Guest blog by Jessica Morandi!
Happy National Veep Day! But Mike Pence may not be having a great one…
This week he’s been ROASTED for the sage advice: “spend more time on your knees.” FOR REAL, those were his words. Obviously the internet had a few things to say about that. Interestingly enough, Pence doesn’t have the same advice for Colin Kaepernick and the other brave athletes who get on THEIR knees — you know, for a cause. Funny how that works.
His comment was SUPER tone-deaf for a lot of reasons, including the fact that he had literally JUST given a speech about the two mass shootings this week. Wondering what his helpful advice was on that? SHOCKINGLY, he just offered his “deepest condolences” and encouraged people to “join every American praying for the injured.” At this point, the thoughts and prayers dance is so old that it’s struggling to pay off the student loan debt that the GOP doesn’t want cancelled.
The Republican approach to ~saving lives~ changes A LOT by topic: while thoughts and prayers are TOTALLY the way to go when it comes to guns, they get more litigious when it comes to abortion. (It’s almost like they think making laws is an avenue to societal change?? WEIRD!) Hmm, I wonder why that is? Oh right, because one ensures that women, trans men, and nonbinary people can reach their full potential while the other ensures that cis men can assert their physical dominance — aka, overthrowing the patriarchy vs. upholding the patriarchy. Makes sense that the men in charge are supporting the latter.
But DON’T LET THE PATRIARCHY GET YOU DOWN — there was also plenty of good news this week!! A federal judge in Arkansas temporarily blocked an (openly unconstitutional!) 18-week ban from going into effect, citing the “irreparable harm” that it would’ve caused pregnant people and doctors. Well well well, score one for REASON! Also, a California bill which would allow public college students to access abortion pills at campus health centers (which is SUPER VITAL, as we talked about on OSA today) is heading to the State Assembly after passing the State Senate in April. The bill was launched because of the tenacity of some DOPE activists from UC Berkeley’s chapter of Students United for Reproductive Justice — an awesome example of BADASSES making REAL change happen! And finally, there was a great story published this week about five amazing doctors reflecting on their experiences “coming out” as abortion providers. It’s a must-read, and a powerful reminder about why we should keep fighting.
Until next time,
xoxo AAF
