in light of the texas abortion ban here’s a reminder to stop debating what counts as a human, baby, or life with pro-lifers because that is not a debate you can win. you can not win a philosophical debate about what counts as a person, and you will not change their minds.
what can be proven is that in no situation under united states law is an individual legally obligated to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life.
4.5 million people each year are in need of blood transfusion, the entire process of donating blood takes a little over an hour, it’s free, and a single pint of blood can save up to 3 peoples lives, but there is no legal obligation or requirement to donate blood in place.
it is illegal to take organs from deceased peoples’ bodies without permission. CORPSES. bodily integrity is prioritized by law, even after death.
it doesn’t fucking matter whether a fetus is a person, whether a fetus is alive, whether a fetus has a soul. it literally doesn’t matter. pro-lifers set up the argument through that lens (hence their name) to evoke empathy and pity and take the focus away from the actual process of pregnancy, which changes a person’s body FOREVER. that is not an exaggeration. whether the pregnancy is complicated and high-risk or totally smooth sailing, the birthing person will physically never be the same. if they’re lucky, they’ll come out of it with weight gain, differently shaped breasts, and changes to the cervix/vagina. if they aren’t, there’s a fucking laundry list of potential complications that could arise, that may eventually fix themselves, need surgical or therapeutic intervention, or never go away, like varicose veins, separation of the abdominal muscles, incontinence, prolapse, diabetes, postpartum depression, and chronic pain, just off the top of my head. and this makes no mention of the very real possibility of income disruption, as well as the financial cost of giving birth, and the chance of fucking death, which is even higher for underserved communities like black women.
there is no basis for a governing body forcing an individual to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life. that is the argument. period the end.
in light of the texas abortion ban here’s a reminder to stop debating what counts as a human, baby, or life with pro-lifers because that is not a debate you can win. you can not win a philosophical debate about what counts as a person, and you will not change their minds.
what can be proven is that in no situation under united states law is an individual legally obligated to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life.
4.5 million people each year are in need of blood transfusion, the entire process of donating blood takes a little over an hour, it’s free, and a single pint of blood can save up to 3 peoples lives, but there is no legal obligation or requirement to donate blood in place.
it is illegal to take organs from deceased peoples’ bodies without permission. CORPSES. bodily integrity is prioritized by law, even after death.
it doesn’t fucking matter whether a fetus is a person, whether a fetus is alive, whether a fetus has a soul. it literally doesn’t matter. pro-lifers set up the argument through that lens (hence their name) to evoke empathy and pity and take the focus away from the actual process of pregnancy, which changes a person’s body FOREVER. that is not an exaggeration. whether the pregnancy is complicated and high-risk or totally smooth sailing, the birthing person will physically never be the same. if they’re lucky, they’ll come out of it with weight gain, differently shaped breasts, and changes to the cervix/vagina. if they aren’t, there’s a fucking laundry list of potential complications that could arise, that may eventually fix themselves, need surgical or therapeutic intervention, or never go away, like varicose veins, separation of the abdominal muscles, incontinence, prolapse, diabetes, postpartum depression, and chronic pain, just off the top of my head. and this makes no mention of the very real possibility of income disruption, as well as the financial cost of giving birth, and the chance of fucking death, which is even higher for underserved communities like black women.
there is no basis for a governing body forcing an individual to lend their body or organs for the sake of another life. that is the argument. period the end.
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.
This year, FTH added the option to donate to a handful of abortion funds as well as your local fund to our list of nonprofits in response to the oppressive abortion ban in Texas.
Of course, things have not exactly gotten better in the past month and a half.
With the threat of the Supreme Court using the Texas ban to overturn Roe vs Wade looming, several more states have been emboldened to pass their own unconstitutional abortion bans. Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Florida have all passed strict new laws just in the past week.
It’s more important than ever to act locally to help keep safe abortions available to everyone who wants one. Here are a few steps you can take today:
If you can, donate to help them help pregnant people access safe abortion care. In addition to paying the medical costs, many provide transportation and other help accessing abortions, all of which costs money.
Some are looking for volunteers to man phones, provide transportation, and take care of other necessary tasks. Check and see if your local abortion fund could use a helping hand!
If you can’t donate right now and you don’t have time to volunteer (or if your local fund isn’t looking for volunteers right now), sign up for their email list and follow them on social media. This will allow you to you stay abreast of local developments, be the first to hear if they do need help, and signal boost to help make sure the people in need of abortion care hear about their work!
