Photos: R & L: Staff members, Texas Handmaids and NOW Austin demonstrating at the state capital. Center: Lizz Winstead speaking at the protest. Howdy, Y'all! The AAF squad and I are back at it on our second leg of Abortion AF: The Tour, hitting Texas and Louisiana. Our first stop was Austin, where we brought the full monty: produced a fantastic Do Re #MeToo show with the amazing Kathy Valentine (the rad guitarist from the Go-Go’s) and the Bluebonnets (our fab house band) and a whole cadre of kickass feminist musicians; brought love and support for local indie clinics, and crushed a direct action calling out the state’s fake clinic fuckery!  Joining forces with the Texas Handmaids and Austin NOW, we took a stand outside the state capitol and governor’s mansion to demand the state #FundActualHealthcare, not fake clinics. Speaking of which, did you sign our petition about Title X yet? Just do it—It will only take a second!
On top of restricting abortion access as much as humanly possible, Texas legislators have been suuuuper busy funding deceptive, anti-abortion, anti-birth control fake clinics and gutting funding for real family planning programs. They slashed the family planning budget in 2011 and kicked Planned Parenthood out of the women’s health program in 2013. Today, there are more than 200 fake clinics in the state, and only a dozen abortion providers. By 2021, the state will have invested about $170 million in fake clinics. Think of what that money could be spent on! The mind boggles...(Oh um, petition? Wanna sign?) The good news is that the city of Austin itself has decided to fund auxiliary abortion needs (such as hotels, childcare, etc.) that women incur when they are waiting the mandatory two days it takes to get an abortion in Texas. We say "Bravo, Austin!" and hope that the rest of state follows suit.
After hitting the streets, we sent massage therapists to Austin Women's Health Center so that each clinic staff member could decompress with a 15-minute chair massage. We also sent lunch from the Texas French Bread Company and sweet treats from Sugarwish to Whole Woman's Health Austin because #selfcare! Despite the devastating storms, we’re performing TONIGHT IN Houston and then we're off to Baton Rouge…If you're in the neighborhood, come out to our shows! And stay tuned for our upcoming dates in the Pacific Northwest!  Also, did we mention?
 Check ya back next week. Have a fabulous weekend, pro-aborts! Xoxo,  Lizz Winstead
Chief Creative Officer
Abortion Access Front
www.aafront.org | |
