If you are reading this maybe you are afraid. Or maybe you aren’t as afraid as you should be. Maybe you don’t think that the Roe reversal will affect you. Maybe you live in a blue state. Maybe you are past reproductive age or don’t have a uterus. Maybe you say you are pro-life.
But the reality is this decision is going to affect your life in ways you haven’t fathomed.
If you feel safe because…
- You live in a blue state. The Republicans have made it clear that if/when they take back the House and Senate in 2022 – or anytime after – they will ban abortion on a federal level.
- You are past reproductive age or don’t have a uterus. Do you have children or grandchildren? Nieces and nephews? This affects them. It affects them if they are raped. It affects them if they have an ectopic pregnancy that would kill them without an abortion. It affects them if they become pregnant and find out the baby is missing vital organs and unlikely to live outside the womb. It affects you if they are mentally, financially, or emotionally unable to care for a child so now you, as the grandparent, are raising babies again.
- You have wealth and access. If you have those things you may be able to access abortions for yourself and your loved ones – maybe. But maybe not when doctors are terrified to perform these services because they are criminalized (like they are already in many states). Or when aiding and abetting an abortion is a federal crime with a reward for being turned in to authorities (as it is now in some states). Your wealth and access may not protect you.
- You believe birth control is the answer. They are coming for contraception next. They LITERALLY SAID THEY ARE AND YOU DON’T BELIEVE THEM. You will not have access to birth control. You will not stop having sex. Men will not stop having sex, women will not stop having sex, teenagers will not stop having sex. Contraception is the best way to prevent abortion and they will ban it or make it extremely difficult or even illegal to access.
- You are pro-life and rely on IVF to get pregnant. THEY ARE COMING FOR IVF. As a recent Washington Post article makes clear, assisted reproductive technologies that bring together eggs and sperm outside the body to create an embryo, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), would have a highly uncertain legal status — unless laws that define life as beginning at fertilization clarify the status of those embryos’ creation, storage, and possible destruction. Expect IVF to become more complicated and costly and have potentially horrifying legal implications.
- You believe adoption is the answer. This country already has 430,000 children in foster care on any given day. Approximately 2.5 million children are homeless annually in the United States. As many as 13 million children in the United States live in food-insecure homes. Children are already homeless and starving in this country and NO ONE IS HELPING THEM. No one is saving them, adopting them, or offering them and their families the healthcare and resources they need.
- You are pro-life but someone you love is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. They are coming for gay marriage next. And they have already begun stripping the rights of trans people, particularly youth, at the state level.
- You are heterosexual and don’t care. You’re good with that? Did you know that the “sodomy laws” they are looking to overturn included fines, life prison sentences, or both – and that some states banned consensual sodomy, disregarding the sex of those involved. THAT’S RIGHT MEN – IT WOULD BE ILLEGAL TO DO IT IN THE BUTT WITH A WOMAN! Think your life is private? That’s what these new reversals are all about – removing your right to privacy in the name of CHRISTIANITY. Welcome to the dark ages.
- You think these things are righteous and just. Then I guess you don’t care about hypocrisy. No, not just the hypocrisy of not allowing states to make gun laws when they can make abortion laws or not caring about children outside the womb. How about the hypocrisy on abortion from those making these draconian laws. Here is just a small thread of KNOWN Republican elected officials who have paid for abortions. It is also widely speculated that Lauren Boebert, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump, and so many more of the most vocal anti-abortion advocates and lawmakers have HAD OR PAID FOR ABORTIONS.
- You are an old, straight, white, heterosexual Christian man. Ahh, the last man standing after they come for everyone else. It’s a bit lonely there though, right? When you walk down the street you feel sorry about the homeless mothers and babies you see. Men are feeling the economic pain as well. The economy has gotten so bad it’s caused you to lose much of your retirement. You think about your niece who died from an ectopic pregnancy. You never suspected your nephew was trans until he died by suicide after he was unable to get gender-affirming healthcare. There are fewer people at church. You polish your guns. You wave your flag.
TAKE ACTION NOW!
I know you feel helpless. I know you feel frustrated by the Democrats’ inability to fix this right now. I do too. But we can’t give up.
If we keep the House and expand our Senate majority by one or two seats we can eliminate the filibuster and codify Roe. We can expand the Supreme Court to rebalance this institution. And we can defend abortion rights in states through ballot measures and down-ballot elections.
- Check your voter registration at vote.org.
- Find races in a target state near you where you can make the biggest impact at swingleft.org. Canvas. Talk to people. Phone bank. It matters.
- Plan B is still legal, available online, and has a four-year shelf life. Here is more information about the various pill options and which work best for whom as there are various weight restrictions. If you are or have a person of child-bearing age in your family, you may want to have readily available.
- Donate directly to abortionfunds.org.
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