We’re rallying to protect women’s rights
Dear MoveOn member,
The governor of Alabama just signed the most restrictive anti-abortion law in the country—a near total ban—and we all got a terrifying look at the next frontier of right-wing attacks on women.1
Alabama's law comes on the heels of so-called “heartbeat bills"—backdoor abortion bans that will functionally outlaw all abortions—in Georgia, Ohio, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
The politicians behind these laws have one very specific end goal in mind: overturning Roe v. Wade. They all know that these laws will never go into effect as they are written; their express goal is for them to be challenged in the courts, land in the conservative-held Supreme Court, and serve as the catalyst for a complete ban on abortions in America.
This is draconian. It is terrifying. And we cannot let it happen.
That is why MoveOn is joining with many partners to organize large demonstrations at state capitols around the country on Tuesday to demand that state lawmakers take action to protect the right to safe and legal abortions around the country.
We must turn our outrage into action—right now. There's a lot we can do to affect the future of abortion rights—and women's rights—in America. We can, and must, call on elected officials to condemn the bans, focus heated attention on the courts reviewing these decisions, and support groups on the ground that provide much-needed resources to women seeking abortion care in states like Alabama. (For example, in just the past 24 hours, MoveOn members have donated close to $100,000 to the Yellowhammer Fund in Alabama.)
But these actions do not help protect access to abortion care in the long term. That can happen only through the passage of state laws that ensure that clinics will stay open and that women will be able to have access to affordable, legal abortion care even if Roe falls in the Supreme Court.
Only 10 states in the United States currently have laws on the books that will protect abortion access in the absence of Roe v. Wade, and 18 have so-called "trigger laws" which will outlaw abortion as soon as Roe is overturned and it is legal to do so.2
We must push state lawmakers to pass laws right now that will expand and protect abortion access in states across the country, as Republicans ratchet up their all-out war on women in the courts.
That is why MoveOn is joining reproductive justice, women's rights, and other progressive partners to hold rallies at state capitols across the country on Tuesday. We need to work through the weekend to help organize, recruit to, and prepare for these events and ensure that the events are seen by as many people as possible. And we need your help.
The news over the past week has been devastating and terrifying. The worst fears felt by so many women on November 8, 2016, have come true.
Make no mistake: The laws passed in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, and elsewhere are meant to punish women—especially poor women and disproportionately women of color who lack the resources to travel across state lines for abortion care.
These laws are punitive. They are hateful. And they are being pushed by male politicians without even the most basic scientific understanding of women's health.
But hope is not lost. Now is the time to show our true people power. We must rise up together in a grassroots movement to stop the assault on women's rights from the right and ensure that abortion care is kept safe, legal, and accessible for all.
Thanks for all you do.
–Emma, Robert, Brian, Jayne, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Alabama just passed a near-total ban on abortion," Vox, May 15, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/65626?t=5&akid=234424%2E38417624%2EWRieZN
https://act.moveon.org/go/65626?t=5&akid=234424%2E38417624%2EWRieZN
2. "Abortion Policy in the Absence of Roe," The Guttmacher Institute, May 1, 2019
https://act.moveon.org/go/42783?t=7&akid=234424%2E38417624%2EWRieZN
https://act.moveon.org/go/42783?t=7&akid=234424%2E38417624%2EWRieZN
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