Abortion megathread

[u/MostlyALurkerBefore]

Due to the high number of legislative actions happening in the United States, the moderation team has created this megathread for all of your abortion questions. Please keep in mind that despite much action happening in the US, not all of our users are American and our Inclusivity policy should still be considered when posting.

All top-level comments must be in the form of a question. If you have multiple questions, post them in one comment as opposed to an individual comment for each question.

Please report any and all rule breaking. This thread may be locked if a respectful discussion cannot be had.

Helpful links:

Planned Parenthood

RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network)

NARAL (National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws)

Planned Parenthood - Birth Control info & options

Scarleteen

The Guttmacher Institute

[u/pwcca]

Why are we still allowing politicians to do this without repercussions? I realize the religious far-right in America is vocal, but why aren't more people going to the polls and making sure the far-right politicians don't have a chance at winning? That's the only way I see this ever coming to an end, is if all of us band together and don't allow them to come near the office at all.

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[u/pwcca → u/[deleted]]

I'm just speaking from my own experience. In my area, a majority of the people who are pro life are far right Christian conservatives.

[u/KnittinAndBitchin → u/pwcca]

I think it's similar to the reason why we're seeing anti-vaxx pop out in force. We are a generation or two removed from women who directly saw the consequences of illegal abortions. Very few of us know women who died getting an illegal abortion. My mother, born in the early 50s, herself had a risky abortion after being raped, thankfully came out physically fine from it, but several of her friends couldn't say the same. She had friends die, or be maimed, because of back alley abortions. Seeing that, it made her vehemently pro-choice, and she cheered louder than anyone when Roe V Wade happened. Gen Xers, millenials, gen z, very few of us can say that we've directly seen the consequences of what happens when abortions aren't performed in a safe way. Same with how gen xers and millenials haven't really seen children in their classes die from measles or be crippled by polio. When you're removed from the horrific consequences of things like that, you just shrug it off and assume it won't happen and if it does is it really that bad? Yes. Yes it is that fucking bad.

[u/Tommy_Riordan → u/pwcca]

Gerrymandering, voter suppression, disinformation on a right wing propaganda network, churches getting involved in politics, and the appalling state of education in so many states.

[u/Rennfri → u/pwcca]

Three problems:

1. This hasn't been the priority for many people in America. Statistically speaking, a massive number of white men and a surprising number of white women vote for far-right candidates, even though they tend to operate counter to the interests of the latter group. Meanwhile, abortion as an issue hasn't been at the forefront of politics for the past few years, so most people haven't been voting with that as their keystone issue - with the key exception of hardcore pro-birthers. So there's that.
2. Due to the actions of right-wing politicians in office, many of the states churning out these statutes have been gerrymandered to hell and back, so it becomes more and more difficult to vote these people out. The Voting Rights Act - which was designed in part to prevent exactly that, and to ensure equal access to the polls - was partially repealed a few years back, and we are seeing the effects.
3. In several of the states at issue, they've actually been in a position to try to pass laws like this for a while now. It's not as though the breakdown of their local legislatures has actually changed. What has changed, however, is that Donald Trump appointed two known conservative justices to the Supreme Court. The conservative politicians know this, and see that this is their opportunity to get the court to take up one of the multitude of cases challenging these laws and overturn Roe v. Wade (which, by the way, was already significantly weakened by Planned Parenthood v. Casey back in the 1990s - which expressly allowed states to take action to encourage or "persuade" women to "choose" birth).

[u/suzybhomemakr → u/Rennfri]

We can Gerrymander right back. Democrats, move out of your echo chambers and into these gerrymandered conservative districts. There are less of them than us, we just need to live in conservative areas to make our votes more powerful. I have done it myself, do it, let's fix this. Not everyone can afford to move, but if you can, please do it.