A lot of people in the US are super worried about the Supreme Court axing Roe v. Wade, but what they might not know is that some states have laws in place that will protect the right to reproductive choice and abortion if that happens. One of these states is the state of Illinois. In 2019, a law was passed that protects abortion rights within the state even if the federal right to an abortion falls. This means that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will still be a protected right in Illinois. Even before Roe, Chicago was a haven for safe abortions- you just called and asked for Jane.
Now, safe abortion access is the law of the land in IL, and there are several groups who can help you. This post is long, but I think it’s worthwhile. Even if you don’t read all the way through it, maybe save it for later. You or someone you know might need it. If you want to stop now, the TL;DR is this:
f you’re a minor and you can’t tell your parents, get a waiver of notification from the IL Judicial Bypass program.
Schedule your appointment.
Contact abortion funds to get financial aid. Your home state might have s fund, and the Chicago Abortion Fund can help.
Secure housing for the procedure through the Midwest Access Coalition or by talking to the intake staff at the clinic of your choice.
I’d like to start by saying that the closer to home you get your abortion, should you need one, the easier it will be for you… probably. It depends on your individual situation AND your safety. If I still lived in Indiana and I needed an abortion, I’d probably leave to get it done, even though there are abortion providers in Indiana, because Indiana is super hostile and there’s lots of clinic protestors- for example, when I was taking my GRE my senior year at Notre Dame, the testing center was in this little strip mall in Mishawaka next to Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that the PP in Mishawaka does not provide abortions, there were protestors who yelled at me for going in there. I wasn’t even going to PP. I’d like to say that I said something devastatingly cool but I just ran in flustered. Point being: It really, really would have sucked if I was there for healthcare instead of a standardized test for graduate school. And that’s a very tame, mild situation! Real abortion clinic protests are often much more devastating!
ANYWAYS. The less you have to travel, the easier things tend to be, if it’s safe to get an abortion where you are and if your state will have protected abortions if Roe is overturned. If you’re not sure what might happen in your state in that case, this map has a clear, succinct overview of the legal status of abortion in each state and all US territories. You will want to click through to that link, because this image isn’t interactive.
[ID: a map of the US with states and territories sorted by their legal protections for abortion into four categories: expanded access in the case of Roe v. Wade being overturned, protected, not protected, and hostile. IL is highlighted.]
So let’s say you live in any of those red states. (Yellow and blue are safe- abortion access is protected there.) Let’s say, worst case scenario, Roe gets overturned and you get pregnant and you want to terminate. You will be able to do that in IL, and it’s relatively easy to do that in Chicago for a relatively low cost and with the benefit of a robust support network of people who want to reaffirm your reproductive choices.
First, if you’re a minor and you don’t want to tell your parents because it’s not safe for you to do so, get a judicial waiver of parental notification. The IL ACLU has a judicial bypass hotline. This will come at no cost to you. Do this ASAP, because it takes time to get it set up! You can do this by calling the hotline at 877-442-9727, texting 312-560-6607, or emailing [email protected].
Next, you need to get an appointment set up. You could get a referral from someone local to you, but this can be tricky- 87% of counties in the US don’t have an abortion provider, and google can lead you to a crisis pregnancy center. They will not help you. If you have a local Planned Parenthood, call them. Even if they don’t provide abortions, they can refer you to someone who can. If you’re coming to Chicago, which this post… kind of assumes you are… you can call any of these groups to talk about your options and what clinics can help you. I recommend starting with FPA or PP; those are two actual clinics. MAC and CAF are funds- they can direct you but they can’t schedule an appointment for you.
You might want to shop around and see which clinic costs the least, and is the most practical for you to get to. FPA has a lot of patient resources, as does PP. Don’t be afraid to ask for financial assistance. The people staffing those organizations have extensive networks and deep compassion for their patients- if the clinic can’t help, they might know who can.
Once you’ve made an appointment, now’s the time to start gathering financial aid. Some insurance, including IL Medicaid, covers it. If yours does not, or if the copay is still too much, this is where abortion funds come into play. Many states have their own abortion funds for state residents, so you might have to look around to see who can help you. I’d start with the National Network of Abortion Funds.
