The
Hyde amendment banned spending federal funds on abortion and I didn't speak out because I didn't use MediCaid.
They restricted access to abortion for residents of D.C., but I didn't speak out because I didn't live in D.C.
The House voted to take away Title X funding for birth control and Pap smears from poor women, to redefine rape to exclude a woman who was drunk, drugged or underage, and authorized hospitals to let a women die rather than perform an abortion, and I didn't speak out because it couldn't happen to me.
They shot Dr. Tiller, and tried in several states (SD, NE, IA) to legalize killing doctors as justifiable homicide and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a doctor. And I was scared.
They tried to strip abortion coverage out of all insurance plans during health care reform, and I didn't speak up because I thought I might lose "more important things."
They tried to take away collective bargaining, Medicare, Social Security, teaching science in schools, our ability to save the climate, financial regulation, and reproductive rights. And I knew it was time to speak out!
- Sophia Yen and Ellen Shaffer, based on Martin Niemoller
The majority of Americans believe that women should have access to basic health care
services and that decisions about reproductive health care including family planning and abortion should be left to each person. But in 2011, extremist politicians chose to divert the public's attention away from the current economic crisis, and instead focused on policy battles about these private decisions. They have declared a “War on Women.” The U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures have particularly focused on eliminating access to basic health care services and contraception as well as abortion, with severe consequences for the most vulnerable.