Thread by @UR_Ninja

We will be providing on-the-ground coverage of mobilizations in Washington D.C. today stemming from the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft decision on overruling federal protections for abortion. Stay tuned.

We are #LIVE from #WashingtonDC as hundreds protest the leaked draft decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule federal abortion protections. twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

There may be as many as a few thousand people gathering outside the U.S. Supreme Court right now. unicornriot.ninja/2022/leaked-u-…

We had to go down, but will hopefully be back live soon. Thank you for tuning into our coverage.

For an in-depth rundown of abortion and reproductive rights in the U.S., check out this article we published in October --> unicornriot.ninja/2021/abortion-…

Less than 150 years ago, the now polarizing hot-button issue of abortion was a widely accepted part of life in this country.

Abortion first became criminalized nationwide around 1880 partly out of fear that if white Protestant women (for whom legal abortion was most accessible) continued having abortions, America would fill up with “aliens.”

This theory was spread by the main proponent of outlawing abortion at the time, which wasn’t conservative religious groups, but the American Medical Association (AMA).

The AMA also argued against abortion because they wanted the medical profession to remain male-dominated—if women couldn’t have abortions, they had to stay at home to raise children.

“[Should our country] be filled by our own children or by those of aliens? This is a question our women must answer; upon their loins depends the future destiny of the nation.”- Dr. Horatio Storer, an OB-GYN who was a leader in the AMA anti-abortion campaign

Since then, the “loins” of people who can become pregnant have been fiercely debated—as if the internal flesh of a person is a communal resource that needs regulation.

The belief that someone will go to hell if they have an abortion is a modern way of thinking. Multiple ancient texts describe ways to induce abortions, make spermicides, & provide other information on gynecology and obstetrics empowering people to take control of their fertility.

Early Christianity only considered abortion a sin if it was done to conceal sex before marriage and/or adultery (around 400 CE). There was also debate within the church over when the fetus got its soul, because some believed an abortion was only murder once it had one.

The Qur’an, written in the 600s CE, states that a fetus becomes ensouled at 120 days after conception.

In early Brahman (Hindu) law in India, a similar ideology developed that the fetus was not considered to be a person until after the fifth month, when it finally had a soul.

In the Hebrew Bible, written around 500 BCE, personhood occurs when the baby is birthed, therefore the fetus is not regarded as a person.

According to an op-ed written by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg and Reverend Katy Zeh, “abortion is permitted in Jewish law and, if needed to save the life of the pregnant person, sometimes required.”

Indigenous peoples of the Americas were also using plants around them for controlling their reproductive health, “and that includes abortion, that includes stopping hemorrhaging after a placenta is delivered,” shared Rachael Lorenzo, co-founder of Indigenous Women Rising

It wasn’t until 1869 that the Catholic Church decided that life began at conception, when Pope Pius IX wrote in Apostolicae Sedis that excommunication was the required penalty for abortion at any stage of pregnancy.

Ironically, one of the reasons the American Medical Association initiated its anti-abortion campaign in 1857 was because “immigrant families, many of them Catholic, were larger and would soon outpopulate native-born white Yankees and threaten their political power.”-Leslie Reagan

Even with more than half of U.S. states clamoring for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, the majority of U.S. adults believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

According to the Pew Research Center, 59% of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Another survey by PerryUndem Research/Communication found that 73% of U.S. voters don’t want Roe v. Wade overturned, and 67% think abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

On top of the potential negative effects on a person’s finances, education, and quality of life, pregnancy can be dangerous, and even deadly.

The United Health Foundation’s 2021 Health of Women and Children Report found that the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of all developed countries, and the rate is rising.

Additionally, the U.S. infant mortality rate has been consistently higher than the rate in other developed countries. For Black mothers and babies, the mortality rates compared to white mothers and babies are 2.4 times higher and 2.3 times higher, respectively.

“We should be able to get any healthcare without shame or unnecessary restrictions or outside interference. But that is what they’re doing.” -Kristin Hady, clinic escort at Toledo Women’s Center in Toledo, OH

"Going to a rally is bare minimum. We need people showing up at the State House when there’s an action and they’re in session. We need people showing up with more direct actions and getting involved in a much larger level." - Kristin Hady
unicornriot.ninja/2022/64276/

In New York City, consistent direct action and a grassroots campaign successfully put an end to weekly protests outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Brooklyn by a group of anti-abortion extremists. unicornriot.ninja/2022/a-fight-t…

Thanks for checking out our thread and coverage on abortion access and reproductive rights. If you appreciate our work, please consider a tax-deductible donation: unicornriot.ninja/donate/

Unicorn Riot asked Operation Rescue cofounder Randall Terry if his movement supports restricting access to contraceptives and he denied it, except in the case of “abortifacients”. The anti-abortion movement has sometimes mislabeled contraception drugs as abortifacients

Operation Rescue was founded in 1986 and was known for staging anti-abortion “rescues” in which sometimes hundreds of protesters would physically block the entrances to abortion clinics.

Terry left the right-wing extremist group in 1991, apparently on bad terms, yet as seen today in D.C., he continues to advocate against abortion access.

Pro-choice speakers continue amid a crowd of a few thousand in front of the US Supreme Court, calling for support for mutual aid organizations and intervening in primary elections

“Liberate Abortion” is a large coalition network with many signs at tonight’s event. An organizer told us that despite issues like targeting from the far right, this coalition of 150 orgs provides the majority of abortions in the US
( liberateabortion.org/about )

Speakers and rally attendees aren’t just calling out the Supreme Court. Many have criticized Congress for decades of inaction and President Joe Biden for failing to protect and even talk about abortion access.

The rally at the Supreme Court is winding down now

Pro-choice supporters are debating Catholic teenage boys near the Supreme Court

Pro-choice demonstrators are continuing to hold space in front of the Supreme Court

Anti-abortion Christian protesters (at right) are praying amid a group of pro-choice protesters who are chanting “this is not a church”