View this post on Instagram

*Swearing ahead. And, if you have a different take on this, we welcome other mindful opinions here.

 

My entire Instagram and Facebook feed is anti-abortion this and oppression that.

I’d rather give a platform to those who are on the right side of history and humanity, and drown out the fear-based commentary that only wants to control women. It’s never, ever been about life. If you think it is, you are bloody-well mistaken.

So, here’s the list of shit that made me pro-choice:

1. No uterus, no opinion and certainly no choice.

2. Texas: where a virus has reproductive rights and a woman does not.” ~ @GrasshopperWoman

3. He who hath not a uterus should just STFU. Fallopians 13:13

4. “There are no pros to banning abortions. Access to basic healthcare is a human right.” ~ @youcancallmeaz

5. “If you believe that women should be free to have sex but not free to have abortions, then you don’t believe women should have sex, you believe that women should give sex.” ~ Farida D.

6. “Dear men: Step the fuck up. If you are a cis man who has benefited from abortion access, now’s the time to get loud! If you are a cis man who has not personally benefited from abortion access, now’s still the time to get loud! It’s way past time for you to speak up and publicly support people who have abortions. Donate to abortion funds. Share the ways abortion has benefited your life. Join the fight. This is your responsibility too. Back us up!” ~ @thesweetfeminist

7. “When a father can rape his own daughter, then sue and collect a cheque for $10,000 if she doesn’t carry the pregnancy—you know it’s not about ‘life.'” ~ @tova_leigh

8. “To clarify: in Texas, a man (an abusive spouse, say) can report a woman for having an abortion and be paid $10k. And a woman can get a longer sentence for aborting a baby conceived via rape, than her attacker for raping her. Yet, still we’re told the patriarchy doesn’t exist.” ~ Fiona Sturges

9. “If you’re against abortion, don’t have one.” ~ anonymous

10. “Women don’t inseminate themselves. If you want to take away their right to control their own bodies without insuring that the inseminator takes full legal responsibility for the child at the moment of conception, you’re not ‘pro-life.’ You just hate women. You want to punish them.” ~ Bradley Whitford

11. Christian group conducts study on abortion, finds that Christians have the most abortions.

12. “SB8 is more than just ‘my body, my choice.’ It’s about privilege. It’s about who has access and who doesn’t. It’s about fear tactics. It’s about policing not just our bodies but our decision-making process. It’s about cutting us off from support systems we desperately need. It’s about the generational impact this can have. It’s about control.” ~ @itsalison.AF

13. “Shout out to the men who have benefited from abortion, but are always silent on the issue.” ~ PoliticalTeaAndMe

14. “Yes, other states will follow suit. And poor women will pay the price because wealthy women will just travel to a state where women are considered people when they need healthcare.” ~ Roxanne Gay

15. “Some questions for the anti-choicers: What do you say to a person you love who desperately wants an abortion? Are you going to send the people who get abortions to jail? 59 percent of people who get abortions have children. What do you do with the children whose parents are in jail? In instances of rape, will you require the rapist to pay child support? How are you going to investigate miscarriages? 49 percent of individuals who have abortions live below the federal poverty line—are you okay with children born to low-income parents benefiting from government assistance? Where does the state get the money to prosecute people who have abortions? What do you say to the partner of a person who died because they couldn’t get a life-saving abortion? In cases of incest, who gets custody of the newborn: the mother of the newborn or the adult male relative who raped her?” ~ @femislay

16. “When do we start airlifting women and children out of Texas?” ~ anonymous

17. “If you’re feeling scared and furious about Texas, look to the activists there for what you can do to help. Give to an abortion fund, follow Texas feminists, understand that they know better than anyone what pregnant people in the state need right now.” ~ Jessica Valenti

18. “Not pro-life. Pro-forced birth. That’s the correct terminology for anyone who discards the life, health, mental well-being, survival, and freedom of the living…for the unborn. Who they then will equally disregard the human rights of, once born.” ~ Jameela Jamil

19. “People with a uterus don’t fucking impregnate themselves.” ~ @danadrewdles

20. “Friendly reminder that if you only support abortion in instances of rape or incest, you’re enforcing the idea that in order for a woman to have a right to her body, someone has to violate it first.” ~ @ravenbellefleur

21. “In Texas you can: sue an Uber driver for dropping off a woman to get an abortion. You don’t need to know the woman or the driver. The woman could be a rape victim. In Texas you can’t: Mandate masks in schools, because that would be a hindrance to personal liberty.” ~ Ande Wall

