Nobody I know is going to like this take, but we need to talk to each other about abortion.
I don’t know any “pro-life” folks who actually want to force victims of rape or incest to carry full term. I know very, very few “pro-life” people who aren’t ok with allowing abortion for any reason before a certain stage. And I don’t know any “pro-life” people who aren’t understanding of and OK with abortion in cases where the mother’s life is in danger and/or the child isn’t viable, whether that’s early on during an ectopic pregnancy or whether that’s third term when a pregnancy is futile and/or the mother’s life is at stake. But the liberal politicians and powers that be would have us all out here thinking that anyone who is even the slightest bit uncomfortable with any type of abortion is a full-on Handmaid’s Tale fetishist. And that’s crazy, and insulting to all our intelligence.
I also don’t know many (if any) “pro-choice” people who are OK with a woman casually having a late term abortion for no valid medical reason. More importantly, I’ve literally never heard of this happening. I’ve literally never heard of a woman carrying to the point of viability- or anywhere even close to it- and then just deciding she doesn’t want to do it anymore. This just is not a thing that happens. But the conservative politicians and powers that be would have us all out here thinking that anyone who considers themselves “pro-choice” is totally fine with a woman ending a healthy pregnancy at 35 weeks because she just like, changed her mind. And that’s crazy, and insulting to all our intelligence.
Truly, it is just the single easiest and most failproof way to rally each base and not only get them to vote the way you want, but get them to overlook everything else you’re doing. You tell the people on the left that the people on the right want to force 14 year old rape victims to carry full term. They don’t give a shit if you’re fully owned by Goldman at that point, they just want to protect girls and women and believe you’re the only one who will do that. You tell the people on the right that the people on the left want women with a healthy 36 week old fetus to abort because she got in a fight with her boyfriend. They don’t give a shit if you have internment camps at the border at that point, they just want to protect viable babies. Both sides are horrified beyond comprehension at the casual cruelty of the other and will do anything to keep public policy on their side. And it’s all absurd. Nobody sane wants either of these things to happen.
Most of us have pretty moderate, nuanced and compassionate views about abortion. This country would do itself a huge favor if we’d all tune out the few and far between radicals. There are total maniacs on the far end of each side of this debate. They like to shout, a lot. And the politicians and the people in power love nothing more than to amplify them, to tell us that those are the voices we are each up against on the other side.
We’d all be better off if we’d agree to ignore them and more importantly, stop painting everyone and anyone who is even a degree off from sharing your exact viewpoints as one of them. People a little to the left or the right of you are not crazy, and most people who don’t stand exactly where you stand on this issue are in fact just a little to the left or right of you. We could talk to each other, but all we do is scream past each other.
I’m not sure we should be worshipping at the alter of RBG right now; she could have single-handedly prevented this by retiring at a reasonable age. She chose to stay in power until she was almost 90 with advanced stage cancer.
I loved her too but she’s not exactly the perfect idol in this moment.
I’m not sure we should generally put anyone on a pedestal, ever, but if we must… maybe not her, not right now.
Why overturning Roe v. Wade is dangerous for everyone
Why overturning Roe v. Wade is dangerous for everyone
I’ve never been a fan of abortion. I realize that no one is actually a ‘fan’ of abortion, but you know what I mean. Anyway, back in my more conservative days, I called for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
My reason for opposing abortion was not related to religious reasons, even though I was raised Roman Catholic. I was adopted, and because of this, I felt like if abortion had been legal in the…
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!
I feel like this would be a slippery slope towards making it illegal for people to choose to not vote.
that’s already how it is in australia
That’s just so fucked up. :( Do certain medical conditions exempt you?
?????? why is it be fucked up to have compulsory voting? that’s the way it is in most democratic countries? it’s a part of being a citizen, like paying taxes and obeying speed limits? the fine for not voting is only like $50 and because of the compulsory voting law, our country bends over backwards to make it accessible: it’s always on a weekend, lasts most of the day, and is set up at schools and community centers so there’s one within easy reach of almost everybody. you can also mail your ballot or vote early if you’ll be out of the country on the day. like, IT’S EASY TO VOTE, and the penalty isn’t even that ridiculous. i don’t understand why the usa doesn’t have this, except obviously it would make it harder to literally stop minorities from voting.
I think we Americans tend to forget that a lot of other countries don’t actively work to make it harder to vote.