Understand that this moment has been in the making since the mid 1970s. (White) Evangelical Christians have been building alliances and coalitions with Conservative Republicans with the aim of warping public institutions into conformity to their specific brand of Conservative Christian Nationalism. One strategy has been building schools and colleges that specialize in training religiously motivated lawyers and judges to achieve positions of legal power. This quiet effort, which has affected most of the countries judiciary system, has culminated in the election of three hard right Supreme Court judges, all of whom were funneled through the same Conservatively religious legal pipeline run by groups like the Judicial Crisis Networkandthe Federalist Society (Fueled by dark-money religious extremists) (more on the Federalist Society here, slightly dated but still relevant)
Of course, abortion rights activists have seen this coming for a long time now: “This abandonment by lawmakers is why so many of the most effective solutions we have right now are being developed far outside the realm of electoral politics. Increasing abortion access through abortion funds and education on self-managed abortion, including establishing legal defense funds for abortion, isn’t just something to do while waiting for a better election outcome (maybe) to win back our rights; it’s what advocates have already been doing to survive even when Democrats win. They have secured this right even when legislators failed to.”
I don’t know what more I can add. Part of me just wanted to rant about the state of the country into which I was born. While cathartic, it doesn’t help when it comes to formulating possible plans of action or political solutions. While I still believe that getting people to vote matters, that’s just one method of political participation (and one of the laziest). On an individual level, we could encourage more men to get vasectomies and shift some of the burden and responsibility on reproductive justice onto men’s shoulders. It’s not much but it could help.
As to systemic strategies for securing bodily self-determination and privacy, I’m sure there are plenty of local groups out there for you, dear reader, to find and join that are putting in the effort and would love your help (feel free, dear reader, to offer possible resources in the comments if you have any to share). Not a satisfying conclusion to all of these words but it’s what I’ve got to offer at the moment.
I’ll leave you with some additional things to consider:
“They asked me to tell you what it was like to be twenty and pregnant in 1950 and when you tell your boyfriend you’re pregnant, he tells you about a friend of his in the army whose girl told him she was pregnant, so he got all his buddies to come and say, “We all fucked her, so who knows who the father is?” And he laughs at the good joke…. What was it like, if you were planning to go to graduate school and get a degree and earn a living so you could support yourself and do the work you loved—what it was like to be a senior at Radcliffe and pregnant and if you bore this child, this child which the law demanded you bear and would then call “unlawful,” “illegitimate,” this child whose father denied it … What was it like? […] It’s like this: if I had dropped out of college, thrown away my education, depended on my parents … if I had done all that, which is what the anti-abortion people want me to have done, I would have borne a child for them, … the authorities, the theorists, the fundamentalists; I would have born a child for them, their child. But I would not have born my own first child, or second child, or third child. My children. The life of that fetus would have prevented, would have aborted, three other fetuses … the three wanted children, the three I had with my husband—whom, if I had not aborted the unwanted one, I would never have met … I would have been an “unwed mother” of a three-year-old in California, without work, with half an education, living off her parents…. But it is the children I have to come back to, my children Elisabeth, Caroline, Theodore, my joy, my pride, my loves. If I had not broken the law and aborted that life nobody wanted, they would have been aborted by a cruel, bigoted, and senseless law. They would never have been born. This thought I cannot bear. What was it like, in the Dark Ages when abortion was a crime, for the girl whose dad couldn’t borrow cash, as my dad could? What was it like for the girl who couldn’t even tell her dad, because he would go crazy with shame and rage? Who couldn’t tell her mother? Who had to go alone to that filthy room and put herself body and soul into the hands of a professional criminal? – because that is what every doctor who did an abortion was, whether he was an extortionist or an idealist. You know what it was like for her. You know and I know; that is why we are here. We are not going back to the Dark Ages. We are not going to let anybody in this country have that kind of power over any girl or woman. There are great powers, outside the government and in it, trying to legislate the return of darkness. We are not great powers. But we are the light. Nobody can put us out. May all of you shine very bright and steady, today and always.”
Pro-abortionists missed biology class. If it’s not human then what is it? When the two sex gametes meet, sperm fertilizes an egg, a zygote is formed. This happens in all mammals but a dog can’t conceive a cat, a human can’t conceive a bear, so forth. Those sex gametes have a specific genetic code (DNA sequence). For humans, it’s human DNA! The sperm is not a human being, it’s PART of a human being (has half the genetic material and half the chromosomes) same with an egg! When sperm fertilizes an egg, human life begins BECAUSE biology has discovered that at this moment the two gametes become one, making up an entirely new, unique, COMPLETE set of HUMAN DNA! When a zygote is left to its natural processes it will continue to grow! Hence it is living because a dead thing cannot grow! So it is a human, it is alive and science is on our side. The discussion should be about ethics not science! Either all humans are equal or they aren’t because of arbitrary standards!
