Posts Categorized: Reproductive Justice
Young People Demand More From Biden on Abortion Access
Today, President Biden signed an executive order to protect and expand reproductive health care services, including efforts to safeguard access to medication abortion, and emergency contraception. In a speech with Vice President Harris, President Biden laid out the administration’s plans to increase public outreach, provide legal support, and launch a task force to coordinate other potential policies to protect access. “Every day, clinics across the South and Midwest are closing, people are scrambling for care as appointments are canceled, and right now someone is sitting in an ER with a nonviable ectopic pregnancy wondering how close to death they’ll have to be to get the care they need. This is a crisis that requires swift, courageous, and comprehensive action. According to new polling, young people overwhelmingly support abortion access and… Read more »
A Triple Threat: My Thoughts on Three California Bills That Champion for Reproductive Justice
On October 8th, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 453, AB 367, and AB 1171 into law. What does this mean for the fight against sexual violence and the battle for increased access to reproductive healthcare? California is currently at the forefront of protecting reproductive rights for all of its citizens. With the passing of three major bills — AB 453, AB 367, and AB 1171 — comes a major promise of ensuring that voices of victims of sexual assault and period poverty are being heard and listened to. By making stealthing illegal, ending the “spousal rape exception”, and requiring period products to be put in public school bathrooms across California, these radical new laws will close many gaps in ensuring equity that existed previously. These bills could easily be the… Read more »
How S.B. 8 Impacts Undocumented Immigrants Seeking Abortions In Texas
The passage and eventual enactment of Texas Senate Bill 2 (S.B. 8) has people rightfully concerned over abortion access in Texas. S.B. 8 limits abortion procedures past six weeks, before most people even know they are pregnant. As researchers and reproductive advocates have already pointed out, S.B. 8 creates several barriers for people seeking abortions beyond the six-week limit. For people seeking abortions after six weeks, they must travel to the nearest state that performs abortions. Consequently, the clinics in these states are being overwhelmed with patients traveling from Texas in addition to their usual patient load. Most notably, there is also the ten-thousand-dollar reward that people who report individuals who help someone receive abortion care after six weeks can receive. However, something that is less talked about is how… Read more »
Menstrual Transphobia: Women Aren’t the Only Ones with Periods
Increased awareness and support against period poverty and stigma in recent years is liberating periods — but not for trans individuals. As we enter a new era of feminist history, the menstrual movement (the movement to increase access to period products and combat the harmful stigma surrounding periods) has gained a lot of attention. Since the movement is crucial for the advancement of gender equity, activists and supporters have fervently advocated for policy changes (requiring free period products in public facilities/schools, removing the Tampon Tax, and allowing better access to affordable healthcare just to name a few) and created community resources to ensure that no person has to live in period poverty or with stigma. Despite the rise in interest and discourse around the subject, inclusive language remains a struggle,… Read more »
Imperialist Feminism: How Western Liberals Perpetuate Gendered Oppression
A woman dropping bombs on Brown countries is not equality, no matter what the Biden Administration says. On March 8th of this year, International Women’s Day, President Biden announced the historic nominations of two female generals for four-star commands. Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost and Army Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson became the second and third women, respectively, to lead combatant commands in the history of the United States Armed Forces. Their nominations were made after being delayed due to fears that previous President Trump would not approve of them because they were women. Biden’s decision to go through with their nominations was lauded by many liberals as a win for gender equality and for the advancement of women in Western society. On the surface, women occupying important, decision-making roles… Read more »
An Open Letter to “Woke” Weebs That Consume Sexist, Pedophilic, and Fetishistic Japanese Media
Dear weebs and general enjoyers of anime and other media animated in Japanese art styles who preach about the perpetuation of pedophilia and Asian fetishization but still consume misogynistic and pedophilic media, You’re all hypocrites to me. The way that y’all preach about how detrimental the male gaze and sexualization of women/AFABs (assigned female at birth) and children are on social media like saints but then continue to consume sexist Japanese stylistic media before you go to bed is embarrassing. You give off the same energy as incels that fetishize young Asian women/AFABs and are complicit in misogyny, infantilization, and fetishization because you support these widespread forms of entertainment. As someone who was assigned female at birth and grew up Asian, I won’t forgive you for it. I consider you… Read more »
Biden Begins to Restore Pre-Trump Status Quo with Administrative Action on Reproductive Health – Young People Say More is Needed
(Washington, DC) — Statement from Kimberly Inez McGuire, Executive Director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity in response to the Biden-Harris Administration’s executive actions on sexual and reproductive health. “Today, the Biden-Harris Administration took steps to address some of the Trump–Pence Administration’s damage to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and undo some of their appalling sexual and reproductive health policies.” “While we applaud the administration’s actions: to revoke the global gag rule, open Medicaid enrollment under the ACA, withdraw from the anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ Geneva Consensus Declaration, and plans to restore Title X contraception funding, we are here to remind them: there is much more work to be done.” “Black women, people of color, queer and trans folks, and families with low incomes are facing multiple crises: a deadly pandemic, economic devastation, and systemic racism. At the same time, abortion access is vanishing. The racist Hyde Amendment continues to deny abortion coverage to families pushed to the economic brink and hundreds of abortion restrictions combine to render the legal right to end a pregnancy meaningless for many. The Biden-Harris Administration must listen to those most harmed… Read more »
There is No Self-Care without Community Care
Illustration: Dani Pendergast You know that weird thing that happens when you say a word too many times repeatedly, and it starts to feel funny on your tongue when you pronounce it, and sound funny when you hear it? After a while, you don’t even know if the word you’re saying is real? That’s what the term “self-care” has become for me. Your favorite instagram therapist has a bulleted list of ideas on how to care for self. Cosmetic brands are selling 98% petroleum jelly, 2% lavender essential oil eye creams under the guise of self care. At the end of every hour-long zoom meeting (which let’s be real, could have easily been an email, but I digress,) there’s some kind of self-care lecture and plug. At this point, I… Read more »
We all deserve control over our reproductive futures – Trish Hyde
Like many teenagers, in the throes of first love, I wanted to have sex. I was 16 and had been dating my boyfriend for about a year when we decided we just could not wait any longer. Actually, we *could* wait longer and I required that we did because I was incredibly paranoid about the possibility of becoming pregnant. I had done my research (okay, much of it on 2013 Tumblr, but still) and knew that two forms of contraceptives were recommended and that, should I choose to get on “the pill,” I would need to wait one month for it to become effective. So, a plan was hatched. I would talk to my mom, see the doctor, be on the pill for at least one month, and then we… Read more »
What Do Voting Rights & Reproductive Justice Have In Common? Everything
My grandmother, Lizzie Mae Kelly, fought for her rights. In 1965, she marched alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the late, great Rep. John Lewis from Selma to Montgomery, but not before she was beaten on Bloody Sunday. Through it all, she, like so many other Black women, persisted…
