IT’S 👏 NOT 👏 ONLY 👏 WOMEN 👏 WHO 👏 HAVE 👏 ABORTIONS. When you talk about abortion + reproductive healthcare are you including transgender men, intersex and gender nonconforming folks? 💞 Both the reproductive justice & LGBTQ liberation movement are working for the right to choose who and how we love and how we use our bodies ✨ - without government, employer or harmful religious intrusion. 🔥 At the end of the day, we share the same fight, the same oppressors, the same opposition: the cultural right.  Before someone @’s me with “well we need to center women and girls…” I’ll say this: it’s time we widen the lens in which we see these issues and acknowledge that these issues affect larger populations, especially LGBTQ+ communities. (Want to learn more? Check out The LGBTQ+ Task Force & their “Queering Reproductive Justice” guide for tips on shifting to gender neutral language + more you can do in your own advocacy work💞!)

Art by Liberal Jane

A woman traveling into the dark woods to an evil witch’s house to trade her firstborn child for selfish desires sounds a lot like a demonized version of a woman traveling to see a cunning woman to aid her with an unwanted pregnancy js

Holy shit….. this post is life changing

Reblog this if you are Pro-Choice

If you are Pro-Life, reblog this one.

literally block me if you support the muslim ban, the environment science gag orders, the anti- reproductive rights executive order or any other unconstitutional plan trump made that goes against the people and our planet in each and every way

Bans like this are based in right-wing lies and won’t stop abortion, just make them less safe. When news outlets report on this, they should be explaining that fact.

Make America ignorant again.

trump is not the only threat here

If people don’t think women’s bodies are being controlled, they aren’t looking hard enough.

Y'all, it’s only Day 1, and things are looking GRAVE AF. Today Trump re-instated a law that will kill thousands of women – and I am not exaggerating here. He did this 2 DAYS after the women’s march, surrounded by a group of smirking old dudes. Lovely. The policy is called the “Global Gag Rule”.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Global Gag Rule bans health organizations around the world from receiving US funding if they so much as *mention* abortion. The organizations are also banned from providing abortion services – even though other funding sources, like donations, are used to pay for them. (The Helms Amendment bans the use of US funds for abortion abroad.)  The GGR is not a budget cut, it is a special stipulation for funding targeting reproductive health organizations specifically.

As you might imagine, this policy puts international health centers in a very difficult position. They either lose funding for things like STI screenings and birth control, or they leave patients seeking an abortion to do it on their own.

We saw the devastating impact of this policy when President Bush signed it into effect in 2001. Take Ethiopia, where unsafe abortion is the second-leading cause of death (after HIV/AIDS). Organizations there decided they could not turn women away, and thusly experienced a massive birth control supply crisis as punishment. 16 other countries also saw US donations of contraceptives and condoms abruptly cut off.

I know it’s not their thing, but the GOP desperately needs to put on their thinking caps here. What happens when you cut off birth control access? Oh yes! More people get pregnant! And what happens when you cut off safe access to abortion services? Oh, right. People die. Every year 50,000 women die from a lack of access to safe abortion. The last time the GGR went into effect, the abortion rate INCREASED. There are literally 90 katrillion studies showing that banning abortion *does not stop abortion from happening*, it just means they happen in dangerous conditions. That’s a fact. And, at least to this chick, facts still matter.

Then there are the effects that GGR has on HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. In some of the communities affected by the rule, HIV infects as many as 1 in 4 people.

Overall, this is a law that has well documented effects of death and destruction. On what fking planet is this policy “pro life”? I’m pissed, naturally. It’s unbelievable (well, not really) that our government would put women around the world in this much danger FOR LITERALLY NO REASON. Seriously – WTF?? I will not stand for it, and I hope you’ll join me in sending a vocal NOPE to our leaders.

This week, Senator Gillibrand and Senator Shaheen are introducing bi-partisan legislation to permanently REPEAL the Global Gag Rule. They are calling it “HER Act”. It’s unclear to me what is possible given that we have a 1-party government now, but given that lives are on the line, I am going to do what I can to fight back at every turn. 

PLEASE call your reps and tell them what you think of the Global Gag Rule:  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Little bit of info about McFall vs Shimp (also known as “Why abortion will likely remain legal whether or not you like it.”)

