Friend, your voice helped make history. Yes, I’m talking to you! Because of the action you took -- signing our petitions, making calls to your lawmakers, and sharing actions with your community, we just made great strides in the fight for reproductive justice.

On September 24, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives took an essential step to protect our health, rights, dignity, and autonomy by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) of 2021! This bill safeguards the legal right to abortion for everyone in this country, no matter where they live. While WHPA didn’t pass the Senate after passing the House, many of our Senators showed up and showed out, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, once it came time to bring the final vote to the Senate. [1]

This moment comes after decades of advocacy of Black women, queer activists, and feminist reproductive rights leaders who have paved the way and brought us here. We must acknowledge not only their activism but their bravery and courage. They risked their own lives to protect the honor of today’s justice.

And although we didn’t get the amount of votes in the Senate that we needed to see WHPA become federal law, we still want to give you an opportunity to thank our representatives for listening, acknowledging the activism of those that came before us, and taking leadership when it mattered the most.

We’re not giving up on passing WHPA into law. The enactment of WHPA is especially important now for those with low incomes, people of color, individuals with disabilities, and other vulnerable communities who are suffering grave harm from S.B. 8, Texas’ draconian six-week abortion ban, which denies pregnant people basic health care and invites anti-choice vigilantes to use the courts to harass and intimidate health care providers and anybody else who helps someone access abortion care after about six weeks in pregnancy.

This isn’t the end of our battle. We are one gigantic step closer to a future where we’re all free to make the personal decisions that shape our lives, futures & families.

Today, we’re taking a small break from our usual actions. We’re drinking water, breathing deeply, showing gratitude to our ancestors who stood up for repro rights, and thanking our members, both on the ground and in Congress, for taking action, standing up for the legal right to access abortion everywhere, and voting YES on the Women’s Health Protection Act.

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