Local Laws In Texas Prevent Travel for Abortions - NY Times
How are Texas Republicans preventing women, even if they have been raped from going to another state for an abortion?
"Republicans are systematically chipping away at pregnant people’s ability to leave their states, and then have the audacity to insist that they are not, in any way, trapping them there.
Women can leave the state whenever they want, they say. We just have to be willing to ruin the lives of any friends or family members who might give us a ride. (Or gas money, or even a text with the url for an out-state-clinic.) Anyone who believes this stops with women’s friends and families is not paying nearly enough attention." - Jessica Valenti in her excellent newsletter Abortion Every Day
Use this StoryMap to see which Texas counties are blocking women already? Outrage against these new laws? How the GOP packed Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade got us here? And how you can help restore women's freedom to get reproductive healthcare by voting Pro Choice.
Christian extremists push to stop all abortions
"Lubbock County, which includes the city of Lubbock and Texas Tech University, joined three other far smaller counties — one along the New Mexico border and two others in the middle of the state" - NY Times
“In the aftermath of Roe v Wade being overturned, anti-abortion extremists have expanded their efforts to ban abortion all the way to the local level,” Ally Boguhn of Reproductive Freedom for All. “Now, they see local ordinances like this as the next frontier of their work to stop all abortion, everywhere, and they are replicating ordinances like this all across the country. - The Telegraph
Republican abortion policies
There’s a reason, for example, that anti-abortion activists are calling these ordinances ‘anti-trafficking’ laws. In part, it’s the same paternalistic rhetoric of protection central to many Republican abortion policies. Just as ultrasound mandates became “Women’s Right to Know” laws, ‘anti-trafficking’ is meant to make travel bans seem like a protection for those coerced into ending their pregnancies.
But the law applies to anyone traveling out-of-state. So who is being ‘trafficked’ when a woman simply wants to leave Texas to get an abortion? According to Mark Lee Dickson, the anti-abortion activist behind the ordinances, the answer is simple: “The unborn child is always taken against their will.” - Jessica Valenti
#VOTEPROCHOICE
#VOTEPROCHOICE protects reproductive freedom at the state and local levels, changing the laws by changing the lawmakers.
There are over 93,000 races on the ballot in 2023. From School Board to Sheriff to City Council, every elected position holds the key to expanding our reproductive freedom. #VOTEPROCHOICE endorsed candidates are dedicated to the fight for reproductive freedom; committed to advocating for all aspects of reproductive health, rights, and justice; and clear that reproductive freedom is only truly possible with resources like comprehensive healthcare services, racial justice, and community safety.
TakeAway: Vote for Pro Choice candidates and run for office to restore women's freedom to control their own bodies.
Deepak
DemLabs
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