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Meet the Reddit ‘Aunties’ covertly helping people get abortions

The Washington Post: “In the hours since a leaked draft opinion signaled the Supreme Court is likely to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark law legalizing abortion nationwide, thousands of people have flocked to a Reddit community called the Auntie Network, a pseudo-underground gathering space aimed to facilitate abortions in an age of diminishing access. On the page, volunteers sign up to lodge, transport, assist and care for people needing abortions who are alone or in states where it’s difficult to get one. A modern-day adaptation of underground abortion networks that helped people access care when the procedure was illegal, the Auntie Network stands alongside formal organizations like the Brigid Alliance and the National Network of Abortion Funds that coordinate travel and remove financial barriers to getting abortions. But as the prospect of terminating a pregnancy in America faces staunch restrictions in large swaths of the country, the Reddit group offers a glimpse into a post-Roe era when getting an abortion will require an influx of community-based aid to organize and assist. “People are outraged and people are using social media to form these networks of activism,” Victoria Spring, 32, said. “In the absence of having institutional support … we are going to have to more and more rely on each other.”…

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