At its most basic form, sure, when one clump of cells combines with another clump of cells they form a new clump of cells with new, unique abilities. It has the potential to become a human, sure, but is it a human? and more importantly, does it matter? For the sake of a tumblr post I will keep this short, but in essence, biology tells us that procreation is not a uniquely human trait, even if specific human DNA is. But in a biological perspective, the DNA of a plant and a human has the same intrinsic worth, that is, the worth it can give to the environment around it, and as such the destruction of a plant seed and the destruction of a fetus are an equal loss and/or gain.
But, then, what makes a human different from a plant or animal, or even a rock? That is not a biological issue, but a social one, a philosophical one. And yes, this can be a theological one as well, but the important notion is that theology does not exist in a vacuum. By all definitions, it is a social study. Thus, the worth of something is defined by the society within which it exists - again. Not purely biological. So, then we must ask, what defines a human? You could go with our classic “I think, therefore I am.” Or maybe more specifically “I consent, therefore I am.” The ability to consent to something - not just sexual intercourse, but anything - is something intrinsic to the human being, that is, that we are not driven by purely instinctual urges and hold each other accountable for following them if they negatively impact another. Complex thought, rational decisions - those are unique to humanity, as far as we know. Again, for the sack of a tumblr post I am following this line of reasoning - there are many ways to philosophically define a human being.
So. Abortion as an issue is not a biological one, but social. And as a social issue, it has a basis in humanity and the societal laws governing that social group. In our social group, part of that governing law consists of autonomy, that is, the right to one’s own body. And thus we come to the meat of the abortion topic. “Your right to extend your fist ends at the tip of my nose.” Or, I like to use the unstoppable force meets immovable object analogy. The unstoppable force of the autonomy of the pregnant person meets the immovable object of the humanity and/or autonomy of the fetus. If the two are considered with equal worth - in the eyes of God, in the eyes of the Universe, in Science, whichever - then there is no fundamental right answer. You cannot stop the force and you cannot move the object.
But, we are not at a standstill. Ethically, this problem does not exist in a vacuum. In our society, when you pass away, unless you have given explicit permission your organs cannot be taken for donation, and violations can cost jail time - even if the organs will save lives. We choose to say - good or bad, ethical or not - that the potential life saved by the donated organ is not worth the autonomy of the deceased person. Not the only example, but the one i will share. We can apply this same principle to the discussion of abortion and make the reasonable claim that, in our current society, it is not worth the potential life of the child to violate the autonomy and choice of the mother. Again, whether you agree or not, that is the logic set in precedent by other laws we have in place.
In summary, yes, the conception of a zygote does indeed happen how you described, but the biological elements of this are far less important than the social ones. And the social governing laws we have in place, as set in precedent by the autonomy laws of the deceased, say that we consider the autonomy of a current situation to be more important than that of a potential one.
*As an additional note, many dead things can grow. growth as humans perceive it is just complex multiplication, really. A mountain can grow. rain can grow. anything accumulating matter, really. Biological definitions of a human are so far beyond conception that it is impossible to pin them to one discussion, philosophical definitions even moreso.
**additional note number two, the biological defense of the abortion argument is often paired with the biological defense of the transgendered person argument (sex equals gender and the like). Which, of course, has already been disproven multiple times by biologists. In other words, and do forgive me if this is too forward….maybe your understanding of biology is not as complete as it could be. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones and such.
***additional note number three, it’s not pro abortion, it’s pro choice. In that the autonomy of the mother - the right to choose what to do with her body - is valued more than the potential life of a fetus.