22. “Republicans: you can’t ask me about my vax status because of HIPAA rights! Also Republicans: passes a law to let random strangers sue women for having an abortion even though you’d have to get their medical papers to prove the abortion.” ~ @intersectional.abc

23. “There are no good abortions. There are no bad abortions. There’s only the abortion you need.” ~ Lizz Winstead

24. “If you want to stop abortion, you need to prevent unwanted pregnancies. And men are 100% responsible for unwanted pregnancies. No for real, they are. Perhaps you are thinking: it takes two! And yes, it does take two for intentional pregnancies. But all unwanted pregnancies are caused by the irresponsible ejaculations of men. Period. Don’t believe me? Let me walk you through it. Let’s start with this: women can only get pregnant about 2 days each month. And that’s for a limited number of years. That makes 24 days a year a women might get pregnant. But men can cause pregnancy 365 days a year. In fact, if you’re a man who ejaculates multiple times a day, you could cause multiple pregnancies daily. In theory a man could cause 1000+ unwanted pregnancies in just one year. And though their sperm gets crappier as they age, men can cause unwanted pregnancies from puberty till death. So just starting with basic biology + the calendar it’s easy to see men are the issue here.” ~ Gabrielle Blair

25. “Absolutely infuriating that we didn’t even ask Amy Coney Barrett about her religion during her Senate confirmation, when her religion *is* the reason why we’re now about to lose our rights.” ~ Lindy Li

26. “I understand the focus on horrific scenarios like a child being raped and impregnated and denied an abortion in Texas, but it’s okay to unapologetically say that safe abortion should always be an option for an adult woman who has an unintended pregnancy from consensual sex.” ~ Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D

27. “If you shame a woman for getting an abortion but shrug at a virus that’s killed 625,000 sentient human beings in your country in less than two years, I’m not sure you’re actually pro-life.” ~ John Pavlovitz

28. “Anti-choice people are not trying to stop abortion, they are trying to legislate who can and can’t have abortions. Because, conservative politicians—their wives and mistresses and daughters—will always be able to get an abortion somewhere. All anti-choice rhetoric does is keep people trapped in poverty for generations. That’s the goal and if it wasn’t the goal, they would spend their time and money on comprehensive sex education, free birth control, and free contraception.” ~ Lindy West

29. “Texas doesn’t have a hotline if you see a man go into a kindergarten with an AR-15, but it does if you see a woman go into a Planned Parenthood parking lot with a car.” ~ Betty Bowers

30. “Abortion bans don’t end abortions. They end access to safe abortions.” ~ Farida D.

31. “Earth is crying out for help and the government is worried about my uterus. The math ain’t mathin.” ~ Chrissy Grierson

32. “People of all genders need and have abortions.” ~ @sarah.epperson

33. “One extremely scary part of the Texas ban is the $10k incentive to become a bounty hunter to go after anyone who ‘assists’ with an abortion—including Uber drivers and clergy. The harm this’ll cause in lower income communities is severe. Abortion access is always about race and class.” ~ Elizabeth Adams

34. “‘Don’t live in Texas’ isn’t a viable solution for the 15 million women who live in Texas.” ~ Ashley Fairbanks

35. “Women are complete human beings, not potential mothers. Motherhood is just an option.”  ~ unknown

36. “If your god thinks that a 13-year-ol girl should have to carry her incestuous rapist’s baby to term, then fuck your god, and fuck you for worshipping them.” ~ @ZZfuss

37. “Those seeking abortion might: not be mentally, physically, or financially ready to have a child. Not want to put a child up for adoption. Not want to be a single parent or may be having relationship problems. Nevertheless, they don’t own you a reason.” ~ @impact

38. “If cis men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” ~ @prochoiceamerica

39. “When the penalty for aborting after rape is more severe than the penalty for rape, that’s when you know it’s a war on women.” ~ Mohamad Safa

40. “I love someone who had an abortion and so do you.” ~ @thedoctormummy

41. “Men shouldn’t be making laws about women’s bodies.” ~ @herboldmove

42. “You won’t force a 15-year-ol to wear a mask at school but you’ll force her to be a mother? Fuck you Texas.” ~ Sarah H. Flexghost

43. “We live in a country where ‘my body, my choice’ applied to the Covid vaccine but not to reproductive rights.” ~ @victoriaxcreates

44. “If you’re celebrating all the babies who will be saved in Texas, I hope you are fiercely advocating for free healthcare for pregnant women and social welfare programs that benefit children born into poverty. If you’re not, you aren’t pro-life, you’re pro-suffering. If you think the government should be able to force a woman to carry a non-viable pregnancy to term, you are pro-suffering.” ~ @bhambluedot

