Dear friends,
There are days when it is easy to feel attacked from all sides. I say this from the comfort of home, so it may seem ridiculous.
If you allow yourself to feel connected to people who are more like you than unlike you — they may live in another state, perhaps they are a different race or gender, maybe they are younger or less affluent, but they are human and they want health care, safety, and democratic freedoms — then you too may feel under attack.
Here is the statement from Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong, released the day after Judge Matthew Kacsmyrak’s decision on Friday:
“The court’s decision to stay the approval of mifepristone is proof that no one cares about our lives. This ruling is not about safety, it is about attacking our bodily autonomy and threatening our ability to make medical decisions that are best for us.
As Black women, we have always had to take control of our fertility and make decisions for our families within systems that never worked for us. This ruling will criminalize the practice of managing our own abortions with a medication that has been approved for over two decades. We know that with any type of restriction or ban on abortion Black and brown people will be surveilled and targeted at a higher rate. Black and brown women also have a disproportionately high rate of maternal mortality rates. Therefore, removing access to medication that supports our ability to end a pregnancy and forcing people to remain pregnant is violent.
So we will call this ruling what it is: yet another act of white supremacy. In this moment, we urge people to follow the lead of the Black women who have never stopped fighting for bodily autonomy and liberation for all. Our work to achieve Reproductive Justice continues.”
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In Tale of Two Lawsuits, Jessica Valenti explains the federal court rulings on mifepristone. She notes that Judge Kacsmyrak’s decision to invalidate the FDA-approval of the drug has equal bearing with the decision by a federal judge in Washington state, who
ruled that the FDA shouldn’t restrict mifepristone and that the role of an Article III judge is not to second guess the expertise of the FDA.
Valenti’s work is more important than ever. In addition to her knowledgable analysis of the relevant court decisions, Valenti tracks the horrific stories of what is happening to people denied abortion care and health care for doomed pregnancies. I can’t always read the reports, because I find them so upsetting, but I recognize how essential it is to catalog what is happening.
Tell the FDA to protect mifepristone. This is a quick action.
There was another mass shooting today, the 146th this year in the US.
Call on Congress to pass a ban on assault weapons. This quick action is from Moms Rising.
I must again recommend the podcast Strict Scrutiny with Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray. Today’s episode explores both the Kacsmyrak decision and the recent report on Clarence Thomas’s undisclosed vacations — including transportation on Harlan Crow’s private jet and extensive yachting — over the last 25 years.
Crow is a real estate mogul and deep-pocketed donor to Republican candidates and conservative causes. Even if Thomas would have voted the way his travel companions wanted him too anyway. Kate Shaw explains that his wealthy friends bring
to the Justice’s attention particular facts, narratives, and arguments. All of that can have an influence on how opinions get written.
Leah Litman was less measured:
What the fuck do you think Leonard Leo, Clarence Thomas, Mark Paoletta, and the dean of Georgia Law School are discussing together with Harlan Crow — four people immersed in the conservative legal movement who are all lawyers?
“Oh, please. If you’re smoking cigars with Leonard Leo and other right-wing fixers, you should know they don’t just have business before the Court — their business IS the Court.”
Imagine if George Soros was inviting Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, or Ketanji Brown Jackson on lavish vacations.
Call for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
It’s okay to be angry.
with love,
L