June 24th marks the one-year anniversary of right-wing, religious extremists overturning Roe. It is a tragic low point in the history of jurisprudence in our country. And, still, we rise. Here are just a few of the ways we are winning right now:
NY State Shield Law passes. The New York State Assembly passed a law shielding clinicians and abortion seekers from retribution from banned states on the last day of session. This is a huge deal, and perhaps the greatest expansion of abortion rights in the state in sixty years. Clinicians can now safely prescribe abortion medication to patients anywhere, including banned states. Congratulations to Sen. Shelley Mayer, and Assembly members MaryJane Shimsky, Liz Krueger, and Dana Levenberg, and many, many citizen advocates who got this done. If you live in a state without this protection, now would be a good time to lobby your elected officials to pass it.
Polls heading our way. All of the polling on abortion is showing a significant increase in public support for abortion rights, and perhaps more importantly, greater passion for voting on this issue by people who want to safeguard and expand reproductive rights. For decades the antis turned out to vote on this issue with greater regularity and purpose than we did. Not anymore. It turns out that stripping people of fundamental human rights pisses off voters.
The connection between reproductive freedom and democracy. Here is a fantastic article by Pamela Shiffman and Brook Kelly-Green on the direct link between reproductive freedom and democracies around the world. If you’re going backwards on repro, you’re going backwards on democracy. They outline concrete tasks to build the political power needed to swing us back on a democratic pathway.
What We Can Do Today
June 24th Day of action. There are a host of June 24th gatherings you can join. See this list at the Women’s March website: https://action.womensmarch.com/calendars/june-24
Safeguarding access to contraception. I know -- it’s so hard to wrap our heads around the fact that we have to do this, but, well, here we are, so let’s get it done. Representative Kathy Manning and Senator Ed Markey reintroduced the Right to Contraception Act (H.R. 4121, S. 1999) to safeguard Americans’ right to access all forms of birth control and protect against federal and state efforts to restrict it. You can reach out to your own Congressional reps and you can sign this petition from Hadassah supporting this legislation: https://p2a.co/WMI3txL
Men4Choice. Reproductive freedom and justice are not a “women’s” issue, it is a human issue. We need more men as advocates. Men4Choice is a growing network of men are trained as allies for reproductive freedom and justice. I highly recommend it for the men who want to be actively involved in creating an equitable society.
We’re on the right side of this issue — and the winning side. Keep going!