Thread by @prhdocs

15 minutes until we get started! Tune in to see PRH Board Member @unbossedmd, @TexanHispasian, and @michelebgoodwin testify before Congress! We'll be live-tweeting the action so that you don't miss anything. #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

Three more minutes! Yall ready? We are so excited to hear from an abortion provider, an abortion storyteller, and an abortion rights expert. These are the voices we should be listening to. #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

Let’s get started! Thank you Chairman @RepJerryNadler and Members of the Committee for organizing this important panel on the abortion access crisis we’re facing across the country. #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

Thank you Chairman @RepJerryNadler for calling abortion what it is: a fundamental right. "We cannot ignore the magnitude of what the Court seems poised to do." #BansOffOurBodies

"Let me be clear: Abortion remains legal. Your right to get an abortion continues to be constitutionally protected, at least for now." @RepJerryNadler #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

Thank you Chairman @RepJerryNadler for making ties between anti-abortion legislators and the white supremacist violence that occurred on the day of the insurrection. These issues are all tied. #BansOffOurBodies

Look at these amazing abortion advocates. Thank you @TexanHispasian and @unbossedmd for sharing your truth today.

.@RepJerryNadler closes with important points of how threats on abortion access ALSO mean threats on who we marry, who we have sex with, birth control, IVF. It's about all of us.

LOL I'm sorry but we are LAUGHING that the anti-abortion members of the committee are going back to whining about how we were mean to Justice Kavanaugh. Let us say, one more time, we believe survivors. We believe Christine Blasey Ford.

We're tired and bored of anti-abortion legislators attempts to distract from the real issues at hand here. We're not trying to bully or intimidate anyone, we're trying to provide CARE and COMPASSION for ALL.

As physicians, we can tell you that what the Congressman just shared has nothing to do with fetal development. It has everything to do with misinformation, coercion, and intimidation. #BansOffOurBodies

Abortion is liberty. Abortion is freedom. To hold people prisoners in their body is antithetical to that.

We're so glad THAT guy is done.

Let's get to the real experts. Thank you for introducing them, @RepJerryNadler. We're so grateful you're holding this hearing. #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

“My name is Dr. Yashica Robinson. I use she/her pronouns. I am a Board Certified OB/GYN. A Board Member with @prhdocs, and I am the medical director of @ALWomensCenter - one of Alabama’s last clinics that provides abortion care.” #LiberateAbortion @unbossedmd

“​​As a full spectrum ob/gyn, I have a busy obstetrics practice where I provide prenatal care, deliver babies & treat people after they give birth. I also provide abortion care because I know patients need and deserve access to the full spectrum of repro health care options.”

"As of today abortion remains legal in AL, and states across the country. But it is not likely to remain that way. This has never been a theoretical exercise—we are talking about the real health & lives of our neighbors, family members & friends." @unbossedmd #LiberateAbortion

"I came to this work not only because I believe all people deserve to make decisions about their lives, health, and bodies, but also because of my passion for young people. One that is deeply rooted in my personal experience with becoming pregnant as a young adult." @unbossedmd

"Becoming a mother as a teenager came with many harsh realities. I love my children with all my heart, but I know that everyone should be able to make the decision to parent for themselves." @unbossedmd #LiberateAbortion

"I have been in the shoes of many of the young people I see in my clinic. It’s important for them to know that regardless of their decision, I am here to support them." @unbossedmd #BansOffOurBodies

"Because of medically unnecessary abortion restrictions, I see patients forced to travel up to 12 hours.. because of the ripple effects of abortion bans, stigma, and targeted harassment, all leading to many other providers being forced to shut their doors." @unbossedmd

"I know of patients who slept in their cars as a result of mandatory delay periods because they had no other options—all to seek safe, normal health care. These restrictions add needless costs and delays." @unbossedmd #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

"As someone who cares for people throughout pregnancy, #maternalhealth is of the utmost importance to me. In Alabama, Black women are nearly five times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women." @unbossedmd

"Systemic barriers, racism, and white supremacy are at the root of both our maternal health crises and our abortion access crises. It is undeniable that without access to abortion, maternal mortality rates will continue to rise." @unbossedmd #BansOffOurBodies

