Em-URGE-ing Voices

Abortion Activists Are Winning

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe, “awoke a groundswell of outrage of people who didn’t want to see this basic human right get taken away,” Kimberly Inez McGuire, the executive director of Urge: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, told Newsweek. “That outrage translated into turnout at the polls,” McGuire said. And in every state where abortion was on the ballot, she said people “came out in droves and were so clear [that] abortion should not be a crime.”

America’s youths are under attack

OpEd from URGE Executive Director, Kimberly Inez McGuire   “What many don’t realize is how severely young people are affected. Their rights are in crisis, and we need policymakers to open their eyes. “Restrictive abortion policies harm everyone, but they are especially harmful to young people, who are coming of age in a time when their elected leaders want to control them — not work for them. Almost 350,000 people under the age of 18 become pregnant each year, and 31 percent of them choose to have an abortion; all the while, attacks on contraception have not ceased. Young people who are pregnant deserve the rights and resources to make the decisions that are best for them, whether that means becoming a parent or having an abortion.”

Young People Like Me Are Wondering: What Is the Path Forward for Abortion Rights?

Op/Ed from URGE’s Georgia State Organizer, Kaelea Lucas (she/her). “What many people might not still realize is that Roe v. Wade itself was never enough. A young person living in a state like California—with expansive abortion laws—can face just as many barriers in accessing care as a young person living in states like Texas or Florida, where abortion is now banned at six weeks. Roe provided limited protections for white people, but didn’t consider the systemic racism built into the health-care and justice systems of this country; it was never enough to provide unquestionable abortion access—no matter one’s race, ZIP code, financial status, or gender. From Roe v. Wade to current abortion bans, racism has always lied at the core of abortion policy in this country. Without charting a new path, we risk repeating old… Read more »

GOP Aims to Paint Telehealth Providers of Abortion Pills as “Drug Traffickers”

Kimberly Inez McGuire, executive director of United for Reproductive and Gender Equity, said the lawsuit in Texas is a dangerous attempt by anti-abortion groups to “severely restrict the reproductive health care decisions of millions of people” and further upend pregnancy care as the nation grapples with an extremely confusing post-Roe legal landscape. “Let’s be clear: Abortion pills are a safe and effective option for managing abortions on our own terms, and they should be accessible for everyone everywhere, whether in a clinic or for self-managed abortion,” McGuire said in a statement.

Even Artwork About Abortion Is Legally Risky Now

“We knew, coming to Texas, that we would have to take certain precautions. We consulted with legal counsel,” Kimberly Inez McGuire, steering committee member of the Abortion On Our Own Terms Campaign, told VICE News. “I have a 1-year-old daughter and I was going to bring her with me, but I made the decision to actually also bring my mother, because on the off-chance that we were unjustly and illegally arrested for doing this, I wanted to make sure there was someone to take care of my kid.”

Young, impatient, and intersectional: Gen Z activists tackle abortion

“That’s important, because lived experiences have an impact on how you show up in your activism,” says Kimberly Inez McGuire, executive director of Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, or URGE, which she describes as an “intersectional reproductive justice organization” with a youth focus.