Pick One Thing To Do Right Now to Fight for Abortion Access
Let's get to work.
We knew this was coming. We knew this was coming and still it burns. For decades Republicans have been raptors, testing the fences. They hid behind insidious doublespeak, terms like “heartbeat bills” and “pro-life” meant to obscure their violence behind crocodile tears. They have no interest in children. They have made that quite clear. They let the child tax credit lapse. They refuse to fund health care or child care or schools or food assistance. In Florida they won’t let children talk about their families. In Texas they classified gender affirming, life saving health care for trans kids as abuse. Across the country they are passing laws to keep kids from playing sports and reading books.
They have no interest in children. Anti-abortion laws are not about children. They are about control. They are about the power that comes from knowing you get to decide the fate of the internal organs of your enemies.
The Republican Party spent decades frothing up their base with racism and bigotry of all kinds so that they could win school board races and city council races, state legislatures, Congress and gerrymandering so that they could do this. So they could take the Supreme Court and kill voting rights and abortion rights and queer rights and the fucking planet.
They don’t want us to have self determination. They want us to be cowed and afraid. They want our bodies for labor and they want us too tired at the end of the day, too sad and scared and uncertain to fight back. They want money and power and to never answer for any of it.
Overturning Roe vs. Wade, like all the horrors that came before it, will hurt vulnerable people first. People of color, low income communities, indigenous people and immigrants and trans folks will bear the brunt of this and it’s up to all of us to fight back, to fight for ourselves and each other, to fight for everyone’s right to live a happy and healthy and fulfilled life of our own choosing.
And it sucks, believe me I know it sucks. It’s been a long few years for many of us and a long few centuries for many, many others. And when we took back Congress and the White House we should have gotten more of a breather than we did. But the seeds of this moment were planted long ago. And Trump getting to appoint three Supreme Court justices was the fertilizer the Right had been waiting for. And it feels even harder because, despite our fragile control of Congress, we’ve been paralyzed by just two Senators who believe that Senate rules are more important than our lives, our democracy, and our planet.
So what now?
Unfortunately Democrats have a majority in Congress but do not have the power to end the filibuster and pass legislation to combat this decision. We have 48 Democrats willing to fight for us and two who would rather fight for themselves. We have 189 days until Election Day, and we have the chance to elect at least two more Senators willing to overturn the filibuster and pass the Women’s Health Act. We have 189 days to fight for state legislatures and governors who will protect our rights (like this one, and this one, and this one and this one - I’ve said before, we are not in this fight alone). And we can remind those in power that this is not over and we are not done. We will put people in power who will fight for us. And if you won’t, you had better get out of our way.
We are not down, we are not out. We will not be crammed into their tiny little boxes. We will not give up our bodies or our rights or our lives. We will not be cowed. We will not give up.
Below I’ve put together some ways you can help, because action steps are my love language. Pick one thing you can do right now and one thing you can sign up to do next week. As always I want your feedback and your questions and your concerns.
Now, let’s get to work.
One thing you should do right now is donate to abortion funds. If you can set up a recurring donation that would be even better.
You can donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds here.
You can find a list of local abortion funds by state here.
This thread has a list of abortion funds in states where trigger laws are set to make abortion illegal
Pick a midterm action! Pick one and sign up for a shift right now.
Sign up here to text bank for voter registration
Sign up here for Sister District phone banks for candidates in key states
Sign up here to write letters to voters around the country
Donate here to four incumbent Senators who all already voted to overturn the filibuster.
This is a google doc after my own heart. Lots of great stuff to do here - including resources for how to share info and talk about abortions, and other options.
This is a working list of Democratic candidates for office who have committed to fighting for abortion rights if they are elected.
Show up to a protest
Sign up to be a clinic escort
Share information about abortion pills and other options
These things are all intertwined. Abortion is an economic justice issue, a protection against violence against women and trans folks, a racial justice issue and a voting rights issue. Join your local mutual aid group or start one yourself, volunteer at an LGBTQ+ rights org or center