I was planning to write to you today expressing my overwhelming gratitude for the love, care, and outpouring of support I witnessed at our Tend hybrid event last night.
Instead, my hands are shaking with rage and horror as I write this very different blogpost. One about today’s massive step back in the fight for justice and liberation. About losing our constitutional right to bodily autonomy and privacy. About the reality that any ruling can be overturned.
As I shared last month in response to the leaked decision draft, this morning’s SCOTUS ruling makes me scared for our future, and weary deep in my bones as I think about the even bigger fight ahead.
Despite what lies ahead, I’m writing to you with a full cup—one filled with hope from the beautiful reminder I witnessed at Tend last night. It was a reminder of how powerful this fierce community is when we come together—of our collective ability to persevere. A reminder of how far we’ve come, what we’ve made possible, and the shared vision of a different world we will keep boldly fighting for.
Supreme Court decisions will not define us. They do not decide the future of our lives—we do. Despite the limitations of our democracy, SCOTUS decisions alone do not ensure our rights. From abortion, to LGBTQ+ rights, to immigrant rights and more, our conservative extremist SCOTUS does not have the will of the people on their side—and we can make our will known.
The future of all of our rights may feel on shaky ground, but let this morning’s ruling educate, motivate, and mobilize us. Abortion is now likely to be banned in roughly half of states—but the fact is, more than 50% of people in this country already lacked access to safe and affordable abortions before this morning’s decision. Maybe now the reality of our “rights” will be crystal clear, and we can be even better poised to fight for true accessibility—and for the bar to be higher than Roe had ever set it.
Let today’s reality be a call to action that educates and mobilizes all our movements for justice. Let this ruling bring our movements together. We will keep fighting, harder than ever before. Please join us in taking action today.