So for real.
This week started with a Supreme Court nomination announcement that seemed like a sick parody of reality TV. It quickly became a lesson in dealing with actual reality. And we spent this week introducing you to that new reality. Because it’s a lot less scary when you’re dealing with it than when you’re trying to run away from it.
And we DON’T mean “dealing with it” as in “accepting it.” We plan on changing it. And that possibility is what this week was about—explaining why we HAVE to change it, and letting you know how to do it.
In this past week, we’ve learned a few more things about Judge Brett Kavanaugh, but nothing that supersedes the fact that he was on a short list of preapproved names compiled by some very nasty powerbrokers in the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation. It’s a list of judges who will DEFINITELY overturn Roe v. Wade, among other insidious conservative skullfuckery. This guy’s entire professional life was mapped out for that purpose, just as surely as the Boys from Brazil were bred to be a bunch of little Hitlers. And that’s why we CANNOT let this happen.
We showed you what happens when abortion rights are denied or restricted—the number of Google searches for “self-induced abortion” skyrocket. If you try to get rid of safe and legal abortion, the “safe” part gets thrown out along with the “legal” part. But the abortion part stays.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, “in 2017, 58 percent of American women of reproductive age lived in a state considered either hostile or extremely hostile to abortion rights.” And if Roe v. Wade goes down, a lot of those states have medieval old anti-abortion laws still on the books, like anti-choice maggots just waiting for somebody to turn over the rock.
One of those states is Michigan, where the Vagical Mystery Tour appeared this week. The moment Roe v Wade gets the rug pulled out, Michigan’s abortion law reverts to a law that dates back to 1931. That doesn’t just affect “Michigan.” It affects human beings living in Michigan right now!
This is about real consequences for real people. And you’re one of them. And nothing brought that home more than a piece by LPJL’s own Molly Gaebe—an abortion doula who says “I have held the hands of hundreds of people with wildly different stories, backgrounds, families, incomes, experiences, fears and joys. But one thing thing that they have in common is that they need an abortion, and they do not need the opinion of the government to help them make this decision.”
Do yourself a favor and read Molly’s whole piece if you haven’t already. And then read this quick list or what you can do:
- REACH OUT TO YOUR SENATORS!
- Let them know that a non-answer on Roe is a threat to Roe!
- Some of the most important Senators to contact are possible Republican defections Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
- Also critical are Democrats who voted for Gorsuch from red states like Indiana, North Dakota, and West Virginia.
- California! It’s important to send letters to Senator Feinstein, who will report the number of letters during hearings on the nomination.
- Write op-eds, organize, and PROTEST!
- Share your abortion stories on social media.
- More details and information is available from the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Being straight about what we have to do—and why we’re doing it. That’s what this week has been about. That’s what this reality is about.