You also need to figure out transportation and housing while you’re in the city to get your abortion. This isn’t super necessary if you’re just coming for the pill abortion, but if you’re coming for a d and c or other surgical procedure, you will be staying for a couple of days. THIS is why I’m writing this up, because abortion funds typically only are able to help cover the financial cost of the procedure. It’s expensive to stay somewhere and it can be absolutely terrifying if you’re on your own! Navigating while you’re in pain from the procedure can be an absolute devil of a time, too! However, Chicago has MAC (contact info above), which is a practicalaccess fund, which means that they help pay for transportation to the city (bus tickets and train tickets) and around the city (volunteer drivers or volunteers who take rideshares with clients), food, aftercare medicine (painkillers, etc.), and housing, and there’s also free access to emotional support staff throughout your stay. This is not just open to IL residents; it’s open to anyone coming to the city for an abortion. ALSO if you go through FPA, they have a partnership with the Hampton Inn a block away from their location where their patients get a discount. If you go that route, just talk to FPA about housing and they’ll hook you up. This can be super helpful if you need some evidence that you’re on a “business trip” or something like that- if you are in a position where you need an excuse for your safety, that might work well.
Hopefully you won’t need this post- but if you do, I hope it helps. Feel free to share it around. If you have anti-choice opinions and you feel the need to share, don’t. This isn’t the space for it; you will be blocked and your comments removed. And then remember that criminalizing abortion won’t stop abortion. It’ll just stop safe abortions. Also, increased access to abortion, funnily enough, tends to be the thing that lowers abortion rates, because increased access to abortion comes part and parcel with increased access to birth control and general health and sex education.
Reblogging this because it’s always relevant… and because an administrative decision by MAC’s incredible leadership means they don’t just do bus and train tickets anymore. They will also help pay for airline tickets if you need to fly. If you are in the US and need to come to Chicago for an abortion, MAC’s got your back.
Oh wouldn’t this be tragic if word of this spread out everywhere possible?
Oh no…my hand slipped…
Remember if you live somewhere where this is an option you need, you need to be keeping a healthy stock of pregnancy tests and using them regularly to catch the pregnancy early enough. It is incredibly common for people to only find out well past 10 weeks. Of course that can be expensive so look for the paper strip type that doctors use, not the bulky plastic types typically advertised for home use if you can. And dont fall for marketing gimmicks with pregnancy tests, they all work about the same, you don’t need a digital screen and if in doubt do another test tomorrow.
(Also do your test first thing when you wake up for best results)
I would HATE for anyone in Texas to ACCIDENTALLY read this…
The dollar store carries pregnancy tests and they’re just as accurate as the ones from the pharmacy, fyi
Having worked in a doctor’s office, can confirm we just used cheap plastic OTC pregnancy tests and the dollar tree has them sometimes for $1.
As a further reminder– (loosely) once the sperm hits the egg and you become “officially pregnant”, pregnancy is calculated by going back to the date of your LAST period.
So if the date of your conception is March 29, but you got off your period March 01, congrats! You’re now 1 month/4 weeks pregnant. That’s how pregnancy is calculated.
And you absolutely cannot find out the day you conceived that you’re pregnant, because it takes at least 2 weeks before your body makes enough HCG to be perceived by a pregnancy test– so that’s another two weeks.
Which means you could have sex, become pregnant, wait the two weeks to test, and be ‘six weeks’ pregnant. That’s right– if you do everything right, and find out you’re pregnant literally as SOON as possible, you can already be 6 weeks pregnant.
“The Texas Heartbeat Act prohibits abortion when there is a detectable heartbeat, which may be as early as 6 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.” This is why this act is genuinely evil. You could be ‘two weeks out from the date you had the sex that got you pregnant’ and be 6 weeks pregnant.
It’s not likely, but it’s incredibly possible. If you miss a period, it hurts NOTHING to check immediately. Don’t wait. Waiting a single month after your missed period to test could mean you’re suddenly 10 weeks pregnant– or more.
Actually, hang on, I want to talk more–
I went to the aidaccess website. For some states, they can mail the medicine to you directly without a prescription. For others, they’ll do an online consult with a doctor to prescribe and then mail you the medicine.
The cost can be from $110-150.
When you first start the consult, you see this.
We want to look at the second option. Because these are shipped internationally, and as sited on the website due to covid delays, the medicine takes three to four weeks to reach you.
If you find out you are pregnant at six weeks, you must order immediately in order to do a pill abortion at home under the ten week window. However, it gives you the option to buy in advance. Both mifepristone and misoprostol tablets usually carry a 2-year shelf life. The price isn’t THAT much higher than Plan B.
I researched that on my own– the shelf life thing– but was incredibly pleased to see the aidaccess website got into it as well.
