Let’s start with the most important stuff: if you need an abortion and you live in
an area of the United States where abortion either just became illegal or soon will be,
or you want to help people who need an abortion and live in one of those areas,
here are a few organizations you need to know about:
The National Network of Abortion Funds: abortionfunds.org. They can help you find
financial support to pay for your abortion, find an abortion clinic,
and learn about your options to have a safe, self-managed abortion using abortion pills.
The Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project: wrrap.org. The largest independent,
nationwide abortion fund in the United States. They provide funds
to abortion providers directly on behalf of patients who can’t afford
to pay for their own abortions, and these are not loans — they don’t require repayment.
AidAccess: aidaccess.org. An organization started by Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, a physician
and abortion rights activist in the Netherlands, which helps people get
access to abortion pills and provides information on how to safely use them.
NARAL: prochoiceamerica.org. A nationwide organization 2.5 million members strong
that advocates for abortion access, lobbies politicians to enact pro-abortion policies,
supports pro-abortion candidates, and provides education on the benefits of
abortion and abortion access, and the dangers of restricting that access.
And finally, Planned Parenthood: plannedparenthood.org. The nationwide
network of health care centers that provides a variety of services related
to reproductive health, including abortion, but also birth control,
treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screenings.
Links to all of those organizations are in the description
of this video. If you need their help, or if you want
to help them by making a donation to support their operations, please make use of those links.
Now then. Even with the resources I just listed, and others I didn’t mention which are working
along the same lines, the outlook for the near future as far as reproductive rights in the
United States is pretty grim. Even though abortion will probably remain legal in approximately half
of the country, many people in states where it’s illegal won’t be able to make their way
to states where it is legal. Organizations like the ones I just listed won’t be able to help
everyone in need. Additionally, in many of the states where abortion has been or is about to
be banned, the laws include provisions making it illegal to seek abortions out of state as well.
This means even if someone is able to obtain an abortion somewhere else,
when they return home they could be investigated and prosecuted.
So, helping those in need of abortions to get them in states where it remains legal is important,
but it’s an imperfect and strictly short-term solution.
What about the long-term? How do we regain the guaranteed right to an
abortion that the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has just taken away?
The Roe v. Wade decision came after years of work by activists and lawyers who fought
to bring an end to laws restricting abortion which, by the 1960s, were common throughout
the country. But, while Roe established abortion as a constitutional right at the federal level,
abortion had already been made legal in a handful of states by the time the decision
was handed down in 1973. This was accomplished by a combination of court decisions and
legislation passed at the state level that repealed anti-abortion statutes.
So, while it is frustrating — and discouraging, and infuriating — to be sent back to the starting
line on this issue, it seems to me that what we need to do now is what activists for
reproductive rights did then. State laws banning abortion need to be challenged in the courts,
and pro-choice candidates for state govenment need to be elected so that those laws can be repealed
legislatively. Additionally, at the federal level, legislation needs to be passed
codifying the right to have an abortion nationwide.
All of that will be difficult enough, but even if we accomplish those goals, we can’t count
on those accomplishments to endure while the U.S. Supreme Court retains its current composition. Any
legal challenges to state anti-abortion laws that reach this Supreme Court will almost certainly be
rejected. By the same token, it’s conceivable that any state laws explicitly establishing the
right to an abortion, or even a federal law that does so, could be challenged and struck
down by the court, which seems ideologically committed not only to rescinding abortion rights,
but to rolling back numerous other rights gained through court decisions in the last few decades.
In order to ensure any state or federal laws explicitly establishing the right
to an abortion aren’t immediately invalidated by the Supreme Court,
we need to change the court, which currently has a 6-3 conservative majority.
There are a few ways we could do this. Congress could expand the court,
adding seats for new justices who would be appointed by President Biden, who supports
abortion rights and would presumably nominate judges with the same view. There’s nothing in
the U.S. Constitution that requires the Supreme Court to have nine justices.
It’s been expanded and contracted a few times in the past. All it takes is an act of Congress.
We could keep the current number of seats but get rid of some of the conservative justices.