Adding to this here, in Australia you don’t have to vote. Or, more precisely, there’s no way they can tell if you ruined your ballot. You have to turn up, get your name marked off, but you can put a line through the ballot if you don’t think any of the candidates are worth voting for. Or do this:
Or this:
Or this:
You have get your name crossed off (if you don’t want to wear the fine), but you don’t have to make your vote counted if you’re opposed to it.
And it is so, so easy to vote. Stuck at work or on holidays? That’s fine. Do a postal vote. Stuck in hospital? That’s fine. They’ll go to you. Stuck in an old people’s home and can’t get around? Again, they’ll go to you. It’s amazing to me that it’s so hard for so many Americans to actually vote. If you make it compulsory, than at least the government is obligated to provide you with the means to vote.
And look, I get it. Sometimes I don’t want to vote either. But I suck it up, I walk three minutes down the street, and I hope that this year they’re selling lamingtons again. Oh, and I buy a democracy sausage, which, even if all the candidates suck, makes the effort of turning up pretty worthwhile.
ALSO, you can see even on the fucked up ballots that you NUMBER CANDIDATES IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE. There’s no need to calculate whether I would be throwing away my vote on the candidate that I most agree with if they’re not from a major party. I can say, I want that independent person to get in, but if not them, give me Big Party A, and if not them, that minor party person is still better that Big Party B, and I’m not giving any preference to the Lunatic Fringe Party.
Our system certainly has some issues still, but I can show up to somewhere nearby, line up for a few minutes (if at all), vote exactly in line with my values (on paper, leaving a paper trail that can be recounted), and then buy a sausage and some home made cupcakes on my way out.
A country’s voting system matters a hell of a lot and every citizen deserves one that makes it easy to vote and results in a government that is representational and accountable.
And by the way, one time I had a bad asthma flare-up on Election Day and didn’t make it to my polling station. I got my fine in the mail, I filled out the form explaining why I couldn’t vote, no more fine. I would rather have, you know, expressed my preference for who should run my country, but they were cool with the fact that I couldn’t do it that day.
“oh no, what if people actually have to participate in picking the government officials who will impact their lives” jesus christ
For the last time, for everyone who still doesn’t understand: not voting is not a tool of resistance, it’s a tool of surrender.
not voting is not a tool of resistance, it’s a tool of surrender.
At this point I don’t care for utilizing religion as a framework in arguments about abortion but banning abortion *is* a violation of Jewish religious freedom. It simply is. Funny how freedom of religion means mandatory compliance to Xtian hegemony.
A student going into high school or university this fall and graduating in 2026 is going to go in losing the right to abortion and leave losing the right to gay marriage, gay sex, contraceptives, and a whole other slew of civil rights. This is a very well planned and thorough attack on all of our civil rights which are completely tied to our sexual rights. The right to be who you are, express yourself as you want, the right to view make and consume nsfw content, the right to be trans and gay, the right to marry and love who you want. All of our sexual rights, gone. Because by controlling sexuality, by controlling who can sleep with whom and when and how, you can control society. This is a holy war being waged by Christian fascists who have always wanted to turn this country into a theocracy.
Enough of voting being the end all be all solution to the fascist GOPs goals. It is one tactic, yes, and local elections are just as important as national ones. But they have their Supreme court. Every single civil right, every single victory won for anyone who is a woman, lgbtq, disabled, a poc, is as good as dead and gone by the end of this decade.
The solution is to ORGANIZE your communities. Nearly every issue has a group out there, hell most likely even in your neighborhood, working towards it. Find them. Help them. Put your bodies and minds and time into these networks and mutual aid, because we are ALL we have.
We are literally living in the darkest timeline if our government is so evil that corporations like Amazon are actually the good guys by comparison & are willing to pay travel expenses so their employees can cross state lines to get abortions
This picture has been circulating all over social media and I have more to add:
Delete all period cycle tracking apps off your phone today.
Do not tell anyone why you want to take your trip, especially over text/apps.
Do not tell anyone the real state/destination of your trip.
Have everyone on your trip turn off their phones. Use written directions or a burner phone. Do not use burner phone to open any personal apps. Dispose of after trip.
Only use cash while purchasing ANYTHING on your trip.
Take “vacation” photos to post later. Be cautious of geo-tags/only post screenshots of the original photos.