[Image text: Advance provision 1. If you live in a place with a very restrictive abortion law, it can be helpful to have the medicines for a medical abortion in advance case of a future unwanted pregnancy. In this case you should contact us again immediately when you find out that you are pregnant so that we can give you the proper guidance. Please check the expiration date when you received the medicines (most can be kept up to 2 years after receiving the package as long as they are kept at room temperature and in their original and undamaged blister packs. It is likely that they can be kept for even longer but their effectiveness cannot be guaranteed after that point.
2.If you want the medicines because you had unprotected sex less than 5 days ago, you can still use emergency contraceptives!]
The aidacess website walks you through EVERY PART OF THIS.
If you have $150 to spare, this is potentially live-saving medication. If your current plan is to drive out of state, stay for three days at a hotel to maybe get an in-person abortion after listening to a heartbeat etc, please consider that cost versus this cost. It has a shelf life of two years. I’m considering buying some right now.
I am incredibly moved to know this option exists and am currently about to share it with every social media site I can.
We need to sound the alarm within pro-abortion circles for late term termination for medical reasons
If Roe vs. Wade gets overturned, gestational parents are going to die because they don’t have access to TFMR / compassionate induction. They’re going to lose their own parental rights to take their children off of life support due to a terminal condition and/or risk to the gestational parent’s life.
Circulating info about abortion prior to 12 weeks is so so important but abortions requiring a D&E or an induction are still going to be interfered with and we need to talk about it
This Alabama ban wants to ban abortion after 15 weeks. Let’s talk about people whose pregnancies were wanted.
Non-invasive prenatal testing can’t even be performed until 10 weeks gestation, and results can take 10 days- 3+ weeks to return, especially if there’s a low fetal fraction on the first draw, which is common for fetuses that have conditions that are incompatible with life. Invasive prenatal testing like chorionic villus sampling can’t be done until at least 10-12 weeks gestation, and amniocentesis cannot be done until 15-18 weeks gestation. The anatomy scan is generally done between 19-21 weeks. And that’s not even accounting for scheduling waits.
Parents of children with conditions that aren’t compatible with life are given no time to decide, and are now going to be forced to carry their terminally ill children until they are ultimately stillborn; or face hundreds of thousands of dollars in palliative care costs, and that’s if the gestational parent even survives with the risk of carrying a terminal child to full term.
My child was diagnosed incompatible with life and carrying them to term would have endangered my own life.
The Supreme Court is prepared to murder gestational parents alongside their fetuses, or drown them in medical debt as punishment for carrying a terminal baby.
The pro-life movement really doesn’t care about life at all. I know a lot of people say that, that they’re just forced birth, and that’s not lip service. And in reality, they don’t even care about the fetuses. The actual underlying political goal and aims of the movement are to cause violence and harm to people who want to terminate pregnancies because they think it’s in accordance with God’s will and God’s plan, and unfortunately for the rest of us, the God they worship isn’t the peace-loving hippie socialist from the New Testament.
Political analysis of this movement reveals that “Pro-life retribution is seen as a way to restore the order of God. In this light, the phenomenon of killing for ‘life’ is revealed not as an oxymoron, but as a logical consistency and a political manifestation of religious retribution.” Pro-life ideology as a coherent, mass-produced narrative that does not merely condone violence, but anticipates it as part of "God’s plan.”
If you can get your hands on a copy, I HIGHLY recommend reading Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics. It came out in 2018 and has grown increasingly relevant. The pro-life movement does. not. care. about. babies. Or parents. Or anyone other than their in-group.
The people behind this think that people who want abortions should die and that killing them is right and just. It’s a combination of Christianity and fascism that takes delight in violence and the deaths of their enemies.
A lot of people in the US are super worried about the Supreme Court axing Roe v. Wade, but what they might not know is that some states have laws in place that will protect the right to reproductive choice and abortion if that happens. One of these states is the state of Illinois. In 2019, a law was passed that protects abortion rights within the state even if the federal right to an abortion falls. This means that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will still be a protected right in Illinois. Even before Roe, Chicago was a haven for safe abortions- you just called and asked for Jane.
Now, safe abortion access is the law of the land in IL, and there are several groups who can help you. This post is long, but I think it’s worthwhile. Even if you don’t read all the way through it, maybe save it for later. You or someone you know might need it. If you want to stop now, the TL;DR is this:
f you’re a minor and you can’t tell your parents, get a waiver of notification from the IL Judicial Bypass program.
Schedule your appointment.
Contact abortion funds to get financial aid. Your home state might have s fund, and the Chicago Abortion Fund can help.
Secure housing for the procedure through the Midwest Access Coalition or by talking to the intake staff at the clinic of your choice.
