Stay ConnectedYou were smart enough not to go to law school. Good—that’s what Imani Gandy is for. Baby Boom! Lawyered is the micropodcast from the co-creator of Boom! Lawyered: two or three short episodes a week on the fastest-moving legal fights for reproductive justice. Everything from abortion rights to trans discrimination to racial justice, translated by someone who sat through the three years so you didn’t have to.
Produced by Rewire News Group.
Copyright: © 2026 Rewire News Group
Here’s a fun thing that wasn't on our 2021 bingo card: multiple abortion rights challenges at the Supreme Court. But that happened thanks to Texas!
The Supreme Court decided on Friday to hear two challenges to Texas SB 8, which restricts most abortions in the state after six weeks and puts a bounty in place for anyone who reports someone who helps someone else get an abortion. And they’re hearing the case on November 1—a week from today—like some "gut abortion" telethon.
Hosts Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy make sense of what has arguably been the most chaotic week in abortion jurisprudence in a while.
Articles mentioned in the episode:
Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate.
And sign up for The Fallout, a new weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/subscribe.
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
Buckle up—we're taking you to Texas this week.
Hosts Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy unpack the current state of abortion access in Texas (we’re using the word “access” loosely here.)
They break down what the courts have done over the last few months as cases challenging the law have ping-ponged between the federal district and circuit courts and the Supreme Court. The TL;DR: It's not great!
Mentioned in the episode:
Starting October 25, episodes of Boom! Lawyered will be released Monday afternoon.
Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate.
And sign up for The Fallout, a new weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/subscribe.
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
Get comfy—grab your law-nerd hats and a pillow to rage scream into, and join us for the season premiere episode of Boom! Lawyered.
Jess and Imani return to the mics for:
Articles mentioned in the podcast:
https://rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/09/30/panty-grab-how-evangelicals-are-rewriting-sexual-privacy-rights/
https://rewirenewsgroup.com/ablc/2021/09/20/the-forgotten-story-of-how-voting-rights-drive-abortion-access/
Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate
And sign up for The Fallout, a new weekly newsletter written by Jess that’s exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/subscribe
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
Last night, the Supreme Court made it official: the brutal, blatantly unconstitutional Texas abortion ban is hunky-dory. Roe v. Wade? Not so much.
Is there any chance of the Texas ban still being overturned? Will other states pass copycat laws? Is there any hope of a federal bill enshrining abortion rights? On the latest episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy end an alarming week by peering into our very messy future.
Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate
And sign up for The Fallout, a brand new weekly newsletter written by Jess that's exclusively dedicated to covering every aspect of this unprecedented moment. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/fallout
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
The Supreme Court just let a blatantly unconstitutional abortion ban take effect in Texas. They made this unprecedented and radical move on the “shadow docket,” which is a fancy way of saying they avoided any hearings or scrutiny of any kind. They haven’t even had to explain their reasoning.
Now, maybe they will eventually fix this. But maybe they won't. At best, this is a major warning shot at Roe v. Wade. At worst, it's a complete dismantlement of 50 years of abortion rights precedent via casual inaction. Either way, you can bet more bans like this are coming to a state near you. To make as much sense of the chaos as possible, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy hop on the mics for an emergency episode of Boom! Lawyered.
Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
Last week, the Supreme Court completed its business for this term. And by "its business" we mean "gutting the meager remaining protections for voting rights in the United States." Other highlights of their closing act include the Affordable Cart Act living to fight another day, some subtle groundwork being laid for legal religious discrimination, and a disappointing number of justices (ZERO) announcing their retirement.
On the last Boom! Lawyered before our own summer break, Jess and Imani break down the final crush of news from the Court and give the latest update on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Barring any major breaking news, Boom! Lawyered will be back in September. If you want more Jess and Imani in the meantime, follow their Rewire News Group adventures on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!
Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media organization, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here.
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
The Supreme Court handed down two big decisions today. First, the Court rejected an attempt by conservative attorneys general to declare the Affordable Care Act as unconstitutional. But don't get too comfortable, law nerds. There's more to this decision than meets the eye.
Then the Court declared that the city of Philadelphia must contract with a foster care agency that refuses to certify same-sex couples. What's even more shocking is that Justice Elena Kagan signed on. And so did Justice Stephen Breyer. And so did Justice Sonia Sotomayor!
What gives? How can all of Court's liberal justices have signed onto this requirement to certify an agency that discriminates? Well, on this rapid reaction episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani have some answers. And what those answers say about the state of case law protecting so-called "religious freedom" is as fascinating as it is alarming.
Boom! Lawyered is a part of Rewire News Group, a nonprofit media organization. That means we rely on supporters like you to help make our show possible. And right now, we're running an amazing campaign—if you donate here today, a generous supporter will match your gift!
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
Heads up! If you can help us reach our fundraising goal at https://rewirenewsgroup.com/donate/, Jess and Imani will film the wildest and smashiest live event in Rewire News Group history next week! Check out that donate page for more info.
***
Lubbock, Texas, passed a “sanctuary city for the unborn” ordinance, a so-called heartbeat ban that would ban abortion at around six weeks. The ban would allow anyone to sue to enforce the ban—and not just anyone in Lubbock or Texas. Anyone in the country could decide to sue a Lubbock abortion provider. Or a few thousand people could decide to sue one of those providers at once.
The law can't take effect for now, thank goodness, but that could change.
Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions in Lubbock, challenged the constitutionality of the ordinance in federal court. But in a shocking decision, the court dismissed the case. And the logic used to justify the decision should alarm anyone concerned about abortion rights. Because the Lubbock ban isn't the only one with this terrible clause—the statewide Texas ban, which is also currently unenforceable, would also allow for private enforcement of their ban should it ever take effect.
On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani dissect the impact of this shocking decision. They also give their weekly update on the latest developments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the direct challenge to Roe v. Wade that the Supreme Court is expected to hear in the fall.
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
This direct challenge to Roe v. Wade didn't reach the Supreme Court by accident. It was the culmination of a detailed plan that was hiding in plain sight.
Actually, that doesn't do it justice—the deep-pocketed anti-choice movement was begging everyone years ago to listen to exactly how it planned to obliterate abortion rights: by passing a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi and defending it all the way to a revamped Supreme Court.
On this episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani take us inside that plan to either end Roe or make it "totally irrelevant," and they explain how it's snaked its way to the precipice of victory.
Rewire News Group is a nonprofit media org, which means that Boom! Lawyered is only made possible by the support of listeners like you! If you can, please join our team by donating here: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/boomgive
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
The Supreme Court announced today it would be taking up a case that could completely upend abortion rights.
Back in 2018, Mississippi passed a law that banned abortion at 15 weeks. It was struck down at the district level. Then the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a notoriously conservative appeals court, struck it down, citing the clear precedent of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. And if the Supreme Court agreed that this was obviously unconstitutional, they could have easily just refused to take the case.
But they finally took the case.
On this emergency episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jess and Imani explore what today's news portends for abortion in America and when we can expect this all to come to a head. They are also joined by special guest Hillary Schneller, the lead attorney on the case from the Center for Reproductive Rights, who explains how this case could determine the extent of the government's ability to mess with our fundamental rights.
Expert Repro Journalism That Inspires.
Episodes like this take time, research, and a commitment to the truth. If Baby Boom! Lawyered helps you understand what’s at stake in our courts, chip in to keep our fearless legal analysis alive. Become a member today.
B*itch, Listen now has its own dedicated feed on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you get your podcasts. If you already subscribe to Baby Boom! Lawyered, sign up for B*tch, Listen so you won't miss it.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
