“Don’t agonize. Organize,” wrote journalist and feminist leader Gloria Steinem on Twitter.
Last Friday 24 June 2022, a shocking United States Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark legal ruling from 1973, referred to as the Roe v Wade case, has withdrawn the legal right to abortion in the country. Women have not been silent tough.
Using hashtags like #roevwade, #BansOffOurBodies, #AbortionIsHealthcare, #plannedparenthood, #abortionrights, #mybodymychoice, #reproductiverights, #reproductivejustice, and #myrightmydecision female politicians, activists, writers, and celebrities have taken media and social media and expressed their outrage and hope and called all of us to action.
As the ruling now leaves the legality of abortion up to state legislatures, American women will be very busy pressuring their representatives.
Women are reactivated
“Our loud mouths are going to have to get busy,” actress Rita Moreno spoke. “There are many of us. I’m thinking what are we going to do about this? If anything, this has reactivated us”, she continued.
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion said, “the court has failed us all — but we won’t back down. I’m going to keep fighting because everyone deserves access to the care they need.”
For former First Lady Michelle Obama, “this moment is difficult, but our story does not end here. It may not feel like we are able to do much right now, but we can. And we must.”
“Now is the time to stick together”, stated Democrat US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “And we will come together”.
Democrat US Senator Elizabeth Warren promised: “We won’t let the Supreme Court have the last word.”
“I am appalled. Enraged. Undaunted & ready to fight back. Our freedom matters. Our rights matter. We will not be still”, posted Democrat Nominee for Governor of Georgia Stacey Abrams.
“This is not the first time institutions have failed us and it won’t be the last. Stay vigilant”, warned activist and writer Raquel Willis.
Actress Hale Berry said “we have to ban together & NOT accept this! We can’t just post about it, we must DO SOMETHING about it.”
“You can trust we will not let this stand, that we will be heard, and we will get the rights we deserve”, told TV show host Ellen DeGeneres.
“What ends today in more than 20 states is LEGAL abortion, women’s and people with uteri’s rights to bodily autonomy, and the fragile notion that everyone is free. Clearly, few of us are. I do not know where we go from here but this is not the end of a fight. It’s the beginning”, stated writer and feminist activist Roxane Gay.
Democracy and human rights
Steinem has slammed the impact of repealing Roe v. Wade will have on democracy. “Obviously, without the right of women and men to make decisions about our own bodies, there is no democracy,” she said. “Controlling reproduction has always been the first step in any hierarchical or authoritarian government.”
Feminist author Kimberle Crenshaw stated that “no unelected body should have the power to strip people of their human right to autonomy, especially an institution as plagued by controversy, illegitimacy, and naked partisanship as the United States Supreme Court.”
Infamy and citizenry
On social media, Michelle Obama mentioned the harm to young girls. “This is what our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers lived through, and now here we are again. So yes, I am heartbroken — for the teenage girl, full of zest and promise, who won’t be able to finish school or live the life she wants because her state controls her reproductive decisions…”
Former USA Secretary of State, Democrat Hillary Clinton said the decision is a “step backwards” for women’s rights. “Today’s Supreme Court opinion will live in infamy as a step backward for women’s rights and human rights”, she continued.
“Abortion care IS health care. It was so before this. And it will remain so after this. We don’t care what a far-right extremist Supreme Court that is in a crisis of legitimacy says. Your racist, sexist, classist ruling won’t stop us from accessing the care we need”, wrote Democrat U.S. Representative Cori Bush.
“When you take away someone’s ability to make their own decisions about their own body, they are no longer a citizen. They no longer have freedom, bodily autonomy, or basic civil rights. That’s the America that the Supreme Court’s decision overturning #RoeVWade just created”, posted democrat US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Who has power over you?
Artists have also spoken to their massive public.
“Black women & women of color have historically had disproportionately less access to family planning resources— this is a great loss but not a new one,” singer Lizzo wrote.
“I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are — that after so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that,” Taylor Swift tweeted.
Top Chef host Padma Laksmi, who has also been a vocal proponent of women’s rights, echoed those comments in a series of Twitter posts. “People will still get abortions,” she wrote on Friday. “These procedures won’t stop just because Roe v. Wade is overturned. This will only prevent safe, legal abortions from taking place.”
For Alicia Keys, “this decision is about more than abortion, it’s about who has power over you, who has authority to make decisions for you, and who is going to control how your future turns out”.
Actress Sophia Bush reminded us that “they will never end abortion. Only safe abortion”, while Oscar winner Halle Berry said “I’m outraged! What the supreme court has done is BULLS–T. Something has to be done! Guns have more rights than women. Stop this war on women & keep your laws off of our bodies.”
Actress Jessica Biel considered that “what happened today is not only a disgusting step backwards for women – undermining our ability to make decisions for our own bodies… but it’s also dangerous. You didn’t ban abortion, you banned access to SAFE abortion.”
“You’re taking away women’s rights, our bodies, our freedom. Our bodies have nothing to do with anybody else, right? This is a decision that we need to make”, shouted Dancing with the Stars instructor Cheryl Burke.
Model Meadow Walker highlighted that “In a world that constantly marginalizes females, this feels like the biggest assault of them all. Banning abortions doesn’t prevent abortions, it prevents safe abortions.”
“It is truly unfathomable and disheartening to have to try to explain to my 11 year old daughter why we live in a world where women’s rights are disintegrating in front of our eyes”, mentioned singer Mariah Carey.
Keeping systemic poverty
For actress Cynthia Nixon “this ruling at the height of Pride Month is particularly devastating. The foundation upon which Roe rested is the same that has protected so many of our rights as LGBTQ+ people.”
Queer Eye host Jonathan Van Ness goes ahead: “This is about controlling bodies and keeping people in systemic poverty for generations. It’s heart-breaking that this personal medical decision has been made by people enforcing their evangelical beliefs on all of us.”
Charli called women from all over the world to support American women. “Just because you’re not an American citizen does not mean the overturning of Roe V Wade is none of your business. if you support womens rights and human rights you NEED to be vocal about how drastic and appalling the overturning of the constitutional right to an abortion is.”