I’d like to start by saying that the closer to home you get your abortion, should you need one, the easier it will be for you… probably. It depends on your individual situation AND your safety. If I still lived in Indiana and I needed an abortion, I’d probably leave to get it done, even though there are abortion providers in Indiana, because Indiana is super hostile and there’s lots of clinic protestors- for example, when I was taking my GRE my senior year at Notre Dame, the testing center was in this little strip mall in Mishawaka next to Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that the PP in Mishawaka does not provide abortions, there were protestors who yelled at me for going in there. I wasn’t even going to PP. I’d like to say that I said something devastatingly cool but I just ran in flustered. Point being: It really, really would have sucked if I was there for healthcare instead of a standardized test for graduate school. And that’s a very tame, mild situation! Real abortion clinic protests are often much more devastating!
ANYWAYS. The less you have to travel, the easier things tend to be, if it’s safe to get an abortion where you are and if your state will have protected abortions if Roe is overturned. If you’re not sure what might happen in your state in that case, this map has a clear, succinct overview of the legal status of abortion in each state and all US territories. You will want to click through to that link, because this image isn’t interactive.
[ID: a map of the US with states and territories sorted by their legal protections for abortion into four categories: expanded access in the case of Roe v. Wade being overturned, protected, not protected, and hostile. IL is highlighted.]
So let’s say you live in any of those red states. (Yellow and blue are safe- abortion access is protected there.) Let’s say, worst case scenario, Roe gets overturned and you get pregnant and you want to terminate. You will be able to do that in IL, and it’s relatively easy to do that in Chicago for a relatively low cost and with the benefit of a robust support network of people who want to reaffirm your reproductive choices.
First, if you’re a minor and you don’t want to tell your parents because it’s not safe for you to do so, get a judicial waiver of parental notification. The IL ACLU has a judicial bypass hotline. This will come at no cost to you. Do this ASAP, because it takes time to get it set up! You can do this by calling the hotline at 877-442-9727, texting 312-560-6607, or emailing [email protected].
Next, you need to get an appointment set up. You could get a referral from someone local to you, but this can be tricky- 87% of counties in the US don’t have an abortion provider, and google can lead you to a crisis pregnancy center. They will not help you. If you have a local Planned Parenthood, call them. Even if they don’t provide abortions, they can refer you to someone who can. If you’re coming to Chicago, which this post… kind of assumes you are… you can call any of these groups to talk about your options and what clinics can help you. I recommend starting with FPA or PP; those are two actual clinics. MAC and CAF are funds- they can direct you but they can’t schedule an appointment for you.
You might want to shop around and see which clinic costs the least, and is the most practical for you to get to. FPA has a lot of patient resources, as does PP. Don’t be afraid to ask for financial assistance. The people staffing those organizations have extensive networks and deep compassion for their patients- if the clinic can’t help, they might know who can.
Once you’ve made an appointment, now’s the time to start gathering financial aid. Some insurance, including IL Medicaid, covers it. If yours does not, or if the copay is still too much, this is where abortion funds come into play. Many states have their own abortion funds for state residents, so you might have to look around to see who can help you. I’d start with the National Network of Abortion Funds.
You also need to figure out transportation and housing while you’re in the city to get your abortion. This isn’t super necessary if you’re just coming for the pill abortion, but if you’re coming for a d and c or other surgical procedure, you will be staying for a couple of days. THIS is why I’m writing this up, because abortion funds typically only are able to help cover the financial cost of the procedure. It’s expensive to stay somewhere and it can be absolutely terrifying if you’re on your own! Navigating while you’re in pain from the procedure can be an absolute devil of a time, too! However, Chicago has MAC (contact info above), which is a practicalaccess fund, which means that they help pay for transportation to the city (bus tickets and train tickets) and around the city (volunteer drivers or volunteers who take rideshares with clients), food, aftercare medicine (painkillers, etc.), and housing, and there’s also free access to emotional support staff throughout your stay. This is not just open to IL residents; it’s open to anyone coming to the city for an abortion. ALSO if you go through FPA, they have a partnership with the Hampton Inn a block away from their location where their patients get a discount. If you go that route, just talk to FPA about housing and they’ll hook you up. This can be super helpful if you need some evidence that you’re on a “business trip” or something like that- if you are in a position where you need an excuse for your safety, that might work well.
Hopefully you won’t need this post- but if you do, I hope it helps. Feel free to share it around. If you have anti-choice opinions and you feel the need to share, don’t. This isn’t the space for it; you will be blocked and your comments removed. And then remember that criminalizing abortion won’t stop abortion. It’ll just stop safe abortions. Also, increased access to abortion, funnily enough, tends to be the thing that lowers abortion rates, because increased access to abortion comes part and parcel with increased access to birth control and general health and sex education.
