Where we go from here...

If you have been in a rage since Friday, I see you and I’m right there with you. There’s no minimizing how grave a situation this truly is. Our constitutional rights, our bodily autonomy, our complete personhood have been erased under the law of this country. 

For the past few days, I could barely look my daughters in the eyes without crying, knowing that together we will be fighting for access to safe abortion care for many years to come. 

Yet to quote our inspiring Rabbi Rachel Timoner at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn…“Here’s the thing I know. * I’m going to say something surprising. * We are winning. It does not feel like it today. Of course it doesn’t. But girls and women and female-identified people today are more certain about our equality than we ever have been in history. We know that gender has nothing to do with ability or promise. We know -- girls today know -- without a doubt that we are capable of anything we set our minds to. No one – no court, no law  – can make us go back. This I know. We are fierce, we are determined, and we are powerful. There is no stopping the girls and women and female-identified people of these generations and those who will follow us. We will be completely and entirely equal. The next wave of the movement begins now.”

This rings as truth in my bones and through every cell of my being. I needed to hear it last Saturday and I know I will read it often. I’ve gathered some resources for next steps for all of us. I am here to listen. To hear your stories. To be a community in grief and in action. 

Listen (podcasts)

The Daily: Inside Four Abortion Clinics the Day Roe Ended

UNDISTRACTED with Brittany Packnett Cunningham: The Roe v. Wade News—and Finding Hope

Ezra Klein Show: The Dobbs Decision Isn’t Just About Abortion. It’s About Power. 

Strict Scrutiny: Roe is dead. Now what? (For those who want to get into the details of the decision and the dissent. PSA - the more you know, the worse it gets so proceed with caution.)

Read

How to Show up For Abortion Access: A guide to actions, messaging and a long list of ways to engage from Alison Turkos

Don’t Ban Equality: See where your potential or current employer stands in advocating for equity and women’s healthcare.

Citizens No More: What the reversal of Roe means for women’s work

Your State Will Not Save You: Anne Helen Peterson, writer of the substack, Culture Study, shares the most effective way forward which will not be easy and will be a longterm steady approach to regaining our rights to own our healthcare decisions. 

Give

Local Abortion Funds in every state

Reproductive justice organizations: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda and National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, so that funds will go directly to the most impacted communities. 

Act

Tell Joe Biden: Open Abortion Clinics on Federal Lands

The Women’s March offers several ways to engage including marching in one of the SUMMER OF RAGE (aptly named!) protests across the country, joining a local community circle or working to attack misinformation and trolling on social media. 

ACLU: Sign up to be a defender of abortion rights. You will receive alerts about volunteer opportunities to support the cause. 

I will keep you updated on my actions and I would love for you to continue to send me yours that need to be amplified or shared.