Some people might say this is being extra or overly precautious, but this really is the reality we are facing. People have been imprisoned with murder charges in certain states- some for literal miscarriages. If you are a person that ends up in this situation, the state can and will use your data against you as evidence in court. Do not leave a paper trail. If they want to treat us like criminals, we’re gonna move like criminals.
if you use/have used a tracker before deleting it don’t hesitate to falsify your data by noting down one or multiple period you missed as having happened.
EDIT: useful info i’ve found in the tags that everyone should see.
for anyone who is currently panicked about the Supreme Court overturning roe v. wade:
it hasn’t happened yet.
what was leaked was an initial draft of the majority opinion: it’s the first indication of what the supreme court are leaning towards voting and why. (and by the way, these never get revealed to the public during current cases. this is a huge deal.)
“Justices can and sometimes do change their votes as draft opinions circulate and major decisions can be subject to multiple drafts and vote-trading, sometimes until just days before a decision is unveiled. The court’s holding will not be final until it is published, likely in the next two months.” (X)
it is vital that people understand that it hasn’t happened yet. and don’t get me wrong: this is still very bad. my point isn’t to give people a reason to stop caring. my point is, armed as we are with this leaked information, please please contact your state officials. support abortion rights initiatives as well as you are able.
send the Supreme Court every message we can that making this ruling would go against the public’s wishes. turn public favor vehemently against them.
this hasn’t happened yet. do not resign yourself to this future. do not panic. do not give up.
If you are concerned about the 1931 law that will ban abortion outright once Roe v Wade falls, here are some steps you should take:
1)Call your state senator and ask them to support passing SB 70, which would repeal the 1931 bill banning abortion. Type in your address to this page to get their contact information: https://www.senate.michigan.gov/fysbyaddress.html
2) Attend one of the MANY abortion rallies scheduled this weekend and sign the Reproductive Freedom for All petition. The petitions MUST be signed in person, and you must be a registered voter for your signature to count. There will be volunteers in Ann Arbor, Plymouth, Big Rapids, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Ypsilanti, and more this Saturday, May 14th. There will be a petition worker in Lansing on Sunday as well. The petition is to put abortion rights on the ballot come November, and we need as many signatures as possible.
And lastly, please reblog this post so it reaches as many Michiganders as possible!
This is going to be a very big deal for folks in Michigan. Please share.
Now that the Supreme Court is poised to strike down Roe v Wade AND Casey, our only protections will come from our state & federal legislatures. This is not just about abortion. It will have much broader impacts and will lead to laws regulating our private lives. I’m sure much will be written about this in coming days by legal experts. The midterms are in November. Get involved. Don’t ever say there’s no difference between Rs and Ds. Donate to campaigns. Volunteer. Vote.
A quick rant bc I can only seethe for so long, but one thing that is steadily making me foam at the mouth about pro-life rhetoric is that if you try to ask why they’re so pressed on conception, it’s a bunch of religious packaging that switches over to a vastly oversimplified “well, science says—“ when it comes to any of the tough questions
And I mean, who doesn’t like science, right? Except that’s the only time they care to evoke it, and they end up neither being scientific nor religious with some fucked up ouroboros of smug self-serving deflection. Like how convoluted do you have to make your reasoning to protect yourself from the fact that you’re making shit up and calling it godly, all because you’re desperate to put yourself back into a position of control and do whatever you want without the threat of opposition? How can you both reference and simultaneously completely ignore two different modes of thinking at the same time, just so you can pretend to be a “good person” while sacrificing nothing of yourself?
If you stick to either one of those ideologies, there’s no foot to stand on, and I have yet to see any policy that claims to be religious that actually is—it’s a relief at least that if Christianity is “The Answer,” all these ppl who twist it for their own comfort and advantage and call it “gods word” will be fast tracking themselves to hell faster than any of us ever will
At this point I don’t care for utilizing religion as a framework in arguments about abortion but banning abortion *is* a violation of Jewish religious freedom. It simply is. Funny how freedom of religion means mandatory compliance to Xtian hegemony.
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In Judaism we are *commanded* to save the life of the mother- which means carrying out an abortion if it is needed. The fetus is literally compared to a potential murderer in the Talmud discussing abortion. Not carrying out an abortion when one is necessary is akin to allowing a murder to take place.
The whole “freedom of religion” from conservatives is bullshit because they keep saying America isn’t a theocracy, but banning abortion is a violation of religious freedom.
