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Friends,
Today - what would have been the 50th anniversary of the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling protecting reproductive freedom - is a tough day. Knowing that we came within months of celebrating this milestone only to be sent back in time by a radical extreme Republican Party is painful. In this post-Roe America, we can feel the waves of uncertainty, shame, and fear roll across us.
But I don’t want to spend today sitting in fear. I want to channel my anger into action, and I want you to join me. So right now, let’s talk about five things we can do to stand up to the overturning of Roe v. Wade:
- VOTE (and do everything in your power to help others do the same). I know it’s not always enough - here we are in this reality, after all - but if Donald Trump hadn’t been able to pack the Supreme Court with extremists, Roe v. Wade would still be the law of the land today. Elections have consequences.
- Support state and local candidates and elected officials in states that are working to criminalize abortion. Those frontline fights are where we can prevent bad policies from being enacted in the first place.
- Donate directly to abortion funds - visit the National Network of Abortion Funds to find your local fund.
- Offer your help, whether that’s time or donations or both, to organizations that have been on the ground fighting for abortion rights for years. These folks have spent a long time thinking about how to support their communities and building up infrastructure, so your help can make a big impact.
- Call your representatives (state and federal!) and make sure they’re supporting all the ways we can protect people from dangerous abortion bans.
It’s easy to feel downhearted and frankly, even slip into hopelessness when we think about the fact that attacking reproductive freedom is at the very top of the GOP agenda. Despite overwhelming support for abortion access from a majority of Americans, extremists are determined to control our bodies.
But this is not our grandparents’ fight.
We have more resources dedicated to this work than ever before.
We have developments, like the abortion pill, that has expanded availability, thanks to a recent update from the FDA.
We have powerful local and national organizations teeming with passionate activists.
And critically, we have the ability to connect with one another in ways we’ve just never had before - today’s technologies, from social media to online organizing and fundraising, are a huge asset in this effort.
No matter what, we will continue the fight for abortion rights. And we will win.
If you’re with me - feeling determined rather than defeated - let’s take this moment and use it as an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the fight.
Today, we have a chance to band together and say out loud that abortion rights are an economic issue, they are a life-or-death issue, they are an issue that can win elections, and we will not stop talking about them until we secure the right to bodily autonomy for every single person in this country.
If you’re in, sign your name right now.
I hope I’ll see your signature on this list - because the only way we can make this happen is by working together.
Thank you.
Sara
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs
California’s 51st District
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