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***Trigger Warning: This email contains sensitive material including mentions of rape, sex, domestic abuse, and other topics that might upset readers.***
John,
We ask you to kindly read this manifesto that we wrote together as a reflection of what happened this morning in the Supreme Court of the United States:
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We, the women of No Dem Left Behind, along with everyone else in America, woke up this morning to a living nightmare.
Image credit: WUSA-9
While we’ve never taken Roe v. Wade for granted, none of us have ever lived in a time where abortion was completely outlawed. We have only read about and heard stories of the days where women were forced to have “back alley” illegal abortions. We know how hard pro-choice activists fought so that it wasn’t our reality to go through that.
As a result, it’s both difficult and extremely terrifying for us to face the new reality unfolding as a result of today’s Supreme Court decision.
Our country, “the land of the free,” just completely revoked our once-constitutionally protected rights to reproductive freedom. Reproductive rights. Fundamental rights.
Abortion is expected to be immediately banned in 26 states – leaving tens of millions of Americans without access to vital reproductive health care.
After the excruciating era of Donald Trump, the GOP is becoming more and more extreme — more brazen in their vicious attacks on reproductive justice.
Like many, when the beloved and respected Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away near the end of Trump’s disastrous first term, we immediately began to worry.
Not only was it a tragic loss due to the achievements RBG made to the feminist and gender equality movements, but because we knew that Trump would waste no time appointing a right-wing justice in her place.
What a disgusting insult to her legacy that he couldn’t even honor her last dying wish for the White House to wait to fill her seat until after the presidential election, which was less than a month away.
The first thought for most Americans when the SCOTUS Republican majority became 6-3 was the fate of reproductive freedom.
For the anti-choicers who have been trying to overturn Roe for decades, their initial reaction was opportunity. For us, it was fear. And those fears came to fruition today.
We fear for …
- People who are pregnant as a result of rape.
- People who are in or have managed to escape abusive relationships.
- People who were told by doctors that their unborn fetuses had little chance of surviving birth.
- People who have had condoms break.
- People whose birth control or contraceptive failed them.
- People whose pregnancies pose a health risk to them.
- People whose pregnancies were misdiagnosed, and they didn’t know until later in the cycle that they were even pregnant.
- People who can’t afford to pay for an abortion, let alone travel hundreds of miles to the nearest blue state to find a clinic … or care adequately for a baby.
Rural and working-class Americans, especially in red states, already had a harder time accessing safe reproductive services. Lower incomes, minimal healthcare coverage, and distance from reproductive facilities made access to safe abortion difficult even before Roe was overturned.
Now, it’s going to be damned near impossible.
Words cannot explain how morally wrong and unjust it is that despite all the progress we have made in this country, we are still fighting for the basic human right to choose what we do with our own bodies. Our lives and livelihoods are at stake, and our fate has been sealed at the hands of a biased right-wing Supreme Court.
What’s worse is that they may not stop there – in his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said he thinks the decision didn’t go far enough and that he wants the court to consider striking down decisions protecting the right to use contraception, the right to private and consensual sexual encounters between adults, and the right to same-sex marriage.
The Trump-stacked, far-right Supreme Court is coming for our freedoms, and it’s up to all of us to stop them.
Today was a serious blow to freedom, and we are angry and mourning. But we also still hold a glimmer of hope that it’s not too late to fix it.
Throughout history, we have seen the collective success on civil and human rights when the public takes action through activism and political engagement. At NDLB, we believe our greatest power lies in our democracy and who we choose to represent us and champion our causes.
That’s why we are using our voices and fighting back in the only way we know how — by working to elect bold leaders to challenge these bigoted far-right attacks on our fundamental rights. Those who will stop at nothing to protect reproductive freedom.
There is a way to save Roe v. Wade and all our other fundamental rights, and it’s a 4-step process:
- Protect our House majority and expand our Senate majority by at least 2 seats in this year’s midterms.
- Get rid of the filibuster.
- Increase the number of seats on the Supreme Court to neutralize the hard-right majority.
- Codify the right to choose into federal law.
That’s why we’re asking you today to support the No Dem Left Behind Senate Fund. Because we are doing everything we can to lift up pro-choice leaders who will demand reproductive justice for us – and for all Americans. Will you please rush a contribution and empower our movement?
     
Then please watch this video highlighting our Senate candidates’ strong commitment to saving our right to choose:
CLICK HERE TO WATCH
In Solidarity,
Kirsten, Nina, Ashley, Jen (the women of No Dem Left Behind), and the rest of the NDLB team
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