Thread by @RBraceySherman

Sometimes I can't believe that political orgs and candidates are taking advice on how to talk about abortion from the very consultants who told us we were being hysterical by saying Roe could fall. How are the same people who didn't see this moment coming calling the shots now?

Their new argument is that the economy is more important than abortion as if those aren't intertwined issues. I have a really hard time listening to most political ads about abortion (not only because they work hard to avoid using the word abortion) but because they silo it.

I agree that the way most candidates talk about abortion with voters is not effective, but that's because they don't talk about it as the family economics issue it is. They continue to posit it as an issue of morality and freedom, but not the canary in the coal mine of fascism.

They solely talk about it as a bodily autonomy issue (which it absolutely is) and focus on trauma stories (which are real and tragic) but leave out the majority of people who have abortions, their reasons, their experiences, and how it all connects to household economics.

When I had my abortion, I was working a barely-above-minimum-wage retail job. I didn't have the cash for gas to get to work and had to delay buying birth control pills because I couldn't afford the copay until the next payday. Abortion decisions aren't made separate from this.

I freaked out because the abortion was $350 and sedation was $100 which was damn near my entire monthly wages. The minimum wage hasn't risen federally since. The economics of stagnant wages, formula shortages, inflation, and rising education costs factor into decisions.

I will never forget having to do the mental calculations of whether or not I could afford the abortion and how many hours I would have to pay it all off, let alone if I had to continue the pregnancy. The most difficult part of my abortion was thinking through the economics of it.

Most people who have abortions already have children. They're making the "kitchen table decisions" about affording kids and gas and inflation. Abortion is not a "wedge issues" or "social issue." It's an economic and family decision. Treat it and talk about it as such.

What's more of an economics issue than being unsure if you can afford a healthcare procedure that will then result in a lifetime of costs and raising a whole child? What's more of an economics issue than deciding whether or not you'd like to expand your family. Talk about that.

This bullshit economy-first approach delegitimizes the realities of people's lives and what's happening. Talk to anyone who has had an abortion and they'll tell you how the abortion came at a moment when they were dealing with some economic situation in their life.

Most people who have abortions cite an inability to afford another child as their top reason, and most people have trouble affording their abortions with some leaning on support from their loved ones, clinic discounts, and community abortion funds.

Abortion is as important an issue to the economy as the price of gas—if you can’t afford gas, you likely can’t afford an abortion or another child.

The politicians who support abortion bans aren't lining up to increase WIC, SNAP, and the minimum wage so people can have kids.

Worrying about bank accounts and how you’ll get to work is stressful enough, let alone deciding whether you’ll continue a pregnancy and raise another person alongside it. When we’re pregnant, we worry about all of this at the exact same time.

Abortion is a microcosm of our health care system that only supports and cares for people who have disposable income. Even people with insurance still cannot afford healthcare—it's the same for abortion.

Then add in abortion being a political issue that white supremacists exploit to force white women to have more children while creating policies banning immigrants from the country and allowing police to use Black children as target practice, it's the sign of the times.

When I hear candidates talking about abortion simply as a “right to choose” and an issue separate from the economy, I sigh. Have they ever listened to our abortion stories? There is no “right to choose” if you can’t afford any of your choices, even in a state where it’s a right.

That’s why after abortion was first legalized nationwide in 1973, anti-abortion politicians moved swiftly to attached the Hyde Amendment—the federal ban on Medicaid coverage of abortion—because they knew economic coercion would be a quick way to harm families and their decisions.

Abortion has always been a series of constrained decisions about what someone can afford at any given moment. Someone may want to parent, but can’t afford it, so they may plan for adoption. Someone may want an abortion, but can’t afford it, so they are forced to parent.

Someone may want to parent while also desiring an abortion because they cannot take on another child right now, and their bank account and circumstances—not their desires or determination—makes the decision.

It's the economics.

Abortion sits at the intersection of economic and racial justice, our failing health system, and the needs of working families. States that ban abortion routinely have the worst health care outcomes, maternal health outcomes, lowest minimum wages, and highest poverty rates.

The inability to plan for your family on your own terms perpetuates intergenerational cycles of poverty, especially for families of color.

Abortion restrictions are fundamentally classist and racist policies that exacerbate the already steep financial barriers that Black people and other people of color have to navigate.

When politicians say the price of gas is more important than abortion access, it’s a clue that they either haven’t had to spend much time on that decision themselves or their bank account is high enough that it wouldn’t have an impact. Must be nice.

They might as well say, “I’m pro-choice, but the economy is more important.” Either way, they’re out of touch and don’t fully understand our economy or our lives.

They're inextricably linked.

Claiming that abortion is a niche issue reinforces anti-abortion stigma and weakens our movement for justice for all people. And, it ignores the real economics of abortion.

It's literally riiiiiiight heeeeeereeeeeee. Politicians want us to share our abortion stories, but I don't think they're actually listening to what we're saying and applying the lessons to their talking points.

https://twitter.com/AbortionStories/status/1589633900720037888?s=20&t=XJOO5jDHDP5w1FTCqF2YAQ