Reblogging this because it’s always relevant… and because an administrative decision by MAC’s incredible leadership means they don’t just do bus and train tickets anymore. They will also help pay for airline tickets if you need to fly. If you are in the US and need to come to Chicago for an abortion, MAC’s got your back.
Also, if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t travel, and you catch it early, you can do a medication abortion at home. This can either be clinician supported through telehealth or it can be a self-managed abortion (SMA). Either way, you can do this entirely online without ever having to go into a doctor’s office or clinic.
Now, this only works early in a pregnancy (up to 11-12 weeks), so if you’re in a situation where you suspect you may become pregnant and you don’t want to be, test early and often if you can. The various help lines can also help you figure out how far along you are.
More resources: https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/- this link is a good resource for talking about your legal options. If you’re a pregnant person of color, immigrant, or low-income (and using Medicaid) in an abortion-hostile state, I HIGHLY recommend talking through your legal options because you are absolutely targeted by politicians and the US legal system.
You can print these on sticker paper at home if you have it. It’s a good way to get the word out.
As of… thirty minutes ago on Monday, 2 May 2022, Politico got hold of Justice Alito’s draft statement on Roe. It’s not good. We’re probably gonna lose Roe vs. Wade in two months, and that means if you live in a red state, you’re VERY probably going to lose the right to a safe abortion.
I know this is a long post, but if Roe is overturned, it’s not going to stop abortions. It’s just going to stop safe abortions. Abortion access is reproductive healthcare, and a lot of states are going to get really restrictive. Indiana, my home state, has already put a woman in jail for having a miscarriage. Oklahoma lawmakers would rather let women with ectopic pregnancies die than allow lifesaving medical procedures. This is bad, but! Underground abortion networks did exist before Roe vs. Wade, and now we have the internet. We have robust networks in place to help people that the government would rather see dead or imprisoned. Even if Roe is overturned, some states will be safe havens for abortion. Travel to these states can be difficult, but not impossible– that’s what abortion networks and abortion funds are for.
Please save as much of this information as may be relevant to you. And if you’re “pro-life” and feel the need to comment on this post? Don’t. Your opinions and input are neither valued nor wanted. Abortion access is a vital, necessary part of reproductive healthcare.
Gonna out myself here- I volunteer as a host with the Midwest Access Coalition. I started in November of 2016… you can probably guess why. I can assure you, we don’t just serve guests from the Midwest. It does not matter where you live: if you need an abortion, MAC can help you.
we have to look out for one another now more than ever.
I would also encourage you to look for abortion access funds, including those that serve multiple at-risk states, such as Midwest Access Coalition. (Especially if you live in a state that’s not on the above list of vulnerable states, though obviously we are all vulnerable with this shit.)
(Also, if you’re not yet 18 and worried about your parents finding out, MAC is a good option because Illinois has a judicial bypass option (I volunteer with that too) which means that a pro bono lawyer can get you a judicial bypass that means nobody has to notify your legal guardians.)
I am sharing these as resources should anyone need them!
I went into menopause the night Trump was elected, so I have no personal need for abortion access. But just KNOWING that someone else wants to have control over my body, my mind, and my LIFE is utterly enraging. There’s a bunch of things to do about this, but let’s boil it down to one simple guideline:
Words are powerful. One heart-to-heart with your family could influence their perspective on the issues you care about — like abortion access. In turn, your family could share what they learn with their wider circles. That ripple effect is key to widespread social change.
Are abortion rights important to you? Do you feel safe talking about it with your family? Here are 8 tips for starting a conversation about abortion rights at a virtual dinner.
At the end of your convo, remember the most important part: expressing gratitude.
Tip #1: Welcome your family into the conversation.
If your family members are taking turns to share what’s on their mind, use your turn to share that you’ve been thinking about abortion rights.
Note the values you and your family share, such as the core values of love, fairness, and compassion.
Say something like, “It’s because I care so much about others that I believe decisions on whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy, or raise a child must be left to each individual — not to politicians, who can’t know each individual’s situation.”
Ask if it’s OK to start a discussion about the laws restricting access to safe, legal abortion. If people are up for it, proceed to Tip #2.
Tip #2: Fire up some facts about abortion access.
The Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade affirmed the constitutional right to abortion in 1973.
Today, the vast majority of Americans — 77% — support keeping abortion legal and don’t want Roe v. Wade overturned.
