Friend,
It’s been two years, three months, and 25
days since Roe v.
Wade was
overturned.
But the
story neither begins nor ends there.
For nearly 50 years, our right to control
our own bodies clung to the thinnest of threads – the judicial
precedent established by radical right-wing elites masquerading as
purveyors of justice.
From the moment Roe was decided,
conservative groups announced their intent to overturn it. They
broadcast their plans loudly and often. And for five decades,
Democrats did nothing about it but wring their hands (worse, they
often sided with Republicans in policy and in
rhetoric).
Today, Kamala
Harris and the Democratic party want you to believe that only they can
be trusted to restore reproductive freedom.
Well as they often say: Don’t tell me who
you are – show me.
In
the nearly 50 years that Roe protected our
bodily autonomy, Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress for no
less than 22 of those years. For six of those years, they controlled
both Congress AND the White House.
Democrats had multiple opportunities to
codify Roe, and they failed.
Even in 2022, when SCOTUS took up the Dobbs
case and advertised their intentions...
Even when they leaked the decision nearly
two months in advance..
Even when they issued the Dobbs decision and
struck down Roe...
Even then
Democrats didn’t get it done.
And now we are ALL living with the
consequences.
Stories
are pouring forth of women dying or suffering grave medical
complications because they’re being denied an abortion or the
emergency care they need.
In Texas alone, maternal mortality has spiked 56% (more than 5
times the Post-Roe national average). TENS OF THOUSANDS of new rape
cases have been reported resulting in pregnancy. Harsh abortion bans
are even leading to increasing infant mortality.
Hospitals in many red states have shut down
maternity services altogether to avoid running afoul of their states’
bans. Even in “True Blue” California, a hospital recently refused an
emergency abortion to a woman suffering a miscarriage – sending her
away with a bucket and some towels.
Republicans
have been emboldened by their success, and are now pushing a national
abortion ban, full stop.
This is what 50 years
of Democratic ineptitude and political malpractice has
wrought.
I practiced
internal medicine for 25 years, and I remember the terrifying days
before Roe – watching close friends endure the horrors
of back alley abortions. For all these reasons, I am
furious.
I’m as furious
with Republicans pushing these radical abortion bans as I am with
decades of empty rhetoric from Democrats that continues to this
day.
Every single Democratic president since
Roe held a
trifecta (controlling both
chambers of Congress and the White House) at some point in their
presidency.
With his trifecta in 2021-2022, Joe
Biden could have guaranteed abortion rights before OR after
Dobbs. He
didn’t.
Even without
the cooperation of his party in Congress, a Democratic president has
tools at their disposal to immediately secure abortion access and
challenge these bans – such as using federal lands to construct
abortion clinics or expanding and packing the
court.
Joe Biden has
taken none of these measures, and we have no reason to believe his
hand-picked successor will either.
Never once in
51 years did Democrats make a serious effort to codify the right to an
abortion into federal law.
But they did raise BILLIONS of dollars from ordinary Americans who
entrusted them to fight for us.
This is personal
to me. As a doctor I know all
too well that pregnancy itself is often a life-threatening condition.
As an activist and a mother, I believe fiercely that no one should
ever be forced to remain pregnant.
Democrats
will never sincerely defend your right to control your own body. The
Green Party always has. As your president, so will I. Donate now to
help me reach those still undecided voters in the final weeks of this
campaign. |