"I cannot emphasize enough that abortion is essential health care. Receiving or providing this care should not be criminalized." @unbossedmd #AbortionIsHealthcare

"Restrictions on abortion affect everyone. Yet fall hardest on those most marginalized & likely facing financial & logistical barriers to care. Often these are the same people who are disproportionately surveilled & targeted by law enforcement" @unbossedmd #LiberateAbortion

"Some states have already begun to increase investigations and increase criminalization of pregnancy outcomes. This is not speculation." @unbossedmd #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies #CareNotCriminalization

"Patients’ well-founded fear of surveillance and criminalization leads them to distrust health care providers, ultimately harming our collective health and wellbeing." @unbossedmd #LiberateAbortion #CareNotCriminalization

“The truth is as more states enact abortion restrictions and attempt to ban abortion entirely, patients and providers will be put in untenable situations.” @unbossedmd #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

"But the bottom line is this: Abortion is health care, and it is essential care we must protect. The patients I care for and my community deserve dignity, autonomy, and agency." @unbossedmd #LiberateAbortion

Now we’ll hear from Texan, abortion storyteller, and Executive Director of @Avowtexas, @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories

“1 in 4 of us will have an abortion. 1 in 5 people experiences mental health issues in a given year. 1 in 25 Americans lives with a serious mental health illness such as Bipolar Disorder. I live at the intersection of all 3.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

“I’m here to speak on behalf of everyone whose abortions allowed them to care for their mental health and enabled them to thrive as a result.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories

“My story is not uncommon, but with the stigma surrounding both abortion and mental health disabilities, it is rarely discussed.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories

“From my late teens into my mid-twenties, I suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder… Just existing was too hard. I tried to self-medicate and attempted to end my life.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories

“When I was 25 years old, I learned I was 12 weeks pregnant. I had been with my boyfriend for a year. We agreed almost immediately that I would have an abortion.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories

“I was empowered to have an abortion because reproductive freedom was always part of our family’s values.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @avowtexas

“My father was an abortion provider in central and south Texas from the 1970s to the 1990s.”@TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @avowtexas

“When I was a kid, he took me to a clinic in Laredo, where he provided abortions twice a month. I witnessed the gratitude on the faces of those waiting in the clinic. My dad was a hero.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @avowtexas

“Treating my bipolar disorder enabled me to take care of my father after his brain surgery resulted in a stroke. I was mentally healthy for the first time in my adult life.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @avowtexas

“I could be a full partner to my boyfriend, who is now my husband of 16 years. During law school, when I was ready, I had two miscarriages and then two children.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @avowtexas

“My pregnancies were physically and mentally very difficult. After being a parent for the past eleven years, I have no doubt that if I hadn’t had an abortion when I did, I would not have survived.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @avowtexas @AbortionStories

“My chosen pregnancies were not easy, but they were exactly that: chosen. My children are my whole world.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories @avowtexas

“By 2019, Texans would encounter 26 different abortion restrictions. It was then, after my husband’s vasectomy, that I became pregnant for the sixth time.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories @avowtexas

“I had a medication abortion, a series of two safe and simple medications. While the abortion was safe and straightforward, the hurdles I had to go through were exponentially more difficult” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories @avowtexas

“When SB 8 went into effect, the impact was immediate. People were confused about whether abortion was legal, afraid to ask their friends and family for help” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories @avowtexas

“The wait for care has increased at clinics in our four neighboring states because they cared for the influx of patients from Texas as well as their own communities.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories @avowtexas

“Everyone loves someone who had an abortion.” @TexanHispasian #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion @AbortionStories @avowtexas

We're disappointed they cut off the compassionate expertise and lived experience of @TexanHispasian to have to listen to this anti-abortion extremist obsessed with manipulating, controlling, and lying to pregnant people.

"Human Persons" is what we call the pregnant people in need of abortion care and deserve timely, accessible care.. Thanks for using gender inclusive language!

TO BE CLEAR: LIGHTS ARE NOT POWERED BY ANYTHING BUT ELECTRICITY.