Like presidents, Supreme Court justices can be impeached by Congress for just cause. Two of the
three justices appointed by Donald Trump, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, called Roe “settled
precedent” during their confirmation hearings. The other Trump-appointed justice, Amy Coney Barrett,
and the rest of the conservative majority, gave more slippery answers when asked about Roe during
their confirmations. Since Gorsuch and Kavanaugh affirmed Roe as settled precedent, only to vote to
overturn it the first chance they got, one could argue that they willfully misled the Senate. Lying
under oath to Congress in order to get your job sure sounds like an impeachable offense to me.
Once impeached and removed from the bench, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh would then be replaced by
judges nominated by President Biden, and once they were confirmed,
that would leave the court with a 5-4 majority of Democrat-appointed justices.
We could also just wait for the conservatives on the court to retire or die and hope the
president who nominates their replacements is a Democrat — this is the least effective method,
but also the method that requires the least amount of work and/or courage on the part of our elected
leaders, so it’s probably the one we’re gonna go with, but ideally, we’d do one of the first two.
Let’s say, just for the sake of conversation, that we did want Congress to actually,
you know, do something about this other than wait a few decades and hope for the best. What has to
happen before we can expand the court? Or impeach the justices who lied during their confirmation?
The first thing that has to happen, is we have to enlarge the Democratic caucus in both houses
of Congress. The Democrats currently hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives,
and an even slimmer one in the Senate — in fact, technically the Senate is 50/50 between Democrats
and Republicans, but the Democrats are considered the majority because
the Vice President, who also serves as President of the Senate, is also a Democrat.
In order to fix the Supreme Court — either by expanding it or impeaching and replacing currently
sitting justices — we need to at least hold — and ideally, expand — the Democratic majority in the
House, and expand the Democratic majority in the Senate by at least two seats. I say at least two
seats because before any real progress can be made — on this issue or pretty much anything else — the
Senate Democrats will first have to get rid of the filibuster, which essentially allows the minority
party to block any legislation that doesn’t have the support of at least sixty senators. And even
though the Democrats control the Senate, and could end the filibuster with a simple majority vote,
two Democrats — Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — have so far refused to support
ending the filibuster under any circumstances. So, we need at least two more Democratic Senators.
How do we get ‘em? This is the part some of you aren’t going to like.
We have to vote for them, so they win the elections.
I realize a lot of you are tired of hearing “just vote” — especially from Democratic
politicians who you have been voting for, and who were unable to prevent the overturning
of Roe v. Wade from happening. And I’m certainly not saying “just vote” — there are lots of things
we can and should be doing besides voting, like supporting organizations like the ones I mentioned
at the beginning of this video, like protesting, like reaching out to abortion clinics in your
area, if there are any, and seeing if you can help them with anything they need.
But, while it’s not the only thing, voting is one of the things we need to do to fix this.
So, if your state hasn’t had its primary yet, and if you’re a registered Democrat
or your state holds open primaries, make sure to vote in that primary when it comes around,
and vote for the most progressive, pro choice candidates on the ballot.
Then, in the general election in November, vote for the Democratic nominees up and down
the ballot — even if they aren’t who you voted for in the primary.
There’s a lot of understandable frustration with the Democrats, and I get it, and I share it. I
released a video earlier this week where I urge Democratic politicians to be bolder,
to fight harder. But we, the voters, have a part to play in this, too.
The politicians need to do a better job of fighting for us, following through
on their promises, giving us reasons to vote for them — but we do need to actually vote for them.
Vote for Democrats, elect more Democrats to office, and then hold them accountable, demand
that they use the power we’ve given them to protect our rights
and stop the Republicans from destroying our democracy, which is the goal, make no mistake,
and overturning Roe is only one step down that path.
A lot of us are afraid of what’s about to happen. A lot of us are angry about it. But,
we can’t let our fear intimidate us into silence and inaction.
We need to redirect our anger through productive channels: activism, protesting, speaking out,
lobbying, and yes, voting. It took conservatives nearly fifty years to overturn Roe and take away
the guaranteed right to an abortion. It’s going to take us a little while to get it back. But,
we can get it back. It’s not only possible — it’s inevitable — if we fight for it.
And in the meantime, while we’re working toward that long-term goal of regaining the rights that
have just been lost, we need to remember to support each other, to help each other
make the best of a terrible present while we build toward a better future. If we aren’t
able to do that, or worse yet, if we aren’t willing to even try, then what’s the point?