45. “There’s not a single thing in this world a male could experience that would even come close to the indignity of being legally forced to carry your rapist’s baby to term.” ~ @hearherstories

46. “I was thinking about everything that I have gone through in the past week. Finding out my baby wasn’t growing fast enough, being told he is no longer viable. It was one of the worst moments of my life. That moment was followed by intense feelings of needing the baby out. It wasn’t a want. It was a need. They gave me 3 options to ‘finish’ this pregnancy: 1. Take misoprostol to help expel the uterine contents; 2. Have a D&C; or 3. Let it pass naturally, watch and wait. If I was in Texas at that moment—I would have had one option— watch and wait. No person will ever be able to palpably understand the pain that person goes though living in a world where you are carrying around your non-viable baby inside your body. I couldn’t live in that world for a moment longer when I found out he wasn’t going to grow anymore. I couldn’t. And these new, archaic patriarchal Texan laws would have limited my rights to my own body. These laws would have incited a mental health crisis for me. These laws will result in the loss of life of women who don’t have the same options I do simply because of where I live. I’m ashamed of our country. I feel scared for our country. We are women: we have rights. It is my body—not yours.” ~ @anitakpatelmd

47. “Only 19% of men say they consistently use condoms. How is it fair that 100% of pregnant women be denied abortions in Texas?” ~ @fellowcreature

48. “‘Rat out your neighbors’ personal medical decisions and the state will reward you with $10,000′ sounds a hell of a lot more Soviet than most of the things Republicans these days denounce as ‘communism.'” ~ Julian Sanchez

49. “The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When the government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a full adult human responsible for her own choices.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg

50. “Embryos are easy to advocate for. By opposing abortion, religious people can feel the easy, intoxicating high of moral virtue and self-righteousness—without having to actually love or help people they really don’t like.” ~@fathernathan

51. “Abortion saves lives. Men should not govern female, trans, queer bodies. Body autonomy is a human right. Banning abortions will not stop people from having them. Banning abortions will stop people from having them safely.” ~ @elisemghell

52. “If men got pregnant, you could get an abortion at an ATM.” ~ Selina Meyer, “Veep”

53. “No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.” ~ Margaret Sanger

54. “I cannot understand anti-abortion arguments that centre on the sanctity of life. As a species we’ve fairly comprehensively demonstrated that we don’t believe in the sanctity of life. The shrugging acceptance of war, famine, epidemic, pain, and life-long poverty shows us that, whatever we tell ourselves, we’ve made only the most feeble of efforts to really treat human life as sacred.” ~ Caitlin Moran

55. “If they make abortions illegal, they should make it illegal for men to desert women after getting them pregnant. If women can’t back out of pregnancies, men shouldn’t be able to either.” ~ unknown

56. “Because all kinds of people get abortions: mothers, non-binary folks and men with uteruses, professionals, students, low-income workers, survivors…for all kinds of reasons.” ~ @shegotthepink

57. “My entire timeline is women in fear and rage and pain. Where are the men? Where are the goddamn men? We are tired and it’s your fucking turn.” ~ Glennon Doyle

58. “We don’t like to kill our unborn; we need them to grow up and fight our wars.” ~ Marilyn Manson

59. “99 years is the amount of prison time a doctor in Alabama could receive if they perform an abortion. 6 months is the amount of prison time you will receive if you rape an unconscious girl next to a dumpster. Wake. The Fuck. Up.” ~ @jennawyspy

60. “If you’re advocating for abortion bans but are not advocating for LGBTQ rights, gun control, free and accessible healthcare, or are not getting vaccinated, and refuse to wear a mask—you’re not pro-life, you’re just pro-birth.” ~ Micheline Maalouf

61. “Reproductive freedom is critical to a whole range of issues. If we can’t take charge of this most personal aspect of our lives, we can’t take care of anything. It should not be seen as a privilege or as a benefit, but a fundamental human right.” ~ Faye Wattleton

62. “I suggest that all women refuse to have sex with men until they are guaranteed the right to choose by Congress.” ~ Bette Midler

63. “If men were having babies, we’d have different policies.” ~ Barack Obama

64. “Picking and choosing when to be ‘pro-life’ is called ‘pro-birth.’ If you aren’t doing anything to help support children in need after being born, then you’re not in it to protect them; you’re in it to control birthing people. Reproductive justice is social justice. Abortions save lives. Abortions are a human right.” ~ @vidaandwild

65. “The Vatican won’t prosecute pedophile priests but I decide I’m not ready for motherhood and it’s condemnation for me? These are the same people who won’t support national condom distribution that prevents teenage pregnancy.” ~ Sonya Renee Taylor

