So if we were to lose Roe and Doe, and perhaps Griswold v. Connecticut too, and found ourselves in a patchwork quilt landscape of state and local laws concerning abortion and contraceptive access what about a mythic proverbial "overground railroad"?
What are some of the efforts that have been tried in relation to reduced access and the necessity of pilgrimages for reproductive services?
Unfortunately, the pilgrimages I speak of are not some prophetic future possibility, nor something out of a work of fiction such as "The Handmaid's Tale," they are a current reality and as close as Amtrak and I-95.
more below the fold-
This began as a comment to this Diary- "Ladies, It's Time to Plan for a Very Dark Future"
http://www.dailykos.com/... but grew into a diary all its own.
I already spoke to at least my experience here in Maryland (alleged abortion model blue state du jour) in the diary's comment thread, but I wanted to actually address the content of the diary itself- as so many comments on the diary didn't, directly, anyway, and I thought it deserved a diary entry of its own.
I know many people here do not have the history or the background, particularly in the little documented field of abortion access work that I do- not bragging by any stretch, just where I've ended up- and it's a weird place to be.
Much of what little history there is, is oral history or in old flyers and pamphlets, as quite often, the people working so hard to keep clinic doors open and access available have absolutely ZERO left over energy or time to document our history or work. This is not surprising- and I do not fault any of these front line heroes in the least.
That said, most of my adult political life has been spent not only in this `field', that of abortion access, but often in the direct action aspects of it. I'm a thirty something, born prior to Roe and Doe, and much of my coming of age had a lot to do with growing up under Reagan & Company.
I was writing in another comment thread here on Kos (http://www.dailykos.com/... ) just the other day about how much things have changed since the Jane Collective (Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation) in Chicago- and how much it is a model you could not do today due to changes in communications, etc. Further, Jane was in an environment where police were bringing their girlfriends in- it was in some ways, an open secret. Jane is critically important- but not repeatable.
Today's efforts look more like this-
Emergency Landing
They Come to New York Needing Second-Trimester Abortions. An Underground Network Keeps Them Safe.
http://www.villagevoice.com/...
Volunteer Drivers Hold Keys to Abortion Access
http://womensenews.org/...
Women Offer Haven to Abortion Seekers
http://www.womensenews.org/...
Or this-
NOW Washington, trying to help WA womyn reach Seattle abortions-
See the section on The Feminist Overground Railroad
http://www.nowseattle.org/...
These are all things any given Kos reader can start up on their own- not waiting for "permission" or some other organization.
Mostly, though, today's routes to abortion access end up going through organizations like this-
The National Network of Abortion Funds
http://www.nnaf.org/
Because this is where womyn fortunate enough to even know of the funds existences connect with people doing what they can to help womyn reach a provider, sometimes that means money from a fund, sometimes it means an offer of a couch to sleep on.
As Roe and Doe gave the state power and say in womyn's abortions, the state has ruthlessly come back year after year trying, (and often succeeding) to exercise that power. Somewhere in here I suppose I should write a whole diary just on that topic alone, but as a shortcut, go look at "Abortion Without Apology, a Radical History for the 1990's" by Ninia Baehr, specifically, page 33 and her argument about legalization v abortion law repeal. There are some Compulsory Pregnancy Advocates who argue that to get rid of abortion, they must RETAIN Roe/Doe in order to maintain state control (which is another diary topic).
So for much of my adult life, I have both watched access being chipped away piece by piece, and various band-aid responses attempting to deal with that reality;
Abortion Funds created after Federal public funding was almost crushed under the Hyde Amendment (another recent comment I made on another diary)
Preparations prior to the Webster decision
Over ground railroad efforts, for example the PA to NY travel
And more recently over ground railroad efforts, such as you see above for young womyn whose access has in some cases even been `traded away' by pro-choice groups (see my MD comments above) trying desperately to get to non- notification or parental ownership/"consent" states like NY.
What I see over and over in the comments on this thread are people insisting `that will never happen, if womyn's access were threatened they'd...' well, that's cute, but access has ALREADY been obliterated for many womyn. The consequences are visibly only born individually- there's a societal `cost' as well- but in day to day life, it's just not visible- certainly not to those who on this very thread think loss of access is some FUTURE problem, I guess I'm just here saying, we're already beyond that.
There have been efforts. It's not enough. What efforts we have are emergency measures and again, all the `costs' and or risks are borne by those involved.
Many people simply do not think about abortion- until suddenly it becomes of great significance to them, or their lover, or their friend. It's something many people just don't care about until they do. And some of those who do (not all, as many `get theirs' or their girlfriends' and walk away forever, never giving it a second thought) continue to care decades later, still speaking about how their abortion saved their lives, or what they had endured and pulling out the $5 they can scarcely afford because it matters that much.
I see so many suggestions here that have already been done- and not survived or been enough- and again, the weight of such and cost of such- emotional, financial, time etc have also been borne by individuals, and their families. Even the places we can just barely see mentions of some of those efforts are not only often now gone, but the individual `cost' has been far too much. Here's a good example, from the now defunct Body Politic magazine from 1993-
The Body Politic
Vol. 03, No. 01 - January 1993, Page 13
http://www.publiceye.org/...
and foreshadowing today's `make it illegal to assist a minor cross state lines to obtain an abortion' laws; a brief mention of both the overground railroad and the opposition from back in 1992-
ABC Evening News for Sunday, Jun 28, 1992
http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/...
Suffice it to say, if said `railroad' exists today, I certainly don't know of it. I see a lot of noise and wishful thinking.
`Cause "It'll never come to that..."
Right? Wrong.