The Pilots Flying Abortion Patients Across State Lines

It wasn’t the phone call Laila was expecting. “How’d you like to fly on a private plane?” the upbeat voice on the other end asked. The 23-year-old was nervous. Laila, not her real name, had flown only once in her life. But she was nearing her second trimester and feeling desperate.

The person asking was Allison Dreith. Dreith is the director of strategic partnerships at a small, volunteer-based practical abortion fund called Midwest Access Coalition, which helps cover travel, lodging, and child-care costs related to abortion access. Laila, who lives in Oklahoma and was in her first trimester when she reached out to Dreith, had already made several appointments with Planned Parenthood Great Plains, but they had all been canceled. It was early June, just a few weeks after the public leak of the Supreme Court opinion draft that would soon overturn Roe, and the clinic was bracing for Governor Kevin Stitt to sign the total abortion ban that had already made its way through the state legislature.

We’ve got some nice distractions to take your mind off of Arizona, Nevada, and Georgia for a few minutes. First, watch the trailer for John Wick: Chapter 4. Then look at this little pony — he’s smaller than some dogs! A TikToker raised $170,000 with GoFundMe to help an older Walmart worker retire. Challenge yourself and see how many of these fictional writers you can ID. Lena Horne recently became the first Black woman to have a Broadway theater named after her. Inflation is up 7.7 percent over the year ending in October, but it’s the first time since February that it has fallen below 8 percent. Alex Jones owes another $473 million to Sandy Hook families. And finally, some adorable gesticulating.

Sign up to get the Cut Shop newsletter, our weekly guide to help you make good choices about what to spend your money on.