And when we ask “papa, can you hear me?” by “papa” here we mean years of oppression by the patriarchy! Let’s talk about the power of empathy, friends. You see, in a society ruled by the patriarchy, empathy isn’t always valued. And some men only feel it every few years when there’s a new movie about Mr. Rogers and but it passes!
Brave cis women, trans men, and non-binary people testify ALL THE TIME about the importance of abortions. They say it saved their lives, they talk about the worst moments in their lives and how abortion providers were there for him. Each message is heartfelt and passionate. And these kind of testimonials have happened before … every big anti-abortion law STILL passed this year. We’ve seen so many politicians listen to these women and not be moved, but instead chose to live in their bubble. With no empathy.
So when we read this article, “If the Ohio GOP Won’t Listen to Science, Maybe They’ll Listen to These Women Who Have Actually Had Ectopic Pregnancies”- we loved it and we loved the writer. But we also just were like, “No one who seriously advocates for REIMPLANTING ectopic pregnancy is gonna care about this.” Like, these people are so far gone, they never listen. Are they gonna listen to 15 more stories? 20? 100? If they hear literally every woman ever who’s had an ectopic pregnancy COULD THAT CHANGE THIER MIND.
It left us feeling a little dejected about the whole thing.BUT YOU KNOW WHAT: we still gotta write these personal experience stories. We have to DEMAND empathy over and over (and do it for the people who can’t do it too, who it’s still too raw for).
And that’s why these amicus briefs we just dropped for the Louisiana Supreme Court case (in case you’re new here) are DOPE! Amicus briefs “are legal documents filed in appellate court cases by non-litigants with a strong interest in the subject matter. The briefs advise the court of relevant, additional information or arguments that the court might wish to consider.” They are meant to influence the court to the full scope of the impact of the case. And they can influence the judges to see what is at stake. And let’s just say, we brought it. So many powerful women told their stories about how abortion changed their lives. They were unapologetic and they were MANY. You can read every story here!
Asking for empathy from people who are SOOO set in their ways feels scary and hopeless sometimes. But how can you read all these people standing up for the rights of future women and trans men and nonbinary people and NOT feel empathetic and inspired??
Here’s to telling our stories and not feeling shame in 2020!