We All Deserve Reproductive Freedom
Abortion rights are top of mind for many of us once again these days as we remember the recent anniversary of Roe, see headlines about the unfair consequences of abortion bans, watch the Supreme Court prepare to decide more cases about our right to choose, and consider whether or how all of this will affect our civic choices this year.
There’s a lot to make sense of! Here are a few ways Galvanize USA is helping our community sort everything out.
MEDICATION ABORTIONS
The Supreme Court will hear a case about the “abortion pill” medication mifepristone this year, and their decision will determine whether and how easily Americans can access it. This medication isn’t just used to provide safe abortions in more than 50% of cases, it’s also an important part of miscarriage care.
Galvanize USA messages like this one help women make sense of what they’re hearing about the “abortion pill” debate. Our audience is very compassionate—real stories like this one (which was developed to support reproductive freedom in Ohio last year) help them apply that compassion when they’re deciding what they want from our civic leaders and institutions.
For another angle on mifepristone, take a look at this Dear Grace column where Grace helps a reader navigate her mother’s judgmental attitude about a friend’s miscarriage. It’s really good advice!
ABORTION BANS HURT EVERYONE
Abortion bans don’t just impact people who want or need abortions, they impact many aspects of pregnancy care. Women who want to have babies have experienced serious complications including infertility as a result of being denied necessary abortions. Healthcare providers, faced with the threat of criminal action, are leaving states with bans to the detriment of maternity care in those states. Even loving families or partners who help someone access an abortion can face legal consequences in some states now. In the aftermath of Dobbs, outcomes are worse for everyone.
Messages like this one help already-compassionate women see how hurtful and unfair these bans are to people just like them. That in-group focus makes it easier to step into someone else’s shoes and see her perspective.
It’s also hard to tell how these laws will affect other aspects of pregnancy care, like in vitro fertilization. That’s an angle some people forget to consider, but Grace expertly reminds readers that infertility is hard enough without the legal implications brought about by abortion bans in this fantastic column.
IT’S JUST NOT FAIR
We know our community likes to follow the rules—authority and politeness are really important to them. But fairness is one of their key values as well, and these new abortion rules are simply not fair! This message creates a little tension between authority and fairness, then uses compassion to help viewers see that any law that restricts why and when someone wants to have an abortion is unfair.
The media often frames abortion access as a family planning issue—something that only affects people who don’t want more children. But that’s not true! Messages like these help women make sense of the polarized views they’re exposed to and see many different perspectives about how abortion bans hurt us all, and inspire them to see reproductive freedom through a lens of compassion and fairness.