Sincerely,
Meep (she/her)
an existing person’s ownership of their own body parts trumps the right of any other hypothetical person to be alive. a man can’t buy me a couple drinks and then take one of my kidneys, even if he promises he’ll give it back later. a nurse can’t just grab me and take a pint of my blood to save a car crash victim, even though i’ll replenish that blood in a month. the state can’t automatically sign me up as an organ donor. it’s even illegal for someone to cut my hair off without my permission, even though hair doesn’t hurt at all to remove. and this doesn’t change even when the people are my family, even if they were my twin and genetically identical to me.
a human being composed of two cells– an egg and a sperm– does not have more of a right to my uterus than i do. it’s my uterus, i’m bigger, i got here first, i’m already alive.
even when it’s not about the strict confines of the body, and about property law: landlords can evict tennants even if doing so will kill them. people can be prosecuted for tresspassing even when they need food, shelter, or to escape harm. america deports refugees back to their countries of origin all the time. looters are still committing a crime when they take food.
the second amendment in america is increasingly used to justify people’s right to murder home invaders: because a stranger might steal your TV, you can terminate their life immediately with a gun. you can end a real grown human being’s life just because they came into your house with intent to remove some of your home appliances.
america has a lot of laws that say, ‘even if you need it, even if it would save your life, you can’t just go TAKE what someone else already owns.’
and yet conservatives want to argue that a uterus–let’s be honest, an entire woman, they don’t care about trans men, this is about their ideas of what women are and what women are for–they want to argue that a woman’s uterus and a woman’s body is different from anything else. it’s not protected like a kidney, like blood, like hair. it’s not even protected like a house or a store. it’s supposed to belong to whatever sperm cell gets put in it .
the question is not 'are embryos legally and ethically human’, because even if they are, that’s a distraction from the question. people who are legally and ethically human have a right to life that in many cases does not legally supercede anyone else’s right to bodily autonomy or even personal property.
the question is: “is a uterus public property, unlike anything else you might own, or should you get final say in what people do with your stuff?”
The abortion procedure is an exploitation of women, not “reproductive freedom.” Being able to say you’re allowed to end a life inside of you, which is made with half your DNA, and a 50% chance it will be a FEMALE, should not be something to be proud of. Choose life for your unborn baby, and show people how strong a woman can really be when put into difficult situations that involves an important decision for your own flesh and blood.
“The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s liberty, to her well-being & dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When government controls that decision for her, she is being treated less than a fully human adult responsible for her own choices.” ~Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The Trump-Pence administration has confirmed more than 150 judges to lifetime seats — that’s faster than any modern administration. One hundred fifty, you read that right. These judges could rule on cases that affect our health, rights, and communities for generations to come. And one of the latest nominees who’s one of the most hostile toward our reproductive rights yet? Sarah Pitlyk.
Sarah Pitlyk Spent Her Career Determined to Undermine Our Rights
Sarah Pitlyk is a judicial nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri who’s spent her career trying to roll back our sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Pitlyk is well-known in anti-abortion circles for litigating cases directly opposing abortion rights. She defended Iowa’s unconstitutional 6-week abortion ban and has fought against a local St. Louis ordinance that barred discrimination based on “reproductive health decisions,” such as having an abortion or using birth control.
She’s even directed her anti-abortion ideology and extremism against Planned Parenthood. She defended David Daleiden — an anti-abortion operative who advanced the 2015 video smear campaign against Planned Parenthood. (By the way, those fake, harmful videos have since been debunked)! Pitlyk has also backed the Trump administration’s gag rule, which forced Planned Parenthood out of the Title X program and is now jeopardizing care for millions of people across the country.
And while Pitlyk has made clear she’s against abortion, she’s also fought against birth control access and has gone on the record against alternative reproductive options, such as surrogacy and in vitro fertilization, that an increasing number of people use when facing challenges to getting pregnant.
Bottom line: her extremely biased views have made clear she can’t be trusted to rule on our reproductive health and rights.
What Her Confirmation Could Mean to Missourians
As a lifetime appointee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Pitlyk can help shape the law. We’ve already seen hundreds of anti-abortion and anti-reproductive healthcare bills introduced in state legislatures, and some signed into law by governors. Simultaneously, Trump and the Senate Majority are packing our courts with anti-abortion and anti-reproductive healthcare judges. Think this is a coincidence?
Unfortunately not. Case in point: This year, abortion access could have been decimated in Missouri due to relentless attacks on abortion access. After Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed an eight-week abortion ban into law, Planned Parenthood challenged the law in court and now the case is headed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes four Trump-nominated and confirmed judges. With the attack on abortion and reproductive healthcare on the rise, we know similar cases regarding our reproductive health and rights could come before Pitlyk if she is confirmed.
In short, once confirmed by Senate leadership, Trump’s judicial nominees like Sarah Pitlyk are intentionally set up to rule on cases that could affect reproductive rights for DECADES to come.
