Alabama, Georgia, Ohio … the list goes on. Seventeen states have filed six-week abortion bans so far this year.
Missouri is poised to be the only state without a health center that provides abortions. And more than 300 bills restricting abortion have been proposed in 47 states in 2019 so far. Anti-health care legislators are on a roll, and they think that we can’t fight back.
But we can fight back. And we can win.
73% of Americans Don’t Want to See Roe v. Wade Overturned. So How Did This Happen?
Basically: this is the result of decades of misinformation, political campaigns, and increasingly extreme legislation with one obsessive goal — to shut down abortion providers and cut off access to abortion services. It’s going to take all of our strength, all of our courage, and all of our resources to fight these bans and defend safe and legal abortion. Here’s how we’re going to do it, and how you can help.
1) Protect Patient Access
Every single day, people are making personal decisions about whether they can become parents. Above all, we must do everything in our power to make sure anyone who wants an abortion can access one. We are fighting these bans in the state houses as well as the courts, but it takes all of us and you can help too by doing things like donating to abortion funds and local Planned Parenthood clinics or escorting patients to their appointments.
2) Spread the Word and Stay Loud
Extremist lawmakers pass these bans under the radar. We'll make sure everyone knows exactly what's happening — and who is responsible. Part of their plan is that we stay silent, or don’t tie together the story of how these bans and other measures restricting reproductive health care access build into a national crisis. But we’re only getting louder.
3) Fight Back
Abortion access is threatened everywhere. With hundreds of abortion restrictions being introduced at the state level and the Trump-Pence administration’s many attacks on abortion access and reproductive rights, like the Title X gag rule, we must defeat every single attempt to take abortion access away.
No Abortion Bans: Not Now, Not Ever
Here's how you can take action to stop the extreme abortion bans sweeping the country.
4) Expand Our Rights
Push legislators to draft, bring up, and pass proactive legislation at the state and federal level to make sure we never face these bans again.
5) Defeat Them at the Ballot Box
The only way to stop these bans is to vote the legislators who push them out of office. With 2020 right around the corner, we’re beginning to register voters, ask candidates tough questions about where they stand, and mobilize volunteers to ensure from the White House to your state house, we’re electing legislators that represent US.
Stopping abortion bans and restoring access to care won’t happen overnight, and it won’t be easy. But our movement is fierce: we’re dedicated, and we’re never giving up. Join us in speaking out, loudly and clearly, over and over again, until they get the message.
And remember: while the ban in Missouri and other states across the country affect all of us, we know that these bans will hit people struggling to make ends meet the hardest. And we know in this country, discrimination — racism, homophobia, transphobia — is deeply tied to how much money you’re able to make. So while some wealthy women may be able to find a way around the abortion bans, far too many people, particularly people of color, LGTBQ people, and people with low incomes, will be left with no options at all.
TL;DR: These abortion bans increase unjust, racist, homophobic and transphobic systemic barriers to care. Heck. No.
Together, We Must Fight for All
Text NOBANS to 22422 and join the fight.
Tags: Abortion, abortion access, Stop the Bans