WHY PRO CHOICE?
"Facts are very important, especially when discussing the health of women* and the American public. The fact is, abortion is an essential component of women’s health care [...]
Induced abortion is an essential component of women’s health care. Like all medical matters, decisions regarding abortion should be made by patients in consultation with their health care providers and without undue interference by outside parties. Like all patients, women and pregnant people obtaining abortions are entitled to privacy, dignity, respect, and support.
Many factors influence or necessitate a woman’s decision to have an abortion. They include but are not limited to, contraceptive failure, barriers to contraceptive use and access, rape, incest, intimate partner violence, fetal anomalies, illness during pregnancy, and exposure to teratogenic medications. Pregnancy complications, including placental abruption, bleeding from placenta previa, preeclampsia or eclampsia, and cardiac or renal conditions, may be so severe that abortion is the only measure to preserve a pregnant person’s health or save their life.
Where abortion is illegal or highly restricted, women resort to unsafe means to end unwanted pregnancies, including self-inflicted abdominal and bodily trauma, ingestion of dangerous chemicals, self-medication with a variety of drugs, and reliance on unqualified abortion providers.
Today, approximately 21 million women around the world obtain unsafe, illegal abortions each year, and complications from these unsafe procedures account for approximately 13% of all maternal deaths, nearly 50,000 annually. Sound health policy is best based on scientific facts and evidence-based medicine. The best health care is provided free of political interference in the patient-physician relationship. Personal decision-making by women and their doctors should not be replaced by political ideology." - The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
*Important note: this quote uses "women" only but we want to also be sure to highlight that reproductive rights are extremely important for trans and non-binary individuals.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Join Planned Parenthood Action Council of Utah
PPAC engages in educational and electoral activity including legislative advocacy, voter education, and grassroots organizing to promote Planned Parenthood Association of Utah’s mission. PPAC works to ensure Utahns have access to the sexual and reproductive health care services and information they need. We work to create a world where sexual and reproductive rights are human rights; access to health care doesn’t depend on who you are; and where every person has the opportunity to choose their own path to a healthy and meaningful life.
Use Your Voice
Contact your elected officials (city council, state legislators, federal legislators, etc.) and ask them to oppose proposed bans/support legislation protecting or expanding abortion rights. Find your Representatives here. These postcards make writing your reps easy.
Be an Advocate
Talk with your friends, family, and neighbors. Post your concerns and support on social media. Say ABORTION. Say it without shame or fear. Normalize abortion for the simple, safe health intervention that it is. According to a recent Gallop poll, the majority of American's identify as Pro-Choice. Being pro-choice and supporting women's and people with uterus's rights is not weird or extreme. It's actually very normal and standard. It's time that we clear up the narrative and free it of the shame and fear spread by the anti-choice movement.
DONATIONS
The National Network of Abortion Funds builds power with members to remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access by centering people who have abortions and organizing at the intersections of racial, economic, and reproductive justice.
Indigenous Women Rising is committed to honoring Native & Indigenous People’s inherent right to equitable and culturally safe health options through accessible health education, resources, and advocacy.
In Our Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Agenda
In Our Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Agenda, founded in 2014, focuses their efforts on supporting Black women, who are disproportionately impacted by poverty in the US and face a greater gender-case wage gap than white-women, in accessing abortion and reproductive care.
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice (the Latina Institute) builds Latina/x power to fight for the fundamental human right to reproductive health, dignity, and justice. We center Latina/x voices, mobilize our communities, transform the cultural narrative, and drive policy change. We amplify the grassroots power and thought leadership of Latinas/xs across the country to fuel a larger reproductive justice movement.
With effective collaborative partnerships and through culturally-congruent programs, training, outreach, and research, BMATX is leading the charge in Central Texas to improve Black maternal health and wellbeing over the childbearing spectrum. Their work centers around the health and wellbeing of Black women who are pregnant and through the first year postpartum.
National Abortion Federation Hotline
The mission of the National Abortion Federation is to unite, represent, serve, and support abortion providers in delivering patient-cantered, evidence-based care.
Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project
WRRAP is a "non-partisan, nonprofit organization assisting women who are financially unable to pay for safe, legal abortions or emergency contraceptives." The group works directly with pre-screened health clinics across the U.S., on a case-by-case basis.