What You Can Do to Stop Her Confirmation
This isn’t the first time the Trump-Pence administration has nominated an unqualified extremist for a judgeship, but even for them, Sarah Pitlyk is an outrageously inappropriate choice. You know it’s bad when the bipartisan American Bar Association unanimously deems a nominee ‘not qualified.’ An entire branch of government is being remade before our eyes, and we need to do everything we can to stop that from happening. They may think that no one is paying attention to federal judgeship nominees and that they can push through extreme individuals like Pitlyk without objection — but they’re wrong.
Demand Your Senators Vote NO on Sarah Pitlyk’s Appointment!
Breaking News: US ready to sink further into right wing theocracy
“The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by POLITICO.
The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito writes.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he writes in the document, labeled as the “Opinion of the Court.” “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
"Every reporter picking up this Politico scoop needs to be very clear — this is a leak of a DRAFT. No ruling has been made public. If a patient has an appointment, they can continue to receive care. Those draconian anti-choice trigger laws in certain states DO NOT APPLY yet.”
“Supreme Court lawyer Neal Katyal: "My thoughts on politico story saying the Court voted to say Roe v. Wade is fully overruled. I’ve quickly scanned the draft opinion and it appears legitimate. This means there was a preliminary vote to fully overrule Roe V Wade and that a majority of the Court agreed.
This opinion says states can criminalize abortion, with no rape or incest exception. It is exactly the hardline position I’ve been saying the Court is going to impose for the last 3 years. It will set women back in profound ways. Congress must act ASAP.”
I don’t think people realize how some people need abortions because they want to be pregnant. I really genuinely want a child. However, if abortion becomes criminalized, it becomes incredibly dangerous for me to be pregnant. I am physically ill and have multiple health problems that make me susceptible to having various pregnancy complications, miscarriage, and birth defects (that lead to stillbirth). Hell, I have a higher chance of maternal mortality than most women. Banning abortion puts me at severe medical risk. Miscarriage is now under legal suspect and is continuing to be seen as “potential” abortions or just flat out manslaughter; I could be interrogated by the police or even prosecuted in the court of law for having a miscarriage. I could have a pregnancy complication that cannot be resolved because a law prevents me from having an abortion, and I could, at best, be rendered infertile or, at worst, end up dead. I could be forced to go through an excruciatingly long and painful birth so that I can hold a dead infant in my arms because the law wouldn’t let me get a “late-term” abortion. The list is endless. Don’t let anyone tell you pregnancy is a safe procedure. It is not. Abortion is healthcare.
I’ve been saying this for years. I have a ten year old kid who I could not have risked trying to conceive were abortion not legal and easily accessible. He would not exist if abortion had not been legal then.
I’ve miscarried at least twice in my life, both confirmed times, I deeply and dearly wanted to be pregnant.
In my life I’ve had four pulmonary embolisms. We only knew about one of my three clotting risk factors during any of my pregnancies.
The only reason I survived my pregnancies was that I deeply, dearly wanted to have my babies.
From the age of 21 to the age of about 43, I spent a huge amount of my personal and professional life devoted to parenting, parenting education, labor support, childbirth education, breastfeeding education and support, and especially babywearing, because I genuinely adore babies and want to help people be better, more confident parents.
I know what it means to want to get pregnant and not be able to even try. I know what it means to get pregnant and be delighted about it and have it go wrong. I know what it means to be terrified for the baby in my belly because I was so, so sick during my pregnancy, and i just wanted them to be okay. And I know what it’s like to get pregnant accidentally and to face down that choice.
All of my children, even the one I didn’t plan, were choices, because abortion has been legal the vast majority of my life. I’m just a few months older than Roe V. Wade. They all know to their bones, that I wanted them, that I walked through fire for them, by choice.
And as deeply as I adore babies, as profound as I find pregnancy and the transition of a possibility into a reality, as much as I couldn’t wrap my mind abortion for myself for most of my life…
Pregnancy was torturous for me. It was painful, demoralizing, and brutally difficult, and has changed me and my body forever in ways I will literally never be able to recover from fully.
And I cannot imagine forcing anyone to stay pregnant when they do not want to be or when that pregnancy threatens their fundamental well-being.
I know how badly even wanted pregnancies can go wrong.
Over half of conceptions naturally miscarry. Half of those are before implantation is established. I had one positive pregnancy test that ended with my period coming early.
When it comes down to it, bans on abortion are cruel, and religiously biased *and* based. And our government should not be making those decisions for people.
Abortion needs to be available freely, legally, on demand, without judgment… but more, we absolutely need to support people so that they can choose with open options.
And the fight against abortion is not about babies, it’s about control. Period.
