When I was giving birth to my third daughter—a four-day ordeal of unmedicated labor—I thought of Clarence Thomas while my 10 pound baby was crowning. It’s perhaps not the most popular birth meditation, but I wanted to remember later that this man, as well as millions of men like him, believe they should be able to force women into such a moment. They believe that they—people who have never brought life into the world, people whose primary contribution to human existence is masturbating to videos of police brutality—know better than those of us who make human life what is best for that life.
Becoming a mother is something I have joyfully and proudly chosen. In my work running a reproductive justice nonprofit, I have seen all too often how the most transformative experience of life can be weaponized into a trauma that leaves a person shattered.
All I have to offer in this dark moment of American history is a bit of disjointed insight and some hopefully helpful tips.
It has taken the right 50 years to realize their dream of killing federal abortion rights—and they still have a long way to go before they take abortion away from everyone in this country. Please remember this. This is part of a long-term strategy. They’ve known what they were going to do and how they were going to get here for decades. That’s why they’ve succeeded, even though virtually everyone, including Republicans, wants abortion to remain legal.
On the left, meanwhile, I’ve repeatedly been lambasted for insisting that anti-choice politicians have no place in the Democratic party. It’s time for that to end. There is no place for anything but an aggressive pro-choice stance. It’s how we win.
How else do we win? By not giving up. Shouting that the sky is falling will not serve anyone. This is scary, and we need time to grieve, but it’s time for new plans and new strategies.
It’s time also to expand the focus beyond abortion, and into birth. Birth is reproductive choice, too. And birth in the United States is an unbelievable disaster that leaves people broken, battered, and traumatized—unnecessarily so. We are the only country in the world in which the maternal mortality rate is rising. We can mitigate some of the damage of an end to abortion rights by protecting the rights of people who give birth to be safe—emotionally and physically.
While we’re at it, it’s perhaps time to consider what rights a pregnant person has if their fetus is now a person. Two people should, after all, have double the rights. Call their bluff. It’s time for child support for all pregnant people.
I truly believe that the right will regret this. We must allow this horror to radicalize us, so we can claw back more rights. Roe was never very strong, and never offered all of the protection pregnant people need. We can build better, but only if we are willing to become militant, keep trying, and accept that the fight is going to be long.
I wish I had more. That’s all I’ve got right now.