ASK:“Do you believe everyone should be able to access the full range of reproductive health care, no matter how much money they make or where they live?”
Tip #3: Explain who gets hurt by bans and restrictions on abortion.
Restrictions on abortion have created costly barriers to care, such as forcing patients to travel long distances to the closest abortion provider, and to take time off work to comply with medically unnecessary waiting periods and multiple appointments.
Since nearly 6 out of 10 people who have abortions are already parents, obtaining an abortion requires many patients to arrange for child care.
Restrictions push safe, legal abortion out of reach for people who can’t afford these costs. It’s hardest on people who already face barriers to health care overall, including people with low incomes, people who live in rural areas, and Black and Brown people.
Tip #4: Note challenges to abortion access in the states.
Since 1973, states have enacted over 1,000 abortion restrictions — and nearly 40% of those restrictions became law in just the past decade.
Because of abortion restrictions, five states — Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and West Virginia — have only 1 abortion provider left.
11 state governments used COVID-19 as a pretense to temporarily ban abortion by labeling it “non-essential” health care during the pandemic.
Tip #5: Explain why abortion should be available to all, not just those who can afford it — and why the Hyde Amendment is both racist and discriminatory.
The Hyde Amendment is one of the longest-running federal restrictions on abortion access. Since 1976, Hyde has barred people from using Medicaid and other federal health coverage for abortion.
Nationwide, Medicaid covers 1 in 5 women of reproductive age. Of those 16.1 million Medicaid participants, 55% live in states where Hyde forces them to pay for abortion out of pocket.
Hyde is particularly harmful to people with low incomes, people of color, and young people — who, because of systemic discrimination and a history of economic barriers, disproportionately use Medicaid for their health care coverage.
ASK: “Do you believe abortion should be covered in health care plans, no matter who provides the insurance?”
Tip #6: Explain what’s happening in the courts.
Right now, there are at least 19 abortion-related cases one step away from the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s possible that safe and legal abortion access could go back to where it was before Roe v. Wade.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, individual states will decide whether abortion is legal. That means 1 in 3 women of reproductive age — more than 25 million women — would be living in states without legal abortion.
Banning abortion won’t stop abortion. But it will stop people from accessing safe, legal abortion. The cost: pregnant people’s health, and even their lives.
Tip #7: Advocate for policies that the federal government should support in order to protect and expand abortion access, such as:
Ending the Hyde Amendment
Changing rules and regulations to protect people from discrimination by health care providers and insurers
Lifting restrictions on private insurance for abortion so that fewer people are forced to pay out-of-pocket for safe, legal abortion
Tip #8: Say ‘Thank You’
If it feels right, express gratitude at the end of the discussion — both for everyone who joined in the discussion, and everyone who listened.
“if men could get preg– ” Stop it. Trans men and transmascs can and do get pregnant, we’re already massively discriminated against when we do, AND forced pregnancy is a means of forcible and unwanted detransition. Like, yes, that does happen, and forcing us to be pregnant as a means of forcibly refeminizing us is … yes! That’s part of the point! It’s not cute to do that, y'all. We’re right here.
“make all men get vasectom– ” Stop it. Marginalized men (Black and brown men, disabled men, men caught in the carceral industry) are forced or coerced into getting vasectomies they don’t want RIGHT NOW. Eugenics is eugenics even if you think you’re being cute. You’re not.
“Handmaid’s Ta– ” Stop it. The constant invocation of that book/show brushes away both the reality that the events of the book merely apply historical and contemporary circumstances which Black and brown women have lived with for centuries to white women, AND the fact that the entire point of the story isn’t meek acceptance.
“we have to go vote in Nov– ” Yeah, that’s true, but please shut the fuck up about it for a minute, because the Democrats have control of both halves of Congress AND the Executive Branch, and they still aren’t getting shit done, so please stop immediately responding with that.
“Coat hange–” No. Stop it. Self-managed abortions don’t look like that now, Jesus. Using the most extreme scare tactic shit makes you look foolish and scares pregnant people away from seeking the really simple and not-so-scary help they need via medical terminations.
“We need to form Auntie net–” No. Stop. Abortion funds do that work better and with less risk to the people seeking abortions. If you want to do that work, fund or volunteer with an actual abortion fund.
“Underground Rail– ” Please shut the fuck up and stop appropriating things for 5 seconds. No.
“I don’t need it myself, but I’m going to stockpile mil–” No. Do not. Stockpiling means shortages. Buy enough for one incident, sure. Don’t create piles of meds which will sit there and go bad. Again, if you want to help? Organized abortion funds are already doing the work.
