A Post-Roe v. Wade World

After raging and grieving yesterday, I woke up this morning determined to ACT. I wrote this letter to a select group of friends. Feel free to copy/edit/paste and send to YOUR list of friends.

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I have lived my entire post-pubescent life with legal access to reproductive health care, including abortion. Until yesterday, June 24, 2022, when the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Roe v. Wade (and almost 50 years of legal precedent), and obliterated the constitutionally protected reproductive rights of millions of American women. 

I was 18 and 25 when I had my legal, medically safe abortions. It is not difficult to imagine myself in the shoes of a woman who is unwillingly pregnant without access in her home state to the care she needs. I’m sure it’s terrifying to be a prisoner of your own body.

I am writing to my friends who live in states where abortion is still legally accessible. We are in a position to help our sisters who live in states where this is no longer the case. This CNN link provides a map of states where abortion is already (or very likely to become) illegal: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/24/politics/abortion-ban-states-move-quickly/index.html

We cannot sit this out. War has been declared on women in this country. It’s time to fight back. And if you are taking action already to fight the reversal of what was our constitutional right for almost 50 years, I thank you. 

Later today I will be calling several of the Planned Parenthoods in my area, letting them know that my home is available to house 1 to 2 women at a time who need a place to stay while they get the care they need here in California. I will provide transportation to/from the airports near my home, I will provide meals, I will provide transportation to/from medical appointments, I will provide emotional support. It’s what I can do. 

I’m not in a position to pay for their procedures or for their transportation (many, mostly marginalized, women will be in need of this type of assistance as well), but I imagine a fund could be started. On Rachel Maddow’s special last night, U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee mentioned one fund that has already been established for this purpose. I intend to look into this. There are probably others. 

I want to plant a seed. If enough of us do this, do SOMEthing, what a difference it could make for so many women who have chosen abortion, but are unable to legally access one in their home state. At least for the time being, my home state of California is an option. (And Goddess help us if abortion ever becomes illegal nationally! Trust me, this could happen too).

Please forward this to as many women who may be in a position to help in similar ways. 

I have already reached out to women I went to boarding school with, women I went to law school with, women I befriended during my years as a mother, women I trust, women who have their own networks of women (because that’s what we do!). 

As I was writing this, a friend forwarded this New York Times article to me: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/opinion/abortion-roe-activism-how-to-help.html?referringSource=articleShare  This article contains some great recommendations for action. You have to subscribe (or have a subscription already) to get access to this article. I know this can be annoying. But subscribing to national and local newspapers supports the work of journalists who are on the front lines of the fight for our right to be an informed electorate. They are our allies.

And dear Goddess, VOTE at every level of government for those candidates who support a woman’s autonomy over her own body. 

Thank you, especially to my women readers. Let’s show up for our sisters in this country who now desperately need our help. The way we always have, the way we always will.