A black dress, bought on Amazon, was the small detail that brought home a poignant truth about the challenges women encounter in finding abortion care in a post-Roe America.
Dr. Austin Dennard, an OB-GYN in Dallas, had Zoomed in to the panel discussion “Abortion 2025: Where Do We Go From Here?” She addressed the impact that draconian abortion bans have on creating high-risk situations for pregnant patients and providers in Texas since the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that stripped away the constitutional right to abortion.
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But Dr. Dennard told a story that was also deeply personal. In 2022, she herself had a nonviable pregnancy in which the fetus she carried had anencephaly, a fatal condition in which the skull and brain do not fully develop, posing a severe health risk to the woman. Because Texas abortion bans didn’t allow for exceptions, she was forced to go out-of-state to terminate her pregnancy.
In Texas, abortions are prohibited after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, as early as five or six weeks—before many women even know they’re pregnant.
Dr. Dennard, then a mother of two whose husband was an OB-GYN, recounted having to travel from the comfort of her own home, leaving her family and patients behind, staying in a strange hotel room in another city, and the unfamiliar clinical surroundings where the abortion was done.
And the black dress? It was worn on the plane ride home so that, as Dr. Dennard said, any spotting caused by the procedure “wouldn’t show on her own clothes.”
The panel discussion, presented by Hollywood, Health & Society, a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, was held Aug. 29 at the Ms. Magazine offices, also home to the organization’s Feminist Majority Foundation. In addition to Dr. Dennard, the guest speakers present were:
RINA MIMOUN—Most recently she served as show runner and executive producer on the Max series The Girls On the Bus, which featured a prominent storyline on medication abortion.
MELISSA GOODMAN—The executive director of the Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy at UCLA Law, a think tank and research center created to meet the current national crisis in access to abortion while working towards long-term solutions to advance reproductive justice.
SORAYA GIACCARDI—A senior researcher at the Media Impact Project (MIP), the research and evaluation arm of the USC Norman Lear Center. Her work focuses on measuring, tracking and improving representation of historically marginalized communities, and measuring the impact of entertainment on audience knowledge and attitudes.
KARON JOLNA (moderator)—Program director and editor of Ms. Classroom, with two decades of experience in nonprofit feminist media and higher education. She leads Ms. Magazine in its efforts to bring women’s, gender and sexuality studies analyses and voices to a broader national audience.
Research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health “estimates that infant deaths in Texas increased more than expected in the year following the state’s ban on abortion in early pregnancy, especially among infants with congenital anomalies.”
Giaccardi unveiled a new study that MIP conducted with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health at UCSF, which found that “accurate portrayals of abortion in storylines on A Million Little Things (ABC), Better Things (FX), and Station 19 (ABC) fostered greater understanding of abortion access, prevalence, and safety, and even inspired some to take actions in support of reproductive rights.” The research highlights the critical role entertainment media play in countering medical misinformation about abortion, even in a post-Dobbs world.
Although the number of abortions in the U.S. actually increased in 2023 following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, the status of abortion access and women’s health care nationally remains dire. Goodman said two states, Texas and Tennessee, have passed new trafficking laws that target anyone who helps a minor obtain an abortion in another state.
Following her abortion to end the unhealthy pregnancy, Dr. Dennard joined 12 other women in a lawsuit against Texas, arguing that the state’s abortion laws were unclear when it comes to pregnancy complications. The judge ruled in their favor, temporarily blocking the Texas abortion bans “in cases of serious pregnancy complications.”
The Girls on the Bus, which ran for one season on Max, tells the story of four women journalists covering presidential primaries through different stops on the campaign trail. It was created by Amy Chock and Julie Plec, and inspired by Chock’s 2018 memoir Chasing Hillary. A prominent storyline that Mimoun pushed for centers on one of the characters, Sadie, who discovers she’s pregnant and must travel to another state to obtain the abortion pills that were ordered for her by her doctor.
“Anytime you have a group of women at the center of your storytelling, it’s almost insane that you wouldn’t be bringing up abortion,” Mimoun told the panel audience. “It’s part of [women’s] lives, it’s part of our choices.”
Dr. Dennard looked back on those days she spent knowing that although her pregnancy was not viable and posed a risk to her health and life, she was somewhat at the mercy of Texas’ abortion ban. She counted herself lucky that she had the resources to obtain an abortion elsewhere.
“This pregnancy belongs to the state,” Dr. Dennard recalled telling herself at the time.
Speakers
Rina Mimoun
Showrunner and Executive Producer, “The Girls on the Bus”
Rina Mimoun began her television career on The WB, working on shows such as Dawson’s Creek, Everwood, Gilmore Girls and Hart of Dixie. While under her deal at Warner Bros. Studios, she consulted on the shows Eastwick, and Pushing Daisies until her first series, Privileged, landed at The CW. From there, Rina moved over to ABC Studios to executive produce the summer series, Mistresses which ran for four seasons. In that time, she also ran the FOX series Red Band Society, and contributed as a consulting producer on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, and The Catch. While working at CBS Studios, Rina wrote and executive produced Playing Dead and Under the Bridge. In 2021, Rina returned to Warner Bros. and worked as a consulting producer on Superman & Lois before boarding the MAX series The Girls On The Bus, where she most recently served as showrunner and executive producer.
Melissa Goodman
Executive Director of the Center on reproductive health, law, and policy at ucla law
Melissa Goodman is the executive director of the Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy at UCLA Law, a think tank and research center created to meet the current national crisis in access to abortion while working towards long-term solutions to advance reproductive justice. Before joining the center, she was the legal and advocacy director at the ACLU of Southern California, and spent a decade advancing reproductive justice, LGBTQ rights, and gender equity litigation and policy advocacy campaigns with the ACLU in California and New York.
Soraya Giaccardi
Senior Researcher at the USC Norman Lear Center
Soraya Giaccardi is a senior researcher at the Media Impact Project, the research and evaluation arm of the USC Norman Lear Center. Her work focuses on measuring, tracking and improving representation of historically marginalized communities, and measuring the impact of entertainment on audience knowledge and attitudes. Previously, Soraya served as associate director of research at the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Psychology of Violence, Media Psychology, Psychology of Men and Masculinity, Psychology of Women Quarterly, and Emerging Adulthood.
Austin Dennard, MD
Texas OB-GYN
Austin Dennard, MD is a Texas OB-GYN who was part of a lawsuit that challenged the state’s abortion bans over its confusing position about medical emergencies. Dr. Dennard herself had a nonviable pregnancy in which the fetus she carried had anencephaly, a fatal condition that poses a health risk to the woman. Because Texas abortion bans don’t allow for exceptions, she was forced to travel out-of-state to terminate her pregnancy. A clinical assistant professor for obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dr. Dennard will address the impact abortion bans have on creating life- and health-threatening situations for pregnant patients and providers in Texas and other states since the Dobbs decision.
Karon Jolna (Moderator)
Program Director and Editor of Ms. Classroom
Karon Jolna is program director and editor of Ms. Classroom, with two decades of experience in nonprofit feminist media and higher education. She leads Ms. Magazine in its efforts to bring women’s, gender and sexuality studies analyses and voices to a broader national audience. Previously she served as a lecturer of gender studies at UCLA and research scholar at UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women. Jolna was among the first cohort to earn a Ph.D. in women’s studies at Emory University.