Mermaid Musings

The passage of health care reform is an historic victory. But at what price? The most pro-choice president we’ve had in a long time sacrificed low-income women’s reproductive rights for this ‘victory.’ But we can’t just blame Obama:

There has not been a major pro-choice political win at the federal level since Roe v. Wade. Instead, we have seen huge losses, starting with the Hyde Amendment and continuing all the way up to this health reform bill, the greatest restriction on abortion access since the procedure was legalized. That’s 37 years of losing. Not exactly building your power so you can win political payback. Read more

We need a grassroots movement that demands reproductive justice without compromise. We have to stop fighting for what we think we can get, and start demanding what we know is just: the right of all women to access safe abortion services.  We have to exert pressure on Obama, on the congress, on state legislatures and let them know that we will not tolerate the sacrifice of our lives or our rights for the sake of political expedience.  We need to stop being apologetic about abortion, stop being squeamish about it and name it for what it is: sometimes a woman needs to choose between her life, the lives of her children and family and the unborn developing life within her body. Sometimes a woman needs to make that choice, and when she does, she deserves access to the highest quality abortion care available. And if she doesn’t have the money to afford it, she deserves access anyway. Reproductive rights are for everybody, not just the wealthy.

This fight is far, far from over and it’s long past time for compromise. Women’s lives depend on access to abortion care.