It's flagrant white supremacy to compare the horrific harms of slavery with the normal health care of abortion. Let's talk about what freedom really means.

Abortion is love. Abortion is liberation.

Now we’ll hear from Professor of Law @michelebgoodwin, Executive Committee member of @ACLU. Phew! #BansOffOurBodies

Thank you so much @michelebgoodwin for sharing how much unnecessary, horrific, white supremacist violence that happens at abortion clinics across the country. #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

“As with its shameful predecessors, the Fugitive Slave Acts, the bounty provision incentivizes private individuals to spy upon, surveille, and interfere with individuals asserting fundamental human and constitutional rights such as bodily autonomy, privacy, and freedom.”

“Neither the Fourteenth Amendment nor any other article or amendment in the US. Constitution makes reference to fetuses, embryos, or “unborn children.” @michelebgoodwin #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

“Should the Supreme Court dismantle Roe, its decision will be the modern day corollary and appendage to Plessy v. Ferguson, anchoring separate but equal legal discourse in matters of reproductive health, rights, and justice” @michelebgoodwin #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

.@TexanHispasian is right: Texans already live in a post-Roe world. SB8 has created a culture of fear, where people are afraid to reach out to their communities for help. It’s only going to get worse. Texans deserve better. We all do.

We promise you this: no Supreme Court Justice would last a day in an abortion providers shoes if that’s what they think harassment is. #BansOffOurBodies #liberateabortion

Why do “unborn fetus” deserve a voice in the democratic process when there are sentient children and adults don’t have a voice in the democratic process? Voting rights have entered the chat, then. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Imagine explaining how abortion care works to a highly qualified abortion provider. How humiliating. Couldn’t be us! @unbossedmd #liberateabortion #BansOffOurBodies

Abortion bans are not hypothetical. They’re happening right now to real people. A reversal of Roe v. Wade is imminent and will cause irreparable harm to communities. The real distraction is whining about the leak when people’s lives are at stake.

Congress can address inflation and gas prices and baby formulas and abortion at the same time. You’re supposed to help people and make their lives better. It’s kind of your only job.

Any of the Founding Fathers would pass out if you told them that we have been to the moon. Maybe it’s time to give the Constitution an update. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

‘Safe havens’ don’t change that some people can’t or don’t want to be pregnant. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

The protests Supreme Court Justices saw after the leak are 1/1000000000th of what abortion providers and clinic staff deal with everyday. They show up anyways, because they care about helping their communities. #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

Abortion is right then and it’s right now. 🔥🔥 #liberateabortion #BansOffOurBodies

“It’s not courts that determine human life.” So true, bestie! We agree! We should ditch arbitrary abortion bans all together! #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

Notable that white men in this committee room continue to harass Black women with insulting and purposefully inflammatory questions. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Anti-abortion protestors have been harassing abortion providers at their place of work, homes, churches, children’s school, you name it, for DECADES. Congress has done nothing. The Supreme Court Justices can handle a little protest in their front yard, trust us. #LiberateAbortion

Now seems like a good time to tell y’all abortion is as old as pregnancy. Abortion has always been here and it’s not going anywhere. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Just circling back to this. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

https://twitter.com/prhdocs/status/1526944135101530114

And this.

https://twitter.com/prhdocs/status/1526940401407508481

“When you put those pictures up of the SCOTUS protests, I thought that was a picture of the outside of my office.” THANK YOU, @unbossedmd. Abortion providers routinely face intimidation, harassment, and violence. Maybe now y’all see why we want buffer zones. #LiberateAbortion

“I trust people to make decisions about their body.” @TexanHispasian is absolutely right and the antis are SHOOK. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

.@michelebgoodwin reminds the room that for Black women, abortion is safer than giving birth. We have to trust Black women to make their own reproductive decisions. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

“Abortion is health care, plain and simple.” Thank you, @RepCicilline. That’s it. Abortion is health care. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Thank you, @RepCicilline for allowing @unbossedmd to discuss how abortion happens as an ACTUAL, highly qualified abortion provider. We need to listen to medical experts. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

