Advocacy Guide 2024: Repro Individual Actions

Reaffirming Our Commitment to Reproductive Rights Post-Dobbs (2024) Individual Actions

 

Action Alerts:

Urge Congress to protect fundamental reproductive rights:  

  • In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade—the decisions that affirmed that everyone has autonomy over their bodies and has the right to decide whether they want to continue a pregnancy—and the fundamental right to live with autonomy, dignity, and equality. This decision gives the greenlight to abortion bans in states across the country, forcing millions to travel out-of-state to receive the care they need.  As federal and state courts across the country continue to limit access to reproductive health care, it’s more important than ever to urge Congress to protect reproductive freedom.

 

Urge Congress to codify abortion Access by passing the Women’s Health Protection Act:  

  • On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, leaving abortion rights up to the states. As a result of the Supreme Court’s decision, patients and providers risk criminalization, hundreds of clinics have been forced to close, providers are denied the ability to provide necessary medical procedures, and patients are unable to obtain the health care services they need.  As of now, 17 states have already banned abortions and more plan to do so.

 

Urge Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment:  

  • The Hyde Amendment bans federal insurance coverage of abortion services with narrow exception. This means that pregnant individuals receiving health insurance through Medicaid and other federal plans (including TRICARE and Indian Health Service) are denied the ability to use health insurance to cover abortion. The Hyde Amendment disproportionality impacts individuals who already face systemic barriers to obtaining health care—overwhelmingly People of Color, immigrants, pregnant people in the LGBTQ+ community, individuals living in rural areas, and young people.

 

Urge Congress to codify the right to contraception:  

  • In Justice Thomas’ concurring opinion in Dobbs, he implored the court to revisit its 1965 Griswold decision, jeopardizing the constitutional right for couples to buy and use contraceptives without government restrictions. With the fundamental right to contraception in limbo, it is imperative that Congress pass the Right to Contraception Act.

 

Contact your governor and state legislators to demand they protect and expand abortion rights:  

  • Since 2011 , more than 600 state laws have been enacted to restrict abortion access, including mandatory waiting periods, parental consent laws, biased counseling, gestational bans, and targeted regulation of abortion providers (TRAP) laws. In 2022 alone, 541 abortion restrictions have been introduced across the country, with Oklahoma’s governor signing a total abortion ban into law and trigger bans that will already take effect within the month. As a result of these laws, patients and providers risk criminalization, hundreds of clinics have been forced to close, providers are denied the ability to provide necessary medical procedures, and patients are unable to obtain the health care services they need. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, leaving abortion rights up to the states. Your state legislatures have the power to protect abortion access through legislation, ballot initiatives, and more.

 

Urge U.S. Governors to protect IVF and reproductive healthcare:  

  • In February 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be treated by the law as if they were children, a decision that could imperil the future of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. Enabled by the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, this ruling will limit fertility treatment in Alabama and further endanger access to abortion and other reproductive care. Currently, 13 states are considering legislation regarding fetal personhood, which would effectively outlaw IVF. Three states already have laws proclaiming fetal personhood, which was the precedent on which the Alabama court’s decision was made. Without swift action, those who want nothing more than to start a family could be prevented from doing so.

 

Urge Parliament to adopt universal contraception:

  • We are at a pivotal moment in Canadian healthcare history with the introduction of pharmacare. This program would provide coverage for prescription medications, including contraception, so people are not made to choose between rent and groceries and their health. Currently, our government is debating this proposal, and it's essential that we make our voices heard. We must advocate strongly for our elected officials to prioritize pharmacare and universal access to contraception for all Canadians.

For more ways to take action in Canada, visit Action Canada for Sexual Health & Rights

 

Call Your Reps

  1. Find your member of Congress
  2. Put your zip code in the search bar and click enter
  3. Names and phone numbers for your Senators and Representatives will be available on the right-hand side of the screen

 

Hi,

My name is (your name), and I’m a constituent of (Senator/Representative’s name), and I’m calling today to talk about the Women’s Health Protection Act.

In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to abortion bans across the country. Since the Dobbs decision, 25 states have restricted access to abortion and 17 have issued outright bans.  

As a result of these state laws, hundreds of clinics have been forced to close and health care providers are denied the ability to provide necessary medical procedures. It is unjust that these unnecessary regulations prevent so many patients from obtaining the health care services they need. It is clear that we need federal laws to safeguard abortion access.

The Women's Health Protection Act takes crucial steps towards protecting access to abortion by creating federal protections against state restrictions such as TRAP laws and pre-viability gestational bans on the basis that such restrictions fail to protect reproductive health and intrude upon personal decision-making and moral agency.

I am guided by my Jewish tradition, which teaches that providing health care is not just an obligation for the patient and the doctor, but for the entire society as well. The early rabbis instruct that a physician's job is to heal, and if they withhold medical care, it is as if they have shed blood (Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah 336:1). Regressive state laws that prevent physicians and other providers from providing health care is in direct opposition to this sacred duty.  

Please tell (Senator/Representative’s name) to support the Women’s Health Protection Act. Thank you for your time. 