The main reason abortion is so controversial in the U.S.? “Because if you can prevent abortion, you can keep people poor,” said Dutch physician and medication abortion pioneer Rebecca Gomperts. “And when you keep people poor, you can control them.”
As the Court is Set to Turn Rights of Pregnant Women Over to State, Here are the Three Anomalous States With Trigger Laws if Roe Is Overturned that Make ABORTION MANDATORY in ALL INSTANCES of CONCEPTION
As the Court is Set to Turn Rights of Pregnant Women Over to State, Here are the Three Anomalous States With Trigger Laws if Roe Is Overturned that Make ABORTION MANDATORY in ALL INSTANCES of CONCEPTION
In these three states in America, if your neighbors hear you having sex, the cops are allowed to break down your door, test the woman for fertilization, and abort the fetus on the spot, no questions asked. The consequences of turning the choices of the mother about whether she wants a child over to the state has alternative implications in these territories, which are MANDATORY ABORTION STATES.…
More than 10,000 immigrant children have been forcibly separated from their parents by the Trump Administration. Tearing families apart is a violation of reproductive freedom.
Senators are planning a vote to save Net Neutrality NEXT WEEK! Take action now to tell your senator to take action to ensure a free and open internet ➡️ https://bit.ly/2Iz4Kex
Today, I tried something new. I wrote a Twitter thread for the first time. It’s about abortion, and how I think we need to approach the topic differently. I thought I’d share it here, because I know many of you don’t use Twitter.
So here’s the thread, broken up into small Tweet-size pieces. : )
I’m a mother of six, and a Mormon. I have a good understanding of arguments surrounding abortion, religious and otherwise. I’ve been listening to men grandstand about women’s reproductive rights, and I’m convinced men actually have zero interest in stopping abortion. Here’s why…
If you want to stop abortion, you need to prevent unwanted pregnancies. And men are 100% responsible for unwanted pregnancies. No for real, they are. Perhaps you are thinking: IT TAKES TWO! And yes, it does take two for _intentional_ pregnancies.
But ALL unwanted pregnancies are caused by the irresponsible ejaculations of men. Period. Don’t believe me? Let me walk you through it. Let’s start with this: women can only get pregnant about 2 days each month. And that’s for a limited number of years.
That makes 24 days a year a women might get pregnant. But men can _cause_ pregnancy 365 days a year. In fact, if you’re a man who ejaculates multiple times a day, you could cause multiple pregnancies daily. In theory a man could cause 1000+ unwanted pregnancies in just one year.
And though their sperm gets crappier as they age, men can cause unwanted pregnancies from puberty till death. So just starting with basic biology + the calendar it’s easy to see men are the issue here.
But what about birth control? If a woman doesn’t want to risk an unwanted pregnancy, why wouldn’t she just use birth control? If a women can manage to figure out how to get an abortion, surely she can get birth control, right? Great questions.
Modern birth control is possibly the greatest invention of the last century, and I am very grateful for it. It’s also brutal. The side effects for many women are ridiculously harmful. So ridiculous, that when an oral contraception for men was created, it wasn’t approved…
… because of the side effects. And the list of side effects was about 1/3 as long as the known side effects for women’s oral contraception.
There’s a lot to be unpacked just in that story, but I’ll simply point out (in case you didn’t know) that as a society, we really don’t mind if women suffer, physically or mentally, as long as it makes things easier for men.
But good news, Men: Even with the horrible side effects, women are still very willing to use birth control. Unfortunately it’s harder to get than it should be. Birth control options for women require a doctor’s appointment and a prescription. It’s not free, and often not cheap.
In fact there are many people trying to make it more expensive by fighting to make sure insurance companies refuse to cover it. Oral contraceptives for women can’t be acquired easily, or at the last minute. And they don’t work instantly.
If we’re talking about the pill, it requires consistent daily use and doesn’t leave much room for mistakes, forgetfulness, or unexpected disruptions to daily schedules. And again, the side effects can be brutal. I’M STILL GRATEFUL FOR IT PLEASE DON’T TAKE IT AWAY.
I’m just saying women’s birth control isn’t simple or easy. In contrast, let’s look at birth control for men, meaning condoms. Condoms are readily available at all hours, inexpensive, convenient, and don’t require a prescription. They’re effective, and work on demand, instantly.