66. “No one who needs an abortion should have to go through what the Texas law does to people. It brings to mind the novel, 1984. Incentivizing our neighbors to monitor and report us. It allows everyone to have control over our bodies and our families except us. It strips us of autonomy and puts us in danger. All people should have power and control over their bodies—especially when they are pregnant.” ~ Debra Hauser

67. “To be clear…the irony of all of the abortion bills is the complete lack of male inclusion. Women do not magically become pregnant. There is a man attached to every single abortion. Why are men not being included in the jail time for abortion? Because this isn’t about abortion, it’s about men controlling women. It’s an easy topic for white men to flex their power over to remind the womenfolk that they will always have to kneel to them. If it were actually about abortion, we would be discussing early and continuing sex education, free birth control, healthcare for all, making childcare financially feasible, mandatory parental leave, increasing WIC, hard sentencing for rape, fixing the foster care system, and making adoption more accessible. This is not about abortion. Don’t fool yourself.” ~ Lance Wilburn

68. “In my world, you don’t get to call yourself ‘pro-life’ and be against common-sense gun control—like banning public access to the kind of semiautomatic assault rifle, designed for warfare, that was used recently in a Colorado theater. You don’t get to call yourself ‘pro-life’ and want to shut down the Environmental Protection Agency, which ensures clean air and clean water, prevents childhood asthma, preserves biodiversity, and combats climate change that could disrupt every life on the planet. You don’t get to call yourself ‘pro-life’ and oppose programs like Head Start that provide basic education, health, and nutrition for the most disadvantaged children. The term ‘pro-life’ should be a shorthand for respect for the sanctity of life. But I will not let that label apply to people for whom sanctity for life begins at conception and ends at birth. What about the rest of life? Respect for the sanctity of life, if you believe that it begins at conception, cannot end at birth.” ~ Thomas L. Friedman

69. “The amount of men quiet right now, but Lord, the scrapbook we could make of screenshots pleading and hoping she got an abortion.” ~@Weirdness

70. “Stop abortion at the source. Vasectomies are reversible. Make every young man have one. When he’s deemed financially and emotionally fit to be a father, it will be reversed. What’s that? Did the idea of regulating a man’s body make you uncomfortable? Then mind your fucking business.” ~ @wittyidiot

71. “The Texas ban is nothing more than a blatant attack on women’s rights. If it had anything to do with ‘the unborn’ we would be able to sue the penis. But we can’t. Actually, the penis can sue. That’s how fucked up it is.” ~ Jhoni Marchinko

72. “Your religion should help you make the decision if you find yourself in that situation, but the policy should exist for you to have the right to make it in the first place. When you say you can’t do something because your religion forbids it, that’s a good thing. When you say I can’t do something because your religion forbids it, that’s a problem.” ~ Jodi Picoult

73. “6 week abortion ban means people who menstruate are only 2 weeks late for their next period. 2 weeks. This is incredibly dangerous since it won’t stop abortions from happening, it only makes them unsafe and inaccessible.” ~angryasianfeminist

74. “Banning abortion at 6 weeks harms BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQIA+, and low-income people the most. The average person seeking an abortion in Texas will have to drive 248 miles to the nearest clinic that will perform an abortion after 6 weeks. For context, that’s nearly the equivalent of the distance from Miami to Cuba.” ~ @ayala.productions

75. “Planned Parenthood has done more to prevent abortion than the pro-life movement ever has.” ~ @faythinthemusic

76. “Wait a damn minute…if it takes 2 people to make a pregnancy, why isn’t Texas banning irresponsible ejaculations? Why can’t I get $10,000 for reporting a man who cums without a condom? I’ll tell you why: Patriarchy. This isn’t about protecting unborn babies. It’s about maintaining control over women’s bodies. It’s about making women suffer and pay for the consequences of a man’s careless jizz.” ~ via @iamlindseylockett

77. “Just a reminder that if you get an abortion literally just because you want to and not because of medical or life issues, like you genuinely don’t want a kid, then that’s okay and the government shouldn’t take that right away from us.” ~@satinmilk

78. “To recap: right now in Texas, people can sue you for seeking abortion services, but the state cannot ask you if you have a gun.” ~ Elie Mystal

79. “If I wanted the government in my uterus, I would fuck a politician.” ~ unknown

80. “If white men could get pregnant, you would be able to get an abortion at the gas station. Forty on pump 2 and let me get an abortion.” ~ Malik S.