I get that everyone is scared, and it’s understandable to be scared, because this is a scary time, but really, please knock this shit in particular off. Support abortion funds, go yell at your Senator about the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022 which is coming up for a vote next week, seek ways to do measurable good, but telling people “we have to vote” and making gender-essentialist Handmaid’s Tale comparisons is the opposite of helping.
If you have the means to, right now is the time to donate to a local abortion fund in the US. This article is from December, but it lists funds in states that are going to be hit hardest when the supreme court overturns Roe. Pretty sickened that it’s gotten to this point
Please please PLEASE defend abortion access. It is vital healthcare
Do y'all remember how Trump declared during his 2016 campaign that women should be punished for having abortions and that potential fathers should have no culpability? How Trump stated that he would appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade? How voters, pro-choice activists and organizations, Planned Parenthood, and Democratic politicians like Hillary Clinton warned that the 2016 Presidential Election would impact reproductive rights in this country for decades to come? That Supreme Court vacancies were the most significant issue facing the county? But people decided that Hillary Clinton was somehow “just as bad as Trump” and took the gamble that Roe v. Wade couldn’t possibly be overturned, that women would not actually face severe consequences because of a Trump presidency?
Last year, Texas devised S.B. 8, a de facto ban on all abortions, and despite the fact that it clearly violates Supreme Court precedent, Trump’s three nominees to the Court refused to strike down the law. In the wake of that ban, a woman in Texas was arrested on murder charges for allegedly inducing an abortion. While the charges were eventually dropped, the mistreatment she faced sends a message to all women in Texas. And it’s not just Texas. Across Republican-controlled legislatures, abortion bans are sweeping the nation. And today, the Republican Governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, signed into law a de facto ban that criminalizes providing an abortion:
Oncethe law goes into effect, anyone who provides an abortion will face a felony charge of up to ten years in prison and a fine up to $100,000. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.
Republicans told everyone exactly what they would do if they took power. But for some reason, people chose not to take them at their word, they trivialized concerns about the Supreme Court, about reproductive rights, they bought into propaganda and misinformation, and here we are. Because Trump was able to stack the Court with three conservative justices (which are all lifelong appointments), he and the GOP have effectively killed Roe v. Wade, but it’s innocent women across this country who will carry that burden.
That harm can’t be undone, but we can still change course. I’m choosing to underscore the myopic discourse of 2016 not because I want to shame people who protested voting but to emphasize the fact that the future harm was so understated. No matter what people say about 2022 and 2024, about how Biden or any other Democrat is “just as bad as [literal fascist],“ their claims will pale in comparison to the reality of Republicans taking power again. Queer rights,free speech rights to even just talk about race and racism, voting rights, freedom to protest and engage in political activism—all of these basic civil liberties are at risk if people choose to repeat the mistakes of 2016. If Trump’s election proved anything, it’s that no one can predict just how much devastation can be inflicted by choosing not to vote.
Midterm elections are coming up. If we want to codify Roe v. Wade and open the door for Biden to sign life-changing legislation into law, we need to reshape Congress and put progressive lawmakers into positions where they can remove the filibuster. We need to vote.
The Supreme Court, in a draft majority opinion written by Justice Alito, has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Also, to my fellow cis gay men who often seem to ignore/overlook reproductive rights, this Supreme Court opinion suggests that fundamental gay rights are on the chopping block next:
“Respondents … rely on post-Casey decisions like Lawrence v. TexasandObergefell v. Hodges. These attempts to justify abortion through appeals to a broader right to autonomy and to define one’s ‘concept of existence’ prove too much. Those criteria, at a high level of generality, could license fundamental rights to illicit drug use, prostitution, and the like. None of these rights has any claim to being deeply rooted in history.”
For those who don’t know, Lawrence v. Texas was a landmark queer rights case because it struck down laws that criminalized homosexual intercourse. Obergefell v. Hodges is the landmark case that legalized same-gender marriage. And in this opinion, the Court implies that these freedoms are comparable to allowing drug use and prostitution, it explicitly says that these rationales have gone too far, and that these rights are not rooted in American history. The Court is showing its hand and how it views what it perceives to be Court-created rights (abortion, gay marriage, gay sexual intercourse, etc.). Basically, the Court seems to be overturning the framework of substantive due process rights, which is the doctrine that creates these basic rights. If abortion rights can be overturned on this logic, so will queer rights.
If you think the Court is going to just stop with reproductive rights, that cis queer men are going to be spared, with all due respect, you’re a fucking moron. You need to be concerned about this too, even if you don’t have a uterus. You should be as outraged about this as you are with the Don’t Say Gay law.