 

Media Recommendations: 

Reflection Questions:

  • What were your initial reactions to this piece? How did it make you feel?
  • What was something new that you learned?
  • How does this fit into our larger fight for reproductive rights and freedoms? 
 
TO WATCH:

 

Under G-d on PBS

Summary: 

Inspired by the lawsuits filed in Florida challenging the state's abortion ban on the basis of religious freedom, Under G-d is a documentary short film about the national Jewish response to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision woven through the lived experiences of impacted Jewish women, and the various lawsuits currently being launched by rabbis, Jewish organizations, and interfaith leaders to challenge the state-by-state overturning of Roe v. Wade. Through the lens of maintaining the separation between church and state, these nationwide efforts are predicated on ultimately protecting religious freedom—and democracy—for all.

 

Red, White, and Blue (2023) (Note: $1.99 to rent)

Summary: 

Rachel (Brittany Snow) is a single parent living paycheck to paycheck. When an unexpected pregnancy threatens to unravel her already precarious position, she's forced to cross state lines in search of an abortion. As Rachel contemplates the series of events that necessitated this journey and the obstacles placed in her path, we learn a heartbreaking truth that means her life will never be the same again.

 

“All About Repro” Workshop, WRJ Fried Women’s Conference 2024

Summary: 

Watch as fredi Bleeker-Franks (she/her), Chai Society member and Chair of RAC-TX, and Rachel Landis (she/her), 2023-2024 WRJ-RAC Legislative Assistant, discuss the varied issues included in reproductive rights. 

 

TO READ:

 

Abortion, Every Day by Jessica Valenti

Summary: 

Abortion, Every Day is a comprehensive daily newsletter dedicated to abortion rights and the feminist community that supports it.

Suggested Articles

 

Lilith, Our bodies under attack

Summary: 

Lilith’s Summer 2022 Issue featuring many features, perspectives, and stories on the impact of overturning Roe v. Wade.

Sections

  • The Choices They Made…The Ones They Couldn’t Make
    • Summary: 

      Read personal narratives from those whose lives have been touched by abortion care or other reproductive health care services.  

  • Abortion at the Intersections: Politics, race, religion and identity
    • Summary: 

      In this issue devoted to reclaiming our space, Lilith writers look at our precious bodily autonomy from many different angles: political, personal, and most definitely hormonal. In Lilith’s pages where writing our stories is the ultimate act of testimony, we can talk about our ambivalence and concerns about the way health care works today—without questioning whether that health care should be legal. Even in a climate of fear we must share our ambivalence, joy, worries and wonder about everything we experience: abortion, pregnancy, sex education, IVF, hormone replacement therapy, and all the myriad experiences that make up a life. That frankness, that sharing, is what they are trying to take from us, and what we must claim as ours, irrefutably.

  • Bodies, Hormones and Doctors
    • Summary

      From IVF to transitioning, hormones and the medical community can give us ownership over our bodies… or take it away.

 

Our Embryos Weren’t Children” by Rabbi Jen Gubitz

Summary: 

What IVF means to those who need it.  

 

TO LISTEN:

 

The Retrievals  

Summary: 

At a Yale fertility clinic, dozens of women began their IVF cycles full of expectation and hope. Then a surgical procedure caused them excruciating pain. In the hours that followed, some of the women called the clinic to report their pain—but most of the staff members who fielded the patients’ reports did not know the real reason for the pain, which was that a nurse at the clinic was stealing fentanyl and replacing it with saline. What happened at that clinic? What are the stories we tell about women's pain and what happens when we minimize or dismiss it? 

 

Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness: How Has White Supremacy F*cked with Reproductive Justice? With Professor Jackie Antonovich

Summary: 

Well, here we are. Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and it’s more urgent than ever to rally for reproductive rights across the country—and understand how we got to this point. This week, Professor Jacki Antonovich joins Jonathan Van Ness to explore the history of abortion care and forced sterilization in the US, how white supremacy has shaped reproductive politics, and why Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, isn’t the historical fiction we may think it is. (Note: please be aware before listening to this podcast that certain language may be used that is considered offensive.)

 

The Weeds: “Abortion and the erosion of privacy”

Summary

Since the Dobbs decision almost two years ago, reproductive rights have been at the center of our national consciousness. Two of the latest headlines come from Florida and Arizona: a six-week abortion ban, and a total abortion ban unless the life of the pregnant person is threatened, respectively. Both states have constitutions that name-check privacy rights, but both courts found that those rights don’t extend to abortion. What does privacy look like in the United States, and do we still have it in a post-Dobbs world? (Read more: Will the Supreme Court come for what remains of the right to privacy? - Vox)  

 

“Gaslit, A Reproductive Justice Podcast”

Summary: 

Our government has long been gaslighting pro-abortion Texans into thinking that an abortion ban is normal. But it’s not. Join your hosts Shae and Erika for eight episodes coming to you from someplace in Texas. We’ll interview the Texans who are on the ground in the hellscape and talk about what #reprojustice means to us.