This Jew speaks out for abortion justice

My name is Steph Black and I am a queer, Jewish, practical support volunteer and you can join me.

I’ve driven abortion seekers from all over the country to abortion clinics in DC, some of whom have traveled with their children to get care.

As a volunteer, I’ve seen first-hand that it is never straightforward to access an abortion, especially for those already struggling to make ends meet.

While choosing to have an abortion can be a complicated choice, accessing an abortion is a maze of racism, classism, and misogyny.

Finding childcare, getting time off of work, arranging travel to a different state, and finding the funds to cover an expensive procedure would be almost impossible if it weren’t for abortion funds, practical support collectives, and other volunteers who work to make abortion access a practical reality.

The time for respectability politics is over.

It is no longer enough to be theoretically “pro-choice” if those choices are impossible to access.

We must all be unequivocally pro-abortion and break down the systemic barriers to access.

Talk is cheap.

If this is the first time you’ve showed up, lo dayenu, it is not enough just to march, if you are not also clinic escorting or driving patients.

If the only time you are using your voice is at the ballot box, lo dayenyu. You need to be having these conversations with your loved ones, with that uncle you don’t want to talk to on Thanksgiving, with you colleagues and your classmates who make microaggressions.

If the only money you are donating is to have your logo on a website for an event like today, or to a national advocacy organization but not an independent clinic or an abortion fund, lo dayenu. It is time for all of us to show up together to make abortion access a practical reality.

Now is the moment to donate to local abortion funds, to volunteer, and to show up for abortion access.

Are you going to join me?

I’ll see you out there.