Join the fight for reproductive justice – full YDSA National Coordinating Committee statement
This past month, we learned that five conservative members of the Supreme Court are poised to take away healthcare from millions. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, an abortion ban will set in nearly half of U.S. states. We are horrified, but we cannot say that we are surprised. We organize because we know that the struggle is constant and our rights are always threatened under capitalism. The ruling capitalist class will always have countless numbers of resources at their fingertips, no matter what, and it will never have a true vested interest in securing everyone’s freedoms and liberties. Only a mass working-class movement that is willing and able to confront the power of the ruling class can defend our rights and create the world that we deserve. We look to historical movement organizers, our mentors, and ourselves for the next steps.
Reproductive justice is and has always been an intersectional cause. It must center those who are incarcerated, housing unstable or homeless. It must center immigrants, especially undocumented ones. It must center individuals who are queer, trans, or gender non-conforming. It must center Black and Brown individuals. And it must center the working class. These members of our communities have been marginalized and criminalized for seeking abortion for decades. A lack of abortion access also acutely affects young individuals and college students, who are often faced with the choice of raising children or continuing their education.
As the NCC, we call on ourselves and all members of YDSA to take action to defend ourselves and our communities:
- Join our National Organizing Committee to support and spearhead our effort to organize YDSA members and chapters in southern and midwestern states around reproductive justice and abortion.
- Union members: organize within your union to pass resolutions in support of abortion access, create abortion funds for members, and secure a commitment from the union to support workplace actions demanding access to free and safe abortions.
- Be present — in the streets, at the courthouses, and on your campus. Raise your voice to let our national government know that we will not tolerate such an egregious backsliding of rights.
- Organize in coalition with existing reproductive justice organizations on your campus.
- Demand access to medical abortion on your campus.
- Donate to local abortion funds, clinics, and other support networks.
- Graduating members: join the movement of rank-and-file healthcare workers.
- Pressure congressional and state legislators to pass laws that codify abortion access.
We are also compiling a list of organizations that have been doing this work for years that chapters should connect with to gain historical knowledge and understanding of organizing around reproductive justice. They include but are not limited to:
National Women’s Liberation
Florida Access Network
Reproductive Justice Collective
National Advocates for Pregnant Women
Yellow Hammer & other abortion funds
Sister Song
Spark Reproductive Justice
Texas Equal Access Fund
West Alabama Women’s Center
NARAL Pro-Choice America
URGE
Feminist Abortion Network
Florida Access Network