Woodhull Statement on Roe, Human Rights, and Sexual Freedom

Ricci Joy Levy writes about the end of Roe: “Twenty-six states have laws indicating that they intend to ban abortions, and nine states have pre-Roe bans that could potentially be enforced. Of even more immediate concern are the thirteen states with ‘trigger laws’ (bans designed to go into effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned) that could not only immediately ban abortion but may also, given their definitions of abortion, complicate both contraception for those who don’t want to become pregnant and conception for those who do.” Read more.

Sex, Death, and Empire: The Roots of Violence Against Asian Women (The Nation) 

Panthea Lee writes about the roots of violence against Asian women: “In the long shadow of state-sanctioned violence against Asian women—violence reinforced through culture and distorted by mental illnesses that this country stokes but refuses to treat—Asian American women are constantly told we must find individual solutions for our safety. My group texts are filled with chatter about where to buy mace and coupon codes for personal safety alarms. At rallies, workers for well-meaning nonprofits hand me flyers with self-defense strategies. I stare blankly back at them. I imagine how to teach my parents to do a palm-heel strike; the thought alone is too much to bear.”
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Kentucky Becomes First State to Ban In-Clinic Abortion, Forcing People Out of State or Online for Care (Ms. Magazine) 

Carrie N. Baker explains Kentucky’s recent abortion ban: “Kentucky has become the first state since Roe v. Wade in 1973 to effectively ban all abortion services in the state. On Wednesday, April 13, the Kentucky legislature overrode Democratic Governor Andy Beshear to pass a law banning abortion after 15 weeks and placing restrictions on earlier abortions that are currently impossible to meet. As a result, the two remaining abortion clinics in the state—Planned Parenthood and EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville—ceased offering abortion services on Thursday.” Read more.

Why the Parental Rights Movement Is Making a Comeback (Rewire News Group) 

Jaclyn Friedman comments on the so-called parental rights movement: “Across the country, far-right political operators are exploiting this moment of educational desperation—and they’re using a familiar tactic. These bad-faith actors have pitted parents against teachers, keeping all of us distracted and shouting at our neighbors while they impose their radically retrograde agenda on public school students across the country. And they’re covering up for this naked campaign against young people by doing it under the banner of defending ‘parents’ rights.’” Read more.

‘Reborn into  Strange New World’: A Trans Woman Prepares for Release After 18 Years in Men’s Prison (The Appeal) 

Jessica Phoenix Sylvia shares her experience of preparing for release: “My name is Jessica Phoenix Sylvia, and I am a trans woman who has been living in a men’s prison for the past 18 years. After being incarcerated for nearly two decades on domestic violence charges, I am finally being released. [...] The real world, as I remember it, is stuck in 2004. There was no Facebook, and I had a phone with a black-and-white screen. My official documents reflected my dead name, and I was living in bad faith, usually hiding my gender identity as a survival strategy even though I had come out as trans when I was 17. I am now 46.”
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Will the Government Hold Pregnant Minors Hostage to Keep Them From Abortions? (Rewire News Group) 

Imani Gandy writes about the danger of Garza v. Hargan: “We don’t have to imagine what the world will look like when teens—or any of us—are policed into forced pregnancy. We need only recall the facts of Garza v. Hargan and remind ourselves that under the Trump administration, the United States held a 17-year-old pregnant girl hostage, refusing her the health care she was constitutionally entitled to. Why? Because she had the temerity to arrive undocumented in the United States and to ask for an abortion when she found out she was pregnant.”
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