Fifteen months ago, on June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court eliminated the right to abortion, giving states the ability to criminalize accessing or providing abortion care, expanding the scope of who can get ensnared in the prison industrial complex (PIC). In the past year as maternal mortality rates in the US have skyrocketed with Black women more than twice as likely to die than white women, alongside a record number of anti-transgender bills progressing through legislative processes, thousands have organized to defend abortion access state to state, from fundraising drives for abortion funds to providing clinic defense support, working to advance legislative protections locally, and more.
Just as the fight to defend abortion is not new, struggles against various forms of reproductive harm inside and outside prisons has been a major priority of imprisoned people, anti-prison advocates, and abolitionists for decades. Reproductive oppression is a cornerstone of the PIC. Yet the two struggles–reproductive justice and PIC abolition–have emerged somewhat distinct alongside one another as opposed to mutual, intersecting pathways toward collective liberation and life-affirming care for all. In this time of widening criminalization Post-Roe, we must understand reproductive justice as an essential field of struggle for PIC abolition.
Critical Resistance is calling all healthcare workers, reproductive justice workers, advocates, and organizers, as well as anyone concerned by the rise of fascism in the US and the subsequent creep on reproductive rights to join us for “Our Bodies, Our Freedom: Abolishing the PIC Post-Roe.” By looking into the most recent issue of The Abolitionist, we will further examine how and why reproductive justice and PIC abolitionist struggles must advance each other together.
Join us this week on Thursday as we work to build intersectional movements for collective liberation!
Onward,
- Critical Resistance
In Spanish / En Español
Nuestros cuerpos, nuestra libertad: la abolición del complejo industrial penal post-Roe Participen junto a nosotros el jueves 21 de septiembre en un seminario web sobre justicia reproductiva y abolición del complejo industrial penal, el cual contará con la participación de organizadores expertos de los movimientos por la justicia reproductiva y la abolición del complejo industrial penal. Para leer los detalles sobre el evento, haga clic aquí.
MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Introducing:A New Podcast Show on Beyond Prisons with Critical Resistance & The Abolitionist Newspaper!
Check out our new podcast, "Over the Wall", a collaboration with Beyond Prisons, a podcast that has been exploring incarceration from an abolitionist perspective since 2017 by Kim Wilson and Brian Nam-Sonenstein. Each Over the Wall episode digs into the latest issue of CR's The Abolitionist newspaper.
Attica Means Fight Back:Honoring the 52nd anniversary of the rebellion & Prisoner Solidarity updates
Last week this year marked the 52nd anniversary of the Attica Rebellion. CR reflects on the legacy of the Attica rebellion and considers its impact on current prisoner-led struggles and outside solidarity. Read last week's post here.
In Washington State: Prisoner Organizing Under Attack!
Washington Department of Corrections is working to repress prisoner support and organizing by shutting down prisoner-run cultural awareness groups (CAGs). For decades, WA prisoners have used CAGs to survive imprisonment, empower each other, building solidarity, and organize. Read more about the issue and check out calls to action and resources to uplift prisoner organizing in Washington all on our website here.
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