized by attacks on trans people and peoples reproductive abilities. They also talk through what creates this moment, where trans people come into the target of State power being weaponized by the far right, as well as the connections among these attacks against LGBT education, access to transition, access to abortion and critical race theory. Also discussed are some limitations of a legalization framework around abortion, as opposed to a decriminalization, the limits of liberalism (particularly liberal feminism), and also the ways that certain strains of feminism contribute to an anti-trans discourse. Finally, there is chat about how to approach people needing support people who need access to healthcare, whether it be transition or abortion, outside of the hands of the state.

You can find Sophie on twitter at @ReproUtopoia and support her on Patreon at Patreon.com/ReproUtopia. You can find a children’s book Sophie co-translated called Communism For Kids or a compilation she contributed to on the ecological crisis called Hope Against Hope.

Opposing Torture

[01:11:19 – 01:17:44]

In Sean’s segment, he mentions his new book, Opposing Torture, available from LittleBlackCart.Com

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Featuerd Tracks:

Continue reading Abortion, Family, Queerness and Private Property with Sophie Lewis →

The Battle for Abortion and Reproductive Autonomy with Bay Ostrach

This week on the show, we sat down with Bayla Ostrach, an activist, anarchist, longtime defender, provider of and researcher around issues of reproductive healthcare. We speak about experiences researching and working on the issue in Catalunya, the battle for abortion and reproductive autonomy in the so-called US, the challenges faced by independent clinics against the business model of clinic chains like Planned Parenthood, legal and material pressure and attacks by anti-abortion extremists as well as the cultural and political struggle to defend and expand the ability for people to get safe, affordable, full spectrum and stigma-free abortion and reproductive care more broadly.

Illustration by Marne Grahlman

** Content warning, because we are discussing a stigmatized series of medical procedures adjacent to sexual, social and political violence, listeners should be advised and we’ll put warnings in a few places during the episode. If you are hearing the radio version and want to hear a longer version of this show, and to listen at your own pace, check out our full podcast at our website, to be followed in about a week by a transcript for easy reading & a zine for printing. **

A list of people, works, and resources mentioned by our guest:

Good sites:

Citations for two shared documents co/authored by Bay:

Another document we can’t easily share:

  • Singer, E., (Elyse Ona), and Bayla Ostrach. “The End of Feminist Abortion Counseling? Examining Threats to Women’s Health.” In Transcending Borders, 255–70. Palgrave-MacMillan (Springer imprint), 2017. http://link.springer.com/.

Announcements

Anti-Abortion & Fascist Over in DC

Fascism must be opposed, Reproductive Autonomy must be defeneded and there are many ways to do this. As the interview mentions, the neo-fascist masculinist dance troupe known as Patriot Front (or the Blue & Khaki Man Group) joined the anti-abortion “March For Life” in Chicago on January 8th and were heckled from within the march and surrounding Chicagoans. According to leaked audio, they may appear in Washington DC at the “March For Life” on January 22nd. A little info is available at PatriotFrontMarchForLife.NoBlogs.Org or by checking out sites for local anti-racist, anti-fascist & pro-choice and feminist groups in the DC area.

Sean Swain Support

So far as we know, Sean still isn’t out of the woods on an inter-state transfer despite the hearing board recommending him not be transferred out of state. 2 years ago he was transferred to Virginia with no hearing or warning and lots a bunch of his property in the shuffle. Now he’s back in Ohio and wants to stay near his spouse, his lawyer and many supporters. You can contact Interstate Compact Coordinator Earlena Shepherd at earlena.shepherd@odrc.state.oh.us or

Earlena Shepherd
Interstate Compact Coordinator
ODRC
4545 Fisher Road, Suite D
Columbus, OH 43228

More contacts at SeanSwain.Org

Supporting TFSR

If you appreciate the work that we do at the final straw, there’re a few ways to support us. The following links are all https…:

You can rate, review & subscribe to us on your favorite streaming source like spotify, youtube, google, audbile, stitcher, apple or our podcast feed. You can follow us and share our content on social media. You can also reach out to us with feedback or interview ideas. More at https://TFSR.WTF/links

We’re now over a year into transcribing each weekly episode, which you can find alongside select older shows at https://TFSR.WTF/zines for easier reading if that’s your spead. You can print out zines and mail them to prisoners you support or distro or share them where you are. If you translate an interview, let us know and we’ll promote it.

Finally, anarchist radio isn’t much of a thing in the so-called USA, but we air on about a dozen stations weekly. You can find out more and how to get us on local airwaves by contacting us and reaching out to a local community station and proposing us. More info is available at https://TFSR.WTF/Radio

thanks!

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Featured Tracks:

Continue reading The Battle for Abortion and Reproductive Autonomy with Bay Ostrach →