Roe isn’t going down without a fight

Here’s what we should do:

We need to mobilize in the states. For some reason, many abortion rights advocates have had a hard time grasping that the state level is where most abortion restrictions happen. If Roe is overturned, each state will be free to make its own laws. Every state election and every legislative session will become a battlefield. We need to get ready by electing legislators and governors now who support women’s reproductive rights. As of now, 17 states have laws that will ban or greatly restrict abortion the minute Roe is overturned. Only nine have laws to protect the right to an abortion regardless of Roe. We need to educate people today on the abortion politics of their state. If we wait until Roe is overturned, it will be too late.

We need to fight stigma and ignorance about abortion. Abortion opponents have been very successful at portraying abortion as dangerous, providers as money-grubbers and women who seek abortion as selfish, sluttish or “confused.” People need to know that the risk of death due to childbirth is about 14 times greater than the risk of death from abortion, that the vast majority of women who have abortions do not regret it and that contrary to stereotypes, 59 percent of abortions are obtained by women who are mothers.