The midterm elections ushered in a wave of victories for pro-choice candidates, but ballot measures in Alabama and West Virginia reminded feminists nationwide that the fight to uphold and expand abortion rights remains far from over.
That’s why, as ballots were still being counted in some states, NARAL Pro-Choice America announced a new three-step strategy to protect and expand abortion rights across the country. Following a similar move by Planned Parenthood, the organization announced their plans in a call with activists.
Ideally, everyone would have access to accurate information about reproductive rights—but the reality is that access to education is limited, and a lot of people don’t know how restricted abortion access is in their state. Many more people would be fired up for the cause, NARAL speculates, if they knew that abortion access was at risk in their communities. That’s why they plan to start with an awareness campaign that challenges the false sense of security NARAL officials fear individuals have about Roe‘s future—and galvanize a new body of abortion activists in the process.
After education will come organizing—NARAL’s strongest suit. When push comes to shove, their supporters stand strong, don’t back down and show up, and NARAL wants each and every one of the majority of Americans who support keeping abortion legal to be fighting alongside them. NARAL supporters can support the organization in this effort by hosting Pro-Choice Postcard Parties where family and friends gather to write messages to lawmakers declaring that their priority issues are abortion and reproductive rights.
That organizing and awareness-raising funnels into the third step: meaningful policy changes that uphold, protect and expand access. Private decisions about reproductive health need to be made by women, not by politicians, and NARAL wants members to more actively fight back against abortion restrictions at every level, from local to federal. They don’t just want to secure abortion access—they want to make sure the right to abortion is never as delicately held as it is for women across the country today.
NARAL’s mission is to make abortion access and full reproductive rights a reality for every single women in every single state. They want members organizing and pushing lawmakers to see that a majority of Americans stand with them in that fight—and believe that if they can get enough activists into the streets and the halls of Congress and state capitols, representatives will have no choice but to listen to them.