Men can keep them stocked up just in case, so they’re always prepared. Amazing! They are so much easier than birth control options for women. As a bonus, in general, women love when men use condoms. They keep us from getting STDs, they don’t lessen our pleasure during sex…
… or prevent us from climaxing. And the best part? Clean up is so much easier — no waddling to the toilet as your jizz drips down our legs. So why in the world are there ever unwanted pregnancies? Why don’t men just use condoms every time they have sex? Seems so simple, right?
Oh. I remember. Men _don’t_ love condoms. In fact, men frequently pressure women to have sex without a condom. And it’s not unheard of for men to remove the condom during sex, without the women’s permission or knowledge. (Pro-tip: That’s assault.)
Why would men want to have sex without a condom? Good question. Apparently it’s because for the minutes they are penetrating their partner, having no condom on gives the experience more pleasure.
So… there are men willing to risk getting a woman pregnant — which means literally risking her life, her health, her social status, her relationships, and her career, so that they can experience a few minutes of _slightly_ more pleasure? Is that for real? Yes. Yes it is.
What are we talking about here pleasure-wise? If there’s a pleasure scale, with pain beginning at zero and going down into the negatives, a back-scratch falling at 5, and an orgasm without a condom being a 10, where would sex _with_ a condom fall? Like a 7 or 8?
So it’s not like sex with a condom is _not_ pleasurable, it’s just not _as_ pleasurable. An 8 instead of a 10. Let me emphasize that again: Men regularly choose to put women at massive risk by having non-condom sex, in order to experience a few minutes of slightly more pleasure.
Now keep in mind, for the truly condom-averse, men also have a non-condom, always-ready birth control built right in, called the pull out. It’s not perfect, and it’s a favorite joke, but it is also 96% effective.
So surely, we can expect men who aren’t wearing a condom to at least pull out every time they have sex, right?
Nope.
And why not?
Well, again, apparently it’s _slightly_ more pleasurable to climax inside a vagina than, say, on their partner’s stomach. So men are willing to risk the life, health and well-being of women, in order to experience a tiny bit more pleasure for like 5 seconds during orgasm.
It’s mind-boggling and disturbing when you realize that’s the choice men are making. And honestly, I’m not as mad as I should be about this, because we’ve trained men from birth that their pleasure is of utmost importance in the world. (And to dis-associate sex and pregnancy.)
While we’re here, let’s talk a bit more about pleasure and biology. Did you know that a man CAN’T get a woman pregnant without having an orgasm? Which means that we can conclude getting a woman pregnant is a pleasurable act for men.
But did you further know that men CAN get a woman pregnant without HER feeling any pleasure at all? In fact, it’s totally possible for a man to impregnate a woman even while causing her excruciating pain, trauma or horror.
In contrast, a woman can have non-stop orgasms with or without a partner and never once get herself pregnant. A woman’s orgasm has literally nothing to do with pregnancy or fertility — her clitoris exists not for creating new babies, but simply for pleasure.
No matter how many orgasms she has, they won’t make her pregnant. Pregnancies can only happen when men have an orgasm. Unwanted pregnancies can only happen when men orgasm irresponsibly.
What this means is a women can be the sluttliest slut in the entire world who loves having orgasms all day long and all night long and she will never find herself with an unwanted pregnancy unless a man shows up and ejaculates irresponsibly.
Women enjoying sex does not equal unwanted pregnancy and abortion. Men enjoying sex and having irresponsible ejaculations is what causes unwanted pregnancies and abortion.
Let’s talk more about responsibility. Men often don’t know, and don’t ask, and don’t think to ask, if they’ve caused a pregnancy. They may never think of it, or associate sex with making babies at all. Why? Because there are 0 consequences for men who cause unwanted pregnancies.
If the woman decides to have an abortion, the man may never know he caused an unwanted pregnancy with his irresponsible ejaculation.
If the woman decides to have the baby, or put the baby up for adoption, the man may never know he caused an unwanted pregnancy with his irresponsible ejaculation, or that there’s now a child walking around with 50% of his DNA.
If the woman does tell him that he caused an unwanted pregnancy and that she’s having the baby, the closest thing to a consequence for him, is that he may need to pay child support. But our current child support system is well-known to be a joke.
61% of men (or women) who are legally required to pay it, simply don’t. With little or no repercussions. Their credit isn’t even affected. So, many men keep going as is, causing unwanted pregnancies with irresponsible ejaculations and never giving it thought.
When the topic of abortion comes up, men might think: Abortion is horrible; women should not have abortions. And never once consider the man who CAUSED the unwanted pregnancy. If you’re not holding men responsible for unwanted pregnancies, then you are wasting your time.
