Dear friends,
It felt good to gather on Saturday at Union Square with thousands of people demanding reproductive justice. There was an impressive display of witty handmade signs, including an explicit PUBLIC CERVIX Announcement and this:
Think outside my box.
I had a good talk with these two 16-year-olds, who came to the protest with one of their moms.
Some of the signs were focused on timeless truth:
You can’t take my rights/I’m still using them!
You are not banning abortion/ you are banning safe abortion
This one asked an important question, that we (sadly) know the answer to:
This was the first abortion rights event I’ve attended where the bodily autonomy of queer and trans people was explicitly linked to the issue of reproductive justice. Some of the chants still needed editing (women —> people). I laughed at this one, because it was a great example of when to use them:
Abortion rights are human rights! Don’t fuck with it!
This one was perfect:
Because we value life/abortion is a right
The other day, my friend’s mother, now in her eighties, confided that she had an abortion in 1962. She became pregnant when my friend, the eldest of her three children, was not yet four years old. Her last delivery had nearly killed her and she had required a transfusion. Except for telling her husband, she carried the secret of her illegal abortion for sixty years.
Every abortion story is a story about life. An artist I know and admire, Jean Rohe, just released Animal, a song about her abortion story. At her New School commencement in 2006, Jean sang a verse of Jay Manquita’s “Living Planet”:
We can change the universe / By being who we are
Jean is a world-changer. When Jean sang at her 2006 graduation, she did it as a prelude to a bold speech against war and the ravages of fear.
We can refuse to let fear invade our lives and to goad us on to destroy the lives of others.
The people who are trying to take away abortion rights and the right to bodily autonomy are willing to destroy the lives of others, without consideration of their circumstances.
I have told my own abortion story before. We can’t have justice without truth-telling.
Tell your abortion story. The National Abortion Federation is collecting stories.
One of the wise friends who joined me at Saturday’s action said that one of our big mistakes was not shutting the country down when McConnell refused to hold hearings for Merrick Garland’s nomination to the Supreme Court. We cannot expect to change direction now without massive political action.
We stay in the streets. See the plan of action.
Because we value life, we mourn the horrific mass shooting in Buffalo. Governor Hochul said the weapon used was purchased legally in New York, but the ammunition — a high-capacity magazine — was not.
In 1994, Congress enacted a prohibition on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, but it expired in 2004. Despite public support, the prohibition was not renewed. As a result, high-capacity magazines are currently legal under federal law.
Sign the petition from Sandy Hook Promise to Congress, calling on them to prohibit assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Unsurprisingly, the Republicans are not calling for action to stop gun violence.
Republicans' response to the shootings has been much different than Democrats. Some have offered their condolences and condemned the shooting, but few have called for any specific legislative response. The shooting is, however, focusing attention on conservative lawmakers who have made comments in support of or similar to the “great replacement theory.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) tweeted that Stefanik's campaign committee “ran a series of Facebook ads published in September 2021 that charged that Democrats were allowing undocumented immigrants into the U.S. as a ploy to outnumber, and eventually silence, Republican voters.”
Leave a message for Elise Stefanik. If you are not her constituent, press 1 (see below) and if you are, listen to the instructions. The message is written out below and this is a 30-second action. She needs to hear the truth.
Call Elise Stefanik’s DC office — (202) 225-4611, press 1 — to let her know that her great replacement rhetoric and failure to support restrictions on guns do not square with her vigorous ‘pro-life’ positions.
I wrote on Friday about rising COVID numbers and the mayor’s messed up decision to remove the vaccine requirement for prom. How are we still so cavalier about this pandemic?
It is a dereliction of responsibility to remove the vaccination rule for prom.
Participation in many extra-curricular events, including sports, has required proof of vaccination. As young adults, high school students have already had to make choices about their health and their bodies. They have had to weigh official requirements — like the workers and college students they will become — against many other considerations.
The mayor said he wants to “encourage anyone who hasn’t yet gotten vaccinated to do so.”
Mandates are, by far, the most effective encouragement.
Contact the mayor and tell him to put the vaccination requirement back in place for prom. This is a 30-second action.
Have a great day!
with love,
L