We trust people to make decisions about their bodies and you can’t shame us out of this because there’s nothing to be ashamed of. We’ll say it again for those of you in the back: We trust people to make decisions about their bodies. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

What if we told you we can advocate for abortion, racial justice, mental health, economic justice, and many more things all at the very same time? Just like you can wear a purple shirt and blue socks! We will let you sit with that. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Crisis pregnancy centers may “wrap their arms” around pregnant people, but not without manipulating them and lying to them. Crisis pregnancy centers do not solve the problem of not wanting to be pregnant. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Abortion is sacred, no matter what. So true. Thanks for saying that, @JohnFetterman. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

White women aren’t qualified to say if anti-abortion laws are racist or not. Just so we’re all on the same page. #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

Abortion is love. Abortion is freedom. Might want to jot that one down. #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

“Government mandated pregnancy” is absolutely correct messaging. It is fundamentally absurd that any government can interfere with when, if, and how people have families. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

"The pro-abortion advocates are HARASSING Supreme Court Justices 😢😢😢"

Abortion providers:

Love how the antis are trying to dunk on #WHPA and are inadvertently underlining how cool it would be if it were passed. #liberateabortion #BansOffOurBodies

We need abortion in our own communities. We need the right to choose not to be a parent. Thank you for saying this, @unbossedmd. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Physicians here. The only people ignoring medical science are anti-abortion lawmakers. #liberateabortion #BansOffOurBodies

Just want to point out there is an actual physician and abortion provider, @unbossedmd, present at this hearing you can direct your medical and scientific questions to. #liberateabortion #BansOffOurBodies

“Fetus” isn’t a euphemism. It’s an actual medical term, unlike “unborn baby.” #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

Abortion is family planning. #liberateabortion #bansoffourbodies

Abortion is necessary whether poverty exists or not. Abortion will always be necessary. #liberateabortion #BansOffOurBodies

There are highly qualified Black women you can ask about how abortion affects Black people, Chip. In case you were unaware. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

“My name is DOCTOR Robinson.” @unbossedmd is taking no prisoners 🔥🔥🔥

Antis love to ask inflammatory, fundamentally bad faith questions to Black women and talk over them as they answer with expertise. Why is that? #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

We have to shout out @unbossedmd again for being brilliant, inclusive, composed, an icon, the moment throughout this hearing. The antis have addressed her with pure condescension and absurdity and she deserves all the love.

The [anti-abortion] majority is also majority without integrity. 🔥 @RepEscobar #liberateabortion #BansOffOurBodies

Allyship looks like giving Black women the floor to say her piece without interruption. Thank you, @RepCicilline @RepEscobar. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Margaret Sanger’s racism doesn’t negate that Black women deserve to choose to be pregnant or not. Thanks for coming to this TED Talk. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

We trust everyone to make decisions about what happens to their bodies, their lives, and their futures. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Adding @gregstantonaz to this lift. There are Black and brown people in this room who actually know what they’re talking about - thank you for passing them mic.

https://twitter.com/prhdocs/status/1526984563691606017

“At 6 weeks, a fetus has a heart beat.”

*points to picture of 8 month old baby*

Come on, now. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

Antis: we didn’t know enough about fetuses when they ruled on Roe v. Wade so it’s antiquated and it needs to go

Also antis: the Constitution is otherwise sacred and we should never update it

#LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

.@michelebgoodwin addresses this perfectly:
We cannot discuss abortion rights without discussing voting rights and the institutional racism in this country. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

It would be so cool if the Biden Administration were half as into protecting abortion rights as antis say they are.

We need to center patients and providers. That’s it. Thank you for naming it, @unbossedmd. #liberateabortion

“Abortion care IS health care. Let me say that again, abortion IS health care.” Couldn’t have ended this hearing on a better sentiment. Thank you, @CoriBush. #LiberateAbortion #BansOffOurBodies

These three were phenomenal today. Thank you for your voices and for your leadership. 💕 @unbossedmd @TexanHispasian @RepEscobar #BansOffOurBodies #LiberateAbortion

@threadreaderapp unroll this thread, please!