Stop protesting at clinics. Stop shaming women. Stop trying to overturn abortion laws. If you actually care about reducing or eliminating the number of abortions in our country, simply HOLD MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS.
What would that look like? What if there was a real and immediate consequence for men who cause an unwanted pregnancy? What kind of consequence would make sense? Should it be as harsh, painful, nauseating, scarring, expensive, risky, and life-altering…
… as forcing a woman to go through a 9-month unwanted pregnancy?
In my experience, men really like their testicles. If irresponsible ejaculations were putting their balls at risk, they would stop being irresponsible. Does castration seem like a cruel and unusual punishment? Definitely.
But is it worse than forcing 500,000 women a year to puke daily for months, gain 40 pounds, and then rip their bodies apart in childbirth? Is a handful of castrations worse than women dying during forced pregnancy & childbirth?
Put a castration law on the books, implement the law, let the media tell the story, and in 3 months or less, tada! abortions will have virtually disappeared. Can you picture it? No more abortions in less than 3 months, without ever trying to outlaw them. Amazing.
For those of you who consider abortion to be murder, wouldn’t you be on board with having a handful of men castrated, if it prevented 500,000 murders each year?
And if not, is that because you actually care more about policing women’s bodies, morality, and sexuality, than you do about reducing or eliminating abortions? (That’s a rhetorical question.)
Hey, you can even have the men who will be castrated bank their sperm before it happens — just in case they want to responsibly have kids some day.
Can’t wrap your head around a physical punishment for men? Even though you seem to be more than fine with physical punishments for women? Okay. Then how about this prevention idea: At the onset of puberty, all males in the U.S. could be required by law to get a vasectomy.
Vasectomies are very safe, totally reversible, and about as invasive as an doctor’s exam for a woman getting a birth control prescription. There is some soreness afterwards for about 24 hours, but that’s pretty much it for side effects.
(So much better than The Pill, which is taken by millions of women in our country, the side effects of which are well known and can be brutal.)
If/when the male becomes a responsible adult, and perhaps finds a mate, if they want to have a baby, the vasectomy can be reversed, and then redone once the childbearing stage is over. And each male can bank their sperm before the vasectomy, just in case.
It’s not that wild of an idea. 80% of males in the U.S. are circumcised, most as babies. And that’s not reversible.
Don’t like my ideas? That’s fine. I’m sure there are better ones. Go ahead and suggest your own ideas. My point is that it’s nonsense to focus on women if you’re trying to get rid of abortions. Abortion is the “cure” for an unwanted pregnancy.
If you want to stop abortions, you need to prevent the “disease” – meaning, unwanted pregnancies. And the only way to do that, is by focusing on men, because: MEN CAUSE 100% OF UNWANTED PREGNANCIES. Or. IRRESPONSIBLE EJACULATIONS BY MEN CAUSE 100% OF UNWANTED PREGNANCIES.
If you’re a man, what would the consequence need to be for you to never again ejaculate irresponsibly? Would it be money related? Maybe a loss of rights or freedoms? Physical pain?
Ask yourselves: What would it take for you to value the life of your sexual partner more than your own temporary pleasure or convenience?
Are you someone who learns better with analogies? Let’s try this one: Think of another great pleasure in life, let’s say food. Think of your favorite meal, dessert, or drink.
What if you found out that every time you indulge in that favorite food you risked causing great physical and mental pain for someone you know intimately. You might not cause any pain, but it’s a real risk.
Well, you’d probably be sad, but never indulge in that food again, right? Not worth the risk!
And then, what if you further found out, there was a simple thing you could do before you ate that favorite food, and it would eliminate the risk of causing pain to someone else. Which is great news!
BUT the simple thing you need to do makes the experience of eating the food slightly less pleasurable. To be clear, it would still be VERY pleasurable, but slightly less so. Like maybe you have to eat the food with a fork or spoon that you don’t particularly like.
Would you be willing to do that simple thing, and eliminate the risk of causing pain to someone you know intimately, every single time you ate your favorite food?
OF COURSE YOU WOULD.
Condoms (or even pulling out) is that simple thing. Don’t put women at risk. Don’t choose to maximize your own pleasure if it risks causing women pain.
Men mostly run our government. Men mostly make the laws. And men could eliminate abortions in 3 months or less without ever touching an abortion law or evening mentioning women.
In summary: STOP TRYING TO CONTROL WOMEN’S BODIES AND SEXUALITY. UNWANTED PREGNANCIES ARE CAUSED BY MEN.
