My WNBA group chat was all abuzz with approval for the new Cleveland Sirens brand, as “Sirens” met the primary criteria for a WNBA team name: could this team name be the subject on which a 19th century lesbian poet would write? Thus, we bring you: Emily Dickinson on the WNBA.

One of the worst things I learned from RELINQUISHED by @gretchensisson.bsky.social was if you have a baby and an open child welfare case for their older sibling, some social workers encourage you to relinquish the baby to a private adoption agency so that you have a “choice” in how you lose them

Here’s a review from yesterday’s judiciary committee meeting with Senator Aisha Wahab and the California Alliance for Adoptee Rights. It’s a privilege to contribute to this conversation and help move forward the case of open records for adopted people. Next: appropriations!

New #WeCount data: Preliminary findings make it unmistakably clear that telehealth is a cornerstone of abortion access in the US. Key findings: there were approximately 1.1 million abortions in 2025, and 28% of abortions in December 2025 were provided via telehealth. societyfp.org/research/wec...

#WeCount preliminary findings telehealth brief - Society of Family Planning

#WeCount is a national research effort that measures monthly counts of clinician-provided abortions. Final 2025 estimates will be released in June 2026. Click here to download the brief as a PDF and v...

societyfp.org

Just a reminder as this case continues to move forward: The actual scientific evidence supports *expanding* access to medication abortion, not restricting it.

US supreme court temporarily extends access to mail-order abortion medication mifepristone

Louisiana had sued the FDA last fall, arguing that prescribing mifepristone interfered with state’s ban on abortion

theguardian.com

If this stands, it will block more abortions than the Dobbs decision. www.usnews.com/news/politic...

Got blocked for this one! For what it’s worth, it’s fine to not know things about adoption — but you can approach with curiosity rather than indignation and dismissal.

Gretchen Sisson@gretchensisson.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Good thing no one is making it on thin evidence. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s so weird to me when people who know nothing about adoption just confidently assert things that are demonstrably untrue about it.

Crimes of the accused adoption worker were also overlooked by the adoption agency, which facilitated the adoption despite knowing the birth mother had been lied to by a doctor who told her her child had died, when in fact the grandmother had privately requested the adoption. buff.ly/TDPBt7S 🥚

Investigation into adoptee's human rights abuses case ends after suspect dies

A victim of human rights abuses in Korea's past intercountry adoption process filed a criminal complaint against the adoption worker involved in her case, but the investigation ended after the worker…

koreajoongangdaily.joins.com

Yvette Lindgren & I have a new essay recently accepted by Southern California Law Review! "The Post-Dobbs Abortion Irony" explores how abortion bans only seem to be chilling medically necessary abortions while everyday abortions are increasing everywhere. 1/4 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I’m honored to be reading as part of this Words as Lifelines series Sunday night at 6pm ET, along with @alandettlaff.com & @gretchensisson.bsky.social, talking adoption, family policing, repro justice & more, to benefit families in Gaza. Donate & join us if you can: form.jotform.com/joonae/lifel...

I’m adopted, not donor-conceived. But I lived the first 4 decades of my life in a state of genetic bewilderment. I think it lowers self-esteem and breeds a kind of dysmorphia. Living in my skin was like wearing some unknown person’s clothes. It took reunion for me to feel truly at home in my body. 🥚

Adoptee Advocates of Michigan@aaom-adoptees.bsky.social · 5mo ago

South Dakota’s HB1164 makes fraudulent assisted reproduction a felony, recognizing children’s right to their biological identity. The bill passed unanimously, reflecting bipartisan agreement that living with genetic bewilderment primarily violates the child’s rights. 🥚

Excited to share that RELINQUISHED is available in paperback next Tuesday! If you don’t yet have a copy, be sure to visit your local bookstore to grab a copy. Thank you to everyone who has supported this book on its journey thus far — I’m forever grateful to you. 📚

Mullin continues a long tradition of adoptive parents legislating on their personal experience of a system designed to benefit them. I wonder what will happen to children separated from their parents by borders on his watch.

The Blessing of Adoption - U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma

Giving one’s life to the Lord means walking in the path He has set for us. It’s not always easy but trusting in God’s sovereign plan for our lives will always bless us beyond measure. Our family is pr...

mullin.senate.gov

"To me, as a mother who was manipulated into relinquishing her son, this 'third option' [of adoption] isn’t a bridge — it’s a trap draped in the language of bravery. It is dangerous, expensive propaganda."

There Was One Ad During The Super Bowl That People Aren’t Talking About. It Horrified Me.

"It’s a trap draped in the language of bravery. It is dangerous, expensive propaganda."

huffpost.com

SB381 has unanimously passed the California Senate! A huge step forward. On to the assembly!