McFall versus Shimp happened in Pennsylvania in 1978. This guy named Bob McFall was dying. He had aplastic anemia and was circling the drain. If he didn’t get a bone marrow transplant, he would surely die. Well, Bob had a cousin named Dave. He was the only viable option for a successful transplant, but he didn’t want to give of his body to save anyone. Even his cousin Bob. They went to court. The judge found in favor of Dave. Because he didn’t think it would uphold the law of the land to force someone to give of their body, even if it meant Bob would die. Bob died.  Now, since then, that case has been cited every. single. time someone has taken someone to court to try and fight for the right to use their body even though the other person has said no. The United State Supreme Court has upheld that no one has to give of their body to keep another alive. Regardless of circumstances, no one has been forced to give of their body to save another. They’ve used the 4th and 14th amendments to continue to guarantee a person’s right to their body granted to them upon birth.  When people try to make the decisions for others based on their beliefs, people like Savita Halappanavar, Angela Carder.. in the case In re Klein, a guy had to fight to get his wife the aggressive treatment she needed to survive (she was in a coma) and had to fight against “prolifers” to save HER life over that of the fetus. In Curran v. Bosze, a mother didn’t want her twins to give bone marrow to save their brother. Their father wanted them to, the Illinois court said,”Nope. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.” Long story short? Even if someone will die as a direct result of your action (even if that action is INACTION) you are not obligated to give of your body for any reason to save the life of another. A fetus is not above the law. If you think it’s equal, then it needs to follow the law as equally as the rest of us. None of us can use someone’s body to keep us healthy and alive without their willing, continued consent. And that’s the law of the land. 

I refer to McFall vs Shimp a lot, so here’s a nice Sparknotes version of that precedent setting case.

-V

You don’t have to give of your body even if you’re dead (that’s why you have to agree to be an organ donor ahead of time). As someone once said, forcing women to give birth means they have less right of self-determination than corpses. (x)

If you need Plan B, here’s a printable $10 off coupon. 

It doesn’t expire either! It’s a continual offer

Always reblog the plan-b coupon. If you don’t want a baby, stop it before it happens.

y'all need to bookmark this or something. it costs like 60 bucks so this coupon is rly important.

PRIMO IMPORTANT MESSAGE HERE PEOPLE:

IF YOU HAVE ENDOMETRIOSIS DO NOT USE THIS UNLESS YOU ARE TRUELY DESPERATE, WORRIED.

Unless levonorgestrel is your primary endometriosis treatment (in which case this would probably be pointless to take this, but it is a high dose) it will cause a major flare. The way these things work is they 1) stop ovulation 2) make the lining of the uterus not hospitable for blastocysts so basically there isn’t implantation on the lining (i.e. how an embryo is made)

You know what that means? This drug is going to tear down your lining like it’s a hurricane. And it will affect endometrial tissue outside of the uterus. For a “normal” uterus keeper this results in an early period or sometimes just mild cramping/spotting. For us, hell in a pill. Now some endometriosis treatments are lower doses of this so it might not affect you, or not as much, but I’ve personally experienced the downfall of this pill and I vomited for 2 weeks from sheer pain. (Also you may feel nothing because your treatment is working so well there was nothing/minimal to tear down in the first place)

So if you need to take the pill pre-plan for a possible flare, this doesn’t happen all the time. Also if you are one of the rare bird that has endometriosis that grows with added progesterone instead of estrogen this pill will almost assuredly be like what I imagine having sex with a chainsaw feels like.

BE SAFE MY FELLOW ENDO PALS ❤️

Also I didn’t know until my boyfriend told me but if you’re 160lbs or over, plan b is completely ineffective. It will not work for you (or me).

ALSO, if you are over 160, not all birth control pills will work for you.  A lot of doctors don’t even know this- I was put on a pill that had a weight limit when I was well above the weight limit and I’m lucky nothing happened. 

So watch yourself since medical professionals might not always watch out for you.

If you need Plan B, here’s a printable $10 off coupon. 

It doesn’t expire either! It’s a continual offer

Always reblog the plan-b coupon. If you don’t want a baby, stop it before it happens.

y'all need to bookmark this or something. it costs like 60 bucks so this coupon is rly important.

Not all heros wear capes.

I want to buy this woman a beer.

This woman is named June Ayres and she has owned and operated Reproductive Health Services, which is currently the only clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, for about 30 years. May I suggest that you donate the price of that beer to The Linda D Foundation, which helps Alabama women afford reproductive services including birth control, emergency contraception, and abortion services? http://alabamareproductiverightsadvocates.com/thelindadfoundation/ You could also donate to the National Abortion Federation here: http://prochoice.org/about-naf/support-naf/ This gifset is from an incredible documentary called Trapped. You can find or organize a screening or stream it for free here: http://www.trappeddocumentary.com/ It’s seriously an amazing movie about some amazing people.

Planned Parenthood has now received 50,000 donations in Mike Pence’s “honor”

Donald Trump just made his support for overturning Roe v Wade crystal clear

Trump came out strongly against abortion rights, saying if he were elected president he would appoint Supreme Court justices that would “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade — the case that gives women the right to an abortion. Trump also made strongly worded comments about late-term abortions.

Today is Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion. Go out and make your own choices, without apology.