What did you do on the evening of February 11, 2023? We ask mainly because we are itching to tell you what we did that night, which was host the Reproductive Justice Salon! Our goal in hosting this event was three-fold: 1) raise money to donate to abortion funds across the country 2) speak out about pressing issues regarding abortion and reproductive justice and 3) create a space of community for activists and supporters of reproductive rights for people of all genders, everywhere.

Banning abortion means forced birth. Forced birth is abuse. It is at odds with the basic human rights of bodily autonomy and self-determination. In many cases, it is even life threatening.

If you, like us, are feeling outraged, powerless, horrified, and/or brokenhearted by the news of last week’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe Vs. Wade, here are some things you can do to work to make things better. No one of us can fix this alone, but if many of us do something, we can collectively dig ourselves out of the very bleak place that we are finding our country in right now.

By Nicole Mazzeo

​[The “Sparknotes” version is at the bottom, for people with limited time/attention spans.]

I’m not talking about respect for a person’s right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy, or respect for a fetus’s right to life (no comment on either of those right now). I’m talking about respect for people who you disagree with. Your “opponents.”

Have you ever heard a pro-choice advocate talk about “pro-lifers”? Or a pro-life advocate talk about … “pro-abortion-ers”? (Or whatever anti-abortion people call pro-choice people.)

If so, it’s likely that you’ve heard this done in a way that paints the disagreeing party as bumbling idiots. Not just bumbling idiots, but conniving, deceitful, bumbling idiots with really bad intentions.