Anxious Rage@anxiousrage.blacksky.app · 7mo ago

California SB381 just passed the Senate (CA-born adult adoptee access to their original birth certificates) On to the House next LFG!!!

You did not bear the shame. You resisted. You bestowed the eternally vigilant symbol of change by sacrificing your impassioned lives for freedom, justice and honour. — The German Resistance Memorial in Berlin

NEW: An Atlanta-area crisis pregnancy center has raked in more than $1 million from an unusual source: the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The CPC is opening a maternity home, worrying advocates that residents may be coerced into relinquishing children for adoption. @autonomynews.co

One Crisis Pregnancy Center Has Received $1.1 Million in Federal Housing Funds Since 2020

A Georgia anti-abortion organization is building a maternity home. Public opposition surfaced allegations of false advertising and medical licensing issues—and resulted in cease and desist letters.

autonomynews.co

Senator Weiner "no matter what we do, some people will end up not being pleased, but here we have an opportunity to do something that will make 100% of adoptees happy and the vast majority of birth parents happy as well"

The conversation in front of the health committee today is infuriating. We’re devoting infinite time to this hypothetical group of birth mothers who don’t want their children to have access to their records. I’ve spoken to so many birth mothers. I’ve never met this woman.

Open records for adopted people has passed the California judiciary committee. Unanimously. On to the health committee tomorrow.

In Sacramento at the senate judiciary committee hearing, advocating for the rights of CA-born adopted people to access their own records. I am concerned about tomorrow’s health committee hearing. If you are in CA, you can call the health committee senators (see below) & advocate in support of SB381.

Anxious Rage@anxiousrage.blacksky.app · 7mo ago

🚨🚨Any California resident can help The Senate Health Committee hearing is tomorrow 1/14 at 1:30 PST. Please contact your reps today and tell them to VOTE YES on SB381. If calling isn’t your thing, email info for the committee is below👇🏾👇🏾

Indian boarding schools sought to strip Native children of their culture. Now, the Trump administration seeks to strip their stories from the historical record while opening ancestral lands for pillage and plunder.

Serious Reservations | Kristen Martin

The Trump administration’s erasure of Indigenous history serves a larger project—yet another plunder of land.

thebaffler.com

Working on my letter to the CA senate judiciary committee right now! CA-born adopted people deserve access to their records. Link below to learn how to offer your support.

No. No. No. Punitive processes make narrowly targeted programs *less* efficient and *more* costly. Because more scrutiny requires more bureaucracy. Punitive processes also make it *less* likely that people will get aid for which they qualify. Because of the roadblocks and stigma scrutiny creates.

First mothers need support, not baby boxes. I discussed this on Al Jazeera. Real support = housing, healthcare, childcare, help & community. When we invest in mothers, we invest in keeping families together. #FamilyPreservation #FirstMothers #adoption @gretchensisson.bsky.social #AlJazeera 🥚

Many things can be true. This policy is racist. *And* transnational adoption into the US is a dying industry that has always been rooted in white saviorism, evangelicalism, predation, lies, and the exploitation geopolitical conflict or natural disaster.

Michael Clemens@mclem.org · 8mo ago

The US Administration has banned Americans from *adopting babies* from much of the African continent. Adopting. Babies. What trait do those babies have that, when they grow up as fully American adults, would make them a threat to our country in any form?

I can, but they’re probably not the same as the Trump Administration’s reasons.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick@reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 8mo ago

On that last post: I genuinely cannot think of any good-faith reason to bar international adoptions from those 39 countries. Under this new ban, consulates will refuse adoption visas for any baby from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Nigeria, or any of the 39 other countries.

Glad to be included in this conversation with “Liberty Lost”’s @tjraphael.bsky.social from the Concerned United Birthparent conference. I believe this is the first mainstream critical coverage of the adoption tax credit — an important step in the conversation to align our investment with our values.

I used to make a podcast called ACCESS, and there are a few episodes that continue to get a steady stream of downloads even though they're years old. My episode about adoption, which included an interview with @gretchensisson.bsky.social, is one! Small snippet here: www.instagram.com/p/ChsfdetD6Gt/

ACCESS 🎙 on Instagram: "@ucsf sociologist Gretchen Sisson on what we don’t talk about enough when we talk about adoption. Hear the rest in our latest episode!"

48 likes, 2 comments - accesspod on August 25, 2022: "@ucsf sociologist Gretchen Sisson on what we don’t talk about enough when we talk about adoption. Hear the rest in our latest episode!".

instagram.com

Autonomy News@autonomynews.co · 8mo ago

ICYMI: Sign up for a new, paid annual subscription before December 31 and you will receive a free, signed copy of @gretchensisson.bsky.social's book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. Subscribe today! www.autonomynews.co#/portal