Overturning Abortion Rights is Just the Beginning
Abortion advocates have been sounding the alarm on this time for years, even though safe abortions have been legal for 50 years. And now the time is finally here and many of us do not know what to do or where to go next.
First of all, everyone needs to understand that voting during every election, every time, down the ballot is VERY IMPORTANT. Voting for district attorneys that won't prosecute people who have received abortion care, people who helped other people receive care and doctors who gave patients care has never been more important. Voting for judges who will not take up cases on abortion access has never been more important. Voting for state legislators and congress representatives that will keep their religion and opinions out of our uteruses has never been more important. Voting for governors and mayors and city councilors that will help protect what they can to access abortion has never been more important. There are people on all sides of the aisles that do not want people to have access to abortion care.
Secondly, ABORTION IS HEALTH CARE. Pregnancies are incredibly dangerous for many bodies. Forcing someone to go through a pregnancy and a birth that could either give them long term side effects or even death in come cases, is not about the health of the mother or fetus. The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. It is even higher for Black women. State legislatures and courts are already criminalizing having miscarriages, taking birth control and are attempting to outlaw IVF treatments for people who want to be pregnant. We are also one of the last major countries to have access to universal healthcare and paid family leave. We also have public education that has been defunded across the country for decades and student debt that makes it nearly impossible for people out of college to sustainably survive. There is no universal access to child care for newborns to pre-K. There are no true financial benefits to help keep a human being alive once they have been born. Our foster care system across the country is in shambles, leaving foster kids with lifelong trauma. The people in our local governments are not advocating enough affordable housing so that everyone can afford a place to live. Our disabled community has been crying out for help for decades because the ADA did not actually solve their problems and they still do not have the right to marry and keep their disability payments. There's also the criminalizing of people seeking asylum from violent countries. And we live in a country that punishes people for being poor and Black or Brown and throwing them in a prison system that is hard to get out of. Our state legislatures and courts are trying to ban existing as an LGBTQ+ person. And we also have a climate crisis where our world and country are not making significant changes fast enough to make sure that we still have a habitable planet to live on. All of this is happening while our officials keep giving corporations bailouts instead of holding them accountable for exploiting workers paying them wages that do not match our cost of living, instead of allowing us to thrive.
This is not about being pro life. It is about control, to keep a white supremacist capitalist patriarchal state in power of anyone that is not a cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, rich Christian white man. What comes next is banning birth control, existing as a LGBTQ person, interracial marriage, the right to a sound and basic education, voting rights and more. This is a domino effect, and abortion rights is just the beginning.
I don't have any inspirational words or hope for you. But right now, abortion is still safe and legal in North Carolina. Our partners at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic and Pro Choice NC as well as abortion advocates in NC are asking you to do the following things- call your Senators. And fund abortion. Now is the time to have those tough conversations with relatives and friends and colleagues that believe that authoritarian control is the answer. Use your power at the voting booth in May and November and in every election after that, but know that voting is not enough. Our work mobilizes people of color to make their voices heard at the polls, but for those of us that have so much privilege, we need to get up and fight for those who do not have the same privileges as we do. I hope this week and the weeks thereafter will motivate you to take action.
Richard Burr: 202-224-3154
Thom Tillis: 202-224-6342