Alsodirectly targets contraceptives.
And indirectly aims to supersede all court precedents, making all civil rights they have ever decided on at risk.
I don’t care what party you claim to be. You need to ask yourself do you believe in democracy or plutocracy? Do you believe in majority rule or authoritarianism? 
Migrant women in Canada face profound barriers in accessing health care, especially when it comes to pregnancy. They often hide their pregnancies because if employers find out, they may send them home or refuse to hire them next season. Workers typically live on their employer’s property and lack the privacy to discreetly seek care. Many live in remote, rural areas where abortion access is already sparse and transportation is hard to come by. And they face the added challenge of being unable to receive health care in their first language.
Another major barrier is cost, said Elene Lam, executive director of Butterfly, an organization of sex workers, social, legal and health professionals that advocates for the rights of Asian and migrant sex workers.
The migrant workers Lam advocates for typically lack provincial health-care coverage, and are required to pay out of pocket, she said. Depending on the stage of pregnancy, that can cost anywhere between a few hundred dollars and up to $1,500.
While many migrant workers can access public health care, not all of them can, said Lindsay Larios, assistant professor at the University of Manitoba, who studies precarious migration and reproductive justice.
As we begin to organize against the SCOTUS draft that implies Roe will be overturned in two months (time of writing: May 3 2022), it is SUPER IMPORTANT THAT OUR ORGANIZATION IS INTERSECTIONAL.
I mean it.
If you have access to money, you will likely be able to obtain a safe abortion, regardless of what happens. This has always been the case. Even in the bad old days, hospitals would look the other way and book you in for unspecified D&Cs or menstrual extractions and perform safe, sanitary abortions if your family could afford them. While there were of course cases where these people had to perform dangerous, sometimes fatal abortions on themselves, this was not the norm for them.
But if you were poor? Disabled? An immigrant? A person of color? Marginalized in any other way? It was much, much harder to access these abortions. Instead, you had to rely on procedures often done by amateurs in unsanitary spaces or use medicine that might not have worked correctly… and also have been fatal. (Today’s medication abortions are nothing like that– they are VERY safe.)
We cannot and will not go back to that.
This is why abortion funds are so, so important. They’re able to provide the great equalizer: money. They’re able to help people get from point A to point B to get a procedure if they can’t get the procedure done at point A. And what’s more, they can help provide with the invisible costs, like childcare.
It’s no secret that poor and/or marginalized people have reduced access to a lot of medical resources. And when it comes to organizing, they’re often left out. Like… look at the 2017 Women’s March, which has widely been criticized for being extremely white. But it’s not just a race thing! It’s a socioeconomic thing! It’s a disability thing! It’s a vastly intersectional thing!
Abortion funds help make that intersectionality practical. When you donate to them instead of big national groups like NARAL or PP, you are directly helping marginalized people get access to the healthcare they need. Your dollars go incredibly far. Smaller organizations don’t have the overhead that the big ones do,which means that less money is eaten up in administration.
But what if you can’t donate? Good news: information is currency. You can also directly help by sharing information about abortion funds and getting this information in the hands of people who need it.
If you’re in any kind of activist space that’s preparing to organize, protest, march, or perform any other kind of action, don’t forget the people who can’t be there. Don’t forget the people who have to work, or who can’t get childcare, or who can’t physically be in the space. Don’t forget the people who are in places where it’s not safe for them to express their views on abortion. Nobody gets left behind.
Also, don’t forget we’re still in a global pandemic, and a lot of people who need abortions have health issues and high Covid risk factors. Please wear a mask if you’re gonna physically protest. Think of it as free real estate- you can take a sharpie to it and write slogans! Trust me, your voice can still be heard through it.
You don’t have to love abortion. You can dislike it. Maybe it even makes you sad. The way you view abortion is up to you. If you don’t like abortion, you can advocate for proper sex education, access to birth control and other things that have been shown to lower unplanned pregnancies. You don’t have to like abortion.
But what you can’t do is disrespect somebody for having an abortion. You can’t take away that choice from women because you don’t like it. Your emotions are not somebody else’s responsibility. Your emotions aren’t more important than anyone else’s bodily autonomy. You don’t have to like abortion, but you have to respect other people’s rights and that includes the right to safe, accessible, abortion.
We are devising some ~exclusive content~ as part of an abortion access fundraiser (I volunteer with the Blue Ridge Abortion Fund all year round, but it’s Fund-A-Thon time!) and friends of the blog Deborah and Netanel have already provided me with MEMES
