President Biden took a whole-of-government approach in his Executive Order to Protect Access to Reproductive Health Care Services, which involves Health & Human Services (HHS), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Defense (DOD).
HHS will be protecting access to contraception, medication abortion, accurate information about reproductive rights and updating guidance regarding the federal Emergency Treatment and Labor Act. DOD will continue to provide seamless access to reproductive healthcare for military and civilian patients, as permitted by federal law. The DOJ will convene private pro bono attorneys, bar associations, and public interest organizations to encourage robust legal representation of patients, providers, and third parties lawfully seeking or offering reproductive health care services throughout the country.
Some pro-choice organizations have commended the EO as a good start and look forward to working with the administration to make good on its commitments. Others say it does not go far enough and that the administration should have started developing its response weeks earlier, when the draft version of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade leaked.
We agree with President Biden that the Supreme Court’s decision to revoke the constitutional right to abortion was not a constitutional judgment, but “an exercise in raw political power.” We also believe it’s not possible to separate the attack on abortion rights from Republicans’ broader attack on our democracy that included the planning of a coup to force another term of the corrupt Trump gang upon us. We have learned a lot more about the depravity of the current Republican Party through the January 6 Hearings. These same Republicans forced three extremely partisan judicial activists onto a Supreme Court that had already attacked our voting rights in Shelby v. Holder in 2013. They seem to be going for broke now, with Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in Dobbs directly threatening other critical individual rights.
We will spend the next four months making sure that voters know how much is on the line with this shameless SCOTUS: not just reproductive rights, but gun safety and the ability of government agencies to establish and enforce regulations for the public good. We need strong majorities in both Congress and state legislatures to protect the liberties and public safety we had taken for granted.
In the meantime, thank President Biden and ask Biden and your senators for more!
Today at 4 PM: Walkout to say Bans Off Our Bodies!
The Bans Off Our Bodies Walkout is a national day of action to amplify the fight for abortion rights across the U.S., show support for abortion providers, and set the stage for future actions over the next few months. It will make it clear that we won’t back down — not now, not ever.
People can participate in two different ways:
- Walk out from work on July 13 at 4 PM local time. For those who are able, walkout participants will turn on an out-of-office message explaining that they have joined folks across the country in leaving work early to call attention to abortion rights. On top of the out-of-office message, participants will post a graphic and caption to their social channels about the walkout.
- Post in solidarity with walkout participants and abortion providers. For those who are not able to leave work early, participants will post a graphic and caption to their social channels on July 13 at 4 PM local time in solidarity with walkout participants and abortion providers.
We invite you to participate as an individual, an affinity/employee resource group, or an organized group of coworkers. To join us, please fill out this Google Form.
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If you’re interested in participating in activities like drafting letters to our Members of Congress and developing our strategy for influencing them, the Indivisible SF Federal Working Group is where it happens. Our next meeting is on Thursday, July 14. Details on how to register below.
Today, Wednesday, July 13, 4:00 PM: Bans Off Our Bodies Walkout. Join this national day of action to show support for abortion providers by walking out of work and/or posting on social media in solidarity with walkout participants. To join us, please fill out this Google Form.
ISF Federal Working Group meeting: Thursday, July 14, 7:30–9 PM. Register here to join our regular Zoom meeting, where we work together to develop strategies for influencing our Members of Congress and the Biden administration to support a progressive agenda. All are welcome to participate and contribute, even if you’ve never attended an ISF meeting before.
Bay Area Coalition Phone Banks: Wednesdays and Saturdays. Our friends at Swing Left need your help talking to voters about the upcoming primaries and midterms. Join Swing Left and the Bay Area Coalition on Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings to make calls to voters in California and around the nation. Sign up for a shift:
- TODAY, Wednesday, July 13, 5–7 PM
- Saturday, July 16, 10 AM–12 PM
- Wednesday, July 20, 5–7 PM
Voter registration drive in the California Central Valley with Swing Left: Saturdays. Swing Left needs your help registering voters in Central Valley CD-13 and CD-22, from Modesto to Bakersfield. They will conduct door-to-door and COVID-safe canvassing to register voters every weekend until Tuesday, November 8. Sign up here:
- Saturday, July 16, 9 AM–3:30 PM
- Saturday, July 23, 9 AM–3:30 PM
- Saturday, July 30, 9 AM–3:30 PM
About this week’s photo
If you’ve seen our newsletter posts on Twitter and Facebook, you might have noticed that we include a photo or graphic with each issue.
Today’s image is a social graphic for the Bans Off Our Bodies Walkout, provided by Planned Parenthood.
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Keep Fighting,
The Indivisible SF Team
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