81. “Texas claims to be pro-life, yet has the most capital punishment executions in the United States since 1930. Does believing in the sanctity of life mean we get to choose which lives are sacred? … All I’m saying is make it make sense.” ~ unknown

82. “Every woman in Texas should pull an ‘I am Spartacus.’ All of you, stand up and declare you each had an abortion yesterday at 7 weeks. Every doctor should stand up and say they performed the abortions. Clog the system. Show solidarity. Good trouble.” ~ @trifectablog

83. “Just so we’re clear, no one wants to have an abortion; they want the option of having one should they find themselves in a situation where one is needed. The need, being defined by them (the person whose body it is) and their healthcare professionals (the trained experts).” ~ @tgntherapy

84. “If you have an abortion, there’s a stigma. If you have a baby outside of marriage or as a teen, there’s a stigma. If you get married and don’t have babies, there’s a stigma. It’s almost like it’s not about the babies, it’s about judging women and controlling their decisions.” ~ Sarah Olson

85. “You’re pro-life until the baby is: poor, transgender, Black, gay, an immigrant, disabled, sick, etc.” ~ protest sign

86. “Pro-lifers: ‘Why don’t you just give it up for adoption after giving birth?’ Because, adoption isn’t the ethical alternative to abortion. Adoption is for someone who doesn’t want to be a parent. Abortion is for someone who doesn’t want to be pregnant.” ~ ThatRebelLady

87. “Abortion bans are racist, sexist, classist, and ableist. People with uteruses deserve more rights than guns.” ~@feminist

88. “Abortion. (n.) a safe, time-sensitive medical procedure, a normal part of our reproductive lives.” ~ @lilithfund

89. “If a fetus is a person at 6 weeks pregnant, is that when the child support starts? Is that when you can’t deport the mother because she’s carrying a U.S. citizen? Can I insure a 6-week fetus and collect if I miscarry? Just figuring if we’re going here, we should go all in.” ~ Carliss Chatman

90. “So we can sue the Uber driver who drives her to the abortion, the aunt who helps her pay for it, the people who work at the clinic. Wait, can we sue the guy who got her pregnant and asked her to get an abortion? No? Okay. Fuck Texas.” ~ Jhoni Marchinko

91. “Banning abortions isn’t going to stop abortions. It will only force people to choose more dangerous options. You can’t be pro-life if you’re putting people’s lives at risk.” ~ amalefeminist

92. “Lyft and Uber said they would cover 100 percent of the legal fees of drivers who are sued for ‘aiding and abetting’ under Texas’ abortion law. I’m calling a Lyft right now just to drive me around my neighborhood.” ~ Jhoni Marchinko

93. “Behind millions of successful men is an abortion they don’t regret getting with their partner. I urge men to go beyond solidarity and talk about how they’ve personally benefited from abortion rights too. Not because it’s the right thing you to do, because it’s true!” ~ Liz Plank

94. “I think it should also be okay to say, ‘I had an abortion, and it was an easy decision.’ I think that should be okay too.” ~ Amber Sparks

95. “Women are fertile for roughly 24 days a year. Men are fertile for 365. Want to prevent unwanted pregnancies? You are creating laws for the wrong group.” ~ Amanda Goetz

96. “Hey pro-lifers of Texas: it’s your time to shine, sweeties! 29,927 children in foster care in Texas and 3,378 children waiting for adoptive families. I expect to see this number drop dramatically in the next 30 days!” ~ LanceUSA70

97. “You don’t have to love abortion. You can dislike it. Maybe it even makes you sad. The way you view abortion is up to you. If you don’t like abortion, you can advocate for proper sex education, access to birth control, and other things that have been shown to lower unplanned pregnancies. You don’t have to like abortion. But what you can’t do is disrespect somebody for having an abortion. You can’t take away that choice from women because you don’t like it. Your emotions are not somebody else’s responsibility. Your emotions aren’t more important than anyone else’s bodily autonomy. You don’t have to like abortion, but you have to respect other people’s rights and that includes the right to safe, accessible, abortion.” ~ unknown

98. “Feminism isn’t about men. It’s not about hating men, or harming men; it’s not about wanting to rule over men, removing the sovereignty of men, erasing their perspective, discrediting their ideas, or ignoring their needs. It’s about ending all of the aforementioned for women.” ~ @emrazz

99. “‘What if I get someone pregnant and she wants an abortion and I want to keep it?!’

Well you could start with respecting that women aren’t your fucking herb gardens.” ~ @TheFeministVibe

100. “The reason a fetus has more rights than a woman in America is because a fetus still has a chance of being a man.” ~ @sweetperfectionnnn

Please add more in the comments and I’ll add them to the list as we go. 

~

*Shout out for the title inspiration: Farida D.’s book, The List of Shit that made me